Color Changeover Logging

This topic is part of the SG Systems Global plastics, coatings, packaging and cleaning/changeover control glossary.

Updated December 2025 • Color Sequencing, Purge Waste, Clean-Down Records, Clean-Down Validation Between Fragrances / Colors, Allergen & Changeover Validation, MES, WMS, QMS • Plastic & Resin, Coatings, Cosmetics, Food, CPG

Color changeover logging is the formal record of what actually happens when a line, press or filler switches from one color or shade to another—what was running, what cleaning and purge steps were performed, how much scrap was generated, when the new color was accepted and who signed it off. It turns “we think we cleaned enough” into a time-stamped, traceable history that can be used to defend quality decisions, investigate complaints and refine color sequencing rules. Without it, color changeovers are a black box; with it, they become a controlled, optimisable process step.

“If there’s no log of when the old color ended and the new one really started, you haven’t done a changeover—you’ve just blended two production runs and hoped nobody notices.”

1) What Is Color Changeover Logging?

Color changeover logging is the structured record of a color switch on any process where color matters: injection molding, extrusion, blow molding, coatings, printing, bottling, cosmetics filling and more. It typically captures:

• The “from” and “to” colors or SKUs, including masterbatch or ink IDs.
• Start and end times of the changeover window.
• Purge and flush steps performed (volumes, cycles, temperatures, materials).
• Inspection checkpoints and first-article approvals for the new color.
• Scrap and rework quantities attributed to the changeover.

The log may be an electronic record in MES or a controlled form, but the point is the same: there is a transparent story about what happened, when, and with which results—not just a vague memory that “we changed color sometime before lunch”.

2) Why Color Changeover Logging Matters

Color issues are one of the most visible—and expensive—ongoing frustrations in many plants:

• Off-shade or streaked parts that scrap entire pallets or consignments.
• Residual color from a high-strength masterbatch bleeding into lighter SKUs.
• Fragrance or tint carryover in cosmetics and home-care lines, leading to customer complaints.
• Regulatory or brand problems when packaging color is tightly specified (e.g. medical devices, pharma, premium CPG).

Without color changeover logging, it is almost impossible to separate random variation from systematic changeover issues, or to prove that a given batch was run after the line was actually clean. With logging, you can pinpoint when the new color was accepted, how much off-shade scrap was generated and whether cleaning steps were followed. That is the basis for both process improvement and credible defence when customers query a shift in appearance.

3) Links to Clean-Down Validation, Allergen & Fragrance Changeovers

Color changeovers are closely related to other changeover controls:

• Clean-down validation between fragrances / colors: Proves that clean-down procedures remove residual color and fragrance to acceptable levels.
• Allergen changeover validation: For food and cosmetics, allergen-driven changeovers are often layered on top of color changes.
• Packaging line clearance: Ensures old-color labels, cartons or caps are removed before new-color product starts; see packaging line clearance verification.

Color changeover logging intersects with all three. It shows that clean-downs and changeover SOPs were actually executed and that the decision to declare “line is clean” was based on defined criteria, not on gut feel. In multi-category plants (food, personal care, household), these logs can also support broader cross-contamination and brand-protection arguments.

4) What Needs to Be Logged During a Color Changeover

A useful color changeover log usually covers five dimensions:

• Identity: Previous SKU and color ID, new SKU and color ID, including masterbatch or ink lot numbers.
• Time & sequence: When the last conforming old-color product was produced, when purge started, when the first conforming new-color unit was accepted.
• Actions: Purge volumes, materials, temperatures, screw or head pulls, screens or filters changed, line speed changes.
• Results: Visual or instrumental color checks, scrap quantities, any borderline decisions with rationale.
• People & approvals: Operators and supervisors involved, QA sign-offs where required.

For highly regulated or brand-critical lines, additional detail (photos, inline spectrophotometer traces, vision-system summaries) may also be stored. For lower-risk products, a lighter log may be sufficient, as long as it still lets you answer “what happened?” when complaints surface later.

5) Triggers for Color Changeover Logging

Color changeover logging should not be reserved only for dramatic shifts (e.g. black to white). Typical triggers include:

• Any change in masterbatch, pigment or ink, even within the same nominal color.
• Switches between high-load and low-load masterbatch formulations.
• Changes between opaque and translucent variants, or between matte and gloss finishes.
• Product family changes where color and other sensory attributes (odour, feel) shift together.

