As the most cutting edge blockchain-IoT platform for quality assurance and supply chain management, Ambrosus has positioned itself as a stronghold of trust among global consumers. Easily applicable to enterprise IT systems, the Ambrosus Network (AMB-NET) allows for a multitude of new management techniques that promise to revolutionize supply chains: private and secure data storage, a platform to build apps, monthly billing, supply chain insurance, and much more.

While the current focus and applicability of Ambrosus has largely been in the food and pharmaceutical industries (respectively valued at around $8.1 trillion and $1.1 trillion USD annually), Ambrosus is currently expanding its scope to the equally important commodities and electronics industries. Below an explanation is given of how Ambrosus is, in principle, applicable to virtually any supply chain in the world. Beyond that, a more in depth breakdown is provided of what exactly tracing commodities and electronics means in light of Ambrosus’ future development.

Digitalizing Products: Assets and Events

For many people without a PhD in Computer Science, or a background in supply chain management, the complexity of the systems and tools that the Ambrosus Network (AMB-NET) is built upon can be confusing. When it comes to the digital traceability of products throughout the supply chain, it is even more important to understand the scope of the Ambrosus solution.

To be clear, the Ambrosus solution begins with the digital recording of certain products in the form of “Assets” and “Events”. In general terms, every product on a supply chain that can be recorded in a certain state with a specific type of sensor, can equally be logged on the Ambrosus blockchain: “Assets” and “Events” are simply the digital replications of real products and real sensor readings.

More specifically, an ‘Asset’ refers to the digital identity of the object in the supply chain. In the words of Chief Product Officer, Dr. Vlad Trifa:

“An ASSET in Ambrosus is the digital representation of any unique physical or logical entity in a supply chain that needs to be individually identified and tracked over it…It can be a 40ft container, a pallet filled with cartons of milk, a truck, a 6-pack of beer, a box of aspirin, a batch of hot wings sauce, a shipment to a customer, or an individual bottle of wine — or any other thing you fancy.”

Meanwhile an ‘Event’ refers to some piece of information pertaining to a specific asset. According to Dr. Vlad Trifa:

“All events have the following information: when (timestamp), where (location), who (user/device that observed the event), what (the asset or assets this event applies to) is generally recorded, but you can add a lot more data in events.”

As an example, imagine a shipment of fine wine: the ‘Asset’, depending on the preferences of the company, could either be the boxes the wine is stored in, or if it were to be very high quality wine, it could also be each individual bottle. Meanwhile the ‘Events’ would be the various sensor readings of the wine as it moves throughout the supply chain: one ‘Event’ could be the geographical location of the grapes used to make the wine. Another could be the temperature monitor during its journey. A third could be a light monitor ensuring that the cork has not been unscrewed or tampered with. Ultimately, various events may correspond to a single asset during its journey in the supply chain.

More important however, is the general applicability of this digital form of representation: any single thing in a supply chain that possesses some form of unique identification, can be recorded as an ‘Asset’. In-between the time the ‘Asset’ has been created and the time it is sold to a consumer, any single piece of information pertaining to that ‘Asset’ can be logged as an ‘Event’ so long as it is accompanied by a suitable sensor to transmit the data in question. From this perspective, it becomes clear that while food and medicine are primary use-cases for such digital technology, the scope of the Ambrosus solution is actually limitless: whether a company needs to trace pieces of metal, barrels of oil, boxes of spices, crates of beer, or bottles of honey the Ambrosus solution can effectively accommodate such supply chain needs, while also maintaining the necessary privacy companies desire.

Commodities and Electronics:

As a holistic, end-to-end supply chain solution, Ambrosus ensures that products can reach the end-consumer with as much information as possible, as a means of demonstrating the product’s authenticity and quality. In an evolving business environment where flexibility is a competitive advantage, Ambrosus has recently expanded into two additional industries which also suffer from significant fraud and counterfeiting: these are the commodity and electronics industries. Unique among all supply chain solutions, Ambrosus alone has sought to specifically assure the authenticity of such products by tracing their origin and quality-grade.

