New technologies are showing optimistic prospects for advancement across the supply chain planning. Blockchain can improve supply chain traceability and transparency while reducing administrative expenses. Corporates are realizing that blockchain-driven innovations in the supply chain, have the potential to offer immense business value as they reduce risk, increase transparency, and improve the efficiency of the overall supply chain management.
With the increasing popularity of blockchain, startups, as well as large-scale corporations, are experimenting with this technology in different sectors apart from financial services. Imarticus Learning has come up with a Supply Chain Analytics course that will help young professionals to build a supply chain management career and learn about the operations and supply chain industry from the industry leaders and the experienced faculties of DoMS and E-learning Centre, IIT Roorkee. This article will give you a cursory understanding of blockchain and its benefits in supply chain planning.
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a kind of shared database, but it is fundamentally different from a typical database in its method of storing information. While a traditional database usually reserves its data into tables, blockchains store data in blocks and connect them via cryptography. It enters fresh data into a new block and chains it onto the previous block after it gets filled. As a result, the data gets linked together in chronological order with blockchain technology.
You can use blockchain to store various types of information, but its primary use has been a ledger for financial transactions till now. The most famous example of this is Bitcoin, where blockchain has been used in a decentralized manner. As a result, all users collectively keep control instead of any individual or particular group retaining control over it. Also, decentralized blockchains are inflexible, and hence the data entered cannot be reversed in any way. This is why all transactions in Bitcoin are perpetually recorded and can be viewed by everyone.
Benefits of using blockchain in supply chain planning
Companies can use blockchain to effectively manage the supply chain by recording relevant information, such as time, date, price, quality, location, etc. The availability of these details within the blockchain has the potential to lower losses from the counterfeit and grey market, improve compliance over outsourced contract manufacturing and visibility, increase traceability of the material supply chain, and enhance the user's prowess in responsible manufacturing.
Some of the main benefits of using blockchain in supply chain planning are:
- Manage an international business spread across multiple countries
- Track the day to day working of third-party agents
- Follow the mechanics of the supply chain through its several stages
- Execute supply chain contracts by self
- Organize and enforce any form of agreement
- Run the regulation of cold chain management without the help of any third party
- Ensure the whole process is more secure and transparent
- Solve auditing problem and information sprawl
- Track whether there is mishandling or damage to any product
- Solve customer dissatisfaction swiftly in an organized manner
Conclusion
Multiple corporations are already experimenting with blockchain innovations to accomplish their needs. Monegraph utilizes blockchain to secure the usage and sharing privileges of digital media and to share revenue with distributors, publishers, and media creators. Provenance has recently conducted a six-month pilot using blockchain to track responsible sourcing of tuna in Indonesia.
Skuchain constructs blockchain-based B2B trade and supply chain finance products that target the $18 trillion global trade finance market involving banks, buyers, logistics providers, customs, sellers, and other relevant third parties. Imarticus Learning's Supply chain management course will help you build a career in this prospective and lucrative field.
