Genealogy provides control of component consumption, component and WIP accuracy, improved component traceability, and compliance with customer requirements regarding change control and shipping. It provides visibility into the current status and location of the product, the activities that have been logged for the product, and all manufacturing personnel who have worked on the product. It solves the issue of tracking processes, resources, tools, and materials used during the manufacturing of a product. It also provides visibility and traceability into the complete product life cycle, from inception to “as-built” and “as-maintained”.

Genealogy is the tracking of a product’s assembly through the manufacturing process. It supports the ability to do the following:

Using data collection processes, the system creates a comprehensive history of a component in the context of all manufacturing events and provides data for analysis. It allows you to trace component issues quickly, efficiently, and precisely to their points of use in all products.

For example, if a product fails, it can be traced back to where the product was built, how it was built, and with what components it was built, even down to the vendor. When diagnosing which components failed, you can find every assembly where a similar component has been used, thus enabling the points at which a defective component may have been used in other products to be located more quickly. This can reduce costly product recalls.