Traceability as a strategic tool to improve inventory management: A case study in the food industry

Our aim in this research is to show that traceability can become much more than just a way to guarantee food safety. To illustrate this idea, we have developed a longitudinal case study of one firm in the Spanish vegetable industry. We show the reasons why this firm decided to implement a computerised traceability system, and we describe how the use of its traceability system has provided them with many qualitative and quantitative advantages along the different stages of their supply chain, their manufacturing operations and their inventory and logistics activities. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.