Traceability: an added value

Going beyond the standards required by ISO 9001, throughout the year 2015 CAE has completed a strategic project for the implementation of TRACEABILITY of all newly produced and installed components. The process required a huge investment both in economic and temporal terms but is now a key element of differentiation in terms of quality for the customer. 

To learn more, we interview CAE's Supply Chain Manager, Luca Benati. 

What is traceability and why has CAE chosen to invest in it?

When se say 'traceability' we mean the encoding, storage and use of all information regarding the life cycle of a certain item. This means first of all to know and be able to trace back to dates and characteristics of the supply chain and production items as well as the operators involved. Furthermore, the traceability system CAE introduced allows to map all of the installed products and follow their cycle maintenance in detail. Technically, this is possible thanks to the use of PDAs for scanning, of QR coding and labels resistant to all atmospheric agents. CAE's choice also depends on a growing propensity to efficiency and to further increase the quality of its products for the benefit of customers. The implementation of traceability on all components of the MHAS system allows the company to write a biography of every single item, allowing to manage damage risk more efficiently. 

How do CAE's customers take advantage from traceability?

The traceability of the supply chain, ranging from supply to installation and maintenance cycles, guarantees the customer a faster intervention than in the past since it allows to map the installations, to trace the production and to have all the supplies' references. For example, in case of a malfunction of the component X in the site Y, CAE is able to trace back to the source of the problem, to identify with certainty other sites in which the same problem may arise and to act preventively by replacing the component. Thanks to traceability, the intervention is targeted and it allows a better customer care.

If you should sum up the advantages of implementing traceability in CAE's products, what would you say?

I feel that traceability is synonymous with efficiency, which means coordination between physical and information flows, thus allowing:

- the optimization of logistics;

- the elimination of most of the causes of error;

- the provision of prevention and immediate resolution tools.

The introduction of the traceability system involved the structure, the work processes, the working environment and also the organizational culture: we are talking about a real change of mentality, with a strong focus on safety and quality to benefit the customer.