GTP:Operational view

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Contents

INTRODUCTION-OPERATIONAL VIEW

For an interactive demonstration see foodtraceability.eu

This section is aimed at those who are involved with operational matter and traceability. From an operational point of view traceability involved registering information about what you are doing.This information can be used not only for traceability but also for

  • Operations optimization
  • Enabling access to markets
  • Compliance management
  • Eradication of retyping already existing information
  • Reduction of redundant quality checks for trusted providers
  • Efficiency increase through real measuring of process steps, for example how long does a reception take?


The depth and breadth of a traceability system can be adapted to the needs of the actor in question.Some points to consider here are,

  • The level of detail in a system (granularity) and how much information should be 'exposed' internally and externally.
  • Intended uses of the traceability system

OPINIONS/FACTS

What traceability information do I need to capture?

More guidance for operational actors can be found in the Good Traceability Practice (GTP) which were created as part of the EU project TRACE. These go into detail regarding what where when and you should capture information.

To take a simple example if you are mixing fish caught on several boats you may want to register which catches you have mixed together and allow this information to be registered so that it is avalible to the fish processors and sellers. Registrations usually involve some form of unique identification (either internally unique or globally unique)

Further in depth recommendations for Good Traceability Practice in the food industry can be found in the Good Traceability Documents.

This section will present the recommendations for good traceability practice in the industry. The practices are a result from input and knowledge gained from many research projects, industrial projects, and other national and international projects and practices.

Generic GTP

Sector Specific GTP's

Relevant references for GTP

  • Food Marketing Research and Information Center (FMRIC). Handbook for Introduction of Food Traceability Systems. Japan 2008. urlpdf

See also the next section where there are links and information about further reading.

Can I expect to receive standardized traceability information from suppliers?

There are currently no standard practices with regards to traceability information. But suppliers may choose to follow some or all of the standards mentions in the next section.

Traceability requirements are becoming increasingly incorporated into inte certification schemes such as the Marine Stewardships councils labeling scheme, GS1 PDF and many more.

What can a good traceability systems do?

Good traceability systems should be able to aid food supply chains in a similar way to 'Just In Time' which in the car industry (most notably Toyota) has led to the benefits listed under;

  • Traceability can be used to improve stock control.
  • Traceability can be used to monitor the effect the quality the suppliers goods have on your finished goods.
  • Traceability can be used to optimize both internal and external logistics with respect to timeliness, transport distance, storage time, etc.

When do I need to capture traceability information?

Traceability information should be captured every time a resource is mixed, split or changed in some way.

WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK

What other people think
Consumers Consumers are rarely interested in 'what goes on' but they are interested in knowing that someone has controlled the food they are eating. They are not directly interested in operational information - but can be interested in knowing that 'someone' has controlled it. Go to actor.
Supply chain Within a supply chain it is important that the different actors have agreed what and how traceability information should be communicated. When considering operations from a supply chain perspective, it is important to have clarified what information should be internal in a company and what information can be shared through the supply chain. The supply chain will have minimum requirements for what information that will be needed for supply chain management. Importantly, every operator will be direct members of the supply chain. Go to actor.
Quality Assurance People working with quality assurance will expect that traceability will enable them to acquire more information about products and process. They may not always be aware or interested in the privacy issues that this raises for the people concerned with operations. One of the main problems that needs to be managed by the food operators is the fact that a lot of information "disappears" along the production lines making it very hard or even impossible to trace through the operator. Go to actor.
Public Authority Public authorities will be interested in information about what happened during food processing. The most important part is that the operators follow the laws and regulations required by the authorities and that they are able to document and show that these have been followed and document and report deviations when not. Go to actor.
ICT People working with ICT will be interested in knowing how their solutions can be used or extended to better solve traceability problems throughout the production process. A main concern in industrial production is that large amount of different systems and equipment that not necessarily are able to cooperate and exchange information. Integration and system coordination are important and often difficult issues that need to be managed. Go to actor.

FURTHER READING AND TRAINING MATERIAL

A good place to read some more about traceability initiatives from many different perspective is the book 'Food Traceability Around the World' edited by I.G. Smith and A Furness.

Presentations

  • Bar Coding Systems PDF

What traceability information should I capture?

  • EU standards for the farmed and caught fish industries; the so called "TraceFish" standards. The TraceFish standards describe what information is it recommended that companies need to record in fish supply chains to achieve traceability.

Details of the TraceFish standards can be found here.

  • CEN14659 (2003) CEN Workshop Agreement. Traceability of Fishery products. Specification of the information to be recorded in caught fish distribution chains., European Committee for Standardization.
  • CEN14660 (2003) CEN Workshop Agreement. Traceability of Fishery products. Specification of the information to be recorded in farmed fish distribution chains. European Committee for standardization.
  • The international Organisation for standardisation (ISO) has a standard for traceability it is ‘ISO 22005:2007 Traceability in the feed and food chain -- General principles and basic requirements for system design and implementation’
  • ISO 22005:2007 gives the principles and specifies the basic requirements for the design and implementation of a feed and food traceability system. It can be applied by an organization operating at any step in the feed and food chain. It is intended to be flexible enough to allow feed and food organizations to achieve identified objectives.

The traceability system is a technical tool to assist an organization to conform with its defined objectives, and is applicable when necessary to determine the history or location of a product or its relevant components. More information can be found at ISO

  • GS1 are responsible for the ever prevalent barcodes and unique number series. They also have training material available regarding traceability. You can read more about their traceability initiatives at GS1 Traceability Standard

Sector specific activities have begun and papers such as the following should provide an interesting starting place for further standardization initiatives,

  • Donnelly, K.A-M., Karlsen, K.M., Olsen, P.and van der Roest, J. (2008) ‘Creating standardised data lists for traceability: a study of honey processing’, Int. J. Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp.283–291.

Where in my business should I capture traceability information?

In order to learn more about where to capture information a company my undertake a 'process mapping' in order to find out where is needs to capture traceability information. The following reports could be used as inspiration,

  • Product and information flow at a mineral water botteling plant Insalus
  • Product and information flow at a salmon curing house Salmon
  • Product and information flow at a chicken processing plant Chicken

What experience already exists with regards to traceability in the supply chain?

As part of the 'Peter' project a number of different lectures were give which may be of interest to operations actors these include the following

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