Traceability system for capturing, processing and providing consumer-relevant information about wood products: System solution and its economic feasibility

Current research and practice reports indicate the existence of purchase barriers concerning eco-friendly products, e.g. wood products. These can be ascribed to consumers' mistrust regarding the non-observable environmental impact of wood products. To counter the mistrust, wood products are commonly endowed with eco-labels, which may be perceived mostly as a marketing tool, therefore not fulfilling their intended purpose. Current studies have shown that providing consumers with wood product information based on traceability systems increases product trust and purchase intentions, with those information items most valued by consumers being identified as well. Based on this, the paper proposes a traceability information system for the capturing, processing, and provision of product information using examples of wood furniture. Furthermore, a cost-benefit model for the proposed solution is developed. The calculations indicate the possibility of implementing traceability at the item level based on a four-layer system architecture enabling the capture and delivery of all information valued by consumers at acceptable costs. The proposed system helps to overcome purchase barriers of eco-friendly products, increasing consumers' product trust and purchase intentions

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

A Systematic Literature Review of Blockchain-Based Traceability Solutions

Blockchain technology shows great potential in providing object-related end-to-end traceability in complex multitiered supply networks. However, the first systematic literature reviews indicate the immaturity of current blockchain-based solutions and highlight difficulties in assessing their object traceability capabilities. Therefore, this paper provides a systematic literature review of blockchain-based traceability solutions and analyses their object-related mapping capabilities. As the systematic literature reveals, the vast majority of the identified traceability solutions deal with low-complexity architectures without the ability to map objects' compositional changes. Here, food and medical supply chains represent the most dominant domains. Supply chains in the automotive and manufacturing domain place the highest requirements for mapping object-related supply chain events. In this context, solutions incorporating the tokenisation of objects show the most advanced object-related mapping capabilities. However, the identified advanced solutions show limitations regarding their ability to map object deletions, aggregations, and disaggregations. Furthermore, current blockchain-based traceability solutions provide only limited validations based on industrial case studies

An RFID-Based Tracing and Tracking System for the Fresh Vegetables Supply Chain

The paper presents an innovative gapless traceability system able to improve the main business processes of the fresh vegetables supply chain. The performed analysis highlighted some critical aspects in the management of the whole supply chain, from the land to the table of the end consumer, and allowed us to reengineer the most important processes. In particular, the first steps of the supply chain, which include cultivation in greenhouses and manufacturing of packaged vegetables, were analyzed. The re-engineered model was designed by exploiting the potentialities derived from the combined use of innovative Radio Frequency technologies, such as RFID and NFC, and important international standards, such as EPCglobal. The proposed tracing and tracking system allows the end consumer to know the complete history of the purchased product. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the potential benefits of the reengineered processes in a real supply chain, a pilot project was implemented in an Italian food company, which produces ready-to-eat vegetables, known asIV gammaproducts. Finally, some important metrics have been chosen to carry out the analysis of the potential benefits derived from the use of the re-engineered model

Estimating Data Volumes of RFID-enabled Supply Chains

The widespread application of RFID tags in supply chains is said to cause enormous data volume problems and thus unprecedented challenges for systems and infrastructures. In order to unleash the potential of item-level RFID applications, such as data sharing and discovery across company boundaries, an unbiased understanding of emerging data volumes is necessary. However, quantitative data that provides factual argument is still scarce. Therefore, we present a simulation study based on a real-world scenario that reveals quantitative characteristics of the data volumes problem in an RFID-enabled supply chain and discuss its implications. Our results suggest that data volumes will be much lower than currently anticipated, but still bear significant challenges for researchers and developers of RFID infrastructures

