Traceability in industrial environments

Traceability, which in the past was based on the ability to retrieve historical data, is evolving. We no longer store data that could be used in the event of a problem. More and more often, the traceability function is no longer needed for retrospective purposes, but to work on data that is used in real time for visibility, coordination, flow routing and the dynamic organization of operations. We're really in the business of exploiting data within complex, multi-actor organizations.

The international GS1 organization has worked to set up traceability systems as they are today, through standards that constitute a set of rules of use and a common language enabling effective management of supply chains worldwide, with sequential operating possibilities: "in the event of a problem, I extract data that will enable me to draw conclusions for myself, but also so that the next person can benefit from it...". The challenge is to decompartmentalize traceability systems and enable traceability information to be easily recombined from a multitude of sources. We are no longer in a situation where each company operates its own traceability system, but in a world where traceability information will be used by companies wishing to interconnect with each other. Every logistical operation, every product movement, every flow must be accompanied by the publication of data ("events"). What moved? Where? When? In what context? Once we have such systems capable of publishing information, systems capable of understanding and dialoguing with each other, we are then in a position to reconstitute visibility on a wider scale... And this has a very strong potential in the reconfiguration of logistics organizations.