Blockchain and the supply network

If you read the news, you’d consider that blockchain technology will transform every business by next Tuesday. That’s not the case, but a few areas — besides financial services — look custom-designed for the technology. One is healthcare. Another is the supply chain.

The supply chain complexity

Organizing today’s supply chains—all the links to creating and distributing items—is extraordinarily complex. Regarding manufactured goods, the supply chain can span hundreds of periods, multiple geographical (international) locations, many demands, and payments have several individuals and bodies involved and extend over months.

Supply-chain management, a supply or logistics network, is a data system of things, goods, and people involved in trading. The recording of the procedure is required when the product travels from the place to the person who receives it.

What is the link between the supply chain and blockchain transactions?

Consumers are currently highly concerned with complete information about the products they purchase and a guarantee about the origin. They also grab Information about suppliers and producers and insights about consumption and product storage

All the abovementioned dynamics can be securely recorded, stored, and administered within the blockchain transaction system in any supply chain. 

Consequently, transparency of product awareness represents an essential foundation of logistics. Nowadays, supply chains are fundamentally complex, as they involve numerous contributors from all over the world. They occasionally face difficulties in terms of cost, speed, or quality. Still, the benefits of the supply-chain system are apparent, and there are specific ways to increase its efficiency. The capability to manage it transparently and openly is vital. In this process of rationalization, Blockchain offers excellent benefits.

Blockchain – A key to the successful visibility of any organization

If your organization considers Blockchain will bring greater prominence to the supply chain, understand the critical steps needed to enable a successful application. Within any supply chain, shareholders deal with many interdependent, internationally dispersed parties that must exchange timely and accurate information. However, these parties often operate under different authorities and lack singular global oversight.

Leading Blockchain – Supply Chain Management

For all its potential, Blockchain is in its beginning, and it’s essential to approach its Implementation sensibly. Enterprise blockchain technology can renovate the supply chain with these three use cases: Traceability, Transparency, and Tradability.

Traceability expands operational efficiency by mapping and visualizing enterprise supply chains. A growing number of customers demand sourcing information about the products they buy. Blockchain helps administrations understand their supply chain and engage consumers with accurate, correct, and actual data. 

Transparency builds confidence by capturing critical data points, such as certifications and claims, and then publicly delivering open access to this data. Once registered on the Ethereum or Cardano Blockchain, we can verify its third-party legitimacy. The information can be updated and authenticated in real-time. 

Tradability is a unique blockchain proposal that redefines the conventional marketplace concept. With Blockchain, one may “tokenize” an asset by splitting an object into stocks that digitally represent ownership. Similar to how a stock exchange permits trading a company’s shares, this fractional possession allows the tokens to represent the value of a shareholder’s stake in a given object.

Transparent demand is increasing

We know astonishingly little about most of the products we use every day. Before reaching the end purchaser, goods travel through an often vast linkage of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities, and suppliers contributing to design production, delivery, and sale. Yet, in almost every case, these journeys remain a concealed dimension of our possessions. 

Many organizations have started including Blockchain in supply chain management to make all processes more transparent and well-organized. 

Practical Implementation of blockchain technology

Blockchain technology can help confirm provenance, providing traceability across the supply chain. The technology also allows industrialists, shippers, and customers to aggregate data, analyze trends, and perform analytical monitoring. 

Here is a fistful of use cases for blockchain technology, looked at through the lens of different industries.

Coffee Supply Chain

The coffee supply chain is complicated. Production is fragmented — coffee is frequently grown in remote and developing areas, prices are unstable, and climate change threatens many coffee-growing regions, reports inbound logistics. And human rights organizations have long-familiar exploitations of laborers. Blockchain can’t solve all those matters, but it can begin to bring transparency and effectiveness to the coffee supply chain. Blockchain in the coffee supply chain brings greater profitability alongside fairer arrangements for makers. It ensures a more direct relationship with the farmers, including payment management once their coffee production is sold. Then again, the end client can generally track the origins of their coffee.

Verification of Seafood

You’ve heard the stories about mislabelled seafood despite all the coverage back in 2016. Seafood substitution or fish replacement happens when “one type of seafood is sold as another species.” Besides the various health dangers of mislabeled fish, seafood replacement is also dangerous fraud. Blockchain technology can trace and certify the origin of fish and other seafood from territory to market, and several such efforts are proceeding.

Conclusion

Blockchain has appeared as a promising technology to ensure trust between parties. Utilizing this technology can establish a protected communication standard where data integrity and immutability can be guaranteed. These hereditary features highlight Blockchain as an appropriate technology to optimize the approved processing model in several domains, such as health, trade supply chain, and food safety. 

Resources

• Read more about blockchain platforms.
• Some examples of blockchain use cases.