Manufacturing
Manufacturing and industrial supply
Material certificates, customer approvals and traceability by batch.
An industrial manufacturer sits in the middle of a chain: it receives certificates from suppliers and has to issue its own to customers. What almost always breaks is the link between the two: the material certificate is there, but there is no record of which delivered part it belongs to.
The three modules in the chain
| What | Module | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier material certificates and test reports | Trackline | Upstream |
| Technical agreements and specifications | Consigne | Both directions |
| Manufacturing record for a batch | SmartCheck | Downstream, where it may be disputed |
Important
Keeping the certificate is not enough: you must be able to say which certificate belongs to which delivery. When a customer complains about a part from two years ago, the question is not "do you have certificates?" but "which one was this part's?".
Frameworks cited
Product marking and declaration of conformity, work equipment requirements, quality management systems, and — depending on what you make — sector-specific rules and ecodesign with its product passport. What applies depends on the product and the destination market; confirm with your adviser or notified body.
Watch out
If you export outside the EU or import components, origin documentation takes longest to arrive and gets asked for most afterwards. Requesting it before you need it is the only way to have it.
Worth knowing
If a customer re-approves you annually with the same questionnaire, build it as a process. What they ask changes little between editions.
›Can I link a certificate to a specific batch?
Yes, and that is what lets you answer a claim in minutes.
›Does it serve for a customer audit?
It is exactly what gets shown: certificate, date and which delivery it belongs to.
›What about tests done by an external laboratory?
They go into the case as documentation, with their date and expiry if any.
A real case
The situation
A manufacturer receives a claim about a part supplied two years ago.
What you do
- Locates the batch and its linked material certificate
What you get
Answers within the hour with the exact certificate instead of absorbing the cost for lack of proof.
The situation
A client audits with two weeks' notice.
What you do
- Reviews the file before it lands
What you get
The gaps close with time to spare.
The situation
Supplier documentation is held per person.
What you do
- Centralises the files in one place
What you get
The answer does not depend on who is in.
The situation
A supplier certificate expires.
What you do
- Records expiries per supplier
What you get
The warning arrives before the next order.
The situation
A client asks for the traceability of one specific supply.
What you do
- Checks that delivery's file
What you get
You answer per delivery.
The situation
Every audit is prepared from scratch.
What you do
- Keeps the file current through the year
What you get
The second audit costs a fraction.
This article answers
- material quality certificate
- industrial supplier approval
- heat number traceability
- technical documentation for industrial customer