“Supply Chain is the sequence of processes involved in the production and distribution of a commodity”
Today, most traditional supply chains are relying on old methods in their data collection process (e.g. interviews, questionnaires and surveys). They make data-tracking highly time-consuming. More importantly, it makes corporations “struggle” to treat all the volume of information they receive from suppliers and consumers.
One solution that responds to this need is blockchain technology. As its democratization proceeds in all kinds of fields (banking, insurance, healthcare…), this technology offers a real opportunity to think of new information systems for more effective supply chains.
Solutions built by top technology firms are actually already in use. IBM for example, considered as the leading technology firm in new supply chain systems has built its modular blockchain named “IBM Food Trust”. This one allows an authorized user to search for the provenance of a food product. A second module called “Fresh Insights” provides analysis of the connected data from purchase orders and shipments. The food data is collected and aggregated on IBM’s blockchain and then analyzed to provide users with information on current inventory.
However, there are two major impediments to blockchain succeeding as a food traceability solution: the first is that it requires full participation from everyone within the system. The second is that it requires honest participation.
