{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T01:34:04Z","timestamp":1781660044708,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,21]],"date-time":"2021-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1632182400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002920","name":"Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["UGC\/FDS14\/E06\/20"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UGC\/FDS14\/E06\/20"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002920","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002920","name":"Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["700005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["700005"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002920","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Pallet management as a backbone of logistics and supply chain activities is essential to supply chain parties, while a number of regulations, standards and operational constraints are considered in daily operations. In recent years, pallet pooling has been unconventionally advocated to manage pallets in a closed-loop system to enhance the sustainability and operational effectiveness, but pitfalls in terms of service reliability, quality compliance and pallet limitation when using a single service provider may occur. Therefore, this study incorporates a decentralisation mechanism into the pallet management to formulate a technological eco-system for pallet pooling, namely Pallet as a Service (PalletaaS), raised by the foundation of consortium blockchain and Internet of things (IoT). Consortium blockchain is regarded as the blockchain 3.0 to facilitate more industrial applications, except cryptocurrency, and the synergy of integrating a consortium blockchain and IoT is thus investigated. The corresponding layered architecture is proposed to structure the system deployment in the industry, in which the location-inventory-routing problem for pallet pooling is formulated. To demonstrate the values of this study, a case analysis to illustrate the human\u2013computer interaction and pallet pooling operations is conducted. Overall, this study standardises the decentralised pallet management in the closed-loop mechanism, resulting in a constructive impact to sustainable development in the logistics industry.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21186310","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,21]],"date-time":"2021-09-21T22:35:20Z","timestamp":1632263720000},"page":"6310","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":26,"title":["A Blockchain-IoT Platform for the Smart Pallet Pooling Management"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1259-4048","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chun-Ho","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Supply Chain and Information Management, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6128-345X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yung-Po","family":"Tsang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8577-4547","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carman Ka-Man","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wai-Ki","family":"Ching","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Quesada, H., Gazo, R., and Sanchez, S. (2012). Critical factors affecting supply chain management: A case study in the US pallet industry. Pathways to Supply Chain Excellence, IntechOpen.","DOI":"10.5772\/33635"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"871","DOI":"10.1111\/jiec.12974","article-title":"Life cycle assessment comparison of wooden and plastic pallets in the grocery industry","volume":"24","author":"Anil","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Ind. Ecol."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Richards, G. (2017). Warehouse Management: A Complete Guide to Improving Efficiency and Minimising Costs in the Modern Warehouse, Kogan Page Publishers."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Deviatkin, I., Khan, M., Ernst, E., and Horttanainen, M. (2019). Wooden and plastic pallets: A review of life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. Sustainability, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/su11205750"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"730","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijpe.2015.05.030","article-title":"Designing an effective closed loop system for pallet management","volume":"170","author":"Elia","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Prod. Econ."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"358","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tre.2016.06.005","article-title":"Cost-effective pallet management strategies","volume":"93","author":"Roy","year":"2016","journal-title":"Transport. Res. E-Log."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ren, J., Zhao, Q., Liu, B., and Chen, C. (2019). Selection of pallet management strategies from the perspective of supply chain cost with Anylogic software. PLoS ONE, 14.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0217995"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2478\/jlst-2019-0001","article-title":"Review of pallet pooling studies","volume":"10","author":"Chen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Logist. Sustain. Transport"},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"5106392","article-title":"The study of pallet pooling information platform based on cloud computing","volume":"2018","author":"Li","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Program"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1687814017748013","DOI":"10.1177\/1687814017748013","article-title":"An optimisation model for the operations of a pallet pool with both radio-frequency identification\u2013tagged pallets and non-tagged pallets","volume":"10","author":"Ren","year":"2018","journal-title":"Adv. Mech. Eng."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"332","DOI":"10.1080\/17517575.2019.1698060","article-title":"Cyber-Physical Systems: A multi-criteria assessment for Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems","volume":"15","author":"Silva","year":"2021","journal-title":"Enterp. Inf. Syst."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tsang, Y.P., Wu, C.H., Ip, W.H., and Shiau, W.L. (2021). Exploring the intellectual cores of the blockchain\u2013Internet of Things (BIoT). J. Enterp. Inf. Manag.","DOI":"10.1108\/JEIM-10-2020-0395"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e4946","DOI":"10.1002\/cpe.4946","article-title":"An overview of Internet of Things (IoT): Architectural aspects, challenges, and protocols","volume":"32","author":"Gupta","year":"2020","journal-title":"Concurr. Comput."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5164","DOI":"10.1109\/JIOT.2020.3033131","article-title":"IoT-based big data secure management in the fog over a 6G wireless network","volume":"8","author":"Stergiou","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Internet Things J."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Singh, R., Dwivedi, A.D., and Srivastava, G. (2020). Internet of things based blockchain for temperature monitoring and counterfeit pharmaceutical prevention. Sensors, 20.","DOI":"10.3390\/s20143951"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.4018\/IJSSCI.2021010104","article-title":"Using Clustering for Forensics Analysis on Internet of Things","volume":"13","author":"Salhi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Softw. Sci. Comput. Intell."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1184","DOI":"10.1109\/JIOT.2018.2812239","article-title":"Blockchain meets IoT: An architecture for scalable access management in IoT","volume":"5","author":"Novo","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Internet Things J."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1016\/j.future.2018.05.046","article-title":"On blockchain and its integration with IoT. Challenges and opportunities","volume":"88","author":"Reyna","year":"2018","journal-title":"Future Gener. Comput. Syst."