IoT Technology for the Wine Industry

The IoT can be used to create an intelligent network in which all its members are constantly communicating and transmitting information with each other — especially machinery and products…

In this series of articles, I try to understand the implications of topics related to traceability (chapter 1), transparency (chapter 2), and decentralization (chapter 3). These themes may be considered as antonymous with the wine industry.
In the first chapter, I analyze the relationship between wine producers and consumers through traceability. It has been divided in six articles. Here is the third article of chapter 1. In the second chapter, I examine the effects that transparency could have on the wine supply chain. In the last chapter, I consider decentralization for the wine business industry.

I had the pleasure of interviewing 40 leading players in the wine and the tech industries to write this article (sorted by alphabetical order).

REPRESENTATIVES
• Paul Bounaud, Director Community Engagement France / Project Manager Europe Alcoholic Beverages at GS1
• Gilles Brianceau, Director at Inno’Vin
• Pierre Gernelle, Managing Director at Federation of the Négociants-Producers of Great Burgundy
• Eric Lamaille, Head of Business Unit at Champagne Growers Union (Syndicat des Vignerons de Champagne)
• Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, Secretary General at Comité Vins, CEEV (European Committee of Wine Enterprises)

TECH EXPERTS
• Franck Bourrières Sales & Marketing Director at Prooftag
• Sylvie Busca Associate Founder at Wine in Block
• Stefan Gendreau, Associate Founder at Augmented Reality Wine labels
• Gavin Ger, Joint-CEO and Commercial Director at Laava
• Damien Guille, Global Business Development Director at Scribos
• Maxime Le Coutaller Sales Manager at NutriLabel by ATT
• Alexandre Mongrenier, President & CEO at WID Group
• Nicolas Moulin, Founder & CEO at La Vie Du Vin
• Jémérie Pappo Innovation Manager at Hub One
• Jérôme Pichot, CEO at Advanced Track & Trace (ATT)
• Niko Polvinen, Co-Founder & CEO at Logmore
• Sebastian Schier Managing Director at VinID

RFID a.k.a Sensors IoT — Supply chain full traceability

The IoT can be used to create an intelligent network in which all its members are constantly communicating and transmitting information with each other — especially machinery and products. The shared information is not just collected but evaluated and interpreted, too. This allows the networked machines and products to be self-monitoring, forming the basis for independent imitation of measures.

RFID is a generic term to describe a technology for transmitting an identity (ID: often a serial number) via RF (Radio Frequency). RFID is a highly versatile technology with applications throughout business — from controlling manufacturing processes to maintenance and inspection of equipment, managing assets and tracking goods through to distribution.

RFID technologies can be integrated with other manufacturing or supply chain technologies — such as automated pallet handling and stock picking systems — to reduce the time from order to dispatch and delivery. RFID applications can automatically track the movement or goods and upload the information to the ERP or financial management system.

Because data is being collected and uploaded electronically, RFID also avoids transcription errors, duplication of data and “missed items” when used to collect data on large numbers of items simultaneously. Because RFID allows data to be captured in real-time at different stages in the asset’s or product’s lifecycle, it provides enhanced management information for planning and operational purposes. Companies can use these insights to drive further efficiency improvements.

RFID systems can also help ensure that items have passed through all the correct checks and processes RFID tagging can help ensure traceability by tracking an item right from its point of origin. RFID technologies can be integrated with other manufacturing or supply chain technologies.

Nobody knows the state of the stocks or if the wines have been sold. We can anticipate the needs of restocking.

Nicolas Moulin, Founder & CEO at La Vie Du Vin

Before the product comes to market, conditions are assigned to it in the online system. For example, that it can only be sold in a specific region (region market trading). If a product is scanned outside its intended sales region, predetermined processes are automatically initiated. For example, supplied to the wholesalers in this region can be temporarily stopped as a result, since there is suspicion of the business partners engaging in illegal activity. This is just one of a number of options.

The IoT enables an integrated approach to counterfeit protection, process optimization and market transparency, offering real added value for brand owners.

La Vie Du Vin collects the data every hour. There are huge surprises that our customers did not expect while their wines are stored in their buildings.

Nicolas Moulin, Founder & CEO at La Vie Du Vin

USE CASE 7 — Tracing the main stages of the bottle’s journey
Bernard Magrez has been searching for IoT to control its wines. La Vie Du Vin is a solution that tracks and secures the course of orders thanks to a sensor, a small brick placed in a case or in a pallet. This ‘watcher’ measures temperature, luminosity, hygrometry, vibrations thanks to an accelerometer. The thresholds can be customized according to your storage sites, according to the seasons…. La Vie Du Vin also equips cellars.
This IoT counts the bottles still active or unopened cases. Thanks to a light sensor, it traces the opening dates of the case. If the bottles are stored in a cellar or in a container, the data continues to be recorded. They will be communicated automatically as soon as the IoT is reconnected to the network.
“Their objectives are multiple. It can be to remotely detect possible temperature or shock accidents or possible marketing detour. Alert thresholds can be defined and the customers can follow everything in real time on our platform”, said Nicolas Moulin, Founding President at La Vie Du Vin.

