INTEGRATED WAREHOUSE
EXECUTION SYSTEM
an integrated
Warehouse Execution
System: The key to effective
product traceability
By Dave Williams
VP of Software, Westfalia Technologies, Inc.
A
ccording to The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, approximately one in six people in the
United States fall victim to foodborne illness each
year. With these devastatingly high numbers and outbreaks
of salmonella and E. Coli becoming regular fixtures in the
news, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues
to implement more stringent standards and regulations,
including the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The
result has heightened the pressure on food and beverage
manufacturers to focus on product traceability across the
supply chain in effort to reduce spoilage or contamination
and protect consumers.
In order to mitigate recalls and ensure product quality,
manufacturers and distributors are turning to automation.
A warehouse execution system (WES) utilizing an auto-
mated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) is one of the
chief technologies making waves in efforts to reduce, if
not prevent, recalls, through sophisticated track-and-trace
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The Satellite Review
capabilities. Further, integrating a WES into a manufactur-
er’s supply chain management operations—connecting it
to systems both upstream and downstream—is the key to
tracking and tracing products end to end, from production
to point of sale. This allows manufacturers to respond to
problems within the production process more quickly, en-
suring that they are meeting regulation standards, and make
adjustments to manufacturing schedules in order to meet
consumer demand.
Straight from the Source
For most consumer packaged goods, ingredients may be
sourced from multiple suppliers, who in turn work with
multiple sources. Whether it is corn directly from a farm
or flour from a bulk supplier, it is important to be able to
trace these ingredients back to its source to ensure product
quality and safety. Tracing ingredients back to their source
also gives manufacturers in-depth insight into their supply
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