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zheng, X.R., and Lu, Y. (2021). Blockchain technology\u2013recent research and future trend. Enterp. Inf. Syst., 1\u201323.","DOI":"10.1080\/17517575.2021.1939895"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tan, W., Zhu, H., Tan, J., Zhao, Y., Xu, L.D., and Guo, K. (2021). A novel service level agreement model using blockchain and smart contract for cloud manufacturing in industry 4.0. Enterp. Inf. Syst., 1\u201326.","DOI":"10.1080\/17517575.2021.1939426"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zuo, Y. (2020). Making smart manufacturing smarter\u2013a survey on blockchain technology in Industry 4.0. Enterp. Inf. Syst., 1\u201331.","DOI":"10.1080\/17517575.2020.1856425"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.4018\/IJSSCI.2020100105","article-title":"Evaluation of NoSQL databases: MongoDB, Cassandra, HBase, Redis, Couchbase, OrientDB","volume":"12","author":"Matallah","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Softw. Sci. Comput. Intell."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4118","DOI":"10.1109\/JIOT.2018.2875544","article-title":"Fog\/edge computing-based IoT (FECIoT): Architecture, applications, and research issues","volume":"6","author":"Omoniwa","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Internet Things J."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1354","DOI":"10.1080\/17517575.2019.1644671","article-title":"Simulation analysis of supply chain risk management system based on IoT information platform","volume":"14","author":"Gao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Enterp. Inf. Syst."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1231","DOI":"10.1109\/LCOMM.2019.2914440","article-title":"Multi-objective mapping method for 3D environmental sensor network deployment","volume":"23","author":"Tsang","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Lett."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dos Santos, R.B., Torrisi, N.M., and Pantoni, R.P. (2021). Third Party Certification of Agri-Food Supply Chain Using Smart Contracts and Blockchain Tokens. Sensors, 21.","DOI":"10.3390\/s21165307"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2063","DOI":"10.1080\/00207543.2019.1650976","article-title":"Blockchain applications in supply chains, transport and logistics: A systematic review of the literature","volume":"58","author":"Pournader","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Prod. Res."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tsai, Y.T., and Lasminar, R.G. (2021). Proactive and reactive flexibility: How does flexibility mediate the link between supply chain information integration and performance?. Int. J. Eng. Bus. Manag., 13.","DOI":"10.1177\/18479790211007624"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25422","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2021.3054771","article-title":"Integration of Internet-of-Things with Blockchain Technology to Enhance Humanitarian Logistics Performance","volume":"9","author":"Khan","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.3917\/jie.033.0031","article-title":"Exploring knowledge sharing in sea-land logistics networks: Lessons from the port of Genoa","volume":"33","author":"Caporuscio","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Innov. Econ. Manag."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1109\/MNET.2016.1500244RP","article-title":"\u201cAnything as a service\u201d for 5G mobile systems","volume":"30","author":"Taleb","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Netw."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1480","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2017.2779170","article-title":"Towards service-oriented 5G: Virtualising the networks for everything-as-a-service","volume":"6","author":"Chang","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nota, G., Peluso, D., and Lazo, A.T. (2021). The contribution of Industry 4.0 technologies to facility management. Int. J. Eng. Bus. Manag., 13.","DOI":"10.1177\/18479790211024131"},{"key":"ref_34","first-page":"61","article-title":"Approaching delivery as a service","volume":"46","author":"Huschebeck","year":"2020","journal-title":"Transp. Res. Proc."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"124731","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2020.124731","article-title":"Blockchain technology adoption, architecture, and sustainable agri-food supply chains","volume":"284","author":"Saurabh","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"550","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2015.07.251","article-title":"Using Internet of Things technologies for a collaborative supply chain: Application to tracking of pallets and containers","volume":"56","author":"Gnimpieba","year":"2015","journal-title":"Procedia Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"172","DOI":"10.1109\/TSMC.2019.2895471","article-title":"Performance analysis of the raft consensus algorithm for private blockchains","volume":"50","author":"Huang","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Syst."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113385","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2020.113385","article-title":"A survey of blockchain consensus algorithms performance evaluation criteria","volume":"154","author":"Bamakan","year":"2020","journal-title":"Expert Syst. Appl."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3475369","DOI":"10.1155\/2016\/3475369","article-title":"A location-inventory-routing problem in forward and reverse logistics network design","volume":"2016","author":"Yuchi","year":"2016","journal-title":"Discrete Dyn. Nat. Soc."},{"key":"ref_40","first-page":"80","article-title":"Comparative study on decentralised inventory policy and vendor managed inventory with (r, Q) replenishment strategy","volume":"4","author":"Zhang","year":"2008","journal-title":"Int. J. Logist. Syst. Manag."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"901","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ejor.2020.05.024","article-title":"Analysis of base-stock perishable inventory systems with general lifetime and lead-time","volume":"287","author":"Kouki","year":"2020","journal-title":"Eur. J. Oper. Res."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"(2021, September 17). The Circular Economy: Moving from Theory to Practice. Available online: https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/~\/media\/McKinsey\/Business%20Functions\/Sustainability\/Our%20Insights\/The%20circular%20economy%20Moving%20from%20theory%20to%20practice\/The%20circular%20economy%20Moving%20from%20theory%20to%20practice.ashx."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125522","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2020.125522","article-title":"Drone as a Service (DaaS) in promoting cleaner agricultural production and Circular Economy for ethical Sustainable Supply Chain development","volume":"287","author":"Mahroof","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Clean. Prod."},{"key":"ref_44","first-page":"102659","article-title":"Design and application of a personal credit information sharing platform based on consortium blockchain","volume":"55","author":"Zhang","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Inf. Secur. Appl."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/21\/18\/6310\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T07:02:44Z","timestamp":1760166164000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/21\/18\/6310"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,21]]},"references-count":44,"journal-issue":{"issue":"18","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]}},"alternative-id":["s21186310"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s21186310","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,21]]}}}