The Champagne Philipponnat wanted to test with the imported of Eastern Europe. The next day, cases were sent to Italy, which is very annoying for the Italian importers who have export contracts.

Nicolas Moulin, Founder & CEO at La Vie Du Vin

Some customers tell me “I work with 40 merchants. If I remove 10, this is not a problem.”

Nicolas Moulin, Founder & CEO at La Vie Du Vin

The great strength of IoT sensors is of course the automatic nature of information capture. I mean that there is no need for a person to capture the information… which is and will always be the original bias for any data collections.
It is a more expensive technology than QR Code and NFC. This is why it is recommended to use these sensors for very fine wines stores in wooden boxes, being the object of investment: the buyer buys, he/she stores or has it stored and then resells, so on until a buyer becomes the taster of the precious nectar… which hopefully for him/her has not suffered too much from the constraints related to a bad storage or a bad handling during the logistic step.
The IoT technology will get even better. Battery lifetimes of up to 20 years are beginning to emerge, because you can’t replace a batch with a 10-year-old battery with a new, more powerful, model. Next step: a battery of 40 years and more. But let’s agree that a 20-year battery reliability is rare enough in today’s time to be valued.
RFID does come with the benefit of being able to scan products at a greater distance, and you don’t need to manually scan each of them like with QR codes. It’s also possible to read multiple RFIDs at the same time. But RFID will never provide transmission method between the producer and the consumer, could never established trust between you and your clients.

Supply Chain and Consumer benefits — Merging QR Codes with IoT

Our sensitive QR codes track temperature.

Niko Polvinen, Co-Founder & CEO at Logmore

USE CASE 8 — Temperature sensor merged with QR Code technology
Logmore is a Finnish company that is in the process of developing its solutions for the wine industry. They made a name for themselves during the pandemic by enabling the traceability of vaccine distribution. They are working with the most important transport companies like DHL, DSV, DB Schenker to name a few.
Their solution is a combination of a data logger that captures temperature, humidity, light and shocks and a cloud service. This sensor utilizing a dynamic QR code can be placed in a box or in a pallet.
Logmore is working on a next generation solution of temperature monitoring sensors in and will be releasing the new solutions soon. This next generation dynamic QR code affixed to the wine label will inform consumers of the correct temperature. This should delight the Champagne winemakers who are constantly asked by consumers for the right temperature for consumption.
This goes further than what the brand Taylors with its Taylors Temperature Challenge or what some young Champagne brands are doing since there is also the unique QR Code to ensure authenticity. Logmore is also looking into allowing consumers to have the nutritional information as imposed by the European Union from December 2023 together with the information on the temperature of tasting.
Logmore told me that they were preparing a solution to couple the information recorded during the transport including the geolocation points, so the route to market, also available to consumers when they scan the QR Code of the bottle.

We don’t talk to each other about traceability. We don’t look for synergy among traceability providers.

Nicolas Moulin, Founder & CEO at La Vie du Vin

QR Codes offer the ease of use of the barcodes of the past but with amazingly better functionality. While these inventory management methods could only transmit limited data sources in the pasts, they can now track intricate shipping condition metrics and offer circumstance monitoring. That’s because QR code devices can include sensors which capture important information like humidity, temperature and shock data.

This helps you to learn whether your products have been handled appropriately while in transit and it an even help to avoid shipping goods which could be compromised or to identify weak points in your logistics. Besides, one the most the most attractive aspects of QR codes over any other data transmission method is that this data can now be passed on the customer. Customers can verify for themselves, using their smartphones, their products were safely handled.

It is in the interest of wine companies that all databases are interconnected to create a single data environment. Competition between databases and their consequent silo structure is not positive for anyone.

Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, Secretary General at Comité Vins CEEV

Traceability, data — what international institutions say

E-Label standardization by GS1

GS1 is a not-for-profit organization that sets global standards for businesses to improve efficiency and transparency across the supply chain. GS1 has over 1.5 Million user companies that rely on the organization’s standards to help streamline operations, address industry challenges, and position their businesses to respond to changing market conditions. GS1 barcodes have become the gold standard for food businesses implementing digital business data management and exchange.

