Our service Trace-Wise gives the ability to trace events across the product life cycle and create an information log for each event. Each unique item level Digital Product Passports can be encoded with sales, shipping, repair, collection, reuse and other event driven circularity information. Our system is flexible in that it allows for any type of event to be introduced with a timestamp and location, and associated log to be generated.

A manufacturer that utilises Trace-Wise can retrieve in real-time data as logged for its entire product fleet, so as to create deep analytics for circularity. This gives possibilities such as obtaining data on the actual lifespan of products, gaining insights in the impact of product repairs, recovering products from customers, and tracing the end destination of products. 

Trace-Wise also makes it possible to setup product screening surveys and circularity recommendations to operators. An on-site operator can be provided with a series of questions to define the product quality status, such as cosmetic damages or working conditions. Decision logic can be added to analyse the answers to make a particular circularity recommendation, like recycle, reuse or recovery to the operator, as well as specific actions including buy-back, send to recycling, make available for resale. 

To work with repair, collection, refurbishment and other companies and their operators, Trace-Wise allows manufacturers to on-board them using our verifiable credentials system. In the EcoWise platform a 3^rd party economic operator is issued with a digitally signed credential by the manufacturer that issued the DPP, which needs to be presented before access is granted. The issued verifiable credential is unique to the economic operator and can also be tailored to provide only access to specific features on the EcoWise platform, such as only providing repair or only providing logistics updates.

Versatile possibilities for circularity management

The possibilities of using Trace-Wise to boost circularity with analytical data are versatile. When a product is repaired information such as the type of repair, replaced components, and repair time can be logged. At a future date this information can easily be looked up such as when carrying out another repair, or for evaluating if the repair led to a lifespan extension of the product once it is collected after use.  

Trace-Wise can also be used to enhance component recovery to obtain spare parts. Information about the priority spare parts that are desired can be made available in the DPP, and combined with information about disassembly to extract them, as well as data about the age of the individual product. A screening survey with decision logic can then be introduced to find out if a component recovery effort should be made tailored to each individualised item.

Decision making between reuse and recycling can also be made once a product is no longer wanted by its user, or when the product has been collected or is brought to a reuse and recycling point. To do this a collector can access the DPP, and utilise a screening survey to log visual information that can be combined with the age of the product and insights in working conditions, to yield an automated recommendation if the product should be prepared for reuse or sent directly to a recycler. 

Interoperability with existing event driven data collection systems

Trace-Wise also allows for linking to existing IT systems where repair, collection or other event-based data is already captured, so as to make this available in the Digital Product Passport for enhanced visibility and future usage. The information about a product repair carried out by one company, can in this way be made visible to another company several years later.