Environmental information sharing method and environmental information sharing system

Abstract

To make it possible for suppliers to easily acquire environment information pertaining to products being distributed through a supply chain.SOLUTION: In an environment information sharing system, a computer executes the steps of: registering, on a storage unit, first environment information that pertains to a first commodity from a first supplier on a supply chain; receiving, from a first terminal device used by the first supplier, approval in regard to disclosure of the first environment information; issuing a first identifier identifying the first environment information when the approval is received; and giving the first environment information to a second terminal device used by a second supplier on the supply chain when a request to acquire the first environment information associated with the first identifier is received from the second terminal device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an environmental information sharing method and an environmental information sharing system. [Background technology]

[0002] With the growing trend toward environmental protection, companies are considering circulating resources through the supply chain and reusing them in products. In this case, in order to properly manage the quality of resources circulating through the supply chain, it is desirable to disclose whether or not the product contains any restricted substances and the percentage (by weight) of recycled materials.

[0003] Each supplier in a supply chain procures materials from upstream suppliers and processes them into products that are sold to downstream suppliers. In order to indicate whether the products they manufacture and sell contain regulated substances and the percentage of recycled materials, each supplier must request the upstream supplier to disclose environmental information indicating the presence or absence of regulated substances and the percentage of recycled materials. To achieve this, for example, a system has been proposed in which the upstream supplier pre-determines the content and recipients of the environmental information to be disclosed, allowing downstream suppliers to obtain the environmental information within the set scope (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-72404 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, the technology of Patent Document 1 requires complicated procedures for setting the disclosure content and disclosure recipients of environmental information, and does not provide a system that allows each supplier in the supply chain to easily obtain environmental information.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and aims to enable each supplier to easily obtain environmental information about each product circulating in a supply chain. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The present application includes a number of means for solving at least part of the above problems, examples of which are as follows.

[0008] In order to solve the above problem, an environmental information sharing method according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a computer that performs the following steps: registering first environmental information about a first product of a first supplier in a supply chain in a memory unit; receiving consent from a first terminal device used by the first supplier to disclose the first environmental information; issuing a first identifier that identifies the first environmental information upon receiving the consent; and, upon receiving a request to obtain the first environmental information associated with the first identifier from a second terminal device used by a second supplier in the supply chain, notifying the second terminal device of the first environmental information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, each supplier can easily obtain environmental information about each product circulating in the supply chain.

[0010] Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an outline of the processing performed by the environmental information sharing system according to this embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of an environmental information sharing system. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of product information. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on the display device of each terminal device. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an example of product information for each product distributed in a supply chain. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the environmental information sharing method according to this embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart of a product information notification process. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart of the calculation process. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the environmental information sharing device according to this embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The examples are illustrative of the present invention, and for clarity of explanation, appropriate omissions and simplifications have been made. The present invention can be implemented in various other forms. Unless otherwise specified, each component may be singular or plural.

[0013] In order to facilitate understanding of the invention, the position, size, shape, range, etc. of each component shown in the drawings may not represent the actual position, size, shape, range, etc. Therefore, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the position, size, shape, range, etc. disclosed in the drawings.

[0014] Examples of various types of information may be described using expressions such as "table," "list," and "queue," but the various types of information may also be expressed using data structures other than these. For example, various types of information such as "XX table," "XX list," and "XX queue" may also be expressed as "XX information." When describing identification information, expressions such as "identification information," "identifier," "name," "ID," and "number" are used, but these are interchangeable.

[0015] When there are multiple components with the same or similar functions, they may be described using the same reference numeral with different subscripts. When there is no need to distinguish between these multiple components, the subscripts may be omitted.

[0016] In the embodiments, processing performed by executing a program may be described. Here, a computer executes the program using a processor (e.g., a CPU or a GPU) and performs processing defined by the program using storage resources (e.g., a memory) and interface devices (e.g., a communication port). Therefore, the entity performing the processing by executing the program may be the processor. Similarly, the entity performing the processing by executing the program may be a controller, device, system, computer, or node having a processor. The entity performing the processing by executing the program may be any computing unit, and may include a dedicated circuit that performs specific processing. Here, the dedicated circuit may be, for example, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device).

[0017] A program may be installed on a computer from a program source. The program source may be, for example, a program distribution server or a computer-readable storage medium. When the program source is a program distribution server, the program distribution server may include a processor and a storage resource for storing the program to be distributed, and the processor of the program distribution server may distribute the program to be distributed to other computers. In addition, in an embodiment, two or more programs may be realized as one program, or one program may be realized as two or more programs.

