Can you Survive a Recall?
We've all seen the news reports about food recalls and experienced the panic that ensues. Who can forget the recent spinach and tomato scares and the public outcry that followed the FDA's inability to protect or even track our food supply? When a recall occurs with a branded product, the impact is even more long term as brands depend on loyalty and trust, which is compromised during such events.
This month, CGT partnered with TraceGains to take a look at how well consumer goods companies are prepared for potential recalls, and what they are doing to try and prevent them from occurring in the first place.
At first blush, our research revealed that the industry overall is not in the dark as much as we anticipated. This might be because of regulatory compliance requirements, as it was the primary benefit of one-third of our respondents for their traceability programs. When we asked if companies were able to determine which specific, incoming materials were included in each finished good produced, 72 percent responded yes.
But as they say, the devil is in the detail, and while many companies may appear to be in control, when we dug a little deeper, the results revealed companies that are at risk. The concern emerges with the 20 percent of respondents that take two to five days using current systems to track and trace and issue a recall alert, the 4 percent that would take between five and 10 days, and especially the 12 percent that take more than 10 days to issue a recall (see Figure 1).
This month, CGT partnered with TraceGains to take a look at how well consumer goods companies are prepared for potential recalls, and what they are doing to try and prevent them from occurring in the first place.
At first blush, our research revealed that the industry overall is not in the dark as much as we anticipated. This might be because of regulatory compliance requirements, as it was the primary benefit of one-third of our respondents for their traceability programs. When we asked if companies were able to determine which specific, incoming materials were included in each finished good produced, 72 percent responded yes.
But as they say, the devil is in the detail, and while many companies may appear to be in control, when we dug a little deeper, the results revealed companies that are at risk. The concern emerges with the 20 percent of respondents that take two to five days using current systems to track and trace and issue a recall alert, the 4 percent that would take between five and 10 days, and especially the 12 percent that take more than 10 days to issue a recall (see Figure 1).
The good news is that companies do have goals to improve the current situation, and more than 50 percent of those surveyed have an executive with a vice president title or higher in charge of traceability. When asked what they would change about their operation, most identified process improvements that would have a major impact: 25 percent cited getting more information about raw materials from upstream suppliers, and another 25 percent cited automating the collection of such data.
The stakes are high, but the industry is aware of the risk and the technology is available to help improve the traceability and recall process.
Click here to read this research in its entirety to find out what consumer goods companies are doing to prevent and/or improve their responsiveness to the dreaded recall.