Traceability as a strategic tool to improve inventory management: A case study in the food industry

Food supply chain: are UK SMEs aware of concept, drivers, benefits and barriers, and frameworks of traceability?

“…Firstly, if benefits related to food crisis management are taken into consideration, traceability (i) can allow for compliance with the existing regulation (Storøy et al, 2013;Resende-Filho and Hurley, 2012); (ii) is recognised as a mechanism for safety (Kher et al, 2010;Alfaro and Ràbade, 2009;Regattieri et al, 2007) and quality (Lxe, 2011;Kher et al, 2010); (iii) can lead to a cost reduction when recall of hazardous product is needed (Storøy et al, 2013;Banterle and Stranieri, 2008); and (iv) can enable rapid recall or withdrawals of products in case of a food crises (Folinas et al, 2006). The benefits of traceability can be perceived both in term of wider advantages for the supply chain, which becomes more competitive and efficient (Banterle and Stranieri, 2008;Bosona and Gebresenbet, 2013;Canavari et al, 2010;Lxe, 2011;Regattieri et al, 2007), and in term of advantages for the single firm, such as: (i) cost reduction (Bosona and Gebresenbet, 2013) and improvements in efficiently (Fritz and Schiefer, 2009) of logistics; (ii) improvement in inventory management (Lxe, 2011;Alfaro and Ràbade, 2009); (iii) technological contribution (Bosona and Gebresenbet, 2013); and (iv) competences development (Bosona and Gebresenbet, 2013). Furthermore, strategically, traceability information can have a positive impact as a marketing tool through product differentiation in term of specific product qualities and safety standards (Storøy et al, 2013;Liao et al, 2011;Banterle and Stranieri, 2008); a tool to access markets that require higher traceability standards , and to protect the brand image by showing transparency of food production .…”

“…Finally, traceability can have a positive impact on consumers and society. In fact a transparent supply chain can (i) lead to trust building along the supply chain and among consumers (Aung and Chang, 2014;Kher et al, 2010;Mejia et al, 2010;Alfaro and Ràbade, 2009;Fritz and Schiefer, 2009;Regattieri et al, 2007); (ii) can help in reducing the healthcare costs and loss of life due to food outbreaks , and (iii) can have a positive impact on the environment because the transparent information provided by traceability systems can help firms in sourcing materials in a sustainable way (Bosona and Gebresenbet, 2013).…”

“…This is consistent with the traceability definitions that are found in the literature. In fact, 9 out of 10 definitions - Dabbene et al (2014), Bosona and Gebresenbet (2013), Storøy et al (2013), ISO 9000/BS 5750 cited in Alfaro and Ràbade (2009) Interestingly, the concept of 'Information' was chosen by only 25% of the companies. This result might appear unexpected, because a traceability system essentially carries information along the supply chain.…”

Monitoring and Control Framework for Business Processes in Ubiquitous Environments

“…During this process, the mobile transceiver node installed in the truck sends up-to-date status information to the stand-alone server or middleware of the operator of the node where interpretation of the data in view of known demands and capacities, as well as issuing of commands as needed, is taking place already at higher abstraction levels (application and analytics layers in Figure 3). Decision mechanisms can be very complex if the entire potential of transparency is to be exploited [15]-for example, a given truck-load of vegetables can be directed to different distribution or storage sites, depending on freshness estimated by available information on handling conditions and time. (3) Towards the end of the supply chain, material streams may ramify due to the The fragmented structure of redistribution and retail narrows down the focus on individual orders, and typically, little is communicated between parallel replenishment paths about capacity or stock shortages, as well as stock in storage facing expiry.…”

Linking Farmers to Markets: The Case of Zero Star Uni Pessoal

“…Data gathered included primary and secondary data, and the data collection methods included face-to-face interviews, rapid rural appraisals and desk top research of current and related literature in linking farmers to markets. The approach used in this study is the case study method which is widely used in marketing and is well suited to the study of a phenomenon and dynamic and evolving markets (Westgren and Zering 1998;Alfaro and Rabade 2009). Case studies may focus on an individual, a group, or an entire community and may utilize a number of data gathering techniques such as documents, oral histories, in-depth interviews and participant observation (Hagan 2002 andYin 1994).…”