Risk-based rules can define when a full clean-down and log is required (e.g. dark to light, allergen-bearing to non-allergen, fragrance to fragrance-free), versus when a minimal record is acceptable (e.g. shade tweak within the same range). The key is that the rules are explicit, repeatable and visible in the QMS and scheduling tools—not left to “we’ll decide on the day”.

6) Roles & Responsibilities – Operations, QA, Planning & Maintenance

Reliable color changeover logging rests on clear responsibilities:

• Operators: Execute purge and cleaning steps, perform visual checks and record times, actions and scrap.
• Supervisors / line leads: Verify that SOPs were followed, resolve borderline product decisions, approve the point at which good new-color product is accepted.
• QA / technical: Define acceptance criteria, perform or review instrumental color checks where used, and decide on reclassification or rework.
• Planning / scheduling: Sequence colors intelligently to minimise risk and changeover waste, aligning with cleaning and validation rules.
• Maintenance: Support planned interventions (e.g. screw pulls, filter changes) and capture recurring issues that show up in logs.

If logging is viewed as “extra paperwork for operations” rather than as a cross-functional risk control, it will be the first thing to be skipped under pressure. Shared ownership—and making logs genuinely useful to investigations and planning—is what keeps the discipline alive after the first audit visit is over.

7) Integration with MES, WMS & Batch Records

Color changeover logging is most powerful when it is embedded in existing systems:

• MES: Captures changeover start/end events on the work order, prompts operators through purge and clean-down steps, and links colour-acceptance checks to the BMR or DHR.
• WMS: Manages segregation of purge scrap, off-shade stock and good product; ensures off-shade material cannot be shipped as commercial product.
• ERP / planning: Uses historical changeover data to estimate realistic changeover times, scrap factors and sequencing constraints.

Paper logs taped to the machine may satisfy a minimal SOP requirement, but they rarely feed forward into planning or feed back into investigations. Digital logs, tied to orders and lots, can be mined for patterns, used to refine recipes and cycle times, and shown to regulators or brand owners as part of a coherent changeover story.

8) Complaint Handling, Traceability & Color Claims

Color complaints often arrive weeks or months after production. Color changeover logging helps answer questions such as:

• Was this batch produced near a color changeover, and if so, which direction (dark→light, fragrance→no fragrance, etc.)?
• What purge and cleaning steps were documented, and were acceptance criteria fully met?
• Did other customers or markets supplied from the same changeover window see similar issues?
• Were there related NCs or near-misses recorded at the same time?

Without logs, the default answer is often “we can’t be sure”, which usually translates into wider holds, broader recalls or goodwill credits. With traceable changeover logs, you can narrow root cause hypotheses, contain only genuinely affected lots, and demonstrate that your decisions were grounded in documented behaviour, not guesswork after the fact.

9) KPIs & Continuous Improvement for Color Changeovers

Once color changeover logging is in place, it opens up useful metrics, such as:

• Average and worst-case scrap and purge volume per color change type.
• Changeover duration by line, product family and direction (e.g. dark→light vs light→dark).
• Number of color-related deviations or complaints linked to changeovers.
• Compliance with required clean-down steps and sign-offs.

These KPIs can drive smarter color sequencing, better masterbatch choices, targeted investments (e.g. improved manifolds, self-cleaning heads) and revised SOPs. They also provide a quantitative way to measure the impact of kaizen events or capital projects focused on color control: fewer complaints, less scrap, faster changeovers, without sacrificing quality.

10) Typical Failure Modes & Red Flags

Weak color changeover control tends to show up in familiar ways:

• Logs filled in after the fact with generic times and identical amounts of scrap, regardless of actual conditions.
• Operators unsure which steps are mandatory versus “nice-to-have” during a rush change.
• Frequent off-shade or streaked product immediately after color changes, shrugged off as “normal”.
• Color complaints that cluster around certain lines, shifts or color sequences, with no clear data trail.
• QA discovering that not all color changes are recorded at all—some happen “informally” between orders.

These are not cosmetic details; they indicate that the plant is accepting uncontrolled blending of colors and potentially fragrances, flavors or even allergens. Fixing this requires tightening SOPs, embedding logging into normal MES/WMS interactions and making it clear that incomplete logs are a quality risk, not just a paperwork issue.