[0018] <Present Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an outline of the processing performed by the environmental information sharing system according to this embodiment.

[0019] The environmental information sharing system 10 is a system in which each of the first to fourth suppliers 2a to 2d in the supply chain 1 shares environmental information about each product circulating through the supply chain 1. Hereinafter, in the supply chain 1, a supplier that supplies a product is referred to as an upstream supplier, and a supplier that purchases the product is referred to as a downstream supplier. In the example of FIG. 1, the first supplier 2a is the most upstream supplier, and the fourth supplier 2d is the most downstream supplier.

[0020] Here, the first supplier 2a is an example of a secondary recycling user that supplies recycled raw materials as product 13a. The second supplier 2b is a materials manufacturer that processes product 13a and supplies materials as product 13b. The third supplier 2c is a parts manufacturer that processes product 13b and supplies parts as product 13c. The fourth supplier 2d is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that produces products from product 13c.

[0021] Each of the suppliers 2a to 2d uses the environmental information sharing system 10 as follows. First, the first supplier 2a acquires environmental information indicating whether or not the product 13a it supplies contains restricted substances and the percentage of recycled materials contained in the product 13a (step S11). As an example, the first supplier 2a acquires the environmental information using a material analysis device that it owns. Alternatively, the first supplier 2a may request an analysis company to analyze the components of the product 13a and acquire the environmental information from the analysis company.

[0022] Next, the first supplier 2a determines whether the presence or absence of regulated substances and the content rate of recycled materials indicated in the acquired environmental information satisfy the standards (step S12). The standards may include, for example, standards in various regulations that may be established in the future to manage the quality of resources circulating in the supply chain.

[0023] If it is determined that the criteria are met, the environmental information sharing system 10 performs a registration process to register the environmental information in the storage unit 120 (step S13). Details of this registration process will be described later, but the environmental information sharing system 10 registers the environmental information in the storage unit 120 by including it in the product information (recycled material) 11 of the product 13a.

[0024] Upon completion of this registration process, the environmental information sharing system 10 performs an issuing process to issue an identifier for the product information (recycled material) 11 (step S15). As an example, the environmental information sharing system 10 issues code information 12 including the identifier for the product information 11 in the issuing process. The code information 12 is a two-dimensional code such as a QR code (registered trademark) including the identifier for the product information 11. Note that a one-dimensional code such as a barcode may also be used as the code information 12. The identifier for the product information 11 is a product ID or product name that can uniquely identify the product 13a. The code information 12 may include a uniform resource locator (URL) that indicates the storage location of the product information 11.

[0025] For each product, product information (recycled material) 11, product information (material) 11, product information (parts) 11, and product information (product) 11 are stored in the storage unit 120. For each piece of product information 11, the environmental information sharing system 10 issues different code information 12.

[0026] Next, the first supplier 2a affixes the code information 12 to the product 13a and sells it to the second supplier 2b. The first supplier 2a may sell the product 13a by displaying the code information 12 on documents such as product specifications, instructions, and delivery notes. The documents may be provided electronically by means of email or the like, or on paper.

[0027] Next, the second supplier 2b accesses the environmental information sharing system 10 using its own terminal device (not shown) and requests the environmental information sharing system 10 to acquire the product information 11 (recycled material) associated with the code information 12 of the product 13a (step S16). The environmental information sharing system 10 accepts the request and notifies the terminal device of the second supplier 2b of the product information 11 (recycled material) for the product 13a.

[0028] The product information 11 (recycled material) includes environmental information about the product 13a, so the second supplier 2b can easily find out whether the product 13a purchased from the first supplier 2a contains any restricted substances and the recycled material content of the product 13a without obtaining the consent of the first supplier 2a.

[0029] Thereafter, steps S11 to S13 are similarly executed for the second to fourth suppliers 2b to 2d.

[0030] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of the environmental information sharing system 10. As shown in FIG.

[0031] 2, the environmental information sharing system 10 includes an environmental information sharing device 100 and first to n-th terminal devices 301a to 301n. The environmental information sharing device 100 and the first to n-th terminal devices 301a to 301n are connected to each other via a network 200 such as the Internet.

