Purpose: The study explores the integration of blockchain technology with Digital Product Passports (DPP) to facilitate information transparency to address industry-wide concerns. Methodology: This research employed a qualitative exploratory design, utilizing detailed semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in the relative field. The research synthesized insights from industry reports, academic discourse, and empirical data to offer a holistic perspective on the subject matter. Findings: The study reveals a pressing need for standardized and transparent mechanisms for sharing information within the industry's supply chains. As an initial stage, adopting a Digital Product Passport contains many challenges. The research identifies three key categories of challenges (i.e. Technological, Organizational, and Regulatory challenges) and tries to investigate the role of blockchain technology in the supply chain to solve them. Implications: The integration of DPPs and blockchain holds the potential to revolutionize supply chain collaboration, enhance consumer trust, and facilitate the transition to a circular economy. The study underscores the importance of stakeholder collaboration, education, and the establishment of industry-wide standards to unlock the full transformative potential of these technologies. Value: This research contributes to the growing discourse on circular supply chains by explaining the role of DPPs and blockchain technology in promoting transparency, and traceability. The study offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the data requirements of digital product passports, bridging the gap in the existing literature. The findings serve as a foundation for informed decision-making by industry practitioners, policymakers, and researchers.

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No description available.

Purpose – This study aims to explore, and suggest solutions to, the gap between the supply of information from organic meat producers and the demand of information from consumers regarding traceable characteristics (attributes) of meat in a limited geographical area in order to maximize the utilization and value of collected data. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed methods research design is applied to collect both quantitative data from consumers and qualitative data from suppliers to produce empirical results of the supply and demand of information. A theoretical framework of organic food purchase intent is used for the quantitative study as well as the correlation between consumers’ perceived importance of attributes and their willingness-to-pay for meat. The results of the empirical studies are compared to each other in an effort to expose a possible gap using a gap analysis. Findings – Meat is shifting from a price based commodity to a product based on characteristics. This study reveals that there is now a gap between the information made available by organic meat producers and the demand of information from consumers that needs to be recognized in order to maximize the value of collected data. Information regarding environmental impact of raising and transporting the animals is not extensively collected. A substantial amount of data about attributes of perceived importance, such as safety and handling, animal welfare and medication or other treatments is collected but not extensively shared with consumers. Research limitations/implications – The small sample size in a unique area and the scope of the survey data does not provide a result that can be truly generalized. It is therefore suggested that future studies produce results from a larger sample that incorporates the perceived accessibility of important information for consumers. Practical implications – This contributes to the emerging literature of organic food production by comparing both the supply and the demand of information regarding attributes of meat. This information is valuable to organic meat producers and marketers as well as developers of agricultural systems and databases that should shift their focus to consumer oriented traceability systems. Originality/value – This study goes beyond the substantial body of literature regarding attributes of organic food and consumers preferences by comparing these factors to the available supply of information by meat producers and by suggesting solutions to bridge the gap between them. Keywords – Organic meat, Organic agriculture, e-Agriculture, Traceability, Traceability systems, Consumer oriented, Consumer behavior, Willingness-to-pay, Supply and demand, Information gap, Gap analysis, Business development, United States of America, Sense-making theory, Mixed methods Paper type – Research paper, Bachelor’s thesis

[pt] O presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar os principais problemas e desafios da logística hospitalar e como o uso da tecnologia da informação pode ajudar a indústria da saúde a minimizar os impactos destes problemas e desafios. O mercado de saúde, envolvendo fabricantes, distribuidores, fornecedores e estabelecimentos de saúde, sofre grande controle dos órgãos reguladores para atendimento de exigências quanto à rastreabilidade, manipulação, acondicionamento, dispensação e descarte de produtos para a saúde. Complexidades como a dificuldade de gestão pela falta ou excesso de estoques, multiplicidades de itens comerciais, embalagens, especificações e apresentações de medicamentos e a obrigatoriedade de controle de lote de fabricação e data de validade de insumos para a saúde, são grandes impactantes e responsáveis por custos com suprimentos representarem 25 por cento a 35 por cento dos custos totais operacionais de uma organização de saúde. Outro grande desafio do gestor de saúde está em garantir a segurança do paciente, através de processos de prescrição, dispensação