Years ago, the success of automobile manufacturers was based on the ability to design, produce, sell and ship products efficiently and profitably. Today, the world is rapidly evolving, with more complex engineering and outsourcing of subcomponents, manufacturers now also have to consider the quality and safety of their products.
In recent years, the The automotive industry has been affected by the recall of products with the resulting insurance claims amounting to millions in returns. And the impact of these can be far-reaching, causing not only financial damage, but also reputational damage to companies.
With inventory regulations and traceability in the automotive industry increasingly strict, manufacturers of automotive parts and accessories need to have business systems that allow them to be tracked in every way and detail any modification made to a product throughout its life cycle. A good solution must allow traceability in the automotive industry of :
- Suppliers and their products
- Items and processes used in your manufacturing process
- Products sent to customers
Traceability in the automotive industry
La traceability in the automotive industry supplier focused
The trigger for a product return is usually a problem with raw materials or finished products. Therefore, it is important to have an effective method to ensure that defective items are identified and returned to or repaired by a supplier and that there is complete tracking of the item until the process is completed.
Manufacturers need to have full visibility into product recall activities and ensure they are managed correctly and effectively. This is not only important for traceability in the automotive industry, but also to allow quality control in the acquisition process and return to suppliers.
Returns and recalls not only affect product and supply chains, details must also be updated in the accounting system. The advantage of an integrated ERP system is that the order is purchased originally and can be marked, so that the history of the product can be tracked. Other accounting elements can also be updated: cost variances, goods receipt notes, credit notes, and purchase orders.
On the inventory side, ensure that returned goods are quarantined as they may have to be returned to the supplier. You also need a traceability in the automotive industry Be effective in stock by tracking serial numbers, batches and locations across warehouses to isolate any remaining defective stock.
Traceability in the automotive industry applied to production
With the implementation of a system of traceability in the automotive industry, manufacturers can not only verify the location, history and application of items passing through their production process, but information from the system can be used to improve efficiency and correct processes when necessary.
To establish a solid traceability in the automotive industry, collaboration between the different teams of the organization is necessary to identify the materials and items that require such traceability, and decide what information should be recorded during the manufacturing process, such as, for example:
- What raw materials have been used in the product?
- How long, where and under what conditions were the items stored in the warehouse?
- Important documentation, such as specifications, certifications and quality records.
To have full visibility and compliance, it is necessary to have traceability in the automotive industry, from raw materials, parts, shipping and vice versa.
With the risk of product returns increasing, automakers should implement a recall management system. This gives access to all the critical information necessary to trace a suspect product throughout its life cycle, provide the information necessary to identify, isolate and act on activities that occur within a predetermined recall time, and ensure that meet regulatory reporting requirements.
To prepare for returns, a recall management system allows you to practice recall drills. If the system is part of an integrated ERP solution, it can then be verified that the traceability in the automotive industry It works in all departments and processes of the company. The recall system should support the generation of reports of simulated and real recalls to help meet legislative requirements.
Traceability in the automotive industry in shipments and customers
Even after a product leaves the factory, it is necessary to be able to track it. Special scanning technology used to be needed to track shipments using barcodes, but today a smartphone camera can do the same job. Therefore, if you have a mobile-friendly tracking solution, it is much easier and cheaper to track products anywhere in transit.
If a company needs to meet a formal quality accreditation, such as ISO 9001, today it cannot manage customer complaints by recording emails or phone calls in a spreadsheet or simple database. An effective customer complaints system not only helps capture, manage and resolve complaints, but also simplifies the process of reviewing and escalating product defects and service issues. The information can also help with quality control and improve the supply and manufacturing process.
with a greater traceability in the automotive industry In both the product lifecycle and supply chain, manufacturers can mitigate the impact of product returns and recalls, review existing materials, products and processes to ensure the chances of their recurrence are reduced. . The use of an ERP system that includes complete traceability and product recall management provides companies in the automotive sector with more possibilities of avoiding this million-dollar recall.
Traceability in the automotive industry: What should plant managers take into account?
In recent years, the automotive industry is experiencing profound change, marked, for example, by the move to globalized platforms and standardized vehicle architectures. On the one hand, production is becoming more efficient, but on the other, even a single defective part can have more far-reaching effects than ever before. Faced with costly recalls, automakers are faced with increasingly complex requirements and stricter specifications. At this point, it is worth the effort of the traceability in the automotive industry If, for example, up to 20.000 parts per vehicle have to be labeled, but powerful reading and verification technologies are needed along with powerful software to make sense of all the data.
There are several reasons why manufacturers need to keep accurate records of the parts and components that make up a new car. From a quality standpoint, for example, tracking barcodes helps ensure that the correct parts are assembled. But even more important is the ability to trace each part back to its original supplier. In the event of a recall or discovery of a defective part, manufacturers must be able to quickly and thoroughly find out where each part comes from. This is complemented by information such as batch number, manufacturing date and other important data to identify which vehicles are affected by a defective part. Recommendations and regulations specify the details. As the automotive industry becomes globalized, even a single defective part can have a huge impact and should therefore be avoided at all costs.
