I can’t be trusted with those hand-held supermarket scanners. Apparently I’d scan items twice and bankrupt us, or fail to scan them at all and be done for shoplifting. For less technically-challenged shoppers, however, self-swiping is increasingly the check-out method of choice and, as the technology develops, it’s set to become more popular still. And according to our Wood Futures article by Patrick Newton of supply chain software specialist Helveta, this has implications for the global timber trade.
Those chunky hand-helds, he predicts, will give way to scanning software in your phone and the technology will deduct the price of purchases from your bank account via your online e-card. But that won’t be the half of it. From the on-pack barcode, your phone won’t just record how much your shopping costs, it will also tell you everything else you wanted to know about it: lists of ingredients, calorific values, use-by dates, warranty information and, crucially, its green credentials, how it was transported, its overall carbon footprint and whether it is sustainably sourced and eco-certified.
Of course, people won’t want this avalanche of data every time they pop into Sainsbury or their local timber merchant. But they will likely be able to set up their device to alert them if a product contravenes personal purchasing criteria.
The software for collating and delivering all this product and materials data already exists. In fact, Mr Newton’s company creates it for the forestry, timber and agricultural sectors and, he maintains, with communications technology developing at an ever accelerating pace, it won’t be long before the hardware for transmitting it swiftly and simply to the shopper in the high street will be upon us.
What this means for the timber business is even more pressure to ensure its products are backed with proof of legality and sustainability, chain of custody and, increasingly, carbon valuation. Of course, this process is under way, with AHEC this week reporting that it is adding to the pool of information with a US hardwoods life cycle analysis study. But more will increasingly need to be done, as it’s not just time these days that waits for no man, nor does technology.