e administração de medicamentos de forma controlada, estruturada e segura. Estudos afirmam que os erros com medicação representam a maior causa de não conformidades no ambiente hospitalar. Neste contexto a tecnologia da informação se apresenta como ferramenta para realizar a gestão adequada da logística hospitalar, minimizando a complexidade e os desafios da indústria de saúde, destacando a utilização de código de barras e identificação por rádio frequência – RFID como umas das principais ferramentas da tecnologia da informação adotadas pelas organizações de saúde em busca de realizar uma gestão logística eficaz e eficiente. / [en] This paper aims to present the main problems and challenges of hospital logistics and how the use of information technology can help the healthcare industry to minimize the impacts of these problems and challenges. The healthcare market involving manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and healthcare facilities, suffers great control of regulators to fulfill such requirements as traceability, handling, packaging, dispensing and disposal of health products. Complexities such as the difficulty of managing the lack or excess inventories, multiplicities of commercial items, packaging, specifications and presentations of medicines and compulsory control of batch manufacturing and expiry date of health inputs are large and impactful responsible for costs with supplies representing 25 per cent to 35 per cent of total operating costs of a health organization. Another major challenge of the health manager is to ensure patient safety, through processes of prescribing, dispensing and administration of drugs in a controlled, structured and safe way. Studies claim that medication errors represent the major cause of non-conformity in the hospital setting. In this context information technology presents itself as a tool to achieve the proper management of hospital logistics, minimizing the complexity and challenges of the healthcare industry, highlighting the use of barcode and radio frequency identification - RFID as one of the main tools information technology adopted by healthcare organizations seeking to conduct an effective and efficient logistics management.

The world is facing new challenges caused by global warming and is puttingpressure on governments, companies and the civil society to act fast. Like all industries, the wine industry is affected by climate change and wine producers are simultaneously struggling to stay viable while competing on a global market. To become sustainable, transparency is needed in the supply chain so that stakeholders and consumers can influence it. In this study, blockchain technology is investigated as a possible technology that can increase sustainability, transparency and over-all efficiency in the supply chain. The study is a case study and takes place in South Africa. The study takes the perspective of small and medium sized enterprises because they are a big part of the market and has not been researched in this area. Empirical data was collected through interviews, observations and secondary data and it was analyzed through thematic analysis. The results show that there is a lot of administrative work in the industry where compliance and certifications take a lot of time and effort. The smaller wineries, that often want to focus on making good wine, have a harder time with the administrative work since the same person might have several roles or functions in the business. The current traceability system is also one of the best in the world but is largely paper based. In the discussion it is shown that the industry has some elements that would be good for a blockchain system but the smaller producers would probably not dare to invest in such a system since they need improvements in quality or efficiency to stay viable and the technology required is expensive. The thesis concludes that the industry has some structures in place that would be a good base for a blockchain system. This could add an extra level of security and trust to the system. The implementation for the small-scale producers seems far away since the technological requirements are expensive. / De rådande klimatförändringarna ställer nya krav på företag att ta ansvar för sina utsläpp och miljöpåverkningar. Därför blir det allt mer vanligt för företag att medvetet öka hållbarheten i sina värdekedjor eftersom det också blir allt viktigare för stakeholders och konsumenter. För att kunna sätta press på företag krävs dock transparens och med komplexa värdekedjor kan detta vara svårt att skapa. Därför krävs nya teknologier som kan hjälpa företag att öka transparens, effektivitet och integritet. Blockchain-teknologi är en relativt ny teknologi som med sina decentraliserade egenskaper har potential att användas i värdekedjan för att öka hållbarhet och transparens. Denna studie undersöker just det genom en fältstudie i den Sydafrikanska vinindustrin. Det är in riktadpå främst små- och medelstora företag och inkluderar också industriorganisationer för att bidra med en holistisk bild av värdekedjan för vin. Genom intervjuer, observationer och sekundärdata samlades empirisk data in och analyserades med tematisk data-analys. Resultaten visade att små-och medelstora vinproducenter fäktas med mycket administrativt arbete och har svårt att vara ekonomiskt hållbara på en global marknad. Spårbarheten i Sydafrika fungerar utmärkt och därför finns det redan viss infrastruktur på plats i landet som skulle kunna vara en grund till att utveckla ett blockchain-baserat system för att öka säkerheten, transparensen och minska administrativa kostnader för de mindre företagen. Ifall ett blockchain-system skulle implementeras skulle det troligtvis inte drivas av de små företagen även fast de hade gynnats mest, utan av större företag med finansiell kapacitet.

