Suppliers should implement a system of traceability (digital or manual) of chemicals from chemical stores to finished products, including all processes involved (recipes).
In order to implement a traceability system suppliers are encouraged to document their inventory as “usage type” using the formula:
Example 1
On 1 August, a supplier had 500kg of softener in stock, and during that month, the facility received another 200kg. At the end of August, 450 kg of the softener was left in stock.
USAGE QUANTITY in August = (500 kg + 200 kg) – 450 kg = 250 kg
Example 2
At the beginning of September, there was 600 kg of softener stock. During this month, the facility received an additional 150 kg of softener. By the month's end, they still have 750 kg in stock as they did not use any softener.
USAGE QUANTITY in September = (600 kg + 150 kg) - 750 kg = 0 kg
In this scenario, the usage quantity for September would be 0 kg since no chemical (softener) was consumed during the month.
Example 3
In October, if there was no initial stock of the wetting agent (0 kg) at the start of the month, the facility received a delivery of 300 kg during this month. By the end of October, there were still 300 kg of the wetting agent in stock.
USAGE QUANTITY in October = (0 kg + 300 kg) - 300 kg = 0 kg
In this scenario, the usage quantity for October is 0 kg since the entire delivered amount remains unused.
The usage type inventory also helps suppliers with traceability when conducting root cause analysis for non-conformities for RSL in final articles and for wastewater testing in the ClearStream Report.
The traceability system can be implemented as a manual system of checking through production recipe sheets or digitised using ERP systems.
