The importance and challenges of traceability in manufacturing

During my career, traceability has always played a significant role in solving problems. Usually, traceability has helped to identify the root causes of production problems and quality deviations. An engineer's job is often quite a detective job. Often, the roots of problems led to maintenance downtime.

In the process industry, there is a lot of online data, maintenance system device information and production diary entries. Even these were not always sufficient to identify the root causes of problems, because a lot of things are done outside of these systems, for example various experiments, adjustments and tunings.

Maintenance work during maintenance outages is managed using various check lists, paper work orders and work permits. After the event, equipment maintenance and repairs are documented in the maintenance system and a maintenance outage report is prepared. Check lists often indicate that the matter has been done, but often information about important observations, such as the condition of the items, is missing. Often, the root causes of problems were also found at the start of the plant: what had not been done and what temporary adjustments had been made. In terms of traceability, it was problematic that much of the information was on paper and not all the work had been recorded anywhere!

Traceability is often more difficult in terms of occupational safety. Work permit processes and risk assessments are mostly paper-based. Ensuring the safety of work sites is also often recorded on paper. In near-miss situations or when accidents occur, information about the incident is first sought from permits and other papers. Information can also be obtained by interviewing employees. One of the most challenging factors is the lack of time stamps in the chain of events: when the safety was made, when the risk assessment was made, when the work started and when the accident occurred. The time the work permit was issued does not indicate when the work started.

Traceability can be significantly improved with digital management tools and artificial intelligence. Better traceability is also directly linked to productivity! In future development work, it would be important to implement fully digital systems that integrate all key information – production, maintenance and safety – together. These systems should enable real-time data collection and analysis and automate routines, such as adding time stamps and identifying deviations. Artificial intelligence could support traceability by providing analyses and suggestions for fixing the root causes of problems. Investing in digital innovations can significantly improve productivity, safety and problem-solving processes.