The purpose of the report is to analyse how automatic identification technology affects traceability, and then analyse the effects of automatic identification technology on inventory management. This report is based on the research questions "How can barcodes and RFID affect inventory management?" and "What advantages and disadvantages can automatic identification technologies lead to in warehousing?". In order to answer the report's purpose and research questions, a case study was conducted. The company is a manufacturing company and is active in the chemical industry. The company is categorized as a large company located in western Sweden. Two challenges for the company are to reduce the number of incorrect deliveries and improve the inventory accuracy. These problems are due to the fact that activities in the company's warehouse are done manually. The consequence is reduced inventory efficiency and a risk for dissatisfied customers. During the 2017 fiscal year 45 non-conformances were registered, some of which derives from incorrect deliveries. Empirical data was collected through interviews, observations and internal documents. The case study consists of a process mapping in which the company's processes and activities have been mapped. To obtain a better basis for analysis, a literature study of earlier research was conducted in the field of traceability and automatic identification technologies. A summary of the literature study is found in the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework includes traceability, automatic identification and data capture (AIDC), barcodes and radio frequency identification (RFID).The results shows which activities in the process mapping that identification technologies can be applied to and what effects an application may lead to. It appears that the identification technologies have similar effects on inventory management as they both result in automated product identification and automated transfer of information. These effects in combination with an integration with the ERP-system can lead to increased inventory efficiency with fewer incorrect deliveries and improved inventory accuracy. The company is recommended to implement AIDC, however the study shows that further research needs to be carried out to investigate what kind of barcodes or RFID is most beneficial. / Rapportens syfte är att undersöka hur identifieringsteknik påverkar spårbarhet, för att därefter undersöka vilka effekter en tillämpning av identifieringsteknik kan leda till inom lagerhållning. Denna rapport utgår från frågeställningarna “Hur kan streckkoder och RFID påverka lagerhållning?” och “Vilka för- och nackdelar kan automatisk identifieringsteknik inom lagerhållning leda till?”.För att besvara rapportens syfte och frågeställning genomfördes en fallstudie. Fallföretaget är ett tillverkande företag och är verksamt inom kemiindustrin. Företaget kategoriseras som ett storföretag med säte i Västsverige. Två utmaningar för företaget är att minska antalet felaktiga leveranser och förbättra precisionen i lagersaldot. Dessa problem är en följd av att aktiviteter i företagets lagerhållning sker manuellt. Konsekvensen är en försämrad lagereffektivitet och risk för missnöjda kunder. Under verksamhetsåret 2017 registrerades 45 avvikelser, där en del av dessa kan härledas till felaktiga leveranser. Empiriskt material insamlades genom intervjuer, observationer och dokumentstudier. Fallstudien består av en processkartläggning där företagets processer och aktiviteter kartlagts. För att få ett bättre underlag för analys så genomfördes en litteraturstudie av tidigare forskning inom ämnesområdena spårbarhet och automatisk identifieringsteknik. En sammanställning av litteraturstudien återfinns i det teoretiska ramverket. Det teoretiska ramverket innefattar spårbarhet, automatisk identifierings- och datafångstteknik (AIDC), streckkoder och radiofrekvensidentifiering (RFID). Resultatet visar vilka aktiviteter i processkartläggningen där identifieringsteknik kan tillämpas samt vilka effekter en tillämpning kan medföra. Det framkommer att streckkoder och RFID har liknande effekter på lagerhållningen då de båda medför automatiserad produktidentifiering och automatiserad informationsöverföring. Om streckkoder eller RFID integreras med affärssystemet kan det medföra en högre lagereffektivitet med färre felaktiga leveranser och ett mer korrekt lagersaldo. Företaget rekommenderas att implementera en teknik för produktidentifiering. Däremot visar studien att fortsatt forskning behöver genomföras för att undersöka vilken typ av streckkoder eller RFID som är mest gynnsamt.

