Economic assessment of RFID coupled with open source technologies for wood traceability in Calabria

Abstract

IntroduzioneL'applicazione di tecnologie innovative e di precisione volte al miglioramento dell'efficienza e della qualità dei prodotti e dei processi produttivi ha avuto un notevole sviluppo in questi ultimi decenni nel settore agro-alimentare (Costa et al. 2013), mentre solo più recentemente questo aspetto è venuto a interessare anche il settore forestale (Timpe 2006, Björk et al. 2011, Corona & Scrinzi 2014, Picchi et al. 2015. Di particolare interesse al riguardo è la possibilità di applicazione di tecnologie innovative per la tracciabilità dei flussi di legname basate sull'applicazione di sistemi di Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). In ambito europeo, per la tematica del controllo della or tons of processed product. The results showed that the use of RFID technology along the supply chain could lead to an effective operational simplification and to a more efficient use of resources. Based on the average market prices for timber (80-120 € / m 3 ), the implementation of RFID technology led to an increase in timber price by 8% under the worst scenarios. This suggests that the use of open source technologies for wood traceability is already feasible and economically sustainable, as 40% of private companies stated their willingness to pay a premium price (on average 3.25% higher) for purchasing certified local wood products in Calabria. Moreover, we expect a further reduction of tags and hardware costs in the next future, up to half the costs estimated in this work, thus making the application of such technology to timber traceability even more affordable.

A Blockchain Implementation Prototype for the Electronic Open Source Traceability of Wood along the Whole Supply Chain

“…There are many different aspects that should be discussed considering the advantages in the introduction of an electronic traceability on the chain-of-custody of wood products [8]. First of all the possibility of global georeferenced real-time monitoring, conducted by forestry administrators, on the operations status such as the assignment of lumber to be cut and the information flow of the resulting operations to be conducted.…”

“…Sperandio et al [8] conducted an economic evaluation of RFID and open source technologies implementation from the forest to the industry as a real possibility to streamline operations and to use resources more efficiently. This suggests how the use of such technologies for wood traceability is already feasible and economically sustainable, being most of the proposed scenarios compatible with an increasing price of traced wood lower than 5% and so compatible with the above mentioned results.…”

“…In Europe, two certification systems for sustainable forest management have been developed (i.e., the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes) [8]. The European Regulation 995/2010 (EUTR) or Timber Regulation prohibits the use and trading of products of illegal origin and obliges the adoption of an internal system of due diligence for the subjects who place wood products and derivatives on the European market, with the need to certify the product origin and to trace the flows [5].…”

“…The European Regulation 995/2010 (EUTR) or Timber Regulation prohibits the use and trading of products of illegal origin and obliges the adoption of an internal system of due diligence for the subjects who place wood products and derivatives on the European market, with the need to certify the product origin and to trace the flows [5]. Sperandio et al [8] remarked on the importance of the use of traceability systems within the wood workflow. In details, the work specifies the necessity to trace information from the standing tree through the whole chain as a necessary condition to certify the origin of the material.…”

“…RFID technology can achieve automatic traceability by enabling us to connect the physical world objects with their virtual counterparts. This traceability system needs to use a temporal data model to support tracking of the raw material and monitoring of the processes [8]. Picchi et al [6] evaluated the performance of two tag models and two fixing options thorough the timber supply chain in steep terrain during cable yarding and logistic operations.…”