IoT-based Dairy Supply Chain - An Ontological Approach

Emerging digital transformation in industry is noticeable among others in Supply Chain Management (SCM). For instance, applying new-generation digitalized technologies in the Dairy Supply Chain (DSC) enables an increase of manufacturing productivity, improves planning and forecasting, and also enhances competitive capabilities according to Industry 4.0 assumptions. It is worth mentioning, that in modern DSC, high visibility of raw materials, components, products, and processes by all contributors on all stages of DSC is crucial. This article focuses on the transparency aspect of the DSC supported by IoT-based technologies enabling interoperability among all DSC participants. The paper addresses the problem of effective integration of heterogeneous data sources, i.e., deployed new technological IoT solutions with traditional SCM systems and a third-party software component. The main objective of this report is to propose the IoT-based DSC model comprising four chain stages: milk production, milk transportation, milk processing, and dairy products distribution. Moreover, the comprehensive DSC domain ontology as a knowledge model is formulated and described. The ontology aims on improvement of the DSC management efficiency by facilitating interoperability within DSC. The applicability of the proposed ontological model is verified using a sustainable-oriented case study, which estimates the environmental footprint at the milk transportation stage of the DSC.