Blockchain – The Unwavering Strength of Supply Chain Management

The need for efficient supply chain management is growing. Integration of blockchain technology is playing a critical role in improving supply chain management systems to simplify the entire process. According to research, 80 technology businesses are adopting blockchain technology to streamline the process of tracking and tracing items in supply chain management.

As a result, manufacturers are using blockchain, which allows product traceability, to provide end-to-end insight to consumers. With technological improvements, the use of blockchain is assuring the safe delivery of products and assisting producers in detecting problems at an early stage. As businesses use blockchain to expand their consumer base and generate revenue, blockchain integration is expected to emerge as an efficient solution for product tracking and tracing.

A report by Future Market Insights states that the blockchain technology market is expected to register a staggering double-digit CAGR of 43.5% by accumulating a market value of US$ 59.5 Bn by the end of 2030. As blockchain technology is heavily data-driven, the integration of the same is assisting manufacturers of food, textile, and automotive manufacturers along with consumers to maintain transparency from the production to delivery process.

In this blog, we discuss the role of blockchain technology in the supply chain management system and how it is efficiently creating transparency for consumers.

Blockchain Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Textile Industry

The level of carbon emissions has significantly heightened in the textile industry. According to climate science, making one kg of fabric releases 20 to 23 kg of greenhouse emissions. Thus, textile manufacturers are using blockchain technology that provides insights and visibility into the production of clothes and the percentage of carbon emissions. This, in turn, is gaining the trust of consumers as transparency is maintained throughout the supply chain of the product.

For instance, Covalent, a fashion brand is using IBM’s blockchain technology solution on IBMLinuxONE so that consumers can track carbon footprint in the supply chain of the Aircarbon-based accessories that range from handbags to eyewear. Covalent uses biomaterials made by microorganisms. This is an alternative to fiber, leather, and plastic. The growing environmental awareness of consumers has led to the company using a unique twelve-digit blockchain-based number for each product.

This number can be used to trace information regarding the date of the production of the product and who verified the carbon footprint of the same. IBM’s blockchain technology offers better visibility in not only detecting the carbon footprint but also in analyzing the effect of the products on the environment.

How Automotive Industry is Ensuring Customer Safety through Blockchain?

Because many parts are utilized in the production of automobiles, assuring consumer safety becomes essential. The majority of parts are not made expressly for the car industry. As a result, arranging for various parts and maintaining essential standards for car manufacture can be a time-consuming operation. In the event of broken or inadequately performing parts, locating the source is critical for ensuring customer safety. As a result, the automobile sector is working on adopting blockchain technology to improve supply chain transparency.

For instance, the BMW Group is using blockchain technology named Partchain to optimize its supply chain management processes. Through the integration of blockchain, the company ensures traceability of components and raw materials in multi-stage international supply chains. As Partchain uses cloud technologies such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, the origin of components can be easily tracked between all partners without any risk of manipulation.

Thus, the growing focus of automotive companies to unite multiple partners on a single platform is increasing the integration of blockchain in the automotive industry.

Conclusion: Blockchain – Ensuring Transparency at Every Stage

Blockchain technology promises to rectify errors, working to resolve any gaps in the entire supply chain, if any. As blockchain technology collects data at every stage, communicating and controlling errors has become easier. Thus, manufacturers of end-user industries have shown a growing inclination towards integrating blockchain technology for a centralized experience.

Integration of blockchain technology is making complex shipments and deliveries easy by connecting everyone present in the supply chain management system. This, in turn, is providing an added advantage to retailers and consumers to trace the well-being of products and their origin. As end-user industries are focusing on offering quality products, the integration of blockchain technology is expected to get stronger in the upcoming years.

Moving ahead, the integration of blockchain technology in the pharma industry will make it easier and more efficient to track medicines. This, in turn, will inform healthcare manufacturers regarding the availability of medicines. In case of non-availability of medicines in a particular region, blockchain can quickly trace medicines and the same can be provided to patients in need. In the upcoming years, blockchain technology will make communication and management more convenient. This is expected to attract different sectors to integrate blockchain technology into their supply chain management system.