Editor’s Note:Well, it’s 2020, and we’ve taken a few months off from Blockchain. Luckily, everyone in the technology world is still talking and writing about Blockchain distributed digital ledgers, including the supply management world. It’s real, and it’s happening. When mated with other emerging technologies and innovations, like connected devices (aka, “The Industrial/Internet of Things”), digital currencies, mobility, and virtual assistants, the sky is literally the limit for Blockchain. It has enormous potential to disrupt supply chain, risk management, procurement, and finance/accounts payable operations. Because of this potential we’ve been following Blockchain’s rise, development, and news cycle carefully. That is part of my job here at Ardent Partners — a job that I embrace as our resident “Tech Futurist.” So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the latest installment of When Blockchain Meets Supply Chain!

IBM, Farmer Connect Use Blockchain to Make Coffee Even Better

Earlier this year, we learned of a joint effort between IBM (NYSE: IBM), Farmer Connect, a grassroots technology company, and the coffee industry, to apply Blockchain distributed digital ledgers to track and trace coffee from point of origin to point of sale, and to support local coffee merchants. Together, IBM developed a mobile app called “Thank My Farmer,” which, come March of this year, will allow consumers in the US and Canada to scan bar codes on Folgers-brand coffee to determine their point of origin and, if they so choose, to provide local coffee merchants, such as traders, roasters, and farmers, with secure donations to support their businesses and communities. Farmer Connect designed the app while IBM developed and integrated it with its own Hyperledger-based DLT that it uses to track and trace other food commodities. “Thank My Farmer” enters its pilot program next month, and later this year, IBM and Farmer Connect hope to expand the use of the app to support coffee farmers directly.

Tradewind Markets Conducts First Transaction Using Blockchain

In mid January, it was reported that Tradewind Markets, a metals and mining industry technology provider, had helped clients execute their first transaction on a Blockchain DLT, which enabled them to transmit provenance information to the end user. Canadian gold producer, Agnico Eagle, used the Tradewind Origin platform, itself based on R3’s Corda Blockchain platform, to transmit and record the provenance records and supply chain information for 5,000 ounces of gold mined from its LaRonde mine in Quebec to Bank of Montreal. Such a capability enables mining companies to demonstrate their raw materials’ point of origin and allay concerns from financial institutions over the provenance of the metals and the circumstances in which they were mined (i.e., not from conflict zones, not by warlords, not being used to fund conflict). Such transparency can help increase confidence elsewhere in the metals and mining industry and their financial backers.

AB Inbev Using Blockchain to Connect to Farmers, Suppliers in Africa

Late last month, we learned of another Blockchain story concerning another one of our favorite beverages around these parts: beer. AB Inbev, the world’s largest brewer, has been working with Blockchain solutions provider, BanQu, to access farmers and suppliers in Africa to lift them up, ensure the safety of their products, and help them demonstrate their creditworthiness to local creditors. Using BanQu’s Blockchain platform, AB InBev launched a pilot program in Zambia in which it was able to access 2,000 farmers that were producing raw materials for their products, such as cassava. The Blockchain-based project brought these farmers, some of whom were subsistence farmers, into a commercial environment in which they were able to grow more cassava and sell it to suppliers at a fare price. The Blockchain program provided the two-way visibility for both parties, as well as local banks and creditors. Being able to prove their identity and earning potential to banks allowed more farmers to qualify for credit, which allowed them to take out loans to launch or grow their businesses. In effect, AB InBev and BanQu helped many Zambian farmers lift themselves out of poverty and produce safer, higher quality goods in the process.

Accenture Launches Blockchain-based Supplier Network for Internal Use

In late January, Accenture, one of the world’s largest auditing, management consulting, and technology integration firms, announced that it has launched a Blockchain-based supplier discovery, approval, and onboarding platform for internal use. Dubbed the True Supplier Marketplace, Accenture buyer teams now use this platform to vet, approve, and onboard the many suppliers with which the company contracts in the course of its daily operations.

The Platform is the product of a collaborative effort between the Accenture Technology Blockchain, IT, and Procurement organizations to make the supplier discovery, vetting, and onboarding process more efficient, less time intensive, less costly, and ultimately more compliant. Suppliers essentially onboard themselves and provide their own data, greatly reducing the need for Accenture procurement staff to manually enter this information. The True Supplier Marketplace also connects to Accenture’s SAP ERP system, and enables pre-population of supplier contracts and invoices, which can have significant downstream effects in the form of greater efficiencies and accuracy, faster lead times, and more timely payment to suppliers.

Accenture is reportedly seeking a patent on the technology, signalling its intent to offer the True Supplier Marketplace to customers.

Supply Management Meets Emergency Management in Wuhan, China

In response to the coronavirus global pandemic, AliPay, a third-party mobile payment solutions provider and affiliate of AliBaba, has deployed a Blockchain-based information management material tracking tool to help emergency management and public health officials respond to and manage the crisis. Alipay’s epidemic prevention information service platform is being used to help emergency management and public health officials allocate precious resources to combat the spread of coronavirus, in addition to a pneumonia outbreak in Hubei, Beijing, Zhejiang, and other provinces in China. Emergency management and public health officials can use the platform to post requirements lists and also track-and-trace donated goods as they pour into the afflicted areas.

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