Commodities

To begin, a commodity can be defined as a natural product or material either grown as a form of agriculture, raised as a type of livestock, or extracted from the earth as a metal. Historically, commodities have been essential for technological development and energy creation. According to a recent McKinsey report, commodities have soared in value in the 21st century due to an increase in demand, coupled with a decline in supply. Although highly volatile, the global commodities market is estimated to be worth in-between $5–6 trillion dollars. As fundamental metals or primary agricultural products, commodities are often bought and utilized by some of the largest manufacturers and industries in the world: militaries, aviation companies, space and science laboratories, as well as global manufacturers of all types of appliances. At the same time agricultural commodities and spices are especially in high demand due to the fact that many of them can only be found in certain regions of the world or in very specific climates during the year.

More specifically, according to McKinsey, the various types of commodities can be sub-divided into four clear categories:

Energy: Oil, coal, gas, and uranium.

Oil, coal, gas, and uranium. Metals : Steel, copper, aluminum, tin, nickel, silver, lead, zinc, gold, rock phosphate, potassium chloride, platinum, and tungsten.

: Steel, copper, aluminum, tin, nickel, silver, lead, zinc, gold, rock phosphate, potassium chloride, platinum, and tungsten. Food : Cocoa, coffee, tea, oils, groundnuts, soybeans, barley, wheat, rice, corn, bananas, oranges, beef, lamb, pork, poultry, fish, shrimp, and sugar.

: Cocoa, coffee, tea, oils, groundnuts, soybeans, barley, wheat, rice, corn, bananas, oranges, beef, lamb, pork, poultry, fish, shrimp, and sugar. Non-food agricultural raw materials: Tobacco, timber, cotton, hides, rubber, wool, and sisal.

Importantly, this non-exhaustive list is only an indication of the various products or industries that the Ambrosus solution can be applied to. Many more commodities ranging from Canadian Maple Syrup, to Iranian Beluga Caviar, to Japanese Ceremonial Matcha Tea are also applicable.

Looking forward to future trends, increases in urbanisation indicate that up to 30 million hectares of the most fertile land currently used to gather commodities, will be lost in the future. As a result, commodities, specifically food and agricultural raw materials, will be in increasingly higher demand from food retailers and consumers alike. Within this context, Ambrosus aspires to be the clear end-to-end solution which companies wishing to demonstrate the origin or quality of their commodity will ultimately look towards as an innovative solution for business growth and development.

Electronics:

Meanwhile, within the global electrical and electronics industry, the electrical components and systems market (valued at roughly 1 trillion dollars) suffers greatly from counterfeiting and fraud. Not only does this result in the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars every year, but even more importantly, it can lead to the failure of key industrial operations that ultimately are at threat to human life (air planes, thermometers, satellites, etc.).

In 2011 alone, certain electronic conductors were counterfeited up to 25% of the time. Beyond semi-conductors however, the IHS report additionally explains how over “100 types of integrated circuits, passive components, electro-mechanical devices, and other parts” are also at risk of fraud and counterfeiting. The market as such is deeply in need of a form of quality assurance.

Ambrosus is actively seeking to disrupt this trend, by working with electronic manufacturers to label and track their electronic components throughout their journey on the supply chain. In this way the electronics industry will avoid fraud, and base itself upon a new standard of quality assurance; where composition, geographical origin, and supply chain history can be accessed with the simple use of an app. Ambrosus meanwhile will flexibly scale its network to an entirely new industry ripe for disruption: not only will this increase growth and traction on the Ambrosus Network, but it will also serve as a clear competitive advantage for the Ambrosus eco-system.

A Solution fit for Global Industries

Ultimately, the extension of the Ambrosus solution to commodities and electronics is a clear sign of the expansion of the Ambrosus eco-system. Beyond just food and pharmaceutical products, the unique design of the Ambrosus Network coupled with the digitalized recording of ‘Assets’ and ‘Events’ allows for virtually any product or machine-part in the global supply chain to be monitored and recorded throughout its entire journey. With an ever-increasing scope of applicability, Ambrosus is positioning itself as the future of supply chain management in multi-trillion dollar global industries.

If you know of a good industry whereby Ambrosus may be applicable, or have a background in working with a heavily counterfeited product, do not hesitate to reach out to the Ambrosus team to discuss the many ways in which Ambrosus can provide a solution!