Editor’s Note: In 2019, just about everyone in the technology world is talking about and writing about Blockchain distributed digital ledgers, including the supply management world. It’s not the cool new thing everyone’s talking about but hardly anyone’s doing — 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!

To Fight the Scourge of Conflict Minerals, RCS Global Looks to Blockchain

Early last month, it was reported that Berlin-based RCS Global, which provides supply chain management solutions to the natural resource extraction industries, is looking to Blockchain distributed digital ledgers to fight the scourge of Congolese conflict minerals entering supply chains. RCS is working with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prevent minerals mined by children or that fund conflict from entering official commercial channels. Its “mine-to-market” Blockchain solution will utilize a combination of technologies to keep the diamond and tantalum trades ethical and legal. Raw materials will be digitally tagged by scanning barcoads, presumably affixed to packaging, to capture their particulars (weight, origin, miner, etc.), uploaded to the cloud, and transmitted via the Blockchain.

Blockchain a Pillar of IBM’s Sterling Supply Chain Management Suite

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced last month the release of the IBM Sterling Supply Chain Management Suite intended to help drive more transparent, resilient, intelligence, and agile supply chains across the manufacturing, retail, and other industries. IBM Sterling is a hybrid/open platform (with an open architecture) for developers to integrate APIs to other enterprise applications. The consolidated suite integrates the IBM Blockchain solution, IBM Watson AI (its artificial intelligence engine), its Sterling B2B Network and Sterling Order Management systems, and Red Hat’s OpenShift platform to provide an intelligent, self-learning, and self-correcting “system of systems” (note: IBM recently acquired Red Hat). In doing so, IBM Sterling can connect to external devices to pull in more data to drive greater transparency, visibility, and situational awareness; and mate these enhancements with autonomous, intelligent capabilities to create more agile and resilient supply chains for IBM’s enterprise customers.

CIMB Singapore, iTrust Meld Blockchain with IoT to Complete Transaction

Late last month, we learned of a ground-breaking development from CIMB Bank Singapore and iTrust, which combines Blockchain DLTs and IoT technologies: they announced the completion of their first structured trade financing transaction on iTrust’s platform. The platform leverages an IoT-integrated Blockchain DLT that enables trading partners to establish a product’s provenance, upload and transmit documents, digitally connect these records to physical assets, and provide real-time product track-and-trace, all the way through product warehousing. Because it’s a Blockchain DLT, the distributed digital ledger is secure, permanent, and immutable, which provides third-party financiers/lenders a greater sense of trust when lending to buying organizations. As a first test of the use case, traders purchased and imported dairy products into China. Future transactions are expected to amount to up to $100 million annually.

WEF Partners with Mining Industry on Responsible Sourcing Initiative

Late last month, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced a new initiative in which it is partnering with seven mineral and mining companies to develop Blockchain-based tools to promote ethical, responsible sourcing of raw materials. Dubbed “the Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative,” seven companies will work with the WEF to develop a common Blockchain-based supply chain management platform that seeks to provide widespread value among competitors and partners, alike. The participating companies are Antofagasta Minerals, Eurasian Resources Group Sàrl, Glencore, Klöckner & Co, Minsur SA, Tata Steel Limited, Anglo American/De Beers (Tracr). There were no timetables or target dates established in the press release.

Each of the participating companies will collaborate to develop a common Blockchain-based tool to enable them to establish product/commodity provenance, track and trace products/commodities as they traverse supply chains, establish and verify chains of custody, and enhance supply chain transparency and trust in the process. Consortium members are also keen to use the platform to measure and track carbon emissions resulting from the mining, refining, and shipping of products and raw materials. The ultimate goals are to make the mining industry more transparent, sustainable, and ethical; drive governance, risk management, and compliance efforts; and share the burden of researching, developing, and testing a common, inter-operable Blockchain-based platform.

Mastercard, Envisible Partner for Seafood Supply Chain Track-and-Trace

And finally, MasterCard, the global payments solution provider, announced late last month that it is partnering with Envisible, a food traceability solutions provider, to develop a Blockchain-based seafood supply chain track-and-trace platform for grocers. They will combine Envisible’s Wholechain-based Blockchain platform with Mastercard’s Blockchain-based provenance-tracking platform to develop a unique solution for grocers and ultimately customers. Its first user, Topco Associates, is a US-based food cooperative that will enable its grocer members to establish the provenance of its seafood and track and trace their movements, from hook to plate. In theory, this will enable grocers to tell a story about their seafood — where it came from, how fresh it is, how and whether it was legally harvested, and if it is compliant with laws and regulations. The pilot program will initially focus on shrimp, salmon, and cod.

This is not Mastercard’s first foray into Blockchain: earlier this year, we reported that the global bank card provider has partnered with Accenture and many other companies to develop a Blockchain-based supply chain track-and-trace program to drive sustainability. Mastercard is also one of the world’s largest providers of scalable Blockchain systems, like the Mastercard Provenance Solution.

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