Tracking of SVHC : Investigating current methods and creating a new method for tracking Substances of Very High Concern in products

Abstract: This research explores how substances of very high concern (SVHC) are tracked today. Tracking the material content of products has grown increasingly important in the last decade. Material tracking is critical for the construction equipment machine builder (OEM) which is used to analyze if materials are clean from the dangerous substance, for example lead. It is important for all businesses to know whether their products are clean. As a result, most factories and businesses require a filter to distinguish between clean and hazardous chemicals. The goal of this research is to design a solution that will track the harmful substance content in products and investigate those that contain SVHC. To accomplish this, there was an evaluation of how the tracking is done today and thereafter the two methods, blockchain and centralized database were compared. A solution based on blockchain technology which will prevent companies from lying about the possession of products that contain SVHC by tracking them was then created based on the results. This thesis conducts qualitative research, which means it was based on qualitative data. The data was gathered using a mix of two types of research methods: semi-structured interviews and theoretical research. Based on the results of the comparison, a blockchain technology solution was devised to facilitate the tracking and to reduce cheating with SVHC. The proposed solution has been implemented in form of a cryptocurrency using the blockchain technology. In conclusion the result of this study was that the problems with the current method were clarified and a blockchain-based solution for tracking SVHC was designed.