[0032] In the example of Figure 2, it is assumed that first to nth suppliers make up a supply chain 1, with the first supplier located at the most upstream position and the nth supplier located at the most downstream position. In this case, as in Figure 1, the first supplier supplies product 13a, the second supplier supplies product 13b, and the nth supplier supplies product 13n.

[0033] The first to n-th terminal devices 301a to 301n are computers such as personal computers (PCs) used by the first to n-th suppliers on the supply chain 1, respectively.

[0034] The environmental information sharing device 100 is a computer such as a server or a PC, and includes a processing unit 110 and a storage unit 120.

[0035] The processing unit 110 is a functional unit that controls each unit of the environmental information sharing apparatus 100, and includes a registration unit 111, a request unit 112, a reception unit 113, an issuance unit 114, a notification unit 115, and a calculation unit .

[0036] The registration unit 111 is a functional unit that performs the registration process in step S13 (see FIG. 1) described above, and registers environmental information about products of each supplier on the supply chain 1 in the storage unit 120 by including it in the product information 11.

[0037] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the data structure of the product information 11. As shown in FIG.

[0038] The product information 11 is information generated for each product supplied to the supply chain 1. As an example, the product information 11 includes registration information 11a, product information 11b, manufacturing information 11c, raw material information 11d, environmental information 11e, and an identifier 11f.

[0039] The registration information 11a includes the name of the company that manufactured the product, the person who input the product information 11 to the environmental information sharing system 10, the input date, and the expiration date of the product information 11.

[0040] The product information 11b includes the product name, model, lot number, physical properties, and weight of the product. The manufacturing information 11c includes the process details and the dates on which the processes were carried out in the manufacturing process of the product.

[0041] The ingredient information 11d includes the source and date of procurement of ingredients contained in the product. The ingredient information 11d also includes the weight ratio of the ingredient in the product. Furthermore, the ingredient information 11d also includes an identifier 11f that identifies the product information of the ingredient. Note that if a product is made from multiple ingredients, the source, date of procurement, weight ratio, and identifier 11f are stored in the ingredient information 11d for each ingredient.

[0042] As described above, the environmental information 11e is information including the presence or absence of restricted substances in the product and the content of recycled materials in the product. The presence or absence of restricted substances in the product and the content of recycled materials are information necessary for managing the quality of resources circulating through the supply chain. Therefore, by enabling each supplier in the supply chain 1 to obtain the environmental information 11e, it is possible to appropriately manage the quality of products. Note that the environmental information 11e may also include the state of deterioration of the product and the content of foreign matter such as additives.

[0043] The identifier 11f is a product ID or product name that identifies the product information 11.

[0044] Referring again to Figure 2, the request unit 112 is a functional unit that requests consent for the disclosure of the product information 11 to other suppliers from a terminal device, among the first to n-th terminal devices 301a to 301n, used by a supplier that supplies a product associated with the product information 11. Note that since the product information 11 includes the environmental information 11e, this consent also includes consent for the environmental information 11e to be disclosed to other suppliers.

[0045] The receiving unit 113 is a functional unit that receives consent for the product information 11 to be disclosed from the first to n-th terminal devices 301a to 301n.

[0046] The issuing unit 114 is a functional unit that issues an identifier 11f for identifying the product information 11 when the accepting unit 113 accepts consent to the disclosure of the product information 11. As an example, the issuing unit 114 issues code information 12 including the identifier 11f. The following describes an example in which the code information 12 includes the identifier 11f. The code information 12 is issued to a terminal device among the terminal devices 301a to 301n that is used by a supplier that supplies the product associated with the code information 12. For example, the code information 12 associated with the product 13a is issued to the first terminal device 301a. The issuing unit 114 also issues the code information 12 to each of the terminal devices 301a to 301n by, for example, email. The issuing unit 114 may display the code information 12 and the identifier 11f included therein on the operation screen of each of the terminal devices 301a to 301n.

[0047] Furthermore, the issuing unit 114 stores the issued code information 12 and the identifier 11f contained therein in the storage unit 120 in the product information 11 associated with the identifier 11f.

[0048] The notification unit 115 is a functional unit that receives a request to acquire the product information 11 associated with the identifier 11f included in the code information 12 from each of the terminal devices 301a to 301n, and notifies the requesting terminal device of the product information 11.

[0049] As shown in FIG. 3, product information 11 includes environmental information 11e, and the recycled material content and the presence or absence of restricted substances in that environmental information 11e are input by the user of each supplier. To streamline the input process, calculation unit 116 may calculate each item of environmental information 11e. In this case, calculation unit 116 calculates the recycled material content and the presence or absence of restricted substances in a product made from multiple upstream products by integrating them. The processing of calculation unit 116 in this case will be described later with reference to FIG. 8.

