For mostly of the people, the supply chain industry is like something that hums in the background like the clockwork.
We may purchase car, mobile phone or laptop, but almost doesn't think about how it has been assembled and manufactured using parts and raw material sourced from all over the globe.
Take the iPhone, for example:
Assembling this single device is a global, effortly collected, with and gyroscope and accelerators made in Taiwan, components of power management made in Italy, WiFi Bluetooth components from in Japan, and many other parts from the U.S.A., Germany and South Korea.
All of these various components are then collected together and get assembled in Shenzhen, China, before it will be shipped out again to different parts of the world.
This is the case for some global products starting from automobiles and to processed foods.
Then, Covid-19 happened.
The pandemic was a huge global shake up that brings the supply chain industry known and into the spotlight.
Suddenly, as borders getting closed and factories were shut down, manufacturers from all over the world were get caught empty without all the ssential parts and raw materials they needed in assembling their products.
Throughout different points in the pandemic, there were lots of shortages of microprocessors to manufacture a laptops and even the precursor chemicals that is needed to make common medical drugs. Food and other basic necessities such as toilet paper became less as global supply chains grinded to stopped.
Imagine consumers unable to get over-the-counter prescription drugs because of restrictions India, which supplies a quarter of world's genetic drugs. Imagine also cars staying on the assembly line because they are missing the most needed parts required to finished.
Supply Chain Priorities
Supply chain were previously focused on performance standards such as low cost, speed and efficiency, but the pandemic has shifted the sentiment towards values such as resilience, transparency and trust.
To tackle this pandemic and any other future global challenges, businesses and governments around the world are realizing that resilience in supply chains is critical to survival and sustainability.
Covid-19: The Opportunity
Covid-19 has created the perfect storm to usher in the for deep structural change in the supply chain industry. And that will come in the use of Blockchain Technology.
How does blockchain technology meet the task?
The supply chain industry faces some fundamental challenges that needed to be solved.
Firstly, the industry needs the ability to accurately track and Trace any product on a supply chain at any point of its lifecycle - from coffee beans being harvested in Brazil, get roasted in the Seattle City ang being sold in Singapore.
Secondly, the require full visibility of all trading partners and the data that comes with it, such as certifications, licenses and approvals.
Thirdly, and ideally, all this is enabled by a single, interconnecting platform that is trustworthy, fail-proof and accessible to all.
Block technology brings to the table its features of:
- Transparency
Being open-sourced and public, blockchain technology allows every partners along the supply chain to have full access and visibility to all transactions on the chain - from the supplier to the warehouse and to the end-consumer. Better yet, everything is located on a single source of truth, providing standards and consistency across a global network that would otherwise be soiled by different systems.
- Immutability
Transactions and data that are recorded on the chain may not be altered or tampered in any way. This prevents forgery, fraud and deters theft as data such as certificatea of authenticity and licenses are kept on the chain and may be verified or held accountable at any time.
- Resilience
A public and decentralized ledger is very resistant towards an attacks because it is being protected by multiple nodes that are securing the network.
- Trust
Blockchain can allow suppliers to collaborate through blockchain's trustless infrastructure. Every bad actors can be identified, tracked and traced easily for accountability.
Solutions For A Food Supply
With food safety and supply, blockchain-based supply chain solutions does have huge potential.
Customers are becoming more aware and discerning in terms of wanting to know exactly where there products come from, and whether they have been produced according to ethical or sustainable standards.
New Demands Of The Modern Consumer
Concerning about the product's origin, quality, right, worker, carbon footprint and animal welfare are the newest demands of the current consumer, and these demands can be meet with blockchain.
Blockchain-based Food Supply Chain
With a blockchain-based food supply chain system for example, consumers can simply scan a product code to view its entire transactions history on the blockchain. This will also verify its authenticity, origin and provide quality and safety of the product.
These feature is able to add tremendous value to pharmaceutical products, as patients rely on the legitimacy and safety of medical products to get better and lead better lives.
Authenticity
Blockchain can also prevent forgery or fraud by making authentication on every item on the supply chain.
This has a good potential in markets such as designer handbags, diamonds and sneakers where theft and forgery are rife.
It also has the potential to simplify, streamline and speed up recall in the product if there's a safety issue. Costly and inefficient product recall will be a thing of the past.
The disruption of supply chain is working things up behind the scenes and some of the companies using blockchain are developing solutions including Hedera Hashgraph, VeChain, OriginTail and ShipChain
Depending on enterprises whether they'll demand a private or public ledger which is centralized or decentralized, or both, blockchain technology is being implemented and tested in different ways for major global supply chain companies.
