Every day, solution providers continue to research, develop, and integrate “Industry 4.0” technologies, like 3-D printing, Blockchain distributed digital ledgers, cognitive capabilities, connected devices, and robotics within sourcing, procurement, and payables / accounts payables business tools, giving rise to a new generation of supply management tools, dubbed “Procurement 4.0.” Blockchain ledgers, in particular, now rival “artificial intelligence” as the tech trend of modern business era, making the Blockchain solutions market fertile ground for big tech companies and enterprising start-ups, alike. As a result, there is a nearly constant stream of Blockchain news eminating every week. And so, the CPO Rising editorial team thought that it’d be fun and worthwhile to cover these developments in a separate and semi-regular technology round-up, dubbed, When Blockchain Meets Supply Chain. Enjoy!
Tradeshift Announces Blockchain-based Tradeshift Pay for B2B Payments
Tradeshift, the California-based provider of cloud-based business networks, has just announced the launch of Tradeshift Pay, a Blockchain-based end-to-end supply chain payments and finance solution for B2B commerce. Tradeshift Pay combines supply chain payments, supply chain finance, and blockchain-based early payments onto one unified end-to-end solution. Through a single unified wallet, buyers will be able to take advantage of a wide variety of payment options in one platform in the cloud. This includes virtual cards, dynamic discounting, supply chain finance through bank partners, or blockchain-based payments. Tradeshift Pay is being supported by multiple major banks and card providers, including HSBC, Santander, and CreditEase.
SAP to Launch a Blockchain-based Platform to Boost Global Food Security
In a LinkedIn post dated May 14, SAP’s Vice President and Head of Blockchain, Torsten Zube, announced that the Germany-based software giant is building on its prior Blockchain development work to launch a Blockchain-based track-and-trace platform to help increase compliance to laws and regulations and reduce the prevalence of food-borne illness and the endemic problem of food waste. Originating in SAP’s Blockchain Co-Innovation Program, this new solution will combine an existing SAP product, SAP Global Track-and-Trace, with the company’s Blockchain to extend the platform’s power and reach across the globe.
With an estimated one third of all food products going to waste every year, SAP wants to apply its Blockchain — Track-and-Trace hybrid solution to help gain visibility into their food supply chains, optimize their planning and tracking, and ultimately reduce the amount of food that is wasted during and as a result of the process. There are a lot of big and bit players in the global food supply chain, and as a result, SAP’s Blockchain-enabled Global Track and Trace solution can help enterprise procurement teams to map their supply chains and work to ensure the security of food shipments.
Deloitte Veteran Departs to Establish Blockchain for Supply Chain
Also on May 14, Forbes ran a story on Eric Piscini, who until recently had been leading Deloitte’s Blockchain practice and has now started his own Blockchain for supply chain business solution. Dubbed Citizens Reserve, it is being built on the public Ethereum Blockchain and will enable multiple supply chain stakeholders — from buyers to suppliers to manufacturers to shipping companies — to access the system. It will make use of a modified Ethereum cryptocurrency, zerv (derived from “Reserve”), which ought to enable fast transactions on the network rather than waiting for international financial institutions to clear or finance purchases. Piscini actually envisions two Blockchains at work here — a private one where trading partners conduct business and close deals, and a public one wherein they send and receive payment.
Citizen Reserve’s Blockchain platform is expected to officially launch in July 2018, and will target defense industry firms that are seeing both a marked increase in defense spending but also a shrinking and fragmentation of defense manufacturing markets and suppliers. Blockchain ought to be able to increase visibility into manufacturers and service providers, and help increase efficiencies for the production and acquisition of spare parts. In the meantime, Piscini and Citizens Reserve are issuing 50 billion (yes, billion with a b) tokens in three batches, the first of which totaled $2.3 million in a “friends and family” round last August, the second of which is ongoing and raising $42 million from venture capital investors so far, and the third is yet to be determined.
OSA DC: Using AI, IoT, and Machine Learning to Boost Blockchain
Today’s final story comes to us from OSA DC, a supply chain management solution provider that specializes in retail manufacturing. OSA DC, short for Optimal Shelf Availability – Decentralized, has been playing in the retail spaces with “traditional” (i.e., non-Blockchain) business solutions. But as reported in this piece, OSA DC is looking to integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and sensor technology onto a Blockchain platform that all parties within the retail manufacturing and supply chain orbit can access. The goal here is to use the Blockchain-based platform to boost inventory management (reducing stock outs and excess inventory), as well as provide upstream users with the ability to track and trace goods and services to ensure that they are fulfilling a business lead. Machine learning algorithms look at historical data points to try to predict supply and demand, while embedded AI can increase user situational awareness, help the make informed decisions, and even find new shipping routes. Embedded sensors can help procurement and supply management teams to understand a host of quantitative and qualitative measures from virtually wherever shipments or inventories are. This Blockchain-based solution, with embedded AI, machine learning, and sensor technology has the potential to reduce the multi-million dollars of spoiled food or out-fashion clothing that goes unused or discarded before reaching its destination. Awareness is key and so is willingness to adjust parameters for retail inventory building and resupply.
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