An Ontological Approach to Defining and Systematizing Traceability Terminologies

This paper outlines a structured ontological approach to defining and systematizing numerous product traceability terminologies in novel token-based and traditional enterprise systems (ES). It will aid researchers and manufacturers in regulated industries in defining syntactical and semantic standards for objects and events in the traceability domain. In this paper, a design science research method supports the development of a backward-forward-enterprise ontology (BFEO) artifact that helps to design and manage the complexity of multi-organization enterprise networks. This paper compares and evaluates this ontological artifact against several ontologies, offering further development opportunities. Finally, traceability professionals and various developer communities can adopt and further develop the ontology using simple development tools

Digging for Quality Management in Production Systems: A Solution Space for Blockchain Collaborations

Quality management (QM) and efficient information sharing among value chain partners have been important IS research topics for decades. Today, IS researchers and practitioners hope to overcome various information inefficiencies in complex supply chains using blockchain approaches. Additionally, future traceability regulations increase companies’ interest in innovative blockchain-based enterprise solutions. We identified several factors that could hinder BC adoption, due to a lack of standards. This paper sheds profound light on organizational and technical aspects of blockchain enterprise applications to support future collaboration initiatives. Furthermore, it develops a terminology that researchers and practitioners can reuse. A case study describes several quality-related objects and events that characterize multiple dimensions and traceability types. Based on these findings, we provide a set of design principles to assist future design features. Finally, this paper provides a holistic orientation and implications for researchers and practitioners moving forwards

Tracing Back the Value Stream with Colored Coins

Tracing products through increasingly distributed and complex supply chains is a significant challenge. The blockchain technology is supposed to solve many problems as it promises to save time, avoid costs, reduce risk, and increase trust among the participants. It leads to many approaches that enable tracking and tracing of goods in supply chains. We found out that the proposed solutions are unnecessarily complicated and that there was no defined process to introduce a blockchain-based tracing solution in companies using lean principles. Therefore, we utilized a value stream mapping approach to develop a simple tracing mechanism based on colored coins and show how they can be implemented in companies. The resulting tracing mechanism and implementation process were evaluated with the partners of a joint research project and showed excellent future development potential

Plattform für das integrierte Management von Kollaborationen in Wertschöpfungsnetzwerken (PIMKoWe)

Das Verbundprojekt „Plattform für das integrierte Management von Kollaborationen in Wertschöpfungsnetzwerken“ (PIMKoWe – Förderkennzeichen „02P17D160“) ist ein Forschungsvorhaben im Rahmen des Forschungsprogramms „Innovationen für die Produktion, Dienstleistung und Arbeit von morgen“ der Bekanntmachung „Industrie 4.0 – Intelligente Kollaborationen in dynamischen Wertschöpfungs-netzwerken“ (InKoWe). Das Forschungsvorhaben wurde mit Mitteln des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) gefördert und durch den Projektträger des Karlsruher Instituts für Technologie (PTKA) betreut. Ziel des Forschungsprojekts PIMKoWe ist die Entwicklung und Bereitstellung einer Plattformlösung zur Flexibilisierung, Automatisierung und Absicherung von Kooperationen in Wertschöpfungsnetzwerken des industriellen Sektors