Conclusions from the workshop
The ISO/CASCO workshop was well attended both physically and via the Internet. It was broadcasted through the Internet allowing a larger audience (approximately 140 persons) to follow the presentations and discussions. Due to the success of the Webinar (Internet) facility all future workshops will be simultaneously broadcasted over the Internet.
This year the workshop was organized in four sessions namely:
- Presentations from the food sector
- Presentations from the industry and consumer sector
- Presentation from industry associations
- Presentations from standards developers and regulators
Responding to a request from ISO/CASCO members, this year the workshop focused on industries representatives perspectives. The positive response from different industrial sectors demonstrates their interest and the importance they associate to standardization and the global supply chain, even in this period of economic turmoil.
The primary objective was to identify areas ISO could address at the international level. It was also to enlighten ISO/CASCO about the use of International Standards in the field of supply chain management and traceability, and to see whether it was necessary to fill a gap (whether it be with an information document, a Guide or an International Standard). Finally, this workshop would assist ISO/CASCO on how it could contribute to the improvement of practices in the global supply chain.
The format of the workshop allowed for interaction and discussion between the panel and the delegates: sessions of three presentations were followed by round table discussions.
The conclusions of the ISO/CASCO workshop are:
- The term traceability is ideally meant to cover both the concepts of traceability and accountability, because tracing a product is not enough.
- Tools implemented in a traceability system allow to identify weak links in a supply chain, thus an important element for the improvement of supply chain security.
- Traceability of services is a future trend to be carefully considered (traceability of data during any data exchange between IT products, traceability of health services interventions, etc.)
- Management Systems Standards can help in managing a supply chain and/or a traceability system.
- In specific industries (pharmaceutical, etc.) there is a move towards implementing international standards in managing the global supply chain. This is being driven by regulators in many sectors.
- There is a need for ISO to promote to industry the available standards for both the supply chain and traceability to ensure a better uptake. This would include ISO Standards on security management in the supply chain (ISO 28000 series).
- Traceability is an important factor in managing the supply chain and needs to be part of any management system for supply chain. This is especially applicable for products with long life cycle.
Webinar: facts and figures
Registered: 153
Logged in to the Webinar (attendees): 72 (47%)
The attendees were representing 32 countries (Belgium - Bolivia - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Brazil - Bulgaria - Canada - China - Colombia - Egypt - France - Germany - Great Britain - Guatemala - India - Japan - Korea, Democratic People's Republic of - Mexico - Netherlands - Norway - Pakistan - Panama - Peru - Portugal - Slovakia - Spain - Sri Lanka - Switzerland - Taiwan - Thailand - Turkey - United Arab Emirates – USA)
Post-Webinar surveys completed: 27 (37.5% of the attendees)
To the question "How would you rate the content of this workshop (1 is worst and 5 is best)?", the surveyed gave an average rating of 4.1
To the affirmation "This workshop met my expectations", the surveyed agreed at 96% (9 strongly agreed, 17 agreed, 1 disagreed, 0 strongly disagreed)
The attendees generally expressed their satisfaction in that the workshop was valuable because it raised their awareness with regard to: Standards in general, trends in conformity assessment and conformity assessment procedures, ISO 9001, GS1 mechanisms.