New Trace Express Viewer software from CDC Software

Oct 27 2009

CDC Software Corporation (NASDAQ: CDCS), a global provider of enterprise software applications and services, today announced the availability of Trace Express Viewer, a new solution for its Ross ERP Lot Trace application that enables easier use, faster access and immediate forward and backward trace functionality to identify suspect materials and assist in the disposition of finished goods in the event of a product recall - key functionalities for product safety and compliance.

The new solution helps manufacturers ensure the safety of their products and secure the trust of their customers while facilitating industry and government regulatory compliance. With Trace Express, food processors, life sciences and chemicals enterprises can quickly obtain a graphical representation of the Lot Trace that instantly enables the user to trace forward and backward to determine the disposition and related properties of any ingredient, intermediate or finished product at any point throughout the materials receiving, manufacturing, inventory, sales and delivery processes.

Trace Express provides a highly intuitive user experience that is expected to help dramatically reduce the time it takes to identify, review and process data related to a particular Lot throughout a user’s Supply Chain. This new product also helps reduce response times to potential problems, which can ultimately ensure brand protection.

“Trace Express offers rapid traceability capabilities that is greatly needed in our industry especially when you consider that one recall can put a food manufacturer out of business,” said John Shaw, director of Information Technology and Purchasing at Litehouse Foods, a leading manufacturer of dressings, dips and sauces and a long-time customer of Ross ERP. “This tool will save us significant time in not only the track and trace process but its ease of use also will cut the time it takes to train our workers in this new solution. Ease of use is very important since we need our quality assurance and manufacturing staff to perform the actual track and trace processes rather than relying on our IT staff.”

“One of the deciding factors for our selecting Ross ERP recently was its traceability functionality,” said Barry Calhoon, vice president, IT/Administration of S.T. Specialty Foods, a leading private-label manufacturer of dry-dinners based in Brooklyn Park, Minn. “We expect Trace Express Viewer to be a helpful tool in our quality control and food safety processes.”

“Trace Express Viewer raises the bar in safety and quality control by providing dynamic and comprehensive visibility in the track and trace processes for enterprises in highly regulated industries,” said Alan MacLamroc, chief product and technology officer of CDC Software. “We believe that this new product will not only help manufacturers further reduce the risks of an actual recall, but also proactively provide the brand assurance that all participants in the supply chain, including consumers, are currently seeking as global concerns about food and drug safety continue to rise.”

“Trace Express Viewer is also the first of two major deliverables planned for release for product safety and quality control, which we have developed in record time compared to earlier versions of Lot Trace. Using Agile, our development methodology based on highly collaborative and iterative processes, we were able to deliver Trace Express in about half the time versus the traditional waterfall development model. We believe that this significant improvement will apply to our other products in development as well.”

The Ross Enterprise suite of applications provides comprehensive record keeping and audit trails which are critical requirements for manufacturers in highly regulated industries, such as food, pharmaceutical and chemical processing. Trace Express provides easier access and one-step track and trace that offers a 360 degree view into a product lot’s activity and quality history. Ross Enterprise serves as the operational system-of-record, capable of recording all operations and operator activities, quality control measurements, inventory movements, recipe changes, output production yields and deviations from standard specifications by individual product and material lot.

As part of Ross Enterprise suite, Trace Express particularly helps manufacturers meet the requirements for rapid and thorough traceability as outlined in numerous, global regulations such as the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Bioterrorism Act of 2002, the European Union’s Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, and others. In addition to complying with new regulatory compliance thresholds, Trace Express also helps manufacturers, acting as suppliers, meet the demands from their larger customers in retail and distribution for brand protection measures such as mock recall audits.

In Life Sciences, for example, Ross provides cGxP compliant transaction processing and work flow systems for materials management, manufacturing, financials and the extended life science supply chain. Ross ERP and Trace Express also enable pharmaceutical companies to provide electronic pedigree (ePedigree), detailing a drug’s path through the supply chain, for any product they produce in the event that a drug is "selected" by an inspector. In addition, Ross enables manufacturers to comply with FDA’s mandate in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) requiring drugs meet quality, potency and purity standards.

Trace Express is available now with Ross ERP 6.3 service pack 5.