11) Paper vs Digital Color Changeover Logging

Paper forms can be a starting point, but they come with well-known drawbacks:

• Limited legibility and inconsistent completion.
• Delayed data entry into spreadsheets for analysis.
• Difficulty linking specific changeovers to specific pallets, lots or complaints.
• No real-time visibility for planners or QA during busy periods.

Digital logging—through MES terminals, tablets or integrated HMIs—reduces these issues. It can drive prompts and checks, time-stamp actions automatically, and tie color changeovers directly to specific work orders and inventory movements. For plants already moving toward paperless manufacturing, color changeover logging is a natural candidate to bring under the same umbrella as batch records, line clearance and cleaning logs.

12) Digitalisation & Industry 4.0 – Sensors, Vision & Models

In an Industry 4.0 environment, color changeover logging can be augmented with:

• Inline color measurement (spectrophotometers, cameras) feeding objective “on-shade / off-shade” decisions into the log.
• Flow, pressure and temperature data from extruders, coaters or fillers stored in a manufacturing data historian to explain why some changeovers are harder than others.
• Predictive models that estimate purge and scrap requirements based on color pairs, equipment configuration and history.

But as with everything digital, these tools amplify whatever baseline process you already have. If the underlying logging is inconsistent or optional, sensors will mostly reveal that inconsistency. The foundation remains a clear SOP, disciplined logging and a basic data structure that can support more advanced analytics when you are ready for them.

13) Implementation Roadmap & Practice Tips

For plants formalising color changeover logging, a pragmatic roadmap looks like this:

• Map flows & risks: Identify where color changeovers happen today, which products and customers are most sensitive, and where complaints originate.
• Define SOPs & criteria: Document required purge, cleaning and inspection steps for different changeover types (dark→light, allergen→non-allergen, fragrance→un-fragranced, etc.).
• Design the log: Agree which data fields must be captured, by whom and at which point in the process.
• Embed in MES/WMS: Implement digital forms or step lists so logging is part of the standard workflow, not an optional extra.
• Train & enforce: Make sure operators and supervisors understand why logging matters and how it protects them when things go wrong.
• Use the data: Start reviewing changeover logs in daily/weekly meetings; adjust color sequences, SOPs and maintenance practices using evidence, not anecdotes.
• Iterate: Refine codes, thresholds and templates as you learn which details matter most for your equipment and products.

The aim is not to flood the shop floor with new forms; it is to capture just enough structured information to make color changeovers predictable, explainable and continually improvable—without slowing the business down more than necessary.

14) Audit & Regulatory Expectations

While few regulations mention “color changeover logging” by name, related expectations show up in:

• Cosmetics and home-care: Evidence that lines are cleaned between different colors, fragrances and actives; see clean-down validation and MoCRA discussions.
• Food: Changeover controls as part of HACCP, allergen and foreign-material programmes, especially when colors differentiate flavours or allergen status.
• Medical devices & pharma: Consistent appearance and correct identification as part of DHR / BMR evidence, and prevention of mix-ups.

Auditors and brand owners may not ask “show me your color changeover logs” on day one—but they will ask how you avoid carryover, how you investigate appearance complaints and how you prove that the line was suitably cleaned and set up between SKUs. Color changeover logging is often the missing link that makes those answers credible and concise rather than speculative and painful.

15) What This Means for V5

For plants running the V5 platform, color changeover logging can be treated as a first-class workflow: not a side spreadsheet or paper form, but a guided, auditable sequence embedded across MES, WMS, QMS and external systems via APIs. Each V5 product contributes a piece of the puzzle:

• V5 Solution Overview – Describes how V5 treats changeovers—including color, allergen and fragrance changeovers—as part of an integrated manufacturing and traceability backbone. Color changeover events become just another class of time-stamped shop-floor events, recorded alongside production, downtime, cleaning and inspection history.
• V5 MES – Manufacturing Execution System – Provides the operator-facing workflow for color changeover logging. V5 MES can:
  • Prompt operators when a work order sequence implies a color or fragrance change.
  • Enforce step-by-step purge and clean-down actions before the new order can be released to full speed.
  • Capture purge volumes, scrap, inspection results and sign-offs directly into the eBMR or DHR for that run.
• V5 WMS – Warehouse Management System – Controls how color-related scrap, purge material and off-shade product are handled. Via V5 WMS, changeover scrap can be:
  • Clearly labelled and routed to appropriate destinations (regrind, waste, rework).
  • Kept separate from good stock using the same location and bin/zone topology used for resin and finished-goods segregation.
  • Linked to specific changeover events for costing and continuous improvement.
• V5 QMS – Quality Management System – Governs the SOPs, risk assessments and investigations behind color changeovers. V5 QMS can:
  • Control changeover and clean-down procedures, including validation of “worst-case” color sequences.
  • Capture color-related deviations and complaints, pulling in V5 MES changeover logs as evidence.
  • Drive CAPA and training when patterns of color issues emerge in specific lines, products or sequences.
• V5 Connect API – Connects V5’s changeover logs to external tools:
  • Inline color-measurement systems and vision tools can feed objective “on-shade / off-shade” results back into V5 MES records.
  • Corporate analytics platforms can consume changeover data to optimise color sequencing and purge rules across multiple plants.
  • Customer portals and regulatory reporting tools can be supplied with curated changeover evidence without manual file handling.

In practice, this means a plant can start by capturing simple color changeover checkpoints in V5 MES, then grow into a richer model where V5 WMS, V5 QMS and V5 Connect close the loop between planning, execution, quality and external stakeholders. The glossary idea of color changeover logging becomes a visible set of screens, rules and reports inside V5—evidence that changeovers are engineered and traceable, not left to chance and memory.

FAQ

Q1. Do we need full color changeover logs for every small shade adjustment?
Not necessarily at the same level of depth. A risk-based approach is typical: major changes (dark→light, fragrance→un-fragranced, allergen-bearing→non-allergen) warrant full logging and clean-down documentation; minor shade tweaks within a validated range may use a lighter record. The key is to define these tiers in the QMS and apply them consistently, rather than deciding ad hoc on the line.

Q2. Where should color changeover logs live—on paper, in MES or in QMS?
For small, low-risk operations, controlled paper forms may be acceptable. As complexity and regulatory exposure grow, electronic logging via MES—linked to QMS procedures and batch records—becomes far more robust and searchable. Ideally, the same system that knows which order is running (MES) should drive and store the changeover log, with QMS providing the SOPs and governance.

Q3. How does color changeover logging relate to allergen and fragrance controls?
In many plants, color, fragrance and allergen status are linked. A validated allergen or fragrance changeover usually includes (and goes beyond) a color changeover. Logging color changeovers—times, clean-downs, inspections—provides part of the evidence set that allergen/fragrance controls were followed. Where allergens are involved, logs should explicitly reference the allergen-changeover SOP and acceptance criteria.

Q4. Can we treat color changeover scrap as normal process scrap without logging?
You can, but it weakens both traceability and improvement efforts. Without a log, it is difficult to separate “steady-state” scrap from changeover-driven scrap, or to demonstrate that off-shade product was fully contained. Logging allows you to attribute scrap and waste to specific changeovers, improve sequencing and SOPs, and defend decisions about what was or was not acceptable for shipment.

Q5. What is the first practical step if we currently do not log color changeovers at all?
A realistic first step is to pick one representative line and define a simple, one-page (or one-screen) log capturing previous/new color, times, purge actions, scrap estimated and first-article approval. Run this for a limited set of high-risk or high-value products, review results in daily/weekly meetings, and refine. Once you see clear value—fewer arguments, clearer investigations—you can standardise and roll the pattern out to more lines and products, using MES to remove as much manual effort as possible.

Related Reading
• Changeovers & Cleaning: Clean-Down Validation Between Fragrances / Colors | Packaging Line Clearance Verification | Allergen Changeover Validation (Consumer Products)
• Materials, Flow & Traceability: Silo and Gaylord Tracking | Resin Moisture Recording | Batch & Lot Traceability for CPG Manufacturing | Traceability & End-to-End Lot Genealogy
• Systems & Governance: V5 Solution Overview | V5 MES – Manufacturing Execution System | V5 WMS – Warehouse Management System | V5 QMS – Quality Management System | V5 Connect API | Quality Management System (QMS) | MES – Manufacturing Execution System | Warehouse Management System (WMS)