Aligning business processes and IT of multiple collaborating organisations

When multiple organisations want to collaborate with one another they have to integrate their business processes. This requires aligning the collaborative business processes and the underlying IT (Information Technology). Realizing the required alignment is, however, not trivial and is the subject of this thesis. We approached the issue of alignment in three steps. First, we explored business-IT alignment problems in detail in a real-life business case. This is done in order to clarify what alignment of business processes and IT systems across a collaboration network entails. Second, we provided a business-IT alignment framework called BITA* (pronounce bita-star). The framework provides modelling abstractions for alignment. Third, we applied the framework in two real-life case studies, including the real-life business case used in step one. By applying the framework in practice we showed that the framework can, in fact, help to address the business-IT alignment problems that we identified in the first step. The work presented in this thesis is conducted over a number of years in the context of four large EU sponsored research projects. The projects focused on alignment problems in two very distinct application areas. Two projects were about realizing transparency systems for meat supply chains and constitute the first case study. The other two projects were about realizing multidisciplinary modelling collaboration systems and constitute the second case study. Although the projects were conducted sequentially the research questions were addressed iteratively over the years. The research methodology that shows how the framework is designed and how the case studies are applied is discussed in detail in chapter 2. In chapter 3 we present BITA*, a Business-IT Alignment framework for multiple collaborating organisations. The main challenges in designing BITA* have been what models to consider for alignment and how to compare them in order to make explicit statements about alignment. We addressed this problem by introducing allocation and alignment modelling constructs to help the alignment process, and the concept of business collaboration model to represent the models that have to be aligned. We identified three groups of stakeholders for whom we designed explicit design viewpoints and associated allocation and alignment models. The Business Process to Business Process (BP2BP) alignment viewpoint is designed for business analysts who have to align diverse business collaboration process models. The IT to IT (IT2IT) alignment viewpoint is designed for software architects to align the distribution of data and IT systems across a collaboration network. The Business Process to IT (BP2IT) alignment viewpoint is designed for an interdisciplinary team of business analysts and software architects who have to align the different ways of supporting business collaboration processes with distributed IT system. An essential element of this thesis has been elaborating how business-IT alignment problems occur in the context of multi-organisational collaboration. The case studies were used to demonstrate business-IT alignment concerns. Particularly, the details of the first case study presented in chapters 4 and 5 were used in chapter 3 to help derive the alignment framework. The case study presented an ideal problem scenario since realizing transparency across supply chains is intrinsically a collaborative effort. The second case study was used to enhance the validity of our approach. The results of the second case study are presented in chapter 6. The alignment framework was designed during the iterative process we followed when realizing a generic transparency system for meat supply chains. To realize the required generic transparency system we needed a reference architecture. To derive the reference architecture we adapted an already existing and broadly-accepted generic reference architecture. We have to adapt the generic reference architecture in order to address specific requirements of the meat sector that were not considered in the generic reference architecture. The adaptation process made it clear that we needed models for representing business collaborations. We, therefore, introduced the notion of business collaboration model, which we used both to model reference architectures and to adapt them. Adaptation required aligning the generic reference architecture with the diverse business collaboration models adopted by the organisations that have to collaborate. The alignment framework is thus used for adapting a generic reference architecture in order to create a reference architecture that the collaborating organisations can, and are willing to, adopt. We identified three types of business collaboration models: business collaboration process model, business collaboration IT model, and a model for representing the relationship between these two. A business collaboration process model is a business process model that spans a collaboration network. A business collaboration IT model is a model of the distribution of the IT across the collaboration network. A business collaboration process-IT model is a model of the relationships between the elements of the business collaboration processes and the elements of the distributed IT. Each organisation is considered to adopt its own business collaboration models. For instance, different actors in meat supply chains have different views on how chain-wide transparency should be realized. Which business processes and IT systems each organisation has to deploy and use depends on the business collaboration models each food operator adopts. If two different food operators adopt the same set of business collaboration models, they are aligned; otherwise they are misaligned. Hence, alignment entails comparing the different business collaboration models adopted by the participating organisations. The results of the alignment process are explicit statements about how convergent or divergent the organisations are from the chosen generic reference architecture. The explicit statements of alignment guide how best the generic and the corresponding organisational business collaboration models can be adapted to create a better state of alignment. To further enhance the validity of the overall approach the second case study was conducted. The second case study was a retrospective investigation of two past research projects focusing on aligning environmental modelling processes and IT systems. A retrospective case study was chosen because launching a new business-IT alignment project involving multiple collaborating organisations was not feasible. The projects were undertaken to support the European Water Framework Directive, which mandated, among other things, participatory, multidisciplinary, river-basin wide and model-based studies to manage the water resources of Europe. The directive particularly required a collaborative approach to building environmental decision support systems and to deriving methodologies for applying existing decision support systems. We applied BITA* to aligning environmental modelling processes and IT systems in order to evaluate the suitability of the framework to addressing alignment problems in other application areas. The contributions of the thesis are summarized in chapter 7. The contributions include a number of design artefacts, which can be grouped into four categories: constructs, models, methods, and instantiations. The contribution in the first category includes the conceptualization of allocation and alignment. The contributions in the second category include allocation and alignment models, and reference architectures. Allocation models are representations of business collaboration models in a form that can be compared and are the basis for alignment modelling. The main contribution in the third category is the BITA* systematic approach to alignment modelling. The contributions in the fourth category are the software systems developed with the help of the reference architectures.</p