[0050] The storage unit 120 is a functional unit that stores the product information 11 for each product. Each item of the product information 11 except for the identifier 11f can be input by the user operating the terminal devices 301a to 301n in the registration process of step S13 (see FIG. 1). Note that the user may input the identifier 11f of the product information 11 as long as the uniqueness of the identifier 11f is maintained.

[0051] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed on a display device (not shown) of each of the terminal devices 301a to 301n.

[0052] 4, the display screen 400 includes a display area 401 for displaying each piece of information 11a to 11e of the product information 11, and an identifier display area 402 for displaying an identifier 11f and code information 12 associated with the product information 11. Furthermore, the display screen 400 also displays a data input button 403 and a data call button 404.

[0053] To input data into the product information 11, the user presses the data input button 403. This puts the display area 401 into a state where it can accept data input. In this state, the user inputs the registration information 11a, product information 11b, manufacturing information 11c, raw material information 11d, and environmental information 11e. The registration unit 111 then registers the input information in the storage unit 120.

[0054] 1, the supplier obtains the environmental information 11e, including the presence or absence of regulated substances in their products and the content rate of recycled materials, by using a material analysis device or by requesting an analysis company. Then, the user inputs the environmental information 11e on the display screen 400, and the registration unit 111 registers it in the product information 11.

[0055] Furthermore, instead of manually inputting the environmental information 11e in this manner, the calculation unit 116 may calculate each item of the environmental information 11e by executing the process of FIG. 8 described below at the time when the user inputs the raw material information 11d, and the registration unit 111 may register the calculation results in the environmental information 11e.

[0056] In this example, it is assumed that the product in the product information 11 is made from two products, "raw material A" and "raw material B," purchased from an upstream supplier. In this case, "raw material A" has already been distributed in the supply chain 1 before the product in the product information 11 is manufactured. Therefore, an identifier 11f associated with the product information 11 of this "raw material A" has already been issued in step S15 (see FIG. 1) and is stored in the storage unit 120 together with the product information 11 of "raw material A." Therefore, the user can input the issued identifier 11f into the raw material information 11d of "raw material A." The same applies to "raw material B." The environmental information sharing device 100 may instruct each of the terminal devices 301a to 301n to display the code information 12 associated with the input identifier 11f next to the identifier 11f.

[0057] Alternatively, for example, a pull-down list or a search window may be used to allow the user to search for ingredient names such as "ingredient A" or "ingredient B" from a list of multiple ingredients, and ingredient names found in the search may be displayed as ingredient names such as "ingredient A" or "ingredient B." Since these ingredient names are associated with identifiers 11f, the identifiers 11f and the code information 12 associated therewith can be automatically displayed next to the ingredient names.

[0058] The data call button 404 is a button used in step S16 (see FIG. 1 ) to issue a request to the environmental information sharing apparatus 100 for the product information 11 associated with the identifier 11f included in the code information 12. For example, a URL indicating the storage location of the product information 11 may be included in the code information 12. When each of the terminal devices 301a to 301n accesses the URL by referring to the code information 12, the data call button 404 is displayed on the terminal device. When a user presses the data call button 404, the notification unit 115 notifies the terminal device of the product information 11 stored in the URL by displaying the product information 11 on the requesting terminal device as shown in FIG. 4 . The code information 12 used in the acquisition request and the identifier 11f included therein are displayed in the identifier display area 402. This allows the user to acquire the product information 11 associated with the identifier 11f used in the acquisition request and to learn the recycled material content and the presence or absence of regulated substances from the environmental information 11e included in the product information 11.

[0059] Furthermore, the user can also obtain product information 11 such as "raw material A" or "raw material B" that is upstream of a product by using the identifier 11f or code information 12 displayed in the raw material information 11d in the display area 401. This allows the user to trace the supply chain 1 from downstream to upstream, and easily obtain environmental information 11e of other products that are part of the product that the user manufactures.

[0060] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an example of product information 11 for each product distributed in the supply chain 1. As shown in FIG.

[0061] In this example, it is assumed that products 13e to 13j and 13p to 13r are distributed in the supply chain 1. For example, product 13p is a product made from upstream products 13e to 13g, and product 13q is a product made from upstream products 13h to 13j. Also, product 13r is a product made from products 13p and 13q.