Risk- och sårbarhetsanalys (RSA) är ett verktyg som kommuner och landsting enligt lag skall göra. Dessa RSA ska sedan ligga till grund för en utbildnings- och övningsplan. På så sätt kommer de övningar som genomförs på kommunal och länsnivå fokuseras på omhändertagande av dess risker och sårbarheter.Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap, MSB, gjorde 2018 en utvärdering och fann att inte alla övar på sina risker och sårbarheter men att det var oklart hur många de var. Denna studie ger en bild av vad kommuner väljer att öva på i sina årliga krisberedskapsövningar om de inte övar på att hantera sina risker och sårbarheter. För att svara på frågan har juridiska dokument analyserats samt intervjuer genomförts med representanter för Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap samt säkerhetscheferna vid två kommuner.Studiens slutsats är att kommunerna dels tar krisberedskapsarbetet på stort allvar, men att brister i spårbarhet mellan RSA och utbildnings- och övningsplan medför att man inte övar på sina risker och sårbarheter. Studiens resultat är fem hypoteser som skulle kunna användas vid efterkommande forskning. / Risk and Vulnerability Analysis (RSA) is a tool that municipalities and county councils must do according to law. The RSA will then form the basis of a training and exercise plan. In this way, the exercises that are carried out at municipal and county level will be focused on dealing with these risks and vulnerabilities.The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the MSB, made an evaluation in 2018 and found that not all were practising risks and vulnerabilities, but it was unclear how many they were. This study gives a picture of what municipalities choose to practice in their annual emergency preparedness exercises if they do not practice managing risks and vulnerabilities. In order to answer the question, legal documents have been analyzed and interviews have been conducted with representatives of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and the security managers at two municipalities.The study's conclusion is that the municipalities take the emergency preparedness work very seriously, but that deficiencies in traceability between the RSA and the education and training plan mean that they do not practice risks and vulnerabilities. The study's results are five hypotheses that could be used in subsequent research.

A produção florestal é uma atividade de importância fundamental para a economia brasileira. Estudos mostram que a ilegalidade na produção da madeira chega a 80% do total produzido. Esta madeira ilegal se transforma em legalizada durante a sua cadeia de suprimentos, graças às falhas nos sistemas de controle e monitoramento. Este trabalho analisa os problemas computacionais existentes no gerenciamento e no monitoramento do processo produtivo florestal na Floresta Amazônica e apresenta a modelagem de um sistema computacional, baseado em uma arquitetura orientada a serviços, que busca por meio da integração dos sistemas envolvidos o registro de informações das diversas etapas produtivas. Para isso, foi criado um modelo de informação que utiliza o padrão de metadados eFIDS, projetado para controlar transações eletrônicas na indústria florestal e uma base de dados centralizada, onde as informações deste processo são registradas e relacionadas, possibilitando a manutenção da rastreabilidade dos produtos e insumos florestais durante todo seu ciclo de vida, garantindo a identificação da origem florestal destes produtos para as empresas e consumidores finais. / The Forest production is an activity with fundamental importance for the Brazilian economy. Studies show that the illegality in timber production is around 80% of total productive. This illegal wood becomes legalized in your supply chain due the failures in control and monitoring systems. This paper analyzes a computational problems existing in managing and monitoring productive process in the Amazon Forest and presents the modeling of a computational system, based on a service-oriented architecture, which seeks through the involved systems integration the recording of information about the various productive stages. For this was created an information model that uses the eFIDS metadata standard, designed to handle electronic transactions in the forestry industry, and a centralized database, where the process information are recorded and linked, enabling the maintenance of product and raw material traceability throughout its lifecycle, ensuring identification of the forest products origin for businesses and consumers.

Atualmente, o beijupirá é a espécie nativa que reúne o maior número de características em comum com outras espécies aquáticas cultivadas comercialmente, sendo assim, indicada para ser a espécie pioneira na piscicultura marinha brasileira. No entanto, sua criação é incipiente. Neste trabalho, foram realizados dois estudos pontuais: um para monitorar a criação de beijupirás em gaiolas, sistema offshore, no litoral de Pernambuco; e outro para monitorar a criação de beijupirás em tanques-redes, sistema nearshore, no litoral de São Paulo. O objetivo foi aferir parâmetros ambientais de qualidade da água de criação, físico-químicos e microbiológicos do beijupirá, que possam ser utilizados na elaboração de um sistema modelo de rastreabilidade da cadeia produtiva dessa espécie. Em ambos os estudos foram realizadas quatro coletas em diferentes meses do ano, com o intuito de se avaliar as possíveis correlações existentes entre os parâmetros ambientais - índice pluviométrico e temperatura do ar - e os parâmetros de qualidade avaliados na água de criação - oxigênio dissolvido, temperatura, demanda bioquímica de oxigênio, demanda química de oxigênio, salinidade, amônia, nitrito, nitrato, fosfato, carbono orgânico total, turbidez, transparência, CO2, pH, clorofila a e contagem microbiológica - e nos