How Blockchain Technology Can Revolutionise Logistics and Supply Chains
How Blockchain Technology Can Revolutionise Logistics and Supply Chains
Good morning Lion's I trust you are safe and well and enjoying our descriptive articles showcasing how Blockchain technology can change the many sectors we rely on in today's world. Yesterday we show cased How Blockchain Technology Can Increase Cybersecurity and today we are going to take a deep dive into the world of supply chains and how Blockchain technology can enhance and provide benefits to logistics.
Being the backbone of global trade supply chains aren't going anywhere and have been around before capitalism and will be around long after. Human's will always need to trade no matter the economic environment we live in or political structures in place. Even dictatorships require supply chains and ways to track their goods.
Supply chains are significant intertwined webs filled with multiple transactions and middle men that ensure products and services get from manufacturers to consumers. Without strong, responsible and safe networks it can quickly cascade into a costly failure and cause mistrust with consumers.
This is why Blockchain technology which relies on trustless permissions and automation that is decentralised can significantly benefit and help support health supply chains across the world.
Let's take a look at a few of the reasons why, Blockchain's are a best fit to supplement supply chains.
Advanced Tracking
In today's modern world of online purchases we're quite used to receiving tracking ID's so we can see where our packages are. Although these tend to just commence once they are provided to a logistics provider like FedEX, AustPOST or other couriers.
Blockchain technology can provide an entire new level of tracking and tracing expanding beyond just a simple way to reduce anxiety on when a package will arrive. Tracking items on Blockchains provides an immutable record of events from the moment an item is purchased.
This creates an environment that makes it harder to counterfeit or even remove an item from it's journey as the blockchain will record every single transaction that takes place. An added benefit is for items that might need to be recalled due to faulty products or even harmful food items. Manufacturers could jump on their allocated blockchain and see where all their sold items are and easily send out recall notifications.
Reduced paper work and red tape
A major advantage of implementing Blockchain technology into supply chains is the cost savings they can provide due to the development and implementation of Smart Contracts.
Smart Contracts can be written to undertake a set of key performances at each supply chain destination. We already see how Escrow is utilised with Crypto currency and the same process can be implemented in relation to automated payments for those specific places on the supply chain that can release payment upon arrival.
There are a plethora of different smart contracts that could be developed to support supply chains and automate certain tasks that are allocated to humans. This greatly reduces risk and enables humans to undertake more of the manual work required.
Yesterday's article we highlighted how companies were targeted by cyber attacks and the same occurs with supply chains, the roll out of blockchain technology would greatly reduce this from occurring.
Inventory Management and Stocktake
One of the largest time consuming duties for any small business is the time it takes to manage your stock which takes small business owners away from what they need to do, sell things.
Implementing an entire blockchain approach could automate the entire process through a smart contract that monitors stock levels and can place orders for businesses once stock gets low.
It also streamlines the tax approach with all data transparently and easily accessible for the business owner making tax time a breeze in reporting. Also less disputes would be taken out as the supply chain could be made accessible to tax departments meaning no more having to worry about storing receipts for refunds and tax credits.
Politics FREE
The greatest asset that Blockchain technology can provide supply chains is their decentralised nature which means that they can not be controlled by incoming or outgoing governments. One thing we have all come to learn as we age is that Politics can greatly impact the way the world operates.
It is vital that supply chains remain neutral and politics FREE which is something that implementing Blockchain technology on supply chains can help achieve. Also any disruptions can be seen instantly across the entire chain which provides the added benefit of people able to quickly alter what it is that they need.
So as you can see supply chains are one of the fields that can greatly benefit from the introduction of Blockchain technology. Why not pop a comment below on what other ways Blockchain tech can help support supply chains.
image sources provided supplemented by Canva Pro Subscription. This is not financial advice and readers are advised to undertake their own research or seek professional financial services.