[0062] As shown in Figure 3, product information 11 for a certain product includes raw material information 11d for a raw material, which is an upstream product that constitutes that product. Furthermore, the raw material information 11d stores an identifier 11f associated with the product information 11 for that raw material. As a result, the identifier 11f included in product information 11 for a certain product is associated with the identifier 11f of an upstream product that constitutes that product. Note that the identifier 11f of the upstream product is an example of a first identifier, and the identifier 11f of a downstream product that is made from that product is an example of a second identifier.

[0063] 5, for example, the identifier 11f of product 13r is associated with the identifiers 11f of products 13p and 13q that make up product 13r. Similarly, the identifier 11f of product 13p is associated with the identifiers 11f of products 13e to 13g, and the identifier 11f of product 13q is associated with the identifiers 11f of products 13h to 13j.

[0064] This allows the user to trace the product information 11 from the downstream side to the upstream side of the supply chain 1 by using the identifier 11f.

[0065] Next, an environmental information sharing method according to this embodiment will be described.

[0066] 6 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the environmental information sharing method according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the flowchart includes a registration process (step S13) for registering environmental information 11e and an issuance process (step S15) for issuing an identifier 11f.

[0067] In the registration process of step S13, the registration unit 111 accepts input of product information 11 from any of the terminal devices 301a to 301n in Fig. 2 (step S60). For example, the registration unit 111 accepts input of each piece of information 11a to 11e entered by the user from the display screen 400 (see Fig. 4).

[0068] Next, the registration unit 111 registers the product information 11 in the storage unit 120 (step S62).

[0069] Next, the process proceeds to the issuing process of the identifier 11f (step S15). First, the request unit 112 requests the terminal device that inputted the product information 11 in step S60 to consent to the disclosure of the product information 11 and the environmental information 11e contained therein to other suppliers (step S64), and the acceptance unit 113 accepts the consent from the terminal device (step S66).

[0070] Next, the issuing unit 114 issues the identifier 11f and the code information 12 by e-mail or the like to the terminal device that has given consent in step S66, among the terminal devices 301a to 301n in FIG. 2 (step S68), and stores the identifier 11f in the product information 11 in the storage unit 120. The issuing unit 114 may also store the code information 12 in the product information 11.

[0071] This completes the basic processes of the registration process of the environmental information 11e (step S13) and the issuance process of the identifier 11f (step S15).

[0072] The processing order is not limited to the above, and the request and acceptance of consent may be performed first in steps S64 and S66. In this case, after step S66 is performed, input of product information 11 may be accepted in step S60, then the product information 11 may be registered in storage unit 120 in step S62, and then identifier 11f may be issued in step S68.

[0073] Furthermore, the input of the product information 11 may be accepted first in step S60, and then consent may be requested and accepted in steps S64 and S66. In this case, after step S66 is executed, the product information 11 is registered in the storage unit 120 in step S62, and then the identifier 11f is issued in step S68.

[0074] The terminal devices 301a to 301n (see FIG. 2) can use the code information 12 including the identifier 11f to make an acquisition request for the product information 11 including the environmental information 11e to the environmental information sharing system 10. The following describes a notification process for notifying the product information 11 in response to the acquisition request.

[0075] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the notification process of the product information 11.

[0076] First, when any of the terminal devices 301a to 301n (see FIG. 2) includes the identifier 11f in an acquisition request for the product information 11 and notifies the environmental information sharing apparatus 100, the notification unit 115 accepts the acquisition request (step S70). The acquisition request is made, for example, when any of the terminal devices 301a to 301n accesses a URL included in the code information 12, and the identifier 11f included in the code information 12 is notified to the environmental information sharing apparatus 100 at the time of access.

[0077] Next, the notification unit 115 identifies the product information 11 associated with the identifier 11f included in the acquisition request from among the multiple pieces of product information 11 stored in the storage unit 120 (step S72).

[0078] Next, the notification unit 115 notifies the terminal device that requested the product information 11 of the identified product information 11, thereby notifying the terminal device that requested the product information 11 of the product information 11 and the environmental information 11e contained therein (step S74).

[0079] With the above, the basic process of the notification process of the product information 11 is completed.

[0080] Next, we will explain the integration process performed by the calculation unit 116. The integration process is a process of calculating environmental information 11e of downstream products made from multiple upstream products by integrating the presence or absence of regulated substances and the content rate of recycled materials in each of these products.

