Serial Number Tracking in Manufacturing: How IIoT Enables Complete Product Traceability
When a customer calls with a warranty claim, a regulator demands a recall, or a quality issue surfaces in the field, the first question is always the same: "Which production run made this unit?"
If your serial number tracking is a spreadsheet updated by hand at the end of each shift, you're guessing. If your MES captures serial numbers but not the machine conditions during production, you have traceability in name but not in substance. True product traceability means connecting every serial number to the complete story of how that unit was manufactured — which machine, which operating conditions, which materials, which operator, which shift.
IIoT platforms that capture real-time production data from PLCs are uniquely positioned to deliver this level of traceability, because the PLC already knows when each unit was produced and under what conditions. The question is whether your serialization system is connected to that data.