A Reference Architecture for Digital Product Passports at Batch Level to Support Manufacturing Supply Chains

Despite the availability of metrics and measurement tools, the lack of formal models and standardization concerning product lifecycle information poses a challenge in assessing how sustainable the supply chain operations of a company are. Digital Product Passports (DPPs) emerge as a promising solution to track and ensure accurate product information is maintained throughout the whole product lifecycle. DPPs are digital representations of the accumulated information of a particular product from its inception to end-of-life. We investigated the topic from the perspective of a large European manufacturer, examining how different phases of the product lifecycle can be supported by static and dynamic data at different levels of granularity. As a result of our research, we propose a reference architecture that supports the development of DPPs with emphasis on product components at batch level granularity. The validation of the proposed architecture shows that the approach provides an opportunity for manufacturers to address sustainability issues in resource-intensive manufacturing supply chains while actively reusing legacy infrastructure.