Are you prepared for a Product Recall?

Products can be deemed unusable because of an event that occurred at any point of the supply chain, from flawed raw materials to an expiration date on the shelves.

A story told at a CSCMP roundtable in NYC this month, described a recall example about a shipment of t-shirts that arrived from Asia. The t-shirts were contaminated because they were shipped in the same container as fresh garlic thus unusable. Preparing for product recalls is essential with these problems. 

A company will have to create a recall team. This team will consist of all parts of the company from Sales to IT. Also, contacts to the suppliers and distributors are vital to the process. The recall team will have to study and learn from others procedures to understand government regulations and best practices in their industry. As a benchmark the pharmaceutical and aerospace industries have good practices due to the standards required by the industry. 

A representative from Campbell Soup suggested having monthly mock recalls to ensure that everyone will know their tasks when a recall actually happens. Finally, reaching out to the customer and consumer is crucial to reduce bad public relations and to deter liabilities to the company.