GS1 is a user-driven organization that enables member companies to comply with business and regulatory requirements. To speak the same global language, companies collaborate within GS1 to design and deploy standards of identification (products, companies, locations, boxes, pallets, etc.) and communication for traceability to consumers.
Data sharing is key for traceability. The step change occurred in 2005 when the EU regulation 178/2002 came into force and reinforced the regulatory requirements to better informed consumers. GS1 in Europe enabled the industry to design a set of guidelines for the traceability of wine throughout the entire supply chain.
Companies that developed the guidelines include Allied Domecq, Constellation Europe, Diageo, Distell, E&J Gallo, Waverley, Henkell & Söhnlein, and Les Grands Chais de France. The “Wine Supply Chain Traceability Guideline” was developed with the aim to assist wine producers and suppliers to the European Union in implementing the GS1 System to facilitate compliance with the traceability provisions of the European General Food Law.

GS1 standards make supply chain-wide interoperability possible, codifying inter-business communications and enabling visibility across nodes and chain events. Adopting shared data standards is widely considered the most important step for the industry to take towards traceability. Without a shared language, traceability programs are less likely to be implemented successfully industry-wide.

GS1 offers a neutral place for all the stakeholders that can decide to jump into collaboration to solve problems together that they can’t solve on their own. Collective intelligence is the DNA of GS1.

Paul Bounaud, Project Manager Europe Alcoholic Beverages at GS1

IDENTIFY

GS1 utilizes globally unique identifiers for products and locations. These can then be used across any supply chain to look up product information in a database, or be encoded into a data carrier and then capture information through scanning the barcode.

CAPTURE

GS1 QR Code: GS1 QR Codes are two dimensional barcodes, meaning data is stored across multiple dimensions. Data is encoded in a machine readable square or rectangle in the form of a black and white pattern, which can be read horizontally or vertically. Though similar in form, these codes have an even higher data capacity than the GS1 DataMatrix. GS1 QR codes are typically used to store extended packaging. GS1 QR codes must store GTIN information.

EPC®-Enabled RFID: Electronic Product Codes (EPCs) are stored using with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensors to track products across the supply chain. RFID technology uses radio wave-based readers to activate and read tags that store data. These relatively cheap pieces of hardware allow product data transfer without a visual barcode.

SHARE

BLOCKCHAIN: Blockchain is an emerging technology for distributed data management and transactions. The technology is a promising tool for companies to transact with each other and move assets around the world in a secure manner. GS1 standards will help enable the use of blockchain technologies by providing a framework for shared formats, processes, and data types.

There are a lot of data available created throughout the supply chain. The problem that urgently needs to be solved is the quality of data in B2B2C exchanges due to regulatory pressure like nutrition facts and consumer expectations. Trading partners want accurate product data and consumer trust in the products is based on consistent and accurate information.

Paul Bounaud, Project Manager Europe Alcoholic Beverages at GS1

EPCIS 2.0 and interoperability

EPCIS is GS1’s flagship data sharing standard for enabling visibility, within organisations as well as across an entire supply chain of trading partners and other stakeholders. It helps provide the “what, when, where, why and how” of products and other assets, enabling the capture and sharing of interoperable information about status, location, movement and chain of custody.

EPCIS supports industry in providing additional transparency about the things they manufacture and distribute. As industry continues its digital transformation to more sustainable and circular supply chains, GS1 has answered this need with improvements to EPCIS. Trading partners now have a standardised method of including sensor data and product and process certifications in their event messages – further enabling use of a common language between systems that must communicate effectively.

EPCIS is a traceability event messaging standard that enables supply chain visibility through sharing event data using a common language across, between and within enterprises. EPCIS 2.0 supports existing and emerging industry use cases for traceability and supply chain visibility.

EPCIS 2.0 adds support for:

• Sensor data for monitoring the condition of assets (e.g., in cold chains) and industrial IoT processes
• Certification details pertaining to products, organisations and locations
• Linked, browsable online definitions for all event data fields and classes, code lists and values
• JSON / JSON-LD syntax which is developer-friendly
• REST API for capture and query of event data, easing integration of EPCIS into evolving applications
• GS1 Digital Link URI syntax to express GS1 identifiers within EPCIS event data.

General Data Protection Regulation by the EU

The EU says GDPR (Generation Data Protection Regulation) was designed to “harmonize” data privacy laws across all of its member states as well as provided protection and rights to individuals. GDPR was also created in 2016 to alter how business and other organization can handle the information of those that interact with them. There’s the potential for large fines and reputational damage for those found in breach of the rules.

GDPR can be considered as the world’s strongest set of data protection rules, which enhance how people can access information about them and places limits on what organizations can do with personal data. The strength of GDPR has seen it lauded as a progressive approach to how people’s personal data should be handled and comparisons have been made with the subsequent California Consumer Privacy Act (2018).

Although coming from the EU, GDPR can also apply to businesses that are based outside the region. If a company in the US does business in the EU, then GDPR can apply and also if it is a controller of EU citizens.

