Traceability and RFID
What is product genealogy (batch genealogy)?
Product genealogy records which material lots, components and process steps went into each finished batch or unit, enabling forward and backward traceability.
Quick answer
Product genealogy, or batch genealogy, is the record of which material lots, components, machines and process steps went into each finished batch or unit. It supports backward traceability (where did this come from) and forward traceability (where did it go), so a problem can be contained to exactly the affected products.
Updated 30 October 2026. Written by the Ajinkya Technologies engineering team, reviewed by Amey Kadle.
Product genealogy explained
Genealogy is built from parent and child relationships. When material lot A and component lot B are consumed to make batch C, the system records the link, along with when, where, on which equipment and under which conditions. Repeating this at every step creates a tree from raw material to shipped product.
With that tree, a quality problem found in one raw material lot can be traced forward to every batch and customer that received it, so a recall or hold covers only what is affected rather than weeks of production. A complaint about one finished unit can be traced backward to its inputs, machine settings and test results to find the root cause.
The GS1 Global Traceability Standard frames traceability in terms of identifying traceable objects, parties and locations, and recording events about them. In practice the hard part is capturing consumption accurately on the floor, especially when lots are split, merged or partially consumed. Scanning or RFID reads at the point of use, interlocks that block the wrong material, and machine data linked to the batch make genealogy reliable without slowing operators down.
Key concepts
- Parent and child links between lots
- Backward and forward traceability
- Includes machines, conditions and test results
- Contains recalls to affected batches only
- Scan or read at the point of use
Questions
What is the difference between traceability and genealogy?
Traceability is the ability to follow an item’s history and location. Genealogy is the specific record of parent and child relationships between materials, components and products that makes it possible.
Why is genealogy hard when lots are split or merged?
Each split or merge creates new relationships that must be recorded at the moment it happens, with quantities. Manual records often miss them, which breaks the chain.
Which industries require genealogy?
Pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food, automotive and aerospace all have regulatory or customer requirements, and many other manufacturers use it to contain quality issues.
References
How we help with genealogy
We build genealogy into MES and traceability systems with scans or RFID reads at the point of use, so every batch links to its materials, machines and results.
Traceability rules by industry, with dates and sources, and how to build for them.
Go deeper
Related terms
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