Revisiting traceability with Industrie 4.0 technologies

The fundamentals of material flow traceability in a production context, documented in the first 2006 version of this article, are still applicable in 2020. But the expectations of consumers and society as a whole have gone up a notch, leading to an increase in sectoral or national regulatory requirements, as well as those of manufacturers themselves throughout the logistics and production chain.

Fifteen years of technological developments have conceptualized the digital and industrial transformation of factories under the banner of Industry 4.0, with new possibilities and more affordable implementation costs.

This transformation has scarcely begun in our companies when the developments of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic already seem to be leading us to take a new turn in transforming our economic and industrial models. In the space of just a few months, as this article is being finalized, they have already changed our relationship with digital technology, both as individuals (with widespread telecommuting more or less well received) and in terms of our companies' understanding of its key role in business continuity plans.

This article illustrates how consumer and market expectations of traceability have evolved, what new digital technologies can contribute to traceability, and how a modernized traceability foundation can form the basis of this industrial transformation.