New product tracking system from Avery Dennison

A new labeling system that allows manufacturers to meet US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) requirements for product tracking, and then manage the tracking data online, is now available from Avery Dennison.

The system, called Universal Track and Trace, consists of Avery Dennison printers, tag and label design software, and the D2Comm online data management tool.

‘Universal Track and Trace requires no custom programming,’ said Michael Dancausse, Avery Dennison product manager, in-plant printing solutions. ‘It allows users to print and capture the specific label data that is mandated by CPSIA, and then add a unique serial number on the label that ties it to additional production data. And we can make all this available online.’
 
The CPSIA regulations, which became effective on 14 August 2009, are designed to protect children by aiding in the recall of unsafe products, including apparel, footwear, bedding and accessories. The regulations require that a permanently applied label contains the product’s production location and date, as well as the manufacturer’s name and the product’s batch or lot number. The mandate affects apparel manufacturers in the US and importers who supply children’s products.

With the Universal Track and Trace program, factories can incorporate a unique alphanumeric identifier – or garment license plate – into product tracking labels; create links to component information and other specific manufacturing data; and view and download the data from a secure website. 

The unique alphanumeric identifier is the key to retrieving data about a specific component in a fabric lot. In the event of a garment recall, the label ID leads to the garment’s fabric supplier and then helps determine the full scope of goods that used the questionable fabric.

Universal Track and Trace can also be used by label designers who may want to save a fabric lot’s purchase order number even though the number does not appear on the label. They can save this data by having the Universal Track and Trace system take the whole data file used to print the labels. Specifically, the system captures the fabric lot and its purchase order number, and then aligns it with a bundle, cut order or even a specific garment by using a unique alphanumeric identifier.

In operation, the Universal Track and Trace solution is a two-part process. First, the user prints a contractor ID label that has been designed to identify which information to capture. Next, the user periodically connects to Avery Dennison’s D2Comm website. D2Comm captures the label data, including the specific serial number and its associated garment data, and stores it in a table. Once captured, the factory does not have to maintain separate data records on spreadsheets.

‘Avery Dennison assigns the factory’s label to a username, which authorizes only that person to view data,’ said Dancausse. ‘Marking the data in the label design triggers the data upload. Once uploaded, an authorized operator can select, view, and download data quickly and easily. Best of all, this is done without any custom programming. If you are printing your labels in-plant, you can be up and running today.’

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