Extended food supply chain traceability with multiple automatic identification and data collection technologies.

Hu, Yong.Thesis submitted in: October 2007.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-129).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1. --- Background and Motivation --- p.1Chapter 1.2. --- Objectives of the Thesis --- p.3Chapter 1.3. --- Scope of the Thesis --- p.6Chapter 1.4. --- Structure of the Thesis --- p.6Chapter Chapter 2. --- Review of Related Technologies --- p.8Chapter 2.1. --- Scope and Requirements of the Supply Chain Traceability --- p.9Chapter 2.2. --- Automatic Identification and Data Collection Technologies --- p.14Chapter 2.2.1. --- Introduction to the AIDC Technologies --- p.14Chapter 2.2.1.1. --- The Barcode --- p.14Chapter 2.2.1.2. --- The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) --- p.17Chapter 2.2.1.3. --- The Sensors for Food --- p.19Chapter 2.2.1.4. --- The Global Positioning System (GPS) --- p.23Chapter 2.2.2. --- Frequencies of the RFID Systems --- p.25Chapter 2.2.3. --- Encoding Mechanisms for the RFID Tags and Barcode Labels --- p.30Chapter 2.3. --- Standards and Specifications of the EPCglobal --- p.34Chapter 2.3.1. --- The EPCglobal Architecture Framework --- p.34Chapter 2.3.2. --- The EPCglobal EPCIS Specification --- p.39Chapter 2.3.3. --- The EPCglobal Tag Data Standards --- p.42Chapter 2.4. --- RFID Applications in Food Supply Chain Management --- p.43Chapter 2.5. --- Anti-counterfeit Technologies and Solutions --- p.45Chapter 2.6. --- Data Compression Algorithms --- p.47Chapter 2.7. --- Shelf Life Prediction Models --- p.49Chapter Chapter 3. --- Architecture and Scope of the Application System --- p.54Chapter 3.1. --- Application System Architecture --- p.54Chapter 3.2. --- Application System Scope --- p.55Chapter Chapter 4. --- The Tracking and Tracing Management Module --- p.60Chapter 4.1. --- Overview --- p.60Chapter 4.2. --- AIDC Technologies Adopted for the Traceable Items --- p.62Chapter 4.3. --- Mechanism to Achieve the Nested Visibility --- p.70Chapter 4.4. --- Information Integration in the EPCIS --- p.75Chapter 4.5. --- Anti-counterfeit Mechanism --- p.82Chapter Chapter 5. --- The Storage and Transportation Monitoring Module --- p.90Chapter 5.1. --- Overview --- p.90Chapter 5.2. --- Compression of the Sensor Data --- p.93Chapter 5.3. --- Management of the Sensor Data --- p.95Chapter 5.4. --- Responsive Warning Mechanism --- p.102Chapter Chapter 6. --- The Sensor Networks Enabled Assessment Module --- p.108Chapter 6.1. --- Overview --- p.108Chapter 6.2. --- Management of the Sensor Network Data --- p.110Chapter 6.3. --- Active Warning Mechanism --- p.114Chapter Chapter 7. --- Conclusions --- p.122Chapter 7.1. --- Contributions --- p.122Chapter 7.2. --- Future Work --- p.12

