Is there any way to ensure that the supplies you get in the grocery stores or shopping malls are genuine? From the clothes to edible products and medicines, every item has been subjected to counterfeiting, bringing us the same question, how do we ensure that a certain product is not fake?
The answer may disappoint you but you have no way other than trusting the retailers.
That’s because there is no way to discern the products, you can either go with them or choose to buy something else which may not even meet your requirements.
However, with technology there are now rising chances for the customers to get the genuine product without doubting its quality.
How is it possible?
The answer is blockchain technology which makes everything possible in any industry. It brings a decentralized approach into every operations and ensures that every single entry is registered and is also trackable.
Those who are hearing this term for the very first time, blockchain is a decentralized distributed ledger. In simple words, it is a network which keeps information distributed in blocks all across it. The advantage of this is, if any any information is introduced in the network it is recorded with a smart contract which is indelible.
Why Supply Chain software is important for your business?
It all started with the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin and now the technology is making its way into every industry. The implementation of this technology is increasing day by day and is reaching more businesses at every level. Its inroads into the supply chain management has been hailed by the industry experts across the globe.
And that’s exactly what’s going to change the scenario of goods’ supply in the entire world. Especially, in the developing countries where the every stage of supply system is infested with middlemen. Blockchain is going to change it for good and it has already begun with various large and small projects.
What is Supply Chain Management?
As per the standard definition, supply chain management is the method for maintaining the flux of goods and services, it records their storage and constant movement. It also concerns with the handling on inventory and disposition of finished goods from the point they are manufactured till the time they reach the end-user.
And the word ‘chain’ draws our attention to the fact that it also engulfs the network of individuals, activities, technologies, organizations and resources involved in this entire process. As hinted above, supply chain starts from the very first phase when the product is readied by the manufacturer to get transported and ends with its delivery to the consumer.
If you follow this procedure closely, you would definitely achieve:
- Increased Revenues
- Decreased Costs
- Improved Quality
- Enhanced Sales
- Better Production and Distribution
- Blockchain with Supply Chain
Lately, blockchain is being integrated with many other technologies and becoming a part of many industries. Supply chain also gets benefitted with this groundbreaking innovation.
Let us understand how:
Suppose that you need a very costly life-saving drug which has to be stored in low temperatures, otherwise, it will lose its potency. There is no way for you to ensure that the drug is stored in the recommended environment while transit. You need to trust the pharmacist blindly and take it.
You surely won’t believe even if they tell you that the truck in which the drug was moved was air-conditioned, would you? Still, you have no choice but to trust the process and hope that the quality of product is intact.
To help you with this, blockchain has been inducted into supply chain. Let us think of another scenario when the product has a microchip installed over it. This device records the exact temperatures through which it has gone while in transit. The data of this chip is recorded on a blockchain ledger which makes it accessible to everyone.
Using the blockchain technology, you can access this information and come to know whether the medicine was kept in the recommended temperature or not while transit.
This has been possible only with the merger of blockchain and IOT. With its help, you can know if the product was kept in the condition required and if it is fit to use.
It would ultimately benefit the consumer and bring transparency into the whole process. Especially in the case medical transport, this technology is very useful as the patients will get their medicines in impeccable situation. It would tell the recipients if their products were manhandled during the transit.
This is a very simple example of how blockchain can change the way supply chain management works. There are many more complicated issues which get resolved with this technology.
Let us take another example of blockchain technology setting things right for many:
Everledger is the first-ever platform which would help diamond buyers in ascertaining if the certain piece of rock is legal or illegal. It is a diamond provenance protocol which has been created with blockchain. It works as a mark of quality in ensuring and records the entire journey of diamond from the time it is manufactured.
This application would enable to see the entire history of a particular diamond through your phone. You will be able to scan the diamond and know everything about the origin of a particular piece.
Upshot: Blockchain & Cryptocurrency with Supply Chain
Throughout this article, we have tried to focus on the aspect of transparency of this technology. But there are many other advantages that you get when you use blockchain with supply chain.
There are some salient attributes that it brings into Supply Chain Management:
- Traceability
- Management & Contract Enforcement
- Mishandling & Damage Management
- Control on Counterfeiting
- Supply Chain Audit
In the industry, experts have welcomed this technology and it is also becoming a part of many large and small-scale companies. It only indicates that the use of blockchain and cryptocurrency is gaining traction in this domain. Already, there are some SCM platforms which are functional:
- Orginal Trail
- Waltonchain
- WaBi
- Ambrosus
- VeChain
- Modum
Blockchain supply chain management is the answer to all the problems. It resolves all the issues that had been nagging the enterprises. It also gives way for the other technologies to be combined in this framework and it has already begun. The applications that have been launched so far have technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things into their mechanism.
And it is now possible to acquire such softwares for any enterprise as they are available at a very reasonable price. Technoloader is one of the companies that make develop supply chain management for small and large-scale enterprises both.