[0081] 8 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the calculation process. Each step of this flowchart will be described using an example in which the environmental information 11e of the product 13r in FIG.

[0082] First, the calculation unit 116 identifies the product information 11 for each of the products 13p and 13q that make up the product 13r (step S80). As described above, the product information 11 for the product r is associated with the product information 11 for each of the upstream products 13p and 13q via the identifier 11f. Therefore, the calculation unit 116 can identify the product information 11 for each of the products 13p and 13q using the identifier 11f of the product information 11 for the product 13r. Note that the product 13p and the product 13q are examples of a first product and a second product, respectively. Furthermore, the product 13r is an example of a third product.

[0083] Next, the calculation unit 116 generates environmental information 11e of the product 13r by accumulating the environmental information 11e included in the product information 11 of each of the identified products 13p and 13q (step S82). For example, the calculation unit 116 calculates each item included in the environmental information 11e of the product 13r by accumulating as follows:

[0084] First, the calculation unit 116 refers to the environmental information 11e in the product information 11 of the product 13p and identifies the recycled material content rate P1 indicated by the environmental information 11e. Note that the environmental information 11e in the product information 11 of the product 13p is an example of first environmental information.

[0085] Similarly, the calculation unit 116 refers to the environmental information 11e in the product information 11 of the product 13q, and identifies the recycled material content rate P2 indicated by the environmental information 11e. Note that the environmental information 11e in the product information 11 of the product 13q is an example of second environmental information.

[0086] The calculation unit 116 then refers to the product information 11 of the product 13r to identify the weight ratio R13 of the product 13p to the product 13r and the weight ratio R23 of the product 13q to the product 13r. The calculation unit 116 then calculates the recycled material content P3 of the product 13r using P3 = P1 × R13 + P2 × R23. The content P3 becomes the recycled material content in the environmental information 11e of the product 13r. The environmental information 11e of the product 13r is an example of third environmental information.

[0087] Furthermore, if at least one of the pieces of environmental information 11e for each of the products 13p and 13q indicates that a restricted substance is contained, the calculation unit 116 writes into the environmental information 11e for the product 13r that the product 13r also contains a restricted substance.

[0088] Then, the calculation unit 116 stores the environmental information 11e of the product 13r in the product information 11 of the product 13r (step S84).

[0089] As a result, in step S74 (see FIG. 7), the notification unit 115 can notify the terminal devices 301a to 301n (see FIG. 2) of the environmental information 11e, which is an accumulation of the recycled material content and the presence or absence of regulated substances in the upstream products. As a result, each supplier can easily grasp the recycled material content and the presence or absence of regulated substances in the products that they supply.

[0090] This completes the basic calculation process.

[0091] 6, when consent is received for disclosing the product information 11 to other suppliers, the issuing unit 114 issues the identifier 11f in step S68. Therefore, other suppliers can obtain the environmental information 11e using the identifier 11f without having to request the upstream supplier to disclose the product information 11 including the environmental information 11e, and each supplier can easily obtain the environmental information 11e using a simple mechanism.

[0092] <Hardware configuration> Next, the hardware configuration of the environmental information sharing apparatus 100 according to this embodiment will be described.

[0093] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the environmental information sharing apparatus 100 according to this embodiment.

[0094] As shown in FIG. 9, the environmental information sharing device 100 includes a storage device 100a, a memory 100b, a processor 100c, a communication interface 100d, and a media reader 100f. These components are interconnected by a bus 100g.

[0095] The storage device 100a is a non-volatile storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), and stores an environmental information sharing program 500 according to this embodiment.

[0096] The environmental information sharing program 500 may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium 100h, and the processor 100c may read the environmental information sharing program 500 from the recording medium 100h.

[0097] The recording medium 100h may be a physically portable recording medium such as a Compact Disc - Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory. A semiconductor memory such as a flash memory or a hard disk drive may also be used as the recording medium 100h.

[0098] The environmental information sharing program 500 may be stored in a device connected to a public line, the Internet, a local area network (LAN), etc. In this case, the processor 100c may read and execute the environmental information sharing program 500.

[0099] The memory 100b is hardware that temporarily stores data, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and the environmental information sharing program 500 is deployed on it.

[0100] The processor 100c is a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphical processing unit (GPU) that controls each part of the environmental information sharing device 100. The processor 100c executes the environmental information sharing program 500 in cooperation with the memory 100b, thereby realizing the processing unit 110 in FIG.

