There may be more black holes the more complicated the Supply Chain is. Even though businesses have worked with their suppliers for a long time, their supply chains can still be unpredictable. 

For many years, the luxury bedding supplier worked with the retailer Target. The vendor gave Target sheets made of Egyptian cotton, which is the most expensive cotton in the world. However, their collaboration came to a stop in 2016. Target learned that their high-end linens were actually inferior cotton blends.

The provider of bedding likewise had this unwelcome surprise. It was difficult to determine what went wrong, despite their best efforts. Over the years, the business has purchased supplies from a number of vendors who made the claim to be delivering genuine Egyptian cotton. It wasn’t apparent if it had been a mistake or a planned con. The corporation suffered a loss in market share and reputation as a result.

If the corporation had employed Blockchain supply chain management tools, this narrative may have ended differently. You may incorporate blockchain into your business with the help of a Blockchain Development Company Dubai, to increase credibility and protect your reputation. This article explains how technology aids companies in avoiding issues of this nature. Discover four applications of blockchain in supply chain networks by reading on.

Explaining Blockchain For Supply Chain Management

Blockchain is a technology that uses unique methods to store data. It hashes it and records it as independent blocks, sealing it with a digital signature. Each block also has the digital signature from the one before it.

The blocks are chained together in this manner. Because of this approach, data included in a block cannot be changed once it has been recorded. To learn more about how it operates in greater depth, read this article.

Blockchain enables supply chains to be transparent and traceable. Every event along the full value chain is captured by the system. It includes information on logistics, processing, and raw materials. In other words, blockchain reveals anything that might be concealed in intricate supply systems.

Let’s return to the supplier for Target as an example. What if the supplier had used blockchain supply chain management? This tragedy would not have happened at all if they had been able to control the origin and quality of the raw materials they purchased from each of their vendors. The business would have been able to hold onto its market position.

Let’s look at some further real-world blockchain supply chain examples now.

Use Case 1: Blockchain Technology And Food Recall Management

When there is a possibility that a product could lead to an outbreak of a foodborne illness, food recalls take place. Inadequate packaging, germs, and parasites are the main causes of this. To reduce the risk to the public’s health and preserve their reputations, food producers in this situation are required to remove hazardous products from store shelves as soon as feasible.

Finding the affected products is difficult, though. For food companies, this process typically takes two months, and it can take even longer with international supply networks.

Blockchain technology in supply chain networks enables companies to quickly react to recalls. It keeps track of every action food products take before reaching the grocery shelves. As a result, businesses can find defective products within seconds. This increases public safety and reduces waste and costs at the same time.

Real-World Case

Walmart has been managing their leafy greens suppliers with blockchain technology since 2018.

From the time the seeds are sown, the solution collects information about each stage the greens go through. The business can keep updating the platform with new data once the greens are on the shelf. Walmart, for instance, can disclose the temperature and length of time the greens have been kept in storage.

With this knowledge, Walmart can locate compromised products’ places of origin with relative ease. For instance, employing blockchain reduces the time it takes to trace the origin of sliced mangoes in their US stores from a week to two seconds.

Benefits

• Lowering Expenses
• Recalls can be handled rapidly by businesses, lowering expenses for legal and investigative services.
• Lowering Waste
• Businesses can precisely localize contamination to discard only the harmed goods.
• Maintaining Reputation
• Food firms can respond to recalls using blockchain technology before they damage their reputations.
  

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Use Case 2: Blockchain For Consumer Loyalty

Recalls of food products have another drawback in that they may impact every business in the industry. It’s nearly impossible to stop a scandal once a recall has already done too much damage. Furthermore, even for companies with stellar reputations, this poses a difficulty. Consumers start to be cautious of all products in the segment out of concern for their health.

This was the case with the Chinese milk crisis, a food-related occurrence. Melamine, a chemical, was discovered in baby powder in 2008. 300,000 children had renal injury as a result of this.

After a protracted investigation, it was discovered that the chemical had been used by nearby farmers to increase the protein levels of their milk. Since then, the government has tightened its oversight of milk quality, but parents’ trust has not yet been fully reestablished.

What may other ethical companies do in such a circumstance? For supply chain management, they can use blockchain to transparently demonstrate the ingredient safety.

The technology records exact details on each ingredient and procedure carried out on the product. Customers can obtain this information using a mobile phone to confirm the product is secure.

