Monitoring environmental performance of the forestry supply chain using RFID Anders Bjo ¨rk c , Martin Erlandsson c , Janne Ha ¨kli b , Kaarle Jaakkola b , A ˚ sa Nilsson c , Kaj Nummila b , Ville Puntanen a , Antti Sirkka a, * a Tieto Finland Oy, Hatanpa ¨a ¨nvaltatie 30, 33101 Tampere, Finland b VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT, Finland c IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute Ltd., P.O. Box 21060, SE-100 31 Stockholm, Sweden 1. Introduction Radio frequency identification (RFID) provides means to automatically identify objects using radio frequency signals. Passive RFID is based on modulating the backscattered signal from the transponder to the reader. This principle has been used since the 1940s [1] with radar and transponders. More recently passive RFID technology based on the same general principle has found numerous applications in marking and identifying objects, for example in logistics, in access control and in anti-theft devices. RFID is commonly used at low frequencies (LF), high frequencies (HF) and ultra high frequencies [2]. UHF RFID transponders have gained popularity in several applications as they enable long reading ranges up to several meters with inexpensive passive transponders without batteries. Passive transponders are powered by the signal transmitted by the reader. Even longer read ranges are possible utilising semi-passive or active transponders with a power source (battery) at the cost of increased transponder price. Typically passive transponders consist of an antenna and an integrated circuit (microchip) on a plastic substrate. This inlay is attached to marked object either directly or inside a protective casing. The antenna design for UHF RFID transponders is discussed for example in [3]. The use of UHF RFID technology in the forestry industry is a novel application for this technology. Previously the use of commercially available RFID transponders in the marking of trees has been experimented [4–6]. The conclusion in the trials was that the commercial transponders were not very well suited for large scale tree or log marking as they were not designed for this purpose. HF transponders have been used to mark logs [7,8] but the limited read range of the HF transponders presents challenges in the automatic identification of the logs. In the Indisputable Key project, UHF RFID technology for the use in the forestry industry for automatic and manual log marking was developed [9]. The Indisputable Key project, an integrated project funded by EU in the sixth framework program [10], develops tools and knowledge to enable a significant increase in raw material yield and in utilisation of production resources in the forest and wood industry, thus decreasing the environmental impact. The main Computers in Industry 62 (2011) 830–841 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 9 May 2011 Accepted 2 August 2011 Available online 3 September 2011 Keywords: RFID Forestry industry Environmental monitoring EPCIS LCA A B S T R A C T It is estimated that wood raw material worth of approximately s5 billion is wasted annually in Europe. The major reason for this is that the raw material is not used in the most efficient way as information needed regarding the wood raw material is not available throughout the supply chain. An automatic traceability system makes it possible to utilise raw material information efficiently throughout the forestry-wood production chain and to maximize the raw material yield, and to optimise and to monitor the environmental impact, by linking the relevant information to the traced objects. This paper describes novel RFID technology and traceability solutions that have been developed for the wood products industry. RFID-marking connects the physical objects with their database counterparts thus allowing automatic tracing of the objects. The architecture is needed to the dynamic and decentralised nature of the wood industry. The developed novel RFID based technology allows tracing of individual logs from the tree felling to the sawing of the logs at the saw mill. By combining the traceability and process information systems, new methods are enabled for analysing the performance of the supply chain. As an example, the environmental performance of a product can be traced and analysed even on an individual level. This means that not only the performance from the own production of a manufacturer will be accessible, but also the upstream processes that constitute the product value chain and the life cycle performance for the product leaving the manufacturer. ß 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 358 400 268 630. E-mail addresses: anders.bjork@ivl.se (A. Bjo ¨ rk), martin.erlandsson@ivl.se (M. Erlandsson), janne.hakli@vtt.fi (J. Ha ¨ kli), kaarle.jaakkola@vtt.fi (K. Jaakkola), asa.nilsson@ivl.se (A ˚ . Nilsson), kaj.nummila@vtt.fi (K. Nummila), ville.puntanen@tieto.com (V. Puntanen), antti.sirkka@tieto.com (A. Sirkka). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Industry jo ur n al ho m epag e: ww w.els evier .c om /lo cat e/co mp in d 0166-3615/$ – see front matter ß 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compind.2011.08.001