[0101] The storage unit 120 in Fig. 2 is realized by a storage device 100a and a memory 100b. The communication interface 100d is hardware such as a network interface card (NIC) for connecting the environmental information sharing device 100 to the network 200. The communication interface 100d realizes the communication unit 130 in Fig. 2.

[0102] The medium reading device 100f is hardware such as a USB reader for reading data recorded on the recording medium 100h.

[0103] The effects described in this specification are merely examples and are not limiting, and other effects may also be present.

[0104] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to an embodiment including all of the described components. Furthermore, part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, part of the configuration of each embodiment can be added to, deleted from, or replaced with another configuration.

[0105] Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be partially or entirely implemented in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, etc. may be implemented in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as the program, decision table, and files that implement each function can be stored in memory, a storage device such as an HDD or SSD, or a recording medium such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) card, an SD (Secure Digital) card, or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). Furthermore, the control lines and information lines shown are those considered necessary for explanation, and do not necessarily represent all control lines and information lines in the product. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected. [Explanation of symbols]

[0106] 1...supply chain, 2a to 2d...first to fourth suppliers, 10...environmental information sharing system, 11...product information, 11a...registration information, 11b...product information, 11c...manufacturing information, 11d...raw material information, 11e...environmental information, 11f...identifier, 12...code information, 13a to 13j, 13n, 13p to 13r...product, 100...environmental information sharing device, 110...processing unit, 111...registration unit, 112...request unit, 113...reception unit, 114...issuance unit, 115...notification unit, 116...calculation unit, 120...storage unit, 130...communication unit, 200...network, 301a to 301n...first to nth terminal devices, 400...display screen, 401...display area, 402...identifier display area, 403...data input button, 404...data call button, 500...environmental information sharing program.

Claims

1. The computer registering first environmental information about a first product of a first supplier in a supply chain in a storage unit; receiving consent for the first environmental information to be disclosed from a first terminal device used by the first supplier; issuing a first identifier that identifies the first environmental information upon receiving the consent; receiving a request to acquire the first environmental information associated with the first identifier from a second terminal device used by a second supplier on the supply chain, and notifying the second terminal device of the first environmental information; A method for sharing environmental information.

2. 2. An environmental information sharing method according to claim 1, the first environmental information includes at least the presence or absence of regulated substances in the first product and the content of recycled materials in the first product; How to share environmental information.

3. 2. An environmental information sharing method according to claim 1, The computer registering second environmental information about a second product made from the first product in the storage unit; issuing a second identifier associated with the first identifier, the second identifier identifying the second environmental information; A method for sharing environmental information.

4. 2. An environmental information sharing method according to claim 1, the first environmental information includes a content rate of recycled materials contained in the first product; The computer registering second environmental information including a content rate of recycled materials contained in the second product in the storage unit; calculating a content rate of recycled materials contained in a third product made from the first product and the second product by multiplying the content rate contained in the first environmental information and the content rate contained in the second environmental information; registering third environmental information including the calculated content rate in the storage unit; A method for sharing environmental information.

5. a registration unit that registers first environmental information about a first product of a first supplier on the supply chain in a storage unit; a receiving unit that receives consent for the first environmental information to be disclosed from a first terminal device used by the first supplier; an issuing unit that issues a first identifier that identifies the first environmental information upon receiving the consent; a notification unit that, upon receiving a request to acquire the first environmental information associated with the first identifier from a second terminal device used by a second supplier on the supply chain, notifies the second terminal device of the first environmental information; An environmental information sharing system.

6. 6. An environmental information sharing system according to claim 5, the first environmental information includes at least the presence or absence of regulated substances in the first product and the content of recycled materials in the first product; Environmental information sharing system.

7. 6. An environmental information sharing system according to claim 5, the registration unit registers second environmental information about a second product made from the first product in the storage unit; the issuing unit issues a second identifier that is associated with the first identifier and identifies the second environmental information. Environmental information sharing system.

8. 6. An environmental information sharing system according to claim 5, the first environmental information includes a content rate of recycled materials contained in the first product; the registration unit registers second environmental information including a content rate of recycled materials contained in the second product in the storage unit; a calculation unit that calculates a content rate of recycled materials contained in a third product made from the first product and the second product by multiplying the content rate contained in the first environmental information and the content rate contained in the second environmental information, The registration unit registers third environmental information including the calculated content rate in the storage unit. Environmental information sharing system.

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