With manufacturing supply chains expanding beyond nations and getting increasingly complex, it has become critical to incorporate efficient serialisation. Yet, longer supply chains and the higher demand for on-time delivery make it difficult to improve distribution efficiency or reduce supply chain vulnerabilities such as theft, faulty goods, and improper packaging or storage of raw materials. Serialisation, although offers several benefits, also presents several challenges.

Let’s look at some of the top challenges to serialisation that manufacturing companies are likely to face:

• The complexity of loading:strong> One of the biggest serialisation factors that manufacturers face is interlinking serial numbers to delivery numbers. Since all parties in the supply chain need to be informed, in real-time, about the exact location of objects as they move through the supply chain, lack of integration between the loading process and the outbound process can lead to missed deliveries and poor customer satisfaction.
• Creating and managing unique codes:strong> In the realm of serialisation, creating, managing, and coordinating unique serialisation codes for individual products across each stage of the manufacturing process is also a challenge. In the absence of a standard, interoperable, and centrally configurable solution, manufacturers often find it difficult to integrate different codes and coding formats.
• The reliance on manual processes:strong> Serialisation actions that are manually triggered can cause several problems for manufacturers. Not only are manual processes more prone to error; they also tend to prolong the time taken to track and trace products across the manufacturing setup, especially with multiple SKUs, vendors, and daily deliveries. Manually monitoring, processing, and verifying the inward or outward flow of materials makes it impossible to link materials with receiving, while also causing inaccurate identification and verification.
• Selecting the ideal serialisation technology:strong> Manufacturers frequently must tailor their serialisation and labelling solutions to meet the requirements of different customers across different regions. Making the right technology decision for serialisation within a specific timeframe, such that the supply chain continues to function uninterrupted, is not an easy task. Manufacturers need to have a deep understanding of the various markets and varying requirements, while also being extremely confident about the serialisation strategy they will use to meet the needs of their customers.
• Dealing with recalls:strong> Today, traceability plays a huge role in effectively managing recalls across the manufacturing supply chain. But a poor approach to serialisation means inefficiency in backtracing, which makes it difficult to investigate, pinpoint, and isolate the root cause of a recall problem. In the long run, such inefficiency can negatively impact brand perception, profitability, and share price.
• Keeping up with increasing pressure from regulators:strong> Regulators are constantly putting pressure on manufacturing companies to take a stringent stance on product safety and supply chain integrity. But being transparent across the supply chain means manufacturers need to constantly and proactively evaluate their readiness to adhere to new and ever-changing regulatory requirements – which with improper serialisation – can lead to misjudging the pace of regulatory changes while putting the organisation behind the curve, scrambling to catch up to a changing market environment.