Hitachi, Ltd.

Takeshi Nakatani

Yuichi Kobayashi

Shigeru Sasaki

Yoshifumi Sato

Shuji Terada

An individual article management arrangements for managing an individual article distributed through a plurality of sites with a form thereof changed at least one of said plurality of sites, including: information processing apparatuses installed at said plurality of sites; and a data center apparatus connected to each of said information processing apparatuses through a network. The data center apparatus and the information processing apparatuses are configured to effect predetermined operations.

Traceability system

An individual article management system for managing an individual article distributed through a plurality of sites with a form thereof changed at least one of the plurality of sites. Each of the information processing apparatuses transmits read identification information and formed index data to a data center apparatus through a network, and the data center apparatus, receives the transmitted identification information and the transmitted index data, and stores each of the received index data into a storing apparatus so as to be associated with each other on the basis of the identification information for identifying the individual article.

Traceability arrangements for managing an individual article distributed through a plurality of sites with a form thereof changed at at least one of the plurality of sites, the traceability arrangements including: receiving, from information processing apparatuses installed at each of the plurality of sites, both identification information read from a tag attached to each individual article for identifying the article, and index information including change information indicating a change in distribution situation and form of a predetermined individual article; associating and storing the received change information with one another in accordance with the identification information; accepting an input of search condition information including the identification information; and specifying a distribution route of the each individual article based on the accepted search condition information.

In a traceability system, information of a change in distribution situation and form of an individual article, and information of identification of the individual article is collected from each of distribution sites, and collected information is strung in accordance with a predetermined rule. A flow of distribution is known and managed based on the strung information. This makes it possible to know a location from which the individual article is distributed and a route through which the individual article is distributed, thus allowing safety management of the individual article.

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Yokohama, Japan

Takeshi Nakatani