Traceability
Track any lot from inbound receipt through production to outbound shipment. Rona ERP provides complete lot genealogy — forward and reverse tracing across every production hop — critical for quality management, regulatory compliance, and recall management.
Why traceability matters
- Quality issue management — trace problems to source
- Regulatory compliance — FDA and food safety requirements
- Recall management — targeted recalls instead of blanket recalls
- Supplier accountability — identify problematic suppliers
- Customer trust — demonstrate quality control
- Cost reduction — minimize recall scope and impact
Lot genealogy
Lot genealogy is the complete history of a lot from creation to consumption — every movement, transformation, and relationship with other lots.
| Origin | Supplier, manufacture date, receipt date |
| Quality status | Inspection history and current status |
| Consumption | Which production batches consumed this lot |
| Output | Which lots were produced from this lot |
| Shipments | Which customers received products from this lot |
| Movements | Complete movement ledger |
Forward tracing
Forward tracing finds all products that contain a specific lot — used when you discover a quality issue with a raw material and need to find all affected finished goods.
Scenario — lot LOT-2026-001 (wheat flour) failed quality inspection
→ Consumed in production batch BATCH-001
→ Produced finished lot FG-LOT-001 (Bread Loaves)
→ Shipped to Customer A (50 units)
→ Shipped to Customer B (30 units)
Action — recall 80 units from Customers A and B
Without traceability
You would have to recall ALL bread loaves produced during the entire period when the lot might have been used — potentially thousands of units across all customers.
With traceability
You know exactly which 80 units were affected and can target the recall to those specific customers — minimizing cost, protecting brand reputation, and maintaining customer trust.
Reverse tracing
Reverse tracing finds the source of a finished good lot — used when a customer reports a quality issue and you need to identify which raw materials caused the problem.
Scenario — customer reports an issue with Bread Loaf FG-LOT-001
← Produced from production batch BATCH-001
← Consumed Wheat Flour LOT-2026-001 (0.5 KG)
← Consumed Yeast LOT-2026-002 (0.01 KG)
← Consumed Water LOT-2026-003 (0.3 L)
← Consumed Salt LOT-2026-004 (0.005 KG)
Action — investigate which input lot caused the issue
Multi-hop tracing
Production hop tracing tracks lots through multiple production stages — essential when raw materials become intermediate products, which then become finished goods.
Hop 1 — raw material to intermediate
Wheat Flour LOT-001 → Dough LOT-A
Hop 2 — intermediate to finished good
Dough LOT-A → Bread Loaf FG-001
Full trace: FG-001 → LOT-A → LOT-001 → Supplier
Data sources
| Inventory | Lot creation, movements, stock balances |
| Manufacturing | Material consumption, production output |
| Quality | Inspection results, lot status changes |
| Sales | Shipments, customer allocations |
| Audit | All state changes with timestamps |
Tracing with Rona AI
Ask questions about lots in natural language and get instant answers with full genealogy.
Trace lot LOT-2026-001
5 hops. Received 500 KG from Supplier X → QA approved → 50 KG consumed in PO-BREAD-044 → FG-LOT-001 produced → shipped to Customer A.
Which lots are expiring this month?
3 lots. LOT-001 expires Jan 15, LOT-002 expires Jan 20, LOT-003 expires Jan 28. Total value: ETB 45,000.
Regulatory compliance
| One-up-one-down | Track immediate supplier and customer |
| Full chain | Complete genealogy across all hops |
| Audit trail | Immutable records of all changes |
| Reporting | Generate compliance reports on demand |
| Recall plans | Pre-defined recall procedures |
Best practices
- Always assign unique lot numbers to every receipt
- Record lot information accurately (supplier, dates, expiry)
- Inspect all lots before releasing from quarantine
- Use lot tracing for every quality issue investigation
- Maintain accurate lot relationships in production
- Regularly review expiry dates and plan accordingly
- Train staff on lot tracking procedures
AI lot tracing
Five-hop genealogy on demand — the fastest way to investigate quality issues and scope recalls.