What is Track and Trace?

Track and trace is the process of tracking the movement and location of physical goods throughout the supply chain. With the threat of counterfeit goods, product recalls, and food contamination, track and trace is essential. Track and trace is regulated for industries such as pharmaceuticals (U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act) and food and beverage (FDA Food Safety Modernization Act).

SAP Track and Trace Offerings

SAP offers a few track and trace solutions:

• SAP Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals — This application helps companies comply with regulatory reporting as well as provide a corporate serialization repository and serial number management.
• SAP Logistics Business Network, global track and trace option — SAP describes this offering as one used to capture, process, and store tracking information about tracked business processes. Companies also gain real-time visibility into the processes tracked. The offering allows queries of tracked processes and the display of end-to-end data results.
• SAP Corporate Serialization — This application provides a corporate on-premise serialization system that helps customers with cross-industry serialization and object-level track and trace capabilities for regulatory compliance and process visibility. Customers include tobacco companies, telecommunication providers, and producers of potentially dangerous materials.

Key Considerations for SAPinsiders

What is Track and Trace?

Track and trace is the process of tracking the movement and location of physical goods throughout the supply chain. With the threat of counterfeit goods, product recalls, and food contamination, track and trace is essential. Track and trace is regulated for industries such as pharmaceuticals (U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act) and food and beverage (FDA Food Safety Modernization Act).

SAP Track and Trace Offerings

SAP offers a few track and trace solutions:

• SAP Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals — This application helps companies comply with regulatory reporting as well as provide a corporate serialization repository and serial number management.
• SAP Logistics Business Network, global track and trace option — SAP describes this offering as one used to capture, process, and store tracking information about tracked business processes. Companies also gain real-time visibility into the processes tracked. The offering allows queries of tracked processes and the display of end-to-end data results.
• SAP Corporate Serialization — This application provides a corporate on-premise serialization system that helps customers with cross-industry serialization and object-level track and trace capabilities for regulatory compliance and process visibility. Customers include tobacco companies, telecommunication providers, and producers of potentially dangerous materials.

Key Considerations for SAPinsiders

• Track and trace product through serialization. Whether it’s pharmaceutical, automotive, or aerospace and defense products, serialization is a critical process for identifying a single bottle/part or product case. Tim Craigmyle, Senior Managing Consultant for IBM Global Business Services, writes that serialization of materials has been utilized in many industries for several years to identify components, finished goods, returnable containers, and repair parts. Read the article “What Is Serialization, and How Does It Relate to Track and Trace?” to learn about SAP and serialization capabilities.
• Redesign your inventory process for tracking and tracing parts. Knowing where your critical inventory is located and its condition is essential to maintaining production equipment. For example, AGL, an Australian energy business, utilized its SAP Fiori app and integrated it with SAP S/4HANA to track rotable and repairable parts for its assets. According to Ruksana Azim, SAP S/4HANA Supply Chain Specialist at AGL, the company’s sites were decentralized in their approach to inventory management, using their own spreadsheets and third-party solutions — but still with the inability to accurately track parts down to the serial number and condition. However, the implementation of SAP S/4HANA created an opportunity to redesign the management of rotable parts and integrate that process into AGL’s core ERP functionality in SAP S/4HANA. Azim says AGL’s team was able to track every rotatable and repairable part in its work sites and warehouses. Read the full article to learn how AGL utilized SAP Fiori and SAP S/4HANA for its track and trace inventory strategy.