A unique use of Blockchain in Supply Chain Technolgy

Blockchain in the supply chain is beneficial for tracking and tracing products from origin to end. Blockchain made it easy to follow and fastly removed errors from conventional tracking systems.

As you all Know Blockchain work on Distributed Ledger Technolgy (DLT) with an independent computer network. Blockchain is a secured decentralized database with encryption. It is the most underline technology today.

Blockchain is a single version of the truth to its user as it stores data with a time stamp in chronological order.

There are many questions associated with Blockchain, Is it safe? what is the drawback of Blockchain? What is the application of the Blockchain?

You might be knowing about Cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Shiba, and others these all are based on Blockchain. If you want to buy any cryptocurrency then check the list of the best crypto coins to invest in in 2022.

Blockchain Applications

Blockchain has multiple uses today, as it is one of the faster-growing technology. Its field of application is increasing day by day. Most Know application is Cryptocurrency, NFTs, Metaverse, and Tokens.

Apart from these, there are lesser know applications of blockchain in pharmaceuticals, Automobiles, Supply chains, Track and trace, Food safety and delivery, Hospitals, and various others.

There are several Cryptocurrency exchanges that works on Blockchain, some of them are Binance, Coinbase, OKX, ByBit , PrimeXBT, Cex.io Stormgain, Huobi BitMex, Changelly
CoinDCX.

Blockchain in Track and Trace Technology

Today I will explain to you how Blockchain is used in the tracking and tracing of products. Track and Trace helps in finding the current and past location of the product, along with custody history.

Today’s supply chain is a global network that generally includes Manufactures, Suppliers, Logistics companies, and retailers that work together to deliver products to consumers.

You will be amazed to know that Walmart and IBM are already using this for tracking their products.

In Trail of this technology, IBM found that it took around 7 days to trace the product using conventional methods, and other the other hand by using blockchain it took a couple of seconds to trace it.

As Blockchain work on DLT (Distributed Ledger Technolgy), DLT keeps time-stamped and unchangeable records, unless all connected system agreed to change.

To track an event on the Blockchain, the entry of every incident should be recorded as a transaction on the blockchain ledger.

Why there is a need for Blockchain in the Supply chain?

In today’s system of track and trace, there are so many drawbacks like

• Paperwork trails are difficult to follow
• Do not offer any transparency
• Details can be manipulated
• A single person can control all systems and can do any changes.

Lack of traceability and transparency lead to delay, waste, error, and increased costs to associated companies.

Blockchain help in resolving issues like Traceability, and trackability along with counterfeit goods, delay, waste, and compliance violation.

Blockchain has advantages like

• Highly transparency in the system
• Create a linear and easier trail to follow
• Trail easy to track
• Data cannot be altered at all.
• Can track product and its origination

With Blockchain in production, raw material producer and product manufacturers can prove the origin and quality of their products. While all supply chain logistic vendors and retailers can be certain of the product they handle and deliver to customers and consumers.

Now let’s check some use cases of Blockchain in track and trace.

Throughout the whole supply chain, from the supplier to the customer, a track & trace system is a software-based solution to track trucks, loading units, shipments, or items. A track & trace system is also known as a vehicle tracking system when it comes to vehicles.

Through the use of track and trace technologies, a product’s status can be recorded along the blockchain, and its path can be afterward identified and verified.

There are so many fields to use Track and trace technology using Blockchain.

• Blockchain in Food and Agriculture
• Blockchain in Pharmaceuticals
• Blockchain in Manufacturing
• Blockchain in Mining.

Let’s have a brief study of each case.

Blockchain in Food and Agriculture

The food and Agriculture sectors are facing issues like Paper-based work and the visibility gap. Blockchain provides a solution to this by providing end-to-end visibility because the tracking is fast and instant due to an immutable distributed ledger technology.

For example, if any food is contaminated then using blockchain it can be tracked instantly and quickly identify the source of contamination, as all the events are stored on the blockchain in chronological order. Thus removing only contaminated products quickly and tracing other sources of contact.

Blockchain in Pharmaceutical

The major issue faced by Pharmaceutical companies are

• Counterfeit Medicine
• Medication Recall

These two issues can be resolved by the use of Blockchain in the Pharmaceutical sector.

Counterfeit Medicine: Every year Counterfeit Medicine put the lives of millions of people at risk and also billions of dollars lost to medical companies. But with the help of blockchain, this can be reduced and ended, if all medicine is traced and tracked from manufacturing to end user.

This will help in providing the best original medicine to patients and recovering compared from the loss of counterfeit, which may result in the price drop of medicines.

Medication Recall: Medication recall can be due to the following reasons:

• A manufacturing defects in Medicine
• Contamination
• Mislabeled of medicine
• Low efficiency

All this can lead to the loss of life and patient endangerment. If tracking is not possible then the manufacturer may ask a customer (patient) to damage medicine which may result in loss to the company.

Blockchain tracking is possible, so it will help in the efficient recall of the medicine to minimize patient risk and reduce financial loss by identifying unsafe medications, contamination points during manufacturing, and proper labeling.

Blockchain in Manufacturing

There are so many issues faced in the Manufacturing unit today.

Blockchain help resolving

• Retails Transparency
• Manufacturing units
• Safety Recalls

Retail Transparency:

Today there are many companies that have multinational supply chains and some products have short manufacturing cycles and pass quickly through several manufacturing sites and processors before arriving at retailers. Which makes it hard for companies to verify product Provenance.

With blockchain, retailers can document and have the sustainable and ethical provenance of their product this help in customer loyalty, brand reputation, and compliance

Manufacturing Unit (Automobiles):

Manufacturing companies lose millions of dollars every year due to damage, stolen, loss, and Counterfeit parts.

With Blockchain now companies can track the part, and know about the manufacturer, it will help in reducing counterfeit parts from the market which results in less loss to the company and high customer satisfaction.

Safety Recalls:

In the Automobile sector recalling a product is a very stressful and costly activity. It is very inconvenient for the company to recall all the cars because they are unable to track all the vehicles.

With Blockchain in, car companies can easily track defective cars and recall them. It will make the job less stressful and the loss of the company will be reduced.

Blockchain in Mining

Today there is no mining company that is using blockchain technology and facing lots of problems in organizing things. Which makes it hard for them to track and trace any issue that occurs. But with the use of blockchain technology, it will become more organized, and tracing and tracking will be done quickly.

Let’s understand with an example, In the diamond industry, a diamond can be easily counterfeit or can be replaced with a lab-grown diamond or a lab-grown diamond can be sold as a natural diamond. With the current tracking system, customers can’t be sure about the origin and originality of the diamond.

But if blockchain will be used then it will help in ensuring only genuine diamonds are sold in the market and will also make it possible to track the origin of diamonds.

Conclusion

As we have gone through various use of blockchain in the supply chain, we can say that it can help in resolving the various issue from the current system and make it more faster and reliable.

We can finally start to build an economy that is impressive to corrupt power in all its form. The future of this technology is incredibly exciting.

As Blockchain technology is improving day by day, we will see new fields of application in a very short time. Blockchain will become the main database ledger of every organization.