The problems we often see in batch tracking
The problems we often see during industrial audits related to batch tracking are data problems. The main source of truth should be unique, but it is often scattered across different Excel files, different software tools, and different databases.
That leads to repeated re-entry between production steps and a greater difficulty in retrieving a lot’s history. This often causes more errors in stock accounting and in lot statuses.
This issue becomes visible very quickly during an audit and can also be the source of non-conformities or lot recalls. Koragence then proposes audits to get a clear view of how production batch data is stored, used, and centralized inside the company.
What a good batch-tracking system must enable
A good batch-tracking system must be a central platform that follows a lot from the raw material supplied by vendors all the way to delivery to the customer. In a few seconds, it should let teams, even new ones, understand production processes, which components are used, and where and when each product was made.
A good batch-tracking system is also crucial during quality checks so that teams responsible for stabilizing production quality and reducing scrap can rely on a clean and well-structured data foundation.
It makes history immediately retrievable and keeps encrypted and secure backups on several servers, themselves connected to the batch-tracking platform, to avoid any data loss or unwanted leakage.
The production, quality, and logistics information to bring together
Koragence delivers custom developments for specific parts of batch-tracking systems, or full builds of this kind of tool, in order to provide both upstream and downstream traceability for every lot.
It allows purchasing, customer service, and quality teams to work around the same source of truth, connecting all processes and production. Koragence also connects different machines, logistics integrations, and suppliers directly to these platforms.
This is something Koragence has already done in the past, notably with machine fleet management projects and connections to industrial equipment vendors’ APIs to automate batch-tracking data collection.
The software used for batch tracking
The software used for batch-tracking systems in industry starts with the ERP, which is the central management software of the company. Koragence masters and has experts on SAP, Sage X3, and Microsoft Dynamics 365, which make it possible to store history and connect data together if the company already has sources collected automatically or entered manually by teams.
A batch-tracking system can also be connected to a MES for more real-time visibility and better data history around what happens on production lines, in workshops, on machines, and with operators.
Batch tracking also involves stock and logistics data, which can be connected to a WMS to manage the warehouse and stock movements with more traceability. QMS software can also be connected to handle non-conformities, scrap, recalls, and lot quarantines.
It is also possible to connect laboratory software to these systems if the company works with clean rooms, analyses, or samples. Koragence can therefore connect all of these tools to a custom development project as well as to the existing information system, either through pre-existing APIs or through custom development.
We can also help with migration and management of existing data tied to certain files or existing DMS platforms, as well as define which software should act as the source of truth for each piece of information.
The daily cockpit for production and quality managers
An industrial batch-tracking system must allow production and quality managers to have daily summaries in a simple cockpit, letting them see lots in progress, completed lots, blocked lots, quarantined lots, quality checks to perform, reported non-conformities, delays, available stock, blocked shipments, and errors between different software tools.
This can take the form of Power BI, but also of a dashboard directly embedded in the ERP or MES, whether through custom development or internal development, for example on SAP. The manager must be able to see quickly where problems and tasks are located, without reducing the amount of information available.
What a good batch-tracking system can bring to the company
A good industrial batch-tracking system at Koragence first and foremost centralizes information, secures it, reduces manual searching, improves quality by reducing low-value tasks for quality teams, and makes audits more effective.
We provide manufacturers with such systems to reduce manual entry through connections to the APIs of their various partners, vendors, and suppliers, whether machines, stock, logistics, or customer service, as well as through better communication between existing tools.
It also reduces information-system errors through our maintenance and long-term support, while increasing profitability by reducing non-conformities, scrap, and quarantined lots.
Audits, product recalls, and non-conformity management will also become easier, increasing their effectiveness through easier access to information, faster recalls, and better prevention of compliance issues.
Your stock will then become more reliable by reducing errors, because it will be fully connected to the rest of the system, limiting the risk of incorrect figures.
How Koragence supports implementation
We usually start by auditing what already exists inside the information system, whether that is the ERP or an existing batch-tracking system.
We then speak with the teams responsible for production, quality, logistics, as well as leadership and business experts, to fully understand the challenges, map the software, tools, and existing data, and identify where manual re-entry still occurs.
This makes it easier to build a roadmap, prioritize what should be kept, replaced, connected, and automated, then build or redesign the cockpit, test integrations, train teams, and document the whole system.
