Cost-Effective Implementation of a Temperature Traceability System Based on Smart RFID Tags and IoT Services

[EN] This paper presents the design and validation of a traceability system, based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and Internet of Things (IoT) services, intended to address the interconnection and cost-implementation problems typical in traceability systems. The RFID layer integrates temperature sensors into RFID tags, to track and trace food conditions during transportation. The IoT paradigm makes it possible to connect multiple systems to the same platform, addressing interconnection problems between different technology providers. The cost-implementation issues are addressed following the Data as a Service (DaaS) billing scheme, where users pay for the data they consume and not the installed equipment, avoiding the big initial investment that these high-tech solutions commonly require. The developed system is validated in two case scenarios, one carried out in controlled laboratory conditions, monitoring chopped pumpkin. 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The role of packaging in minimising food waste in the supply chain of the future

This report focuses on packaging opportunities that may help to reduce or recover food waste, proposes opportunities for industry to address food waste through innovative and sustainable primary, secondary and tertiary packaging. Food security is an emerging challenge for policy makers and companies in the food supply chain. The global population is expected to grow to 9 billion and demand for food by 77% by 2050. Over the same period food production will be under threat from climate change, competing land uses, erosion and diminishing supplies of clean water. One of the solutions to this dilemma is increased efficiency and waste reduction in the food supply chain. This report focuses on packaging opportunities that may help to reduce or recover food waste. Packaging has a vital role to play in containing and protecting food as it moves through the supply chain to the consumer. It already reduces food waste in transport and storage, and innovations in packaging materials, design and labelling provide new opportunities to improve efficiencies. Product protection needs to be the primary goal for packaging sustainability, and sometimes this requires trade-offs between packaging and food waste. The report draws on an international literature review and interviews with representatives from 15 organisations in the Australian food and packaging supply chain. It considers food waste along the entire food supply chain, but with a particular emphasis on food waste that occurs prior to consumption, i.e. during agriculture production, post-harvest handling and storage of raw materials, and in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector consisting of food manufacturing, wholesale trade, food retail and distribution and food services. Food rescue through charities is also a focus of the report. Over 4.2 million tonnes of food waste is disposed to landfill in Australia each year. Around 1.5 million tonnes of this is from the commercial and industrial sector (the focus of this report), costing around $10.5 billion in waste disposal charges and lost product. The largest single contributor in the commercial and industrial sector is food service activities (e.g., cafes, restaurants, fast food outlets), which generate 661,000 tonnes of food waste per year, followed by food manufacturing (312,000 tonnes) and food retail (179,000 tonnes). Most waste in food manufacturing is unavoidable, and almost 90% is already recovered as animal feed, compost or energy

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RFID Technology in Intelligent Tracking Systems in Construction Waste Logistics Using Optimisation Techniques

Construction waste disposal is an urgent issue for protecting our environment. This paper proposes a waste management system and illustrates the work process using plasterboard waste as an example, which creates a hazardous gas when land filled with household waste, and for which the recycling rate is less than 10% in the UK. The proposed system integrates RFID technology, Rule-Based Reasoning, Ant Colony optimization and knowledge technology for auditing and tracking plasterboard waste, guiding the operation staff, arranging vehicles, schedule planning, and also provides evidence to verify its disposal. It h relies on RFID equipment for collecting logistical data and uses digital imaging equipment to give further evidence; the reasoning core in the third layer is responsible for generating schedules and route plans and guidance, and the last layer delivers the result to inform users. The paper firstly introduces the current plasterboard disposal situation and addresses the logistical problem that is now the main barrier to a higher recycling rate, followed by discussion of the proposed system in terms of both system level structure and process structure. And finally, an example scenario will be given to illustrate the system’s utilization

TRACEABILITY IN THE U.S. FOOD SUPPLY: ECONOMIC THEORY AND INDUSTRY STUDIES

This investigation into the traceability baseline in the United States finds that private sector food firms have developed a substantial capacity to trace. Traceability systems are a tool to help firms manage the flow of inputs and products to improve efficiency, product differentiation, food safety, and product quality. Firms balance the private costs and benefits of traceability to determine the efficient level of traceability. In cases of market failure, where the private sector supply of traceability is not socially optimal, the private sector has developed a number of mechanisms to correct the problem, including contracting, third-party safety/quality audits, and industry-maintained standards. The best-targeted government policies for strengthening firms' incentives to invest in traceability are aimed at ensuring that unsafe of falsely advertised foods are quickly removed from the system, while allowing firms the flexibility to determine the manner. Possible policy tools include timed recall standards, increased penalties for distribution of unsafe foods, and increased foodborne-illness surveillance.traceability, tracking, traceback, tracing, recall, supply-side management, food safety, product differentiation, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Benefits through Utilising EPC Network Components in Service‐Oriented Environments – an Analysis Using the Example of the Food Industry

