Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management

Definitions

• the invention relates to production of products in the Life Sciences Industries, particularly products from bulk raw material such as dairy, food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and healthcare products.
• an automatic data capture unit captures date, time, temperature, farm identity, and milk volume
• a collection sample from the farm provides percentage fat, protein, chemical and micro analysis data
• a weigh-bridge or flow-meter captures milk volume delivered
• a delivery sample from the tanker provides percentage fat and protein, chemical and micro analysis data
• a laboratory sample provides data relating to pH, acidity, and anti-biotic content, and silo control systems control flow and capture data for delivery to various production plant such as cheese-making or liquid milk production plant.
• the invention addresses this problem.
• a traceability system comprising means for interfacing with food product supply chain stage devices to capture production data, and a traceability engine comprising means for storing production data in a manner whereby data from supply chain stages of a product is linked, characterised in that, the traceability engine comprises means for modelling the supply chain and for storing the production data in a structure of the model.
• the traceability engine comprises means for using the model to verify received production data before storing it.
• the traceability engine comprises an object representing each supply chain stage for which production data is generated, and methods linking the objects.
• the model comprises means for using a method to link objects in any one selected direction.
• the traceability engine comprises means for writing a series of trace events to perform a trace, each of said trace events comprising a source object identifier and a target object identifier.
• the engine comprises means for using a relevant method to determine which source and target object identifiers are to be recorded as trace events.
• the traceability engine comprises means for maintaining a database of trace event records, the database structure being non-normalised.
• the engine comprises means for generating a trace in response to a user request which defines an initial production stage object and a trace direction.
• the engine comprises means for associating a particular method with the defined direction.
• the engine comprises means for associating a method to a selected direction in a two-dimensional map.
• the engine comprises means for generating a trace by retrieving and linking trace events.
• the engine comprises means for retrieving and linking the trace events with recursive accesses to the trace events database.
• the system comprises means for automatically polling production control systems to retrieve production data, whereby modification of the production control systems is not required for interfacing with the traceability system.
• system further comprises an interface comprising means for pre-processing production data from continuous production devices before processing by the engine.
• said interface comprises means for executing rules controlling recordal of multiple trace events for a single physical event.
• the interface comprises means for transmitting to the engine data representing a proportional value for a link between source and target records.
• system comprises means for outputting a trace in a format similar to that of conventional operating system file/folder nested displays .
• Fig. 1 is a high-level diagram illustrating a traceability system and its major interactions
• Fig. 2 is a more detailed diagram showing data capture.
• Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the basic structure of a model of the system
• Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating structure of a database controlled by the engine
• Fig. 5 is a screen shot of a list of objects
• Fig. 6(a) is a screen shot displaying properties and descriptions of an object
• Fig. 6(b) is a screen shot showing attributes of an object property
• Fig. 7 is a screen shot showing linking of objects by methods
• Fig. 8 is a screen shot of method attributes
• Figs. 9(a) and 9(b) are screen shots showing trace enquiry functions
• Figs. 10 and 11 are displays of forward and reverse traces
• Fig. 12 is a diagram showing the two-dimensional nature of trace maps.
• a traceability system 1 performs food traceability and production control operations for a milk powder supply chain 2.
• the supply chain 2 comprises a "discrete domain” in which the food materials are handled on a discrete basis, and a “continuous domain” in which there is continuous production to provide packed powder.
• the traceability system 1 captures data and stage tags at each of the following stages in the discrete domain:-
• the system 1 For each successive stage the system 1 updates a traceability events table so that it can provide a full history for the food at any particular stage. In addition, the system 1 assists production control by delivering a control signal to the intake bay stage to indicate which bay should be used. This is one example of a trace event.
• the stages in the continuous domain in the factory are separation 9, skimming 10, evaporation/drying 11, and powder packing 12. These stages are controlled by a process control system with little input from the traceability system 1, other than quality alerts should the need arise. However, there is comprehensive data capture from the process control system 15.
• the traceability system 1 uses the captured data to communicate with a laboratory information management system (LIMS) 25 and with an inventory system 20.
• LIMS laboratory information management system
• a farm computer 30 is used to access the system 1 to upload data concerning the feed being used, and the farm itself such as farm identification and co-operative scheme data.
• a tanker automatic data capture (ADC) unit uploads tanker and load identifiers with QC update data from the LIMS system 25 and weighbridge and "swipe" card data is used by the traceability system 1 to download an intake bay selection to the tanker.
• ADC tanker automatic data capture
• the system 1 operates independently of the data sources. This is because it comprises a polling interface which proactively pulls third party systems to capture data as it is generated. Also, it interfaces with internal or related applications without necessarily polling.
• the traceability engine therefore encapsulates trace data. It requires no direct link to third party applications which create the production data. Also, such third party applications do not need to be modified to supply production data to the system 1.
• the system 1 comprises an engine which models the supply chain using: objects representing data records for supply chain stages, and methods linking objects according to trace links.
• the originating object is referred to as a "source” object and the destination one is referred to as a "target object”.
• the engine performs automatic verification of received data on the basis of checking that it matches allowable properties of the relevant object.
• the data received must match the properties defined for the relevant objects.
• each incoming data property must conform to the object properties defined.
• the Finished Product Object is defined as:
• a trace method 'DISPATCH' is used to record a dispatch of finished goods. Suppose that as a strict rule, in order for the cheese to mature, the finished good must be left in the warehouse for at least one month. When the trace event is received, the system will check that: a value for the finished good exists in the events database, and that this value was recorded more than one month ago.
