Fundamentals of Quality Assurance

Learning Outcome 3. Q1 (a). The term 'traceability', refers to the completeness of the information about every step in a process chain. In the service industries it refers to the capability of tracing goods along the distribution chain. It is an important aspect, for example in the automotive industry, where it makes recalls possible, or in the food industry where food safety is of great importance. There are a number of factors that are recognised to …

…control it ensures information can be retrieved easily allowing for the complete traceability of any products or goods. Using ISO 9002, all of the afore mentioned factors combine to help maintain the level of quality of any given product or service and each one is of great importance, however when it comes to identifying and recording these products or services, without records, batch and user identities, certificates and authorised signatures etc, traceability would be extremely difficult.