Chemical Production Network Attribute Tracking With Balancing Accounts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current supply chain systems face challenges in sharing environmental impact data due to the lack of common data standards and trusted data platforms, making it difficult to track and assign environmental attributes to chemical products effectively.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for producing chemical products with environmental attributes, involving the use of balancing accounts to assign environmental attributes to chemical products, and utilizing identifiers to track these attributes throughout the chemical production network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If environmental impact data is shared among supply chain participants, then transparency and collective reduction of environmental impacts are improved, but data sharing is hindered by lack of common data standards and trusted data platforms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments environmental impact data into distinct attributes (e.g., carbon footprint, water usage, energy consumption) that can be independently tracked and assigned to specific chemical products. This segmentation allows for standardized data collection without requiring a completely new integrated platform, as each attribute can be handled separately through the balancing account mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces balancing accounts as an intermediary mechanism between input materials and chemical products. These accounts serve as trusted data platforms that automatically track and transfer environmental attributes through the production network, eliminating the need for direct complex data sharing agreements between all supply chain participants.
2Measurement precision
If centralized data systems are used for tracking environmental attributes, then data accuracy is improved, but exchange and sharing of data becomes laborious
Solution Approach 1:
The balancing account system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it tracks environmental attributes, maintains data accuracy through automated calculations, and enables easy data exchange by providing standardized account balances that can be transferred between different participants in the supply chain without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service data exchange where the balancing accounts automatically track and transfer environmental attributes through the production network. Participants can independently query and share data through their account balances without requiring complex centralized coordination or manual data entry, thus improving ease of operation while maintaining accuracy.
3Reliability
If environmental attributes are assigned to chemical products, then accountability and transparency are improved, but data sharing is hindered by lack of common standards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter representation of environmental data by converting various environmental impact measures into standardized balancing account balances. This parameter transformation allows different types of environmental data (carbon, water, energy) to be uniformly represented and exchanged, improving accountability while reducing standards complexity through a common balancing framework.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods, apparatuses and systems for producing at least one chemical product associated with one or more environmental attribute(s) and for assigning at least one environmental attribute to at least one chemical product produced by a chemical production network.