Supply Chain Product Linking Server for Carbon Footprint Traceability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face difficulties in determining the extent of information collection for generating a product tree within a supply chain, making it challenging to accurately calculate the total greenhouse gas emissions for a final product, as companies lack clarity on the product supply relations among multiple tiers.
Innovation Solution
A server apparatus that stores product information for each company in a supply chain and facilitates linking work by receiving and transmitting contact information between companies, enabling the creation of a product tree by correlating product information across multiple tiers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If companies manually track product information across multiple tiers in the supply chain, then information accuracy may be maintained through direct verification, but the complexity of information collection and the time required to generate a complete product tree increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary that receives linking information from downstream companies and automatically distributes it to upstream companies. This mediator coordinates the information exchange, eliminating the need for complex direct verification between all company pairs while maintaining information accuracy through centralized management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by having downstream companies prepare and submit linking information in advance. This allows upstream companies to receive structured, pre-processed data that reduces the complexity of information collection and enables more efficient product tree generation.
2Reliability
If companies collect product information from all upstream and downstream tiers, then complete product tree generation is enabled, but the time and resources required for information collection increase
Solution Approach 1:
The server implements a feedback mechanism where downstream companies submit linking information that is automatically distributed upstream. This feedback loop ensures that all necessary information is collected systematically, enabling complete product tree generation while reducing the time companies need to spend on manual information gathering.
Solution Approach 2:
Downstream companies perform preliminary actions by preparing and submitting their linking information to the server in advance. This pre-processing of data reduces the overall time required for information collection across the supply chain, as upstream companies receive ready-to-use information rather than needing to request and verify it manually.
3Productivity
If a centralized system collects and manages all product information, then product tree generation becomes efficient and automated, but the complexity of the information management system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The server acts as a centralized intermediary that manages all product information and coordination between companies. This single point of control enables automated product tree generation and improves productivity, while the server's standardized information exchange protocols help manage the inherent complexity of centralized information management.
4Measurement precision
If companies exchange detailed linking information with multiple partners, then accurate carbon footprint calculation is enabled, but the communication overhead and information transmission complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The server as an intermediary consolidates and manages the transmission of linking information between companies. This reduces communication overhead by centralizing information exchange, ensuring that accurate carbon footprint data is collected from all tiers without requiring each company to directly communicate with multiple partners, thus reducing information transmission complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
A server apparatus that stores, in linkage, for each of a plurality of companies included in a supply chain, product information concerning products of the respective companies. The server apparatus receives, from an account of a downstream company of a target company, first contact to an account of the target company, the first contact concerning a linking work for product information of a target product, executes processing concerning the linking work in response to receiving the first contact, and notifies, in correlation with first identification information included in the first contact, a status of the linking work for the target product toward an account of a second downstream company located further downstream than the downstream company. The processing concerning the linking work includes transmitting second contact concerning linking work for product information of an upstream product linked to the product information of the target product to an account of an upstream company of the target company. The notifying the status includes notifying second identification information in correlation with the first identification information.