Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - May 2008 - (Page 35)

the ability to find product and put a hold on it anywhere in the supply chain, Kozenski says. “It’s really like hitting a magic button. You say ‘I have an issue with this item or lot code’ and you hit the button and the system automatically disseminates data across the network and creates notifications to people outside the network.” Some industries, particularly telecommunications and high-tech, use serial numbers on products, which greatly facilitates tracking, says Roger Counihan, Atlanta-based senior consultant at Capgemini. “Every mobile phone, for example, is uniquely identified and these companies have product lifecycle systems that can track each individual serial number,” he says. “This allows them to be more rigorous and targeted when they have to do a recall. They can identify specifically which handsets are impacted and quickly locate those products.” Pharmaceutical companies also are either using or moving toward serialization, driven by e-pedigree programs in California and Florida. With SAP, pharmaceutical companies can assign a unique serial number down to every bottle of a drug and associate that to how it is packaged, which manufacturing batch and lot it came from, and what suppliers delivered the ingredients associated with the product. All this information is linked to orders and transportation data, says Mantripragada. “We provide solutions that tie all that information together in a single platform,” he says. Axway, Scottsdale, Ariz., also provides serialization solutions to pharmaceutical companies. “We enable these companies to capture serialization data as the product leaves their facility, so they can then associate that information to all of the product master data, which includes lot number and expiration date and also information about who it was shipped to,” says Kim Loughead, director of health-care business development. “So if there is a problem, we can just recall specific serial numbers. Our technology helps pinpoint the subset of a batch that needs to be recalled, then identifies the customers that need to be notified.” In any recall, “the likelihood that you are destroying good product is quite high,” Loughead says. “So what we are trying to do with our technology—and where serialization and some of these regulatory initiatives are going—is to be able to do more targeted recalls.” Loughead believes that all industries gradually will move to serial-number tracking. “The technology is there and I think all companies will begin to realize that it is more cost-effective for them to capture a serial number on the outbound and associate it to their next sales point than to try and figure out what products need to be recalled from an entire lot.” Counihan agrees that more industries will adopt the use of serial numbers. “Computer technology definitely is available now to sup- port serialization, so I think you will see it coming on in other industries fairly quickly.” One emerging technology that will make it easier for more companies to use serialization or other unique identifiers is a new barcode known as the S1 DataBar (formerly Reduced Space Symbols or RSS). According to GS1, the barcode standards organization, the DataBar can carry more information than the current EAN/UPC barcode, specifically serial numbers, lot num- The Center for Executive Education offers courses in Supply Chain, Lean Enterprise, Process Improvement, and Leadership Development, as well as High-Compression LearningSM Executive MBA Programs GLOBAL LOGISTICS & SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES 35 http://www.supplychain.utk.edu http://www.supplychain.utk.edu

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Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - May 2008 Contents Editorial GL and SCS Exclusive Fast Forward Up Front Cover Story: 'Be Prepared Is Motto that All Companies Should Follow When It Comes to Recalls Here and There 1+1=One Opinion Can't Happen Here Industry Voices

Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - May 2008

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