Key Points

Resources

Key Concepts

Blockchain Supply chain concepts article

https://101blockchains.com/blockchain-for-supply-chain/

Blockchain To The Rescue

So far, we’ve learned that supply chains are one of the crucial parts of your business. So, there’s no way to bypass the issues that the supply chain is facing. Furthermore, the present day supply chain is prone to errors and isn’t capable of keeping up with consumer demands.

So, how do you get more efficiency in this?

Well, this is where the blockchain for supply chain comes into play.

Supply chain and blockchain go hand to hand, and we’ll tell you just how. But first, if you have a vague idea about blockchain technology, then just read on find out more about it.

A blockchain is a distributed and decentralized immutable ledger system. Here, the ledger takes the form of a block of chain each interlinked with the previous and next block to locate the exact position it was added.

Not to mention every single information on those blocks are cryptographically encrypted and also time stamped. Furthermore, here no central authority take part in managing the whole process but the group of user that uses it.

So, you see the corruption part of the supply chain is already gone in the blockchain for supply chain scheme.

However, three main properties of blockchain make it so irresistible for supply chain and blockchain partnership. Let’s see what they are –

Transparency
Immutable
Decentralization

Of course, there are other features as well, but these three main features are super solid for the supply chain and blockchain combo. Therefore, now you’ll see how blockchain for supply chain scheme can make a difference.

Decentralization

Let’s start with decentralization. It’s the core concept of blockchain technology. In reality, what it means is that any kind of information on the ledger would not have sole ownership, but everyone on the network will be a part of it.

The problem with the currency supply chain is the falsification of data. Furthermore, the procurement officers and the suppliers aren’t always 100% trustful and honest. Moreover, they falsify the data, and there’s no way to prove that the data isn’t authentic.

However, with blockchain for supply chain, this concept of falsifying will be long gone.

When everything on the supply chain is visible to all, no one would be able to own any data. However, you must be wondering that even that they don’t own the data what can stop them from changing it?

Well, there’s another blockchain for supply chain feature for that. Let’s see what it is.

Immutability

Well, immutability in the blockchain for supply chain usually means no one can tamper it. Moreover, any information that you add on the ledger can’t be altered.

Just imagine how much value it would add up in the supply chain. In reality, blockchain for supply chain works that way so that no one can change any of the data once they put it in. However, in case of errors, private blockchain for supply chain can offer alteration.

But in every case, the transaction needs to be verified, and the users of the network will be in sole control of that. Even though is someone tries to change the data by hacking, it would cause an avalanche effect, which would alert the authorities immