Accenture, MasterCard & Amazon blockchain solution have collectively developed a new circular which will advance the traditional supply chain network. This kind of blockchain based supply chain will help producers to get accurate feedback from various stakeholders and customers.
February 26, 2019, AtoZ Markets - What happens when an IT services giant, a cloud services provider and a payments processor join hands? You get a transparent supply chain based on blockchain technology. And that supply chain may lead to significant improvements in production and efficiency for many companies. The supply chain, which was revealed yesterday, is being called a “Circular Supply Chain”, and the companies behind it are Accenture, Mastercard and Amazon Web Services. Two other companies were also part of the process, but you might not have heard of them: Everledger and Mercy Corps.
Accenture, MasterCard & Amazon blockchain solution for sustainable supply chain
Supply chains are major parts of our day-to-day lives. We don’t realize it, but we get in use on a regular basis. For example, when we shop for anything from a reputed multinational brand we get in touch with one end of its global supply chain. Innovations in these chains might make our lives and experience with major brands more interactive, which may allow companies to learn a lot more about their customers than they could ever learn. On the importance of these innovations Mr. David Treat, the global leader of blockchain team at Accenture, quoted that:
“Over the past several years, we have built upon our longstanding identity work with a focus on the more than 1 billion people in this world who lack any form of recognized identity. We saw directly linking consumers and the value created at the end of a supply chain directly back to help small producers at the beginning as critical to actually driving real social and environmental change.”
Mr. Treat said that he and his partners are working on in-store, mobile-based and web-based implementations of this Circular supply chain to help customers get in touch with the decision makers involved in any supply chain. Putting things in perspective he gave an example: when someone purchases a pair of jeans, by scanning a barcode given on its price tag the buyer can get complete information regarding the entire supply chain of that jeans from start to finish. Then once the buyer has got this information, he/she can send a token of appreciation or some other feedback for improvement. Tara Nathan, Executive Vice President, Humanitarian & Development at Mastercard, stated:
“For the 3.4 billion people – almost half the world’s population – that still struggle to meet basic needs, we believe that digital technologies are largely untapped. Through our work with smallholder farmers in Kenya, India, Mexico and elsewhere, we’ve deployed digital solutions helping to drive commercially sustainable social impact – and we understand that collaboration is essential for this journey.”
The use of blockchain in these supply chains may help in ensuring that the feedback and information included in the chain aren’t altered by anyone at any point. This can lead to 100% accurate feedback for companies, which can help them make critical business decisions. Let’s see which companies decide to be the first users of this supply chain.
How will Blockchain technology affect the supply chain?
Blockchain technology allows a more secure and transparent track of all types of transactions made, and the possibilities it presents across the supply chain.
Every time a product changes its location, the transaction could be documented, creating a permanent history of a product, from start to the end of the supply chain. This could reduce time delays, added costs, and human error that outbreak transactions today.
Some supply chains are already using the blockchain technology, and few experts suggest blockchain may become a universal supply chain operating system in the future. This technology could improve the following tasks:
- Recording the quantity and transfer of goods - like pallets, trailers, containers, etc. as they move between the supply chain network.
- Tracking the purchase orders, change in orders, receipts, shipment notifications, or other trade-related documents.
- Assigning or verifying certifications or certain properties of physical products; for example: determining if a food product is organic.
- Linking physical goods to serial numbers, bar codes, digital tags like RFID (Radio-frequency identification).
- Sharing information about the manufacturing process, assembly, delivery, and maintenance of products with suppliers and retailers.
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