When a complaint comes in, the race against time begins: emails, folders, spreadsheets, and conflicting document versions start flying around. Everyone’s looking for answers, but no one has the full story.
We know something went wrong, but we don’t exactly know what, when, or why.
Sound familiar?
In industries like food, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, traceability might seem like a simple word, but it represents a world of complexity and opportunity.
When everything runs smoothly, no one talks about it. But when a batch fails, a customer complains, or an auditor shows up, traceability becomes urgent. And most of the time, we’re simply not ready.
Five signs you’re not prepared to handle a complaint:
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- Endless hours trying to reconstruct the history of a batch, data is scattered across spreadsheets, lab systems, emails, and paper files.
- Quality and production operate in silos, you know a batch failed, but not why.
- Chaotic audits, too much time spent finding reports that should be one click away.
- Duplicate efforts and lack of trust in the data, each department has its own version of the truth.
- Reputational and financial risk, unclear traceability can cost millions in penalties, lost trust, or costly recalls.
Traceability isn’t just a regulatory requirement, it can be a true competitive advantage when managed properly.
Thanks to the evolution of industrial technologies, solutions now exist to connect what used to be separate: quality, production, engineering, and business data can finally work together to deliver visibility, control, and trust.
Traceability shouldn’t be seen as an operational cost, but as a strategic investment that protects your reputation, improves efficiency, and speeds up decision-making.
Ignoring it doesn’t fix the problem, it only hides it… until it becomes a crisis
Solutions that can help you strengthen your traceability include:
MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems):
- Capture real-time production events
- Link orders, recipes, equipment, and operators
- Provide key performance indicators like OEE, availability, and efficiency
- Bridge plant-floor systems (PLC, SCADA) with business systems (ERP)
Limitation: May not fully integrate lab data or engineering specifications.
Industrial DataOps:
- Connects data from multiple sources (OT, IT, ET) into a unified access layer
- Automatically contextualizes data (by batch, equipment, line, condition, etc.)
- Enables data governance and traceability across systems without custom integrations
- Scales analytics and reporting solutions consistently across the organization
Limitation: Requires a minimum level of digital maturity and collaboration between IT, OT, and process teams to be effectively adopted.
LIMS (Laboratory Information Management Systems):
- Centralize lab results
- Manage versions of specifications and certificates
Limitation: Often disconnected from operational context (time, line, process conditions).
Dashboards, Power BI, automated reports:
- Provide visibility
- Enable retrospective analysis
Limitation: If the underlying data is misaligned or lacks context, the dashboard reflects chaos, not clarity.
Batch Management Systems:
- Execute and control batch processes sequentially and reliably
- Ensure repeatability using standard recipes and phases
- Automatically record critical parameters and batch-related events
Limitation: Focuses on execution, but may not integrate external contextual data like lab results or environmental conditions.
The real challenge isn’t just choosing the right technology, it’s orchestrating an ecosystem where data flows in a connected and reliable way.
At Omnicon, we guide organizations through that journey. We integrate processes, people, and technology so that traceability becomes a strategic asset, not a burden.
The real question isn’t whether you need traceability.
It’s whether you’re ready to stop struggling with a pain that already has a solution.
Business Development Manager