Credit: yeeply.com

For the last year it’s been Blockchain, Blockchain, Blockchain! It’s a word we all started hearing around the end of 2017 when Bitcoin began it’s steep climb to it’s all time high of $20,089 per token. But does it also revolutionize the supply chain industry? There are plenty of companies that have come out with ‘revolutionizing’ technologies centered around blockchain that are designed to revamp an industry be it ARVR, healthcare, or supply chain infrastructures. But what are some use-cases for blockchain in the supply chain infrastructure?

I’ve spent the past few weeks researching this question for a client. This client wanted us to explore the possibilities of integrating this new crazy thing all the kids were talking about into their existed infrastructure. Blockchain.

You may be wondering: Why use a system designed to handle money to coordinate real world assets? It’s because this system relies on a technology that is both transparent and secure, useful characteristics in many fields.

There are many different use cases for blockchain in supply chain with the most popular being asset tracking. IBM released an article detailing their expedition into seeing if blockchain in supply chain was practical. Here is a quote on their findings:

A blockchain would capture all transactions and state changes that occur as an asset moves from manufacturing to deployment, including those actions that occur outside of IBM’s systems. This blockchain would provide a single source of truth for core information about each asset. This way, no matter what happened to an asset as it moved through the supply chain, all stakeholders and systems would know its status.

The secure ‘single source of truth’ aspect is key and perhaps the most powerful incentive to build an infrastructure with with blockchain as a backbone. But how can you leverage a transparent single source of truth and how does that look like in real life?

After studying how other companies have embraced this technology and discussing with experts in supply chain I’ve identified these use cases that leverage the advantages of blockchain in the supply chain business.