At the heart of GDPR is personal data. Broadly this is information that allows a living person to be directly, or indirectly, identified from data that’s available. This can be something obvious, such as a person’s name, location data, of a clear online username, or it can be something that may be less instantly apparent: IP addresses and cookie identifiers can be considered as personal data.

At the code of GDPR are seven key principles — they are laid out in Article 5 of the legislation — which have been designed to guide how people’s data can be handled. GDPR’s seven principles are:

• lawfulness
• fairness and transparency
• purpose limitation
• data minimization
• accuracy
• storage limitation
• integrity and confidentially (security)
• accountability.

While GDPR arguably places the biggest tolls on data controllers and processors, the legislation is designed to help protect the rights of individuals. The full GDPR rights for individuals are:

• the right to be informed
• the right of access
• the right to rectification
• the right to erasure
• the right to restrict processing
• the right to data portability
• the right and also rights around automated decision making and profiling.

QR Code is much more than a barcode, it’s the new symbolic of the circular economy. To benefit all the potential of this global standard, the stakeholders might enhance their collaboration on data interoperability to better circulate data and help operators to ensure their regulatory responsibility to administrations and consumers.

Paul Bounaud, Project Manager Europe Alcoholic Beverages at GS1

The European Data Act and IoT

The Data Governance Act and the Data Act are part of the European Data Strategy, presented by the European Commission in February 2020. This strategy aims to develop a single market for data by supporting responsible access, sharing and reuse. It is part of the broader context of the European Commission’s action plan to ensure Europe’s digital sovereignty by 2030.

The Data Governance Act was adopted in May 2022, and will be applicable in September 2023. It aims to promote the sharing of personal data by setting up intermediation structures. This regulation includes:

• a framework as wall as a technical and legal assistance facilitating the reuse of certain categories of protected public sector data (confidential business information, intellectual property data)
• mandatory certification for data intermediation service providers
• voluntary certification for data altruism organizations.

The European Commission’s legislative proposal, presented on February 23, 2022 aims to ensure a better distribution of the value resulting from the use of personal and non-personal data between the actors of the data economy, particularly related to the use of connected objects and the development of the Internet of Things.

As such, the Data Act proposal aims to:

• facilitate the sharing of data between companies (B2B) and with consumers (B2C), in particular by setting an obligation to make available the data generated by the use of connected objects and related services, in return for fair and equitable compensation
• allow the use of data held by companies and subject to justification of an exceptional need by public bodies of the member states and institutions, agencies or bodies of the EU
• facilitate the switching of data processing services (cloud and edge computing) by regulating the contractual relationship between service providers and consumers including the gradual elimination of switching fees for consumers
• provide for the development of interoperability standards for data and its reuse across sectors
• establish safeguards against unlawful access to non-personal data in the cloud by third country governments.

Standardized data related to raw materials, production and supply chain can significantly improve the performance of the value chain and facilitate the collection of consumer insights. Manufacturers and big brands can really gain in efficiency if they share standardized product identifiers called GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), embedded in a QR Code with a GS1 Digital Link to connect the products to the web.

Paul Bounaud, Project Manager Europe Alcoholic Beverages at GS1

In the wine industry, there are a large number of small, highly specialized unites. It is a fragmented industry. Some of them are in great financial difficulties. Only fine wines have a more favorable financial stability. As for spirits, there are budgets and resources, teams. So these are issues that the producer is interested in if he/she made some steps. However, they look at technology without conviction. They have cost imperatives, usability imperatives.
Unions are struggling to give visibility. There is a need for more testimonies. for more free flow of information.

I often hear it during interventions, conferences and interviews, the wine professionals would like to have a body that would help the producers on these digitalization issues. Just on AI, I don’t know how many times I heard producers telling me that they are alone, that they don’t have any data (except to pay a lot of money) in front of the retailers’ platforms that capture all the data.Each time, they tell me about the national trade associations or by vineyard, as well as the OIV. These associations are not perfectly calibrated to respond to this kind of problem since they have the same concerns on subjects related to the wine world (lack of training, lack of means, governance charter preventing them from producing data by producer). We can be proud to have the OIV to have taken this digital transformation issue head on. The OIV started working on this issue a little over a year ago with the help of the Spanish consulting and technology firm Minsait. After a research report production, a second and more operational phase is being set up.From my small level, I can only suggest to the OIV to set up an innovation lab since the OIV is realizing two of the four objectives of a lab: 1. scan trends, 2. create value from ideas, 3. develop prototypes and pilot projects, 4. be in relation with third party partners. It seems important to me that the development of prototypes (3) in collaboration with local WineTechs can be initiated quickly.” – David BECK

This was the third article of Chapter 1 — Traceability. In the next post, I will let you know my recommendations which technology to choose.