Real-World Case

Although Nestlé was not directly engaged in the baby milk scandal, it had an impact on their business. To improve its position in the Chinese market, they made the decision to use blockchain. The route taken by infant formula to reach the supermarket shelf is tracked in the solution. Consumers can view the ingredients, their source, and the companies that made them by using a mobile phone to scan a chip on the formula container.

Additionally, Nestlé added antennas to the milk packages that will snap if anyone tries to open them. This reassures clients that goods haven’t been tampered with while being transported to the store.

Benefits

enhancing a brand’s position following a business incident. Brands can demonstrate the security of their products using blockchain.

boosting the loyalty of customers. Thanks to technology, businesses are more open and customer-focused.

Use Case 3: Blockchain In Logistics

Certain goods need careful handling since even minute temperature variations can compromise their quality. Some of the products in this category are foods, chemicals, and medical supplies.

To reduce potential damage from exposure to heat or cold, they are typically supplied in high-performance insulated packing. But in many instances, this is insufficient. Damage that results can still be quite severe. For instance, one out of every five pharmaceutical goods suffers transit-related cold chain degradation.

There are various ways that this is feasible. Power shortages can cause refrigerators to malfunction or cause disruptions. Alternatively, drivers may neglect to close refrigerator doors or leave them open, which will hinder the device from keeping the proper temperature.

All of these scenarios can benefit from the use of blockchain and IoT. During shipping, IoT sensors monitor characteristics like location, temperature, and others.

While the goods are being transported via the logistics network, blockchain records the sensor data. As a result, businesses have complete control over the temperature during shipping. As a result, the cold chain’s weak points may be rapidly located and fixed.

Real-World Case

Blockchain was used by SkyCell to build IoT-enabled smart refrigerators for the transportation of pharmaceuticals. The sensors track the whereabouts of the medications in real time from any point in the world, as well as the environment’s temperature and humidity levels where they are kept. Blockchain is used by the solution to store these parameters. Blockchain also keeps a digital book of each container’s logistics records. This data can be used as proof and cannot be altered or falsified.

During the epidemic, one of SkyCell’s clients used the technology to ship medications from Brussels to Mumbai. Medication had to be kept at the airport until a different route could be arranged at that time because flights were frequently canceled at the changeover point. In some instances, this took days.

This was a major issue because the outdoor temperature ranged from +41°F to +111°F. The containers’ internal temperature could be kept between +37°F and +55°F using the SkyCell technology. Blockchain technology proved that the drugs were delivered to India in a condition that made them safe for usage. The usage of this technology not only helped the business avoid financial losses but also guaranteed the security of the medication they were delivering.

Benefits

• Temperature Control
• The technology records every change in temperature as the goods travels through the logistics system.
• Enhancement Of Cold Chain Management
• Businesses can use blockchain to find and fix weak links in the cold chain.

Use Case 4: Blockchain For Sustainability Control

Businesses today must protect the environment. Investor choices and their reputation are influenced by their environmental impact. Consumers love products with sustainability credentials and will often pay extra for them even if they are more expensive.

Businesses must ensure they use only 100% sustainable products from other suppliers before they can claim a product is sustainable. For businesses that are at the very end of the supply chain, this is challenging. And the more difficult it is to learn, the longer their supply chain is.

So how may blockchain features aid in sustainability efforts? Any product can have a supply chain model made using the technology. The relevant information about this product will be contained in each record along the blockchain. Every circumstance and occurrence will also be documented. For a vegetable, for instance, data will be recorded starting with the vegetative phase and continuing through processing and shipping. Companies can use this to determine how truly sustainable the things they intend to purchase are.

Real-World Case

Unilever needs to know how sustainable their supply networks actually are because they want to create a deforestation-free supply chain by the end of 2023. The business chose to employ blockchain since the currently available sustainability certification processes are unable to deliver this information.

To track down the palm oil they purchased, they launched a test initiative in Indonesia. Digital tokens were produced by their first-mile suppliers to reflect the movement of palm oil along the supply chain. Unilever was able to learn more about the product as a result, including how it was cultivated and harvested.

Benefits

• Raw Material Sustainability
• Businesses might investigate the actual sustainability of the raw resources they wish to purchase.
• Boosting Customer Loyalty
• Consumers that place a high importance on sustainability might demand proof from companies that their products are sustainable.

To Sum Up

Blockchain in supply chain networks enables businesses to more effectively manage their suppliers. Because supply chains are transparent and traceable thanks to technology, 

• Companies can more effectively manage recalls.
• Strengthen their market position following significant industry-related events
• Monitoring the environment while traveling
• Stop cargo theft
• Check the source of the raw ingredients.