Currently, a large number of companies involved in trading employ supply chain networks to provide process traceability and satisfactory product development transparency for their customers. Though not essential, but it brings various benefits to the businesses.
Deloitte Global Supply Chain services conducted a survey and revealed the major problems in this particular domain:
- Dearth of cutting-edge technology
- No transparency in supply chain operations
- Lack of information on provision and information process
- Distrust among suppliers and customers
- Fraud Activities
For all these issues, blockchain is a solution which also brings, process surveillance, sustainability, fair trade, transparency and retailer/customer traceability. Not only it brings all the aforementioned attributes, it provides unmatched level of data storage.
It has been unanimously accepted across all the industries that blockchain brings safety and efficient both in various operations. Let’s check few of the features of blockchain technology:
- Faster transactions
- Reduced cost
- Enhanced level of transparency
- Reliable
- Secure
Considering its advantages, it is obvious that industries are adapting this technology to the core of their operations.
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Here are the companies that implemented blockchain in their Supply Chains
Till now, various projects have applied blockchain technology into their supply chain operations and got benefitted. Here are those projects:
The list includes only the projects launched in 2017.
All the companies that you know for their massive logistic operations such as Maersk, Fedex, Walmart, British Airways and UPS, they all have either successfully integrated blockchain into their mechanism or they are in process of doing it. It is not only beneficial to the companies but also to the customers who can view all information regarding their deliver with the help of blockchain-based applications safely.
Emerging Blockchain-based supply chain startups
Right now, there are various supply chain blockchain companies that are helping the startups steady their logistics. When you hear supply chain, the first industry that comes into your mind is manufacturing. However, there are many other areas these blockchain-based supply chains can do wonder based on statistics:
- Advertising & Marketing
- Retail & Commerce
- Utility & Energy
- Environmental Services
- Logistics
To maintain transparency and reliability, it is must that companies show the entire process of the delivery. It becomes more crucial when the product is meant for usage or consumption.
Technology combo for Supply Chain – Internet of Things (IOT) & Blockchain
Blockchain technology has recently been conflated with many other technologies to bring forth unprecedented. One successful combination is blockchain and IOT which has being adapted by various industries. While blockchain keeps everything on distributed decentralized ledger, IOT works on the synchronization of different equipments. Together, they are very beneficial for industries like supply chain, healthcare, shipping and manufacturing.
Blockchain provides authentication to the complex network of different equipment, making them more robust and reliable:
- Checks duplication of data
- Identifying IOT devices
- Sharing of data among IOT sensors without involving third-party
- No chances of data tampering or failures
- Giving autonomy to peer-to-peer communication
- Bringing the costs low
The combination of IOT with blockchain streamlines business processes for supply chains. It also reduces expenses, provides better security and improves consumer experience.
A number of startups adapted blockchain in 2018 to ameliorate their supply chain management and it worked for them miraculously. Here are some of the companies that adapted this technology:
AXenS is a platform developed for distributed trader services and supply-chain finances based on blockchain. It gives secure automation and accessibility for trading transactions, it also manages data about the business and documentation. The project also ensures adherence to legal regulations and its reliability the customers globally.
The platform would also support export and import payment processes to establish trust between business partners through various mediums of practices, lending and financial tools to optimize funds management. It considers the scheme of supply-chain, bringing customer an export-ready product by process optimization.
To rule out any kind of risks AXenS follows KYC/AML policies. A great deal of attention has been paid to the verification of documents. Internal rating system has been integrated with credit scoring alongwith the due checking of user records.
Blockchain technology simplifies the usage of SCM by making it more feasible for trading and finance.
The transaction network integrates financial supply chain alongwith physical supply chain in a bid to improve the efficiency. Apart from supplier and customers, assayers, distributors and transporters are also involved under this setting.
Stellar is another project based on blockchain that focuses on electrical supply management. It works towards providing detailed and easily-accessible information to customers with respect to their electricity consumption. It also works on control the usage on account of global warming.
Irene is an energy supplier designed on blockchain which enables consumers to choose electricity producers in a selective manner. The technology deployed in making this platform ensures in every 15 minutes, it’s essential components get updated. Blockchain will helps the agents verify past records and purchases. Using this platform, customers will be able to complete their electricity consumptions as well fares.
Zeto has been introduced as a blockchain-based safety solution that focuses on refrigeration and retail industries. The clientele of Zeto involves global retail brands. It works towards bringing scalability in food safety combined with blockchain technology.
Its ICO has been launched on Ethereum platform which also includes various bonuses and bounty programs. It also supports the mandatory KYC regulations.
Zeto focuses on improving cold chain management with:
- Enhanced transparency and trust
- Saving money and preventing waste
- 100% compliance to safety standards
With the integration of blockchain, IoT sensors get full control over its links in the chain. It makes keeping the temperature of food relevant and secures the data over blockchain. In an unlikely event of error, preventive measures will be implemented instantly. Smart contracts will execute the job of removing risks of unsafe deliveries and sales. It also comes with a mobile application that enables tracking of entire product history.
For reducing time and bringing more efficiency, Zeto will be implemented on every stage of delivery. It will also boost data storage security by releasing on more platforms such as Ethereum and NEO.
TE-Food is a giant in food traceability system across the globe. It enables customers to track their food real-time and provides them with full access. It has made processing of 6,000 customer and 400,000 transactions on daily basis without a failure. It creates an entire ecosystem which involves various things such as:
- Improvement in food safety
- Eradicating fraud
- Efficient cost cutting
Due to its technical soundness, expert gave this project high rating.
This type of SCM model based on blockchain enables the management of logistics and enhances the safety measures in almost every operation. Let’s take a look at supply chain:
According to the product type and country, the activities involved in each process of supply chain differ from each other. This platform would allow customization of process flow according to the requirements of business. Below is the diagram for the flow of process:
It has been integrated with a mobile application which makes it easy to use the platform. It enables users to manage multiple functions such as identification tools inventory, product information, multiple languages etc.
Delivery is a blockchain-based platform which verifies protocols for different products. It provides everyone related to the network access to identify product before making purchase. Blockchain-based verification eases the supply chain functionality and accouters the whole system with protective measures, it also prevents forgeries.
For facilitating online sales and verification by independent parties, unique IDs are assigned to all the products. It has also introduced unique hashes, which will be used to prove the authenticity of the product by retailers. This app would enable the customers to view the data that is spread across the blocks cryptically.
Because of its high-end functionality and attributes, Delivery was highly appraised by experts. Its team is highly qualified in every technical aspect and all the segments of management. The ICO of this project was launched in January 2018 and raised a whopping $10,000,000.
Upshot
To sum it up, supply chain is indispensable for managing the transport of different products in different industries, be it retail, environment, retail or manufacturing. As long as the consumer is getting benefitted, this method would be adapted far and wide in every domain. Blockchain technology can be used at the large extent to provide accessibility for customers and transparency of process.