• Fig. 3 there is an object class 30 for each of weighbridge, silo batch, makesheet column, IP (in-process batch) batch, and finished product supply chain stages.
• a method class 40 linking the weighbridge and silo batch object classes and a single method class for each other object class as a source object class.
• the object classes and method classes are stored separately. Indeed, the method classes are also classes in the object-oriented paradigm as they are separate entities having attributes which in this case define both forward and reverse links.
• the object classes have properties 50.
• the makesheet (M/S) col. object class has Makesheet Header Type, M/S ID, and column no. properties. Each property has associated attributes.
• a traceability events database 60 shown in Fig. 4. It writes an instance of an object class 30 to the record and writes data associated with each target object and writes this data to the same record together with data for the relevant method.
• the weighbridge object class W/B01 and W/B02.
• any particular supply chain there may be any relevant number of objects from a particular class. For example, a silo batch may fill three pallets and so a silo batch object is linked as a source object to three pallet objects.
• the records of the database 60 are referred to as trace events.
• the structure of the database is not normalised, "normalised” in this specification meaning that an item is only stored once and is linked to other items by relationships between tables. By not normalising the structure, each trace event is complete and individually addressable. Thus, all trace events can be processed in a universal manner. Also, the events can be linked to external systems such as the LIMs system in a direct manner. Non-normalisation also allows high-speed real time processing because there is no need to search through different tables for processing any one trace event.
• an attribute of some objects is an image for display purposes.
• the display of Fig. 5 shows for each object a name, sequence number, description and image properties.
• the sequence number is for display purposes only, the actual sequencing being determined by the methods.
• Fig. 6(a) shows properties for the finished product ("FINJPROD") object class.
• Object attributes are stored as data in a table.
• a verification routine uses the table name and an object string value to check that the record exists in the table.
• Fig. 6(b) shows attributes for the "Product" property of the FIN_PROD object.
• Fig. 7 Instantiation of a method involves recording the following data:- source object identifier, target object identifier, and method description for the reverse or forward direction as appropriate.
• the definition of a method class includes source and target objects (in the forward direction sense), and a description for each of the forward and reverse directions.
• the engine Once trace events have been recorded, the engine generates a trace in response to a request, as follows :-
• a forward trace view is shown in Fig. 10, and a reverse trace view is shown in Fig. 11.
• These views can be readily generated by simply directly outputting the contents of the string of trace events for the supply chain in question. There is no need to search through relational tables and build a trace. It simply exists in non-normalised form, ready for direct outputting.
• This default trace direction is forward but the user can change this to a reverse direction in making the trace request.
• the selection is not simply forward or reverse;
• a trace chain is not necessarily one dimensional - it could well be two dimensional.
• a Silo could receive the main raw material - 'Wholemilk' but it could also have some ingredients mixed in - for example 'Salt'. If the user requests a trace from the Silo then they have three choices: Forward to the processing stage
• the user provides a date range so that the next lookup on trace events is limited to this date range (From/To)
• the user supplies a range of trace events to run the trace engine on. Providing a range allows them to for example select a range of pallets to trace if they were not sure which pallet the problem originated from.
• the trace views are presented in the conventional operating system folder/file nested display manner. This is very easy for the user to understand and allows for collapsing/expanding a trace chain over multiple production stages.
• buttons These allow the user to recursively request a trace path based on values outputted for a previous trace request. This is particularly useful for a business scenario where the following steps must be taken, (a) contamination of end product notified, (b) reverse trace request up the supply chain, and (c) forward trace to see what other end products must be recalled.
• the above describes traceability for the discrete domain, in which production stages are clearly defined with definite boundaries.
• the stages are often not so clearly defined.
• one pallet of powder may have powder derived from multiple silos because of residual powder and milk in pipework.
• the engine includes an interface layer of rules which initially process the incoming production data from the continuous domain. These rules control and direct recordal of multiple trace events for some single physical events in the continuous domain.
• production data for ejection of a powder pallet results in the rules linking the pallet eject object with multiple silo batch objects according to user- defined configuration settings.
• One such setting is a percentage residual powder quantity based on time for a particular silo.
• the user may define the following 'bands' of percentage composition against the lag time from whole milk flowing from a silo to ending up as finished powder.
• a further 15% of the powder contained within that pallet can be derived from a silo opened at least 30 minutes ago (because of the Open/Shut overlap between the current and previous silo),
• a further 4% of the powder contained within that pallet can be derived from a silo opened at least 40 minutes ago (because of a large amount of residue still in the system),
• a further 1% of the powder contained within that pallet can be derived from a silo opened at least 12 hours ago (because of a small amount of residue still in the system)
• the interface layer will for one physical trace event - in this case the creation of a pallet of bags of powder - create multiple trace events but with varying proportions.
• This interface allows the core traceability engine functionality to operate in a common universal manner irrespective of whether the data originates in the continuous or discrete domains.
• the invention provides for comprehensive capture of full supply chain data with excellent verification to ensure data integrity. Trace events are dynamically created in real time according to the simple object and method classes. There is excellent versatility because of availability of multiple forward and multiple reverse directions, and because the system processes data from the discrete and continuous domains in a universal manner.

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• 2002
  • 2002-04-25 EP EP02764090A patent/EP1415258A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2002-04-25 WO PCT/IE2002/000055 patent/WO2002086629A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2002-04-25 AU AU2002307754A patent/AU2002307754A1/en not_active Abandoned

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