Industrial traceability is the ability to find out, at any time, where a product comes from, how and with what it was made, and where it went. It relies on a unique identifier (batch or serial number) carried by the product and recorded at every step, from receipt of materials to delivery. Mandatory in food, pharmaceuticals and batteries, it is used above all to target a recall, prove compliance and trace a defect back to its cause.
Industrial traceability: definition and principle
The European food safety regulation gives a definition that applies to all of industry: the ability to trace, through all stages of production, processing and distribution, the path of a product. Its principle comes down to three questions:
- where does this product come from: which suppliers, which batches of materials and components;
- how was it made: on which line, on what date, with which settings, by which team, with which checks;
- where did it go: which customers, which deliveries, which countries.
To answer them, each product or batch is given an identifier, which is read and recorded at every step.
Types of traceability
- Upstream traceability covers what enters the plant: suppliers, raw materials, components, packaging.
- Internal traceability follows the product through the plant: which material batches went into which batch of finished goods, on which machine and when.
- Downstream traceability covers what leaves: customers supplied, quantities, dates.
People also speak of forward traceability, starting from a material batch to find every finished product and every customer concerned (what a recall needs), and backward traceability, starting from a defective product to trace back to its materials, line and suppliers (what root-cause analysis needs).
Finally, there is batch traceability, the most common, and unit traceability, by serial number, required for safety parts, medicines or long-life equipment.
What regulations require
Obligations depend on the sector. A few key texts:
- Food: Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, Article 18, requires traceability at all stages of production, processing and distribution. Each operator must be able to identify who supplied a product and which businesses it supplied, and tell the authorities on request; products are labelled or identified to make traceability easier.
- Pharmaceuticals: since 9 February 2019 (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/161), each pack carries a unique identifier in a Data Matrix code: product code, serial number, batch number and expiry date. This is serialisation.
- Batteries: from 18 February 2027 (Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Article 77), every electric vehicle battery, every light means of transport battery and every industrial battery above 2 kWh placed on the market must have a battery passport: an electronic record accessed through a QR code linking to a unique identifier.
- All products, gradually: Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 on ecodesign, adopted on 13 June 2024, provides for a digital product passport. A product in a covered category may only be placed on the market if its passport is available; the content and data carrier are set category by category through delegated acts.
In automotive or aerospace, traceability requirements also come from the sector's quality standards and from customer contracts.
What traceability is used for in the plant
- Targeting a recall: without fine traceability, you recall everything. In March 2022, during a contamination of frozen pizzas in France, traceability analyses were part of the authorities' investigation, and the manufacturer recalled the entire range concerned.
- Finding the cause of a defect: tracing a defective part back to the material batch, the machine and the settings at the time.
- Proving compliance: to a customer, an auditor or an authority, part by part or batch by batch.
- Managing warranties and after-sales: knowing which version of a part is fitted to which product, and which spare part matches it.
- Preparing the digital passport: traceability data becomes information to share with customers and authorities.
Traceability technologies
- Linear barcodes carry a simple identifier, such as the GTIN, the global trade item number of the GS1 system.
- 2D codes (Data Matrix, QR code) carry more information in a small area: identifier, batch, serial number, date. A Data Matrix can be marked directly on the part by laser or dot peen and remain readable for its whole life.
- RFID is read without contact or line of sight, several tags at once, including on a moving product.
- Connected trackers follow the location of containers and equipment between sites.
- Software records and links the reads: ERP for batches received and shipped, MES for what happens in production, WMS for warehouse locations.
GS1 standards rest on three families: identification (how to number a product), capture (how to carry that identifier on a physical medium: barcode, Data Matrix, RFID) and data sharing between companies.
What manufacturers said at Tech for Industry Show
At Tech for Industry Show 2026, at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles:
- SNCF Voyageurs had been looking since 2015, with other European operators and Alstom, for a standard to identify parts whose maintenance can last 40 years; GS1 was chosen. Part marking became a company-wide project in 2022: 65,000 parts marked in 2023, 125,000 in 2024, 150,000 in 2025. More than 3,000 trainsets, about half the fleet, carry RFID tags read as trains pass. A mobile app lets any technician scan a part to see its identity, repair history and warranty, instead of searching several databases. Read the article
- Alstom now requires GS1 marking from all its suppliers in its framework agreements. Recording the identifier of each fitted part shows which supplier delivered it, which matters more when the same part is bought from several suppliers. The speakers cite the end of manual serial number entry errors and about 5 minutes saved per reading, on 5 million readings a year. Read the article
- Vossloh Cogifer marks the switch frogs from its Outreau forge with GS1 identifiers and shares their product sheets with SNCF Réseau; SNCF Voyageurs' rolling stock engineering estimates the gains from standardised product sheets at 0.5 to 2 million euros a year. Read the article
- SKF Magnetic Mechatronics builds a complete customer file for each machine it makes: certificates and traceability steps, from receipt of materials to subcontracting certificates, with the intermediate signatures. Read the article
- ACC, a battery cell manufacturer, considers the battery passport necessary: traceability of components back to the mine and knowledge of the manufacturing carbon footprint. It does not, however, see it as enough of a competitive advantage against Asian manufacturers. Read the article
The GS1 round table with SNCF Voyageurs and Alstom can be watched again as a replay: Better manage, track and optimize operations with GS1.
The 2027 traceability exhibitors
To meet at Tech for Industry Show 2027 (in alphabetical order):
- Acces Diffusion: distributor of automatic identification and traceability equipment.
- Brady IPS: mobile computers, data capture devices and software for operations.
- Koddex: a platform linking requirements, bills of materials, tests and certification in a traceable repository, for regulated industries.
- Rayonnance: publisher and integrator of mobility and traceability solutions, software and hardware, including RFID.
- Sensolus: connected trackers and a platform to follow the location of containers, pallets and equipment.
- Timcod: design and integration of traceability and industrial mobility solutions.
How to set up traceability in a plant
1. Start from obligations and risks: sector regulations, customer requirements, the cost of an over-wide recall.
2. Choose the level of detail: batch or serial number, and for which products and components.
3. Set the recording points: receipt, production start, material consumption, inspections, packing, shipping.
4. Choose the identifier and its carrier: GS1 standard or internal coding; label, direct marking, RFID.
5. Connect the software: ERP for inbound and outbound flows, MES for production, WMS for the warehouse.
6. Run a mock recall: start from a material batch and find, within a set time, every finished product and every customer concerned.
7. Plan for sharing: traceability data will feed the digital product passport in the sectors concerned.
Frequently asked questions
What is the principle of traceability?
Being able to answer three questions at any time: where a product comes from, how it was made and where it went, thanks to an identifier recorded at every step.
What is the difference between upstream and downstream traceability?
Upstream covers what comes in (suppliers, materials, components), downstream what goes out (customers, deliveries). In between, internal traceability links material batches to finished goods batches.
What is forward traceability?
Starting from a batch of material or components to find every product that used it and every customer supplied. It is the basis of a targeted recall. Backward traceability works the other way, from the product to its origins.
What information should a traceability label carry?
At least the product identifier and its batch or serial number; depending on the sector, the production or expiry date. For medicines, the unique identifier combines product code, serial number, batch and expiry date.
How do you track production?
By recording, at each operation, the production order, the batches consumed, the machine, the time and the inspection results, usually by scanning codes into an MES connected to the ERP.
Is traceability mandatory?
Yes in several sectors: food, pharmaceuticals, batteries from 18 February 2027, then the product categories covered by the digital passport. Elsewhere, it is often required by customers and quality standards.
