Any environmental certification is only as good as the chain of custody systems that support it. It’s all very well a forest being certified as well-managed, but if the timber can’t be traced back to the tree, it’s not much use to the importer, merchant or end user. And, of course, any chain of custody system is only as good as its individual links. Paper-based systems are fine when they work effectively but they can prove complex to administer and monitor and, it is generally acknowledged, can be prone to error and abuse.
Against this background, electronic data gathering (or control intelligence systems) specialist Helveta has been working in a joint venture with the Tropical Forest Trust (TFT), the membership organisation that promotes certification in tropical hardwood forests, to develop a real-time chain of custody check and control system.
The “TracElite-Always On” technology has so far been deployed in a number of forest concessions and factories in Malaysia and Indonesia. Several leading European retailers have also been involved in the development of the system and, said Reading-based Helveta, will become users as “TracElite timber flows into their buying programmes”. These include B&Q, Habitat, Marks & Spencer and Robert Dyas in the UK, Castorama in France, Kwantum in the Netherlands and the Jysk Group in Scandinavia.
At the heart of the TracElite system are identification bar codes, applied first to the timber in the forest, then carried down through processing and shipping to the final customer. These are constantly tracked so that, not only can the timber’s source be identified when it reaches its final destination, its current status and location can be checked at any point en route.
As the timber progresses down the supply chain, the central TracElite server automatically checks it against earlier data and the parameters of certification schemes. If any consignment looks suspect or doesn’t tally, it is immediately identified as a “spike” in the database. The entry is flagged up on screen with an amber “light” if it’s a “minor non-compliance”, red if it looks like a serious breach – and it gets a green if there’s no problem.
Locating problems
System users, from foresters, sawmillers and shippers, to importers, traders, retailers, environmental NGOs and certification auditing bodies can instantly see if there’s something amiss with the consignment and also follow the audit trail to where it arose.
“You don’t have to wait for days or weeks for the information to be collated and the paperwork checked off,” said Helveta sales director Mark Thornton.
“And when there is a problem, the system also immediately generates an alert for the certification ‘enforcement agency’,” added managing director Patrick Newton.
To illustrate how the system operates, Helveta points to one of its first applications, tracking wood from PT Daisy Timber, a forest concession in Kalimantan, Indonesia, which supplies mainly meranti to sawmills and manufacturers. The TracElite process started early this year when the TFT recorded the concession’s pre-harvest mapping data. This involved each tree to be felled being allotted its own unique identity in the system and a bar code tag. The concession staff scan the tags in the forest using hand-held units called HRCs and key in information about the tree, such as dimensions and species.
“As soon as staff return to camp, they synchronise the HRC with the TracElite system via satellite connection and saved records are immediately uploaded,” said Mr Newton.
After felling, the Daisy staff attached bar code tags to each log, tying them to the original tree via TracElite’s automatically generated numbering sequence. At the same time they entered the dimensions of each log, plus species and documentation data and, again, the information was uploaded into the system. At this point users could identify a range of problems, for instance if the volume of the logs was significantly different from the original tree, or if a tag had been used more than once, either by mistake or fraudulently.
The sawmill connection
The Daisy logs were destined for TFT member PT Tanjung Timberindo International (TTI) which exports lumber, mouldings and furniture components to Europe and the US. It first went to a sawmill used by the company. Here, TTI personnel scanned the log tags, recording dimensions, species and other data. Using their own uniquely identifiable HRCs, they uploaded the information into the TracElite system, again allowing them and the TFT to check that everything tallied with the original records.
At the TTI factory further data was recorded for each batch of sawn timber and these will be tracked through the plant until they are shipped to Europe in September.
“At each control point in the manufacturing process, data will be recorded and the batch volumes reconciled in TracElite,” said Mr Newton. “Stakeholders get transparency and visibility on the timber assets progressing through the supply chain, while the factory owners get real-time inventory control. Later this year there will also be an audit of the Daisy Timber/TTI chain of custody and the system will allow it to be undertaken online, saving time and cost for all involved.”
Another of the first companies to sign up to TracElite is Indonesian plywood mill TJIPTA. It uses the system to provide traceability back to the forest concessions where it is sources its wood. Currently timber is followed by TracElite up to the factory gate, where TJIPTA’s existing paper-based chain of custody system takes over, but eventually the company will take the process completely online.
Paul Romaine of TJIPTA’s UK agent CIPTA said that TracElite provided “real-time visibility on timber flows into the mill. And we can use this to provide buyers and other third parties with assurance when it comes to verifiable origin.”
The cost to suppliers
The timber and wood product suppliers using TracElite pay US$2,500 per HRC, plus an annual fee of US$7,500, while shippers and customers down the supply chain pay an annual subscription which is graduated according to their level of access to the system.
Some of the cost, Helveta points out, can be covered by environmental grants and subsidy schemes, with CIPTA, for example, applying for EU funding under the Timber Trade Action Plan to help implement TracElite at TJIPTA.
According to Mr Newton, the added reassurance TracElite gives about a certification system can give timber suppliers a marketing advantage. “The information it provides is also increasingly important for investment, with financial institutions taking certification and environmental issues more and more seriously in their decision making,” he said.
Helveta also believes the system can help take forward international initiatives to improve forest management and combat illegal logging, notably the EU action plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).
In the latest development, TracElite has appointed the Soil Association to provide online audit and certification services to users.
From the auditor’s perspective, said the Soil Association’s Kevin Jones, a key benefit of TracElite is that it “provides a true picture of what is happening in the supply chain today”.
“And it is transparent as it shows where inconsistencies or non-compliances are happening and what is being done to resolve them,” he said.
