Trending Toward Part Traceability Through DPM

As more automakers and suppliers see the cost benefits of traceability, I see the trend in traceability growing for the foreseeable future in automotive. More automakers are seeing the cost benefits of adding 2D (two-dimensional) marks to the parts and tracking them through the manufacturing process all the way to the customer. Even in other industries traceability is used to understand where everything is in the process and to keep records of what uniquely identified items are associated with which products singly as well as those in cartons or bundled into packages.

It’s fairly easy for manufacturers to implement a full traceability program. In many cases, it’s as simple as moving from a 1-D barcode on a label to a more permanent 2-D Direct Part Mark. The most important aspect for manufacturers to do is to make sure they choose a barcode reader that can handle real-world variations expected from their manufacturing process.