Definition

Traceability system.

Traceability is the ability to reconstruct the history of a batch: which raw materials it came from, which processes and equipment it went through, under what conditions it was produced and which customers it shipped to. A traceability system records that data as it happens, so a batch can be traced backward and forward in minutes.

Get early accessThe three types

In most plants the problem is not the standard but the gaps: temperatures written down once per shift, counts reconciled at the end of the day and an audit that takes hours to gather a batch’s history.

Types

The three types of traceability

Backward

What it answers

Which supplier and raw material batch the product came from.

What is recorded

Receiving: supplier, batch, date, arrival temperature.

Internal

What it answers

What happened inside the plant: line, shift, machine, times and conditions.

What is recorded

Production: units per batch, process temperatures, stops, operator.

Forward

What it answers

Which customers and which shipment each batch went out on.

What is recorded

Shipping: dispatch note, customer, date, loading temperature.

Records

What a plant traceability system must record

Internal traceability is the one that breaks most, because it depends on data that is written down by hand today. These can be captured automatically:

Process and storage temperature

Cold rooms, tunnels and processes measured continuously with sensors calibrated against a reference, not written down once per shift.

Units produced per batch and shift

Counted by computer vision on the security cameras the plant already has, or by a sensor on the line.

Line start, end and stops

Read from the PLC or a sensor, time-stamped, without depending on someone writing them down.

Posting to the ERP

Quantities reach the ERP (for example SAP) linked to the order and batch, without changing the PLC program.

Limits

What gets automated and what does not

A system that promises the standard takes care of itself is promising the right-hand column. The quality team answers that one; what changes is that it decides with complete data.

Recorded without intervention

Continuous temperature of cold rooms, tunnels and processes

Still a person’s decision

Hazard analysis and critical control points

Recorded without intervention

Unit count per batch and per shift

Still a person’s decision

What to do with a batch that went out of limits

Recorded without intervention

Line start, end and stop times

Still a person’s decision

Product release

Recorded without intervention

Alarms when something goes out of range

Still a person’s decision

Reviewing and signing the records

iGromi

What iGromi does in traceability

Inside the plant, iGromi measures the variables that feed internal traceability, on existing equipment, with industrial artificial intelligence that cites the source of each data point:

  • Calibrated temperature: in an IQF tunnel, measured against a reference with a 0.05 °C difference.
  • Production count: at Grupo Proa, an egg producer, 19 existing security cameras count production with 99% accuracy measured against manual counting, and the data reaches SAP.
  • Times and stops of each machine, read from the PLC read-only or from a sensor.

What we do not do: hazard analysis, certification or the audit. Nor do we build today the full genealogy of a batch from raw material to shipping; that stays in the plant’s ERP, which receives our data.

How it looks in the app

What a sensor does not measure, the shift records.

A photo of the label, a voice note about the stop, who received the batch: in the app it is saved with author and time, next to the line data.

  • Photo, voice and notes as the shift record.
  • @igromi searches by batch, date or equipment and cites the source.
  • A person decides on batch release.
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Free app in early access. Web available; Android and iOS coming soon.

PLANT · LINE 2
Log
Stop at 09:00 · why?
Material shortageMechanical failureFormat changeoverQualityOther
Line
2
Minutes
22
Shift
A
The supplier's lids didn't arrive. Warehouse notified.
Save with author and time
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Guides

Traceability guides

Agribusiness and animal proteinVision counting, cold chain verified against a reference and incubation every 15 minutes.Traceability for HACCP, BRCGS and FSMA 204What to record for each standard and what fails most on paper.Temperature in cold rooms and tunnelsData logger or continuous monitoring, sensors and calibration.Digital cold chainWhere the chain breaks and how to record it.Machine data to SAP without changing the PLCHow quantities by order and batch reach the ERP.MES for food and beverageProduction control in food plants.Industrial artificial intelligenceVision, IoT and Edge AI on the equipment the plant already has.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is traceability?
Traceability is the ability to reconstruct the history of a batch: which raw materials it came from, which processes and equipment it went through, under what conditions it was produced and which customers it shipped to. A traceability system records that data as it happens, so a batch can be traced backward and forward in minutes.
What is a traceability system?
It is the set of records, equipment and software that captures each batch’s data as it happens (receiving, production, conditions and shipping) and lets you search it by batch, date or equipment. It can be paper, spreadsheets or automatic recording; the difference lies in the gaps and in how long it takes to gather a batch’s history.
What are the types of traceability?
Backward (which raw material and supplier a batch came from), internal (what happened to the batch inside the plant) and forward (which customers it shipped to). Food safety standards require all three.
Which standards require traceability in a food plant?
HACCP, BRCGS and IFS require records that let you follow a batch and show that critical control points were under control. To export to the United States, FSMA 204 requires key traceability data by lot for the foods on its list. The detail is in the traceability guide for HACCP, BRCGS and FSMA 204.
What does artificial intelligence add to traceability?
Computer vision counts units per batch with existing cameras and sensors record temperatures and times without intervention. That removes the gaps in manual records. Decisions such as releasing a batch or defining a critical control point remain with a person.
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PLANT · SHIFT B
Tasks
Luis · maintenance
OVERDUE
Sugar silo 1
No signal since 05:40
Sensor · supply
TODAY
M-204 vibration
4.1 mm/s, above normal
Detected by the sensor
PROPOSED
Check the capper
14 badly seated lids since 08:30
AcceptDismiss
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