peixes - biometria, rendimento, composição centesimal, ácidos graxos, aminoácidos, pH, bases voláteis totais e contagem microbiológica. Verificou-se que a maioria dos parâmetros físico-químicos e microbiológicos avaliados na água de criação, estavam em conformidade com a legislação brasileira vigente ou dentro dos limites sugeridos pela literatura para criação dessa espécie. Todavia, esses parâmetros apresentaram variação nos diferentes meses de coleta, principalmente no estudo realizado no sistema nearshore, o que dificulta afirmar as possíveis interferências desses parâmetros na qualidade e desempenho dos animais. Os peixes amostrados apresentaram baixo desenvolvimento zootécnico, se comparado ao peso total final previsto na literatura para essa espécie. No entanto, o rendimento em filé apresentou-se satisfatório, principalmente no sistema nearshore, aproximadamente 40%. Todas as amostras de filés de beijupirás avaliadas apresentaram conformidade microbiológica, frescor e qualidade nutricional, principalmente no que se refere à composição dos seus aminoácidos e ácidos graxos, com destaque para presença de lisina e ácidos graxos Eicosapentaenoico (EPA) e Docosahexaenoico (DHA), sendo, estas informações úteis para efeitos de marketing na divulgação e estimulo do consumo dessa espécie. O mesmo foi observado para o resíduo gerado após o processamento dos filés, o que sugere a possibilidade de elaboração de coprodutos com qualidade nutricional, tornando a cadeia produtiva dessa espécie mais rentável e sustentável. Os alimentos fornecidos aos animais, não eram adequados para satisfazer as exigências nutricionais dos mesmos, sendo a falta no mercado de rações elaboradas com formulações específicas um entrave para o sucesso dessa atividade. Conclui-se que os parâmetros, temperatura da água de criação; rendimento em filé, destreza do filetador; quantidade e tipo de resíduo gerado na filetagem; frescor e qualidade microbiológica dos filés; assim como, composição centesimal dos filés, resíduos e alimento fornecido aos animais, especificamente composição em aminoácidos e ácidos graxos, devam ser monitorados no sistema de rastreabilidade. Quando implementado, o sistema de rastreabilidade permitirá uma tomada de decisão mais consciente a respeito das condições de criação ideais do beijupirá, no intuito de dispor respostas práticas e aplicadas ao setor produtivo quanto ao atendimento às exigências da legislação, do mercado e do consumidor final / Currently, cobia is the native species with the largest number of characteristics in common with other aquatic species commercially farmed; therefore, it is indicated as the pioneer species in Brazilian marine fish farming. However, its rearing is incipient. In this work, there were two specific studies: one to monitor cobia rearing in cages offshore on the coast of Pernambuco State, Brazil; and another to monitor cobia rearing in nearshore cages on the coast of São Paulo State. The objective was to measure farm water quality, physico- chemical and microbiological parameters of cobia that can be used in the preparation of a model system traceability of the production chain of this species. In both studies, four collections were performed in different months of the year to evaluate possible correlations between environmental parameters, such as rainfall and environment air temperature, and the quality parameters evaluated in the water rearing, such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, total organic carbon, turbidity, transparency, CO2, pH, chlorophyll a and microbiological contamination, as well as fish, such as biometrics, yield, proximate composition, profile of fatty acids and amino acids, pH, totals volatile bases and microbiological contamination. Most of the physico-chemical and microbiological parameters evaluated in the rearing water were in line with the current Brazilian law or within the threshold suggested in the literature for rearing this kind of species. However, these parameters showed great variation for different months of collection, especially in the study conducted in a nearshore system, making it difficult to state the possible interference of these parameters on the quality and performance of the animals. The sampled fish had low livestock development, compared to growth rates reported in the literature for this species. However, fillet yield was satisfactory, especially in the nearshore system, close to 40%. All samples of cobia fillets showed microbiological compliance, freshness and nutritional quality, especially in terms of composition of its amino acids and fatty acids, mainly in the presence of lysine and fatty acids, respectively, Eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). This information can be used as an excellent marketing tool to disseminate and stimulate consumption of this species. The same was observed for the waste generated after processing the fillets, suggesting the possibility of developing by-products with nutritional quality, making the supply chain of cobia more sustainable and profitable. The feed provided to the animals was not adequate to meet their nutritional requirements, and the short supply of prepared feed with specific formulations is an obstacle to the success of this activity. We conclude that the parameters of water temperature, fillet yield, skill of take fillet, amount and type of waste generated in filleting, freshness and microbiological quality of steaks, as well as chemical composition of fillet, waste and feeding for the animals, mainly amino acid composition and fatty acids, should be monitored in the traceability system. When implemented, the traceability system regarding the decision-making process for the ideal conditions of cobia production, providing practical answers, and it can be applied to the productive sector as a way to comply with requirements of legislation, market and consumers