Serialization and track-and-trace enable the verification of products as they travel through the supply chain. Verification can provide stakeholders with insights into a product’s chain of custody, change of ownership, authentication, and recall status.
Frequentz provides several mechanisms stakeholders can use to view the authenticity and pedigree of a product. With permission, trading partners and government regulators can also use IRIS’s traceability portal to view a serialized product’s chain of custody and verify its serial number.
Moreover, our mobile solutions extend to the end consumer/patient level the power to verify product authenticity. A user can simply scan a product’s barcode, and our mobile solution will query the IRIS repository to ensure the serial number aligns with the requested product.
Verification alleviates supply chain problems and introduces several business benefits including:
- Business Insights
Ensuring trading partners are receiving the correct products is essential and garners trust. If a trading partner uses the traceability portal and comes across an invalidated product, a business can have greater accuracy in pinpointing the location within the supply chain where bad business practices may be in place. - Brand Protection
Serialization and verification lead to more accurate information and visibility along a supply chain, raising the cost barrier for counterfeiters and increasing the ease of finding counterfeit product entry points. - Customer Retention
Improved risk- and crisis-management strategies strengthen brand equity. The ability to reach customers directly through our mobile solutions and send recall notifications, for example, creates a new channel for direct consumer engagement, generating trust between brands and their customers. - Targeted Recalls
The granularity of product data that is collected, when analyzed, can enhance the ability to understand where a problem may have been introduced into the supply chain. Immediate access to this data enables you to engage in direct consumer engagement channel and push messages directly to stakeholders and customers who may have purchased a harmful product. - Returns and Reverse Logistics
Just as consumers can use this system to verify a serialized product’s authenticity, businesses can the system to verify that a product that has been returned is the correct product.
A Potential Use Case for Using the IRIS Traceability Portal:
Scenario: A government regulator, suspicious of a drug and its origins, wants to view the drug’s chain of custody. The regulator requests the distributor or retailer to provide details on the chain of custody for the drug, using its particular and unique ID.
Procedure: The regulator uses the traceability portal web UI, enters the unique ID, and initiates the query into IRIS.
Result: The regulator reviews the pedigree and can also address potential questions, such as:
- Did the pedigree request pass or fail?
- Is every change of ownership legitimate?
- Did the drug leave the country?
- Does the pedigree show any inconsistencies?
Explore Information Repository and Intelligence Server for more information on how verifying product can influence an entire supply chain process.
