Non-Fungible Blockchain Tokens for Traceable Online-Quality Assurance of Milled Workpieces

2026-02-10

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge of securely storing and traceably transmitting quality data in online quality assurance for milled workpieces. To this end, the authors propose a novel approach integrating non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the Ethereum blockchain, IPFS-based distributed storage, and Asset Administration Shells (AAS). Quality data generated by real-time simulation models are anchored on the public blockchain via NFTs, while the AAS framework structures the semantic organization of this data. This integration enables, for the first time, traceable, scalable, and interoperable management of manufacturing quality data on a public blockchain. The proposed system supports automated end-to-end traceability of quality data throughout the machining process, significantly reducing both the cost and time associated with manual quality inspection.

Technology Category

• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Representing, Reasoning, and Using Provenance, Trust
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Qualitative Reasoning
• Search and Optimization: Distributed Search

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Federated Web and WoT systems, including distributed, federated and edge-based data processing
• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Data quality aspects of human-annotated datasets

Abstract

This work presents a concept and implementation for the secure storage and transfer of quality-relevant data of milled workpieces from online-quality assurance processes enabled by real-time simulation models. It utilises Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) to securely and interoperably store quality data in the form of an Asset Administration Shell (AAS) on a public Ethereum blockchain. Minted by a custom smart contract, the NFTs reference the metadata saved in the Interplanetary File System (IPFS), allowing new data from additional processing steps to be added in a flexible yet secure manner. The concept enables automated traceability throughout the value chain, minimising the need for time-consuming and costly repetitive manual quality checks.

Problem

• Non-Fungible Tokens
• online-quality assurance
• traceability
• milled workpieces
• blockchain

Innovation

• Non-Fungible Token
• Blockchain
• Asset Administration Shell
• Online Quality Assurance
• IPFS