Example of Using Lot Trace Workbench

Example: A customer raises a complaint related to a specific item received at the end of 2011. The following steps show how you can use Lot Trace Workbench to investigate the customer complaint to find the root causes of a product failure. In this example, you:

• Find out if there were other shipments sent to the same customer.

• Search for all shipments from that lot for every customer.

• Search existing inventory so that you can return any faulty parts if necessary.

• Find the batch/production order used to produce this specific lot.

• Find how the product was produced and view the components issued to the work orders.

• Trace forward to view the total impact (view how many other work orders used this item).

• Forward. Explore downstream processes forward to the final destination of goods.

In this example, you are searching for details regarding a shipment in 2011 so you select a backward search.

2 Enter the customer and the item information in the search fields and click Search. The search results, which appear in the trace panel, show that there was a shipment to the customer in November 2011. This record displays the shipment information, such as the order number, the shipper name, and the lot number.

3 Add the lot number to the search criteria to find other shipments and inventory from that lot that have similar issues.

Search Results for All Shipments to Customer shows that the same lot was shipped at a later date to the same customer. With this information, you can contact the customer to find out if there were problems with this shipment as well.

4 To search for all the customer shipments for this item-lot combination, search the item number and lot/serial number.

Search Results for All Shipments to All Customers shows that there were four shipments for that item-lot combination that were delivered to three different customers. With this information, you can contact the other customers to find out if they have had problems with those items as well.

5 If all the customers are reporting failures from that item-lot combination, then search for all the inventory that has not been shipped yet. To view the current inventory levels, search for the item-lot combination.

Search Results for Existing Inventory shows that there is still inventory for this item-lot combination. With this information, you can put this inventory in quarantine so that the items are not shipped out to any other customers.

6 From the inventory details, drill down to view the transactional events for this specific lot to find out which batch or production order was used to produce this specific lot.

7 Drill down further to find the items and lots issued for this specific batch order.

Trace Back for Root-Cause Analysis: Product Component Information

8 Drill down further to view how the bulk product was produced. Trace Back for Root-Cause Analysis: Detailed Production Information shows the components issued to the work orders.

Trace Back for Root-Cause Analysis: Detailed Production Information

9 Drill down to view the production details of the Flavor 1 component. Trace Back for Root-Cause Analysis: Component Information shows the original receipt of raw materials that were used to create the Flavor 1 component as well as the supplier’s name and order number.

For this example, you discover that the item fails because of a production problem and not because of a bad component.

10 The next thing you must do is to view the data from the production transactions. To view the transaction data, right-click the record and select Launch Transaction Detail Inquiry.

Note: You can view the existing inventory at any level of the items used in the process.

Transaction Detail Inquiry Information shows the transaction details that were conducted when the item was produced.

11 Once you have viewed the transaction data for the production of that item, run a forward trace to view the total impact of the production run. To run a forward trace, right-click on the record and select Forward Trace.

12 Trace Forward for Impact Analysis: Work Order Information shows that the item was used in two different work orders. With this information, you can trace forward to see how this inventory was consumed and if finished products have been shipped to other customers.

13 By drilling down, you see that these finished product work orders were used to create the same item but for three different lots. These items are related with three lot and sublot combinations of the finished product.

Trace Forward for Impact Analysis: Work Order and Lot Information

14 With this information, it is easy to determine if any of the items were shipped to other customers and if there is still inventory in stock. Right-click the record and select Expand.

Trace Forward for Impact Analysis: Inventory and Shipment Details

15 Verify the exact quantities available for each lot on hand and the list of forward-linked transactions starting with receipt of this specific inventory record.

Trace Forward for Impact Analysis: Verifying Inventory and Forward-Linked Transactions

16 If desired, export the information to Excel so that you can apply more advanced filters and combinations. To export the information to Excel, click Export to Excel.