Why is traceability important in the automotive industry?
Documenting the origin and history of parts is vital to ensuring quick and cost-effective removals. If the origin of a part is not fully documented, many more vehicles than necessary will have to be recalled, with a consequent increase in costs. Other key advantages are:
- La traceability in the automotive industry Minimizes counterfeits because authentic pieces can be traced back to their origin.
- Rationalization of the manufacturing process with direct identification of parts, labels or RFID tags, since traceability in the automotive industry in real time they transmit process information throughout all levels of the manufacturing process, allowing the supply chain to be optimized and delivery times reduced. They monitor and compare production lines, providing the data necessary to find out which production steps are taking longer than expected and the reasons why.
- Some manufacturers spread the cost of manufacturing equipment and product development over a broader production base, especially in large companies. The downside: A single faulty component can have a huge impact. Therefore, the systems traceability in the automotive industry They are more important than ever. The large supplier system created by the globally standardized architecture requires real-time visibility so that problems can be fixed quickly before they affect millions of new cars entering the market.
Compact barcode readers for traceability in the automotive industry.
Barcodes help ensure that each part carries a unique identifier wherever it goes. This is usually a direct part marking (DPM), engraved or printed directly on the part itself. Among the key data that is encoded for purposes of traceability in the automotive industry Information such as part, serial, lot or model number is found. Other data that can be encoded in the barcodes are the manufacturer of origin, the place of origin, the date and time of production, the expiration date, the manufacturing or assembly plant, the components used in the assembly and/or the software version.
Each time a code is read in the factory, the traceability system transmits that data to a manufacturing execution system (MES) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, helping to correctly group parts and control other elements of the production line based on the data. The traceability in the automotive industry It is used to label powertrain components with specific dimensions to ensure a perfect fit. Process automation considerably reduces the probability of errors in this context. Powerful readers should be able to read a wide range of codes without installing complex software and even if the code is distorted, faded or damaged.
To ensure that each part carries the required data, some barcodes must be especially small and highly legible. As with damaged codes, tiny codes require high-performance barcode readers that can read the data with the necessary speed and accuracy. As more and more markings are applied earlier in the manufacturing process, they are increasingly likely to be damaged in the harsh factory conditions. Exposure to heat, splashes, or caustic industrial chemicals can damage barcodes, even if they have been applied with a permanent method such as laser marking. To confirm that barcodes are of good quality and remain legible throughout the life of the part, manufacturers can establish a barcode verification system to evaluate them against international standards. Verification software diagnostic tools should also provide troubleshooting information to adjust marking devices and improve barcode quality. These barcode verifiers can be used for both DPMs and traditional labels.
Traceability in the automotive industry with fiber laser marking and integrated SQL clients
An important technology for a traceability in the automotive industry is fiber laser marking with machines that can apply exceptionally high-resolution, long-lasting markings to a wide range of materials. These machines are easy to integrate with other systems and controls, making marking more flexible. Another useful technology approach is built-in SQL or MQTT clients to transfer data directly to a SQL database or another system, so that drivers can process the data from traceability in the automotive industry without compromising machine control performance.
Conclusions on traceability in the automotive industry.
Systems traceability in the automotive industry They allow changes in processes to be contextualized and the effects they have on the quality of the resulting product to be analyzed. They help identify risks, reduce their impact and, in general, maintain a state of constant vigilance. Although the traceability in the automotive industry may seem complex, its underlying structure is relatively simple. By placing unique barcodes on parts in progress and scanning them throughout the assembly process, manufacturers can collect and store large amounts of data on the whereabouts and history of each item at any given time.
Automotive manufacturers are currently facing a number of complex challenges that require comprehensive and reliable documentation and traceability. Therefore, to be future-ready and competitive, companies need effective automation and robotics solutions combined with intelligent automation solutions. traceability in the automotive industry.
We invite you to learn about one of our solutions in which SINCI contributed to improving the traceability of a company that had a lack of quality and information feedback about its products. In this use case you will be able to discover how the automotive production plant traceability system integration It allowed the monitoring of the manufacturing process of a product from the beginning to the end of the line.
The automotive industry is incorporating Industry 4.0 into its processes in order to achieve the development of smarter factories. In this way, companies in the sector benefit from technology by accelerating product development times.
It can often be expensive to acquire relevant data from manufacturing processes for decision making. Find out how SmartBusiness Link SINCI extracts and manages accurate information automatically, acquiring KPIs and queries in real time of the most critical variables of the processes.
If processes are automated with robots, there are efficient ways to monitor their status to reduce corrective maintenance. Smart Data Robots is a web application that reports critical information from robotic cells. In addition, it has the ability to dynamically extract, manage and display, in real time, the critical and fundamental variables for the operation of robots. Don't miss our use case: Monitoring of robotic cell variables in an automotive company.