Vision and Challenges for Realising the Internet of Things

terfaces introduced in the Indisputable Key project support integration of non EPC standard
readers to Traceability Services.
TS Visibility offers comprehensive visibility of products in the distributed supply chain by
implementing selected parts of the EPCIS Query and Capture interface.
Figure 4.9-5: Visibility throughout the supply chain.
The IK extension to EPCGlobal interfaces enables Traceability Services to connect product
traceability data to process information which provides means to monitor and analyse the
performance of a company in real time.
3 Monitoring environmental performance
Continuous monitoring and control of processing conditions and product quality is normal
procedure in most of today’s industrial production. Introduction of the necessary tools for a
similar follow-up on the environmental performance of the production processes and the generated
products gives the industry the opportunity to be more actively involved in the environmental
protection. This is part of the traceability system developed in Indisputable Key,
where it is applied and tested in the wood products industry. The impact on the environment
is registered in the traceability system and easily accessible to the user.
On-line monitoring of the environmental performance brings the potential to detect appropriate
improvements in the process to limit the environmental impact caused by the production.
The methodology can be used either for the entire wood supply chain or for a separate process
in the supply chain. On-line monitoring of environmental performance is not restricted to the
wood products industry. The same methodology can be applied in any production chain or
process. A similar application was developed and applied at a municipal wastewater treatment
plant in the EU FP6 project HIPCON [3].
The conventional approach for analyzing the environmental impact of product manufacturing
is to calculate the yearly average impact based on annual information. Compared to that approach
the more detailed information recorded in the traceability system, collected from different
parts of the supply chain and related to an individual product or a product batch, provides
a much more effective base for proactive environmental management in the industry.
3.1 Key Performance Indicators
In order to keep the information presented to the industrial user at a comprehensible level,
whilst still meeting the project objective to create a tool that includes environmental impact
from a life-cycle perspective, a set of environmental Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for use
in the wood industry were defined. The majority of the proposed KPIs were established in line
with the international LCA standard (ISO 14040 and ISO 14044) with some additions of specific
KPIs of particular interest for the wood products industry. 11 indicators are used in the
project:
1. Climate change
2. Acidification
3. Eutrophication
4. Stratospheric ozone depletion
5. Ground level photochemical ozone
6. Depletion of non-renewable resources
7. Human and ecological toxicity
8. Biodiversity
9. Resource use
10. Generated waste
11. Water emissions
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