Westminster, CO -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/21/2013 -- The ability to quickly discern trouble spots can be accomplished by automatically illuminating suppliers with non-current documentation, highlighting potential supply chain disruptions from missing P.O.s, as well as pinpointing the suppliers and ingredients that are costing money.

Manufacturing journalist, Thomas R. Cutler recently contributed a feature article titled, “Automation via Supplier Scorecard,” published in the current issue of Automation and Controls Today. Cutler profiled TraceGains and concluded that rather than a reaction to a recall, it is best when automated solutions prevent out of spec ingredients from being shipped in the first place. This results in fewer reverse logistics activities.

TraceGains, based in Colorado, creates supplier documents; a management solution which prevents "bad stuff" (out of specification ingredients) from arriving in the first place. Assuring that the correct supplier documents and certifications are on file, (such as allergen statement, kosher, SQF, and BRC) is also important to verify that the finished good food product is compliant with business policies and customer requirements.

TraceGains (http://www.tracegains.com) is for quality, purchasing, product development, and other departments, that are burdened with manually managing suppliers and documents. TraceGains delivers full-service supplier, compliance, and regulatory document management solutions, including FSMA and GFSI. Unlike manual, ERP, or traditional document systems, TraceGains extracts data from documents and automatically takes action. TraceGains is proven to empower people to quickly solve problems, speed audits, and simplify continuous product improvement.

Supplier documentation storage, whether in file cabinets or in digital formats, may satisfy regulatory retention requirements, but does little to systematically unlock the wealth of business, compliance, and regulatory information they contain and you require on a daily basis to operate successfully.

By automatically analyzing and scorecarding supplier-provided documentation as it is received—such as certificates of analysis, qualification questionnaires, audit documents and their results, certifications (Kosher, Organic, etc.), insurance certificates, allergen questionnaires, and other import requirements (COOL, C-TPAT, FSMA, GFSI), among others—TraceGains helps food and nutraceutical manufacturers and ingredient processors automate document management, meet regulatory and industry compliance requirements, identify best and worst suppliers, source better with less risk, automatically raise product quality, and painlessly perform or participate in audits, all without needing to involve the IT department to help with complex technology.

TraceGains customers experience on average a 56% reduction in out-of-spec lot receipts, and a 20% reduction in attribute variability, resulting in enhanced continuous improvement, better performing ingredient and raw material inventory, improved cash flow, and long-term brand protection. Follow TraceGains on Twitter at @tracegains.

TraceGains, Inc.
http://www.tracegains.com
Marc Simony, Director of Marketing
pr@tracegains.com
720-465-9400