Improvements in the food sector imply enhancements of delivering food which is safe, affordable, readily available, and of the quality and diversity consumers expect. However, prevalent information systems (IS) of companies in the food industry are not ready to support further significant improvements. They especially lack the capability to exchange relevant information in an efficient manner. Since recently, two major developments can be observed from IS perspective: the spreading of service-oriented architectures (SOA) as well as an increase in mass serialization (due to public and private traceability requirements, e.g.). So far, though most important due to food safety, a growing need to become more efficient as well as an increasing information demand of consumers, the food sector has attracted little attention in literature concerning an analysis about the potential of both service-orientation and the Electronic Product Code (EPC) Network. This is why this paper will investigate to which extent these two developments can contribute to facilitate food companies’ IS helping them to maintain their competiveness. As a starting point, the research paper will depict the state of the art including SOA and the EPC Network. After describing the research approach, it will proceed with a characterisation of the food sector including an examination why there is need for action. Based on current research findings as well as experience gathered in recent projects, the paper will investigate the application of the EPC Network with its three major components, i. e. EPCIS (EPC Information Services), ONS (Object Name Service) and the EPC Discovery Services, as part of future IS architectures in this sector. The paper will close with a discussion whether the envisioned IS architecture is appropriate to accomplish the previously identified challenges and requirements in the food sector in a more agile, efficient and effective way. What is more, it will highlight the most pressing challenges and provide an outlook as to the following steps of the research

Towards a Diagnostic Instrument to Identify Improvement Opportunities for Quality Controlled Logistics in Agrifood Supply Chain Networks

 Western-European consumers have become not only more demanding on product availability in retail outlets but also on other food attributes such as quality, integrity, and safety. When (re)designing food supply-chain networks, from a logistics point of view, one has to consider these demands next to traditional efficiency and responsiveness requirements. The concept ‘quality controlled logistics’ (QCL) hypothesizes that if product quality in each step of the supply chain can be predicted in advance, goods flows can be controlled in a pro-active manner and better chain designs can be established resulting in higher product availability, constant quality, and less product losses. The paper discusses opportunities of using real-time product quality information for improvement of the design and management of ‘AgriFood Supply Chain Networks’, and presents a preliminary diagnostic instrument for assessment of ‘critical quality’ and ‘logistics control’ points in the supply chain network. Results of a tomato-chain case illustrate the added value of the QCL concept for identifying improvement opportunities in the supply chain as to increase both product availability and quality. Future research aims for the further development of the diagnostic instrument and the quantification of costs and benefits of QCL scenarios

Monitoring cold chain logistics by means of RFID.

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Study of internet usage in the fresh produce supply chain in the UK and China

A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy of the University of BedfordshireFresh produce supply chain management faces a high level of complexity and uncertainty and a number of challenges due to fresh produce's perishable, seasonal and fragile characteristics. It is argued that effective implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (leTs) has great potential for improving efficiency and reducing wastage within the fresh produce (fruit and vegetable) supply chain. While' the Internet is used by many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the fresh produce industry, the extent to which it is applied and further developed after the initial adoption varies widely. Much research has been carried out to investigate Internet adoption and usage, but very limited effort has been focused on the identification of the current level of technology integration and deve!opment and the factors affecting the level of the development after the adoption, especially in the context of SMEs in the fresh produce supply chain. This research attempts to address this issue by developing a theoretical framework to illustrate the evolutionary process of Internet adoption and diffusion and to identify factors affecting the development of Internet-based supply chains by following the Technological/Organisational/Environmental (TOE) framevork. First, five development levels of post-adoption of Internet technologies in the supply chain were defined, and factors from the technological, organisational and environmentalcontexts were identified according to literatures and exploratory interviews. Second, questionnaire surveys were conducted in the UK and China to investigate the current situation of internet technologies used by SMEs in the fresh produce supply chains in the two countries. Finally, factors the proposed framework were validated and discussed. The empirical findings show that the Internet is no longer a new technology for most fresh produce SMEs in the UK and China. However, a large proportion of SMEs surveyed are still using basic functions of the Internet, and there is little difference between the UK and Chinese SMEs when comparing the use of complex applications in the supply chains. The results also show that most of the factors in the organisational and technological contexts are positively related to the current development levels of the Internet-based supply chain, whereas, in the environmental context, pressures from customers in the UK and mutual trust among partners in China have a significant impact on current development levels. Additionally, in both countries, companies in a better development level of Internet-based supply chain would achieve a higher degree of integration in their supply chain in five years. Overall, the research has made a number of important contributions to knowledge, current debate and practice in an under-researched sector. The five-level post-adoption framework can be adapted to identify ICT development levels and key factors in other sectors. The empirical data collected has added value to and sheds lights on the current applications of the Internet in the supply chain in general, and in the fresh produce SMEs in China and the UK in particular. The key factors identified as impeding the further development of the Internet, such as factors related to the business environments in the UK and China, will help government policy-makers, supply chain facilitators and IT service providers to be more focused in their efforts to improve the situation and to stimulate the further diffusion of emerging Internet technologies. The research has certain limitations due to the time constraints and sample selections. These limitations provide a platform for directing future research