Supply chain traceability using blockchain

Mestrado em Gestão MBARastreabilidade é a capacidade de rastrear a origem, a história e a distribuição de produtos numa cadeia logística. Para implementar rastreabilidade completa, é crucial estabelecer uma cadeia de custódia, normalmente definida como uma sequência de procedimentos que valida a propriedade e o controle de produtos ao longo da cadeia de logística. No mercado atual globalizado, as cadeias de logística podem abranger um grande número de países e fronteiras e exigir a interoperabilidade de numerosas organizações. Esta vastidão e complexidade impacta a competitividade dos negócios e dificulta a segurança, e a transparência da cadeia de logística. A implementação da rastreabilidade é fundamental para que as organizações possam posteriormente demonstrar a rastreabilidade, proveniência e integridade e conformidade do produto. A tecnologia Blockchain, com os seus atributos de descentralização, transparência e imutabilidade, tem sido apontada como destinada a revolucionar vários setores, com aplicação ao gerenciamento de cadeias de logística. O presente estudo começa pela revisão da literatura publicada para encontrar aspetos que influenciam o problema e segue a Metodologia de Pesquisa de Projeto para analisar os requisitos e propor uma solução para um sistema de gestão de cadeia de logística com melhor rastreabilidade. Os resultados da tese são artefactos de arquitetura, incluindo um contracto inteligente para Ethereum e um sistema de autenticação baseado em certificados, que permitem a implementação de um sistema de cadeia de logística suportado em Ethereum Blockchain que providencia aos seus utilizadores e ao consumidor final, as funcionalidades de proveniência, rastreabilidade e cadeia de custódia.Traceability is the ability to trace the origin, processing history, and the distribution of products in a Supply chain. In order to implement a complete traceability system, it is crucial to establish a chain of custody. Chain of Custody is typically defined as a sequence of procedures that validates the ownership and control of products along the supply chain. In the current global marketplace supply chains can span a huge number of countries and require interoperation of a multitude of organizations. This vastness of supply chains impacts business competitiveness since it adds complexity and can difficult securing traceability, chain of custody and transparency. In this work it is proposed a complete approach for organizations to be able to demonstrate traceability, provenance (proof of origin) and product integrity and compliance. Blockchain technology with its attributes of decentralization, transparency and immutability has been touted to revolutionize several industries, and most recently has been proposed for supply chain management (SCM). The present study reviews the published literature to find the aspects that influence the problem and then follows the Design Science Research Methodology to analyze the requirements and propose a solution to a more complete traceability in SCMs. The results of this thesis were architectural artifacts, including an Ethereum SC (Smart Contract) and a certificate-based authentication system. These deliverables would allow implementation of a supply chain system over the Ethereum Blockchain that can provide decentralized and trustful assurance of the provenance, chain of custody and traceability functionalities for the participants and consumers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enterprise System Design for RFID Enabled Supply Chains from Experience in Two National Projects

Two national demonstrator projects have been developed using global RFID standards to explore the suitability of this pervasive technology to the fast moving consumer goods supply chain. The projects show that RFID technology is still not reliable enough to produce advantages over traditional tracking technologies. This paper reviews the processes and gaps in these experiences, and assesses future research opportunities in this area. A system modelling approach is used to understand the relationships between different sub-systems in the enterprises of the supply chain and examine the enterprise processes that drive the activities in the national projects. Based on these analyses, an enterprise system model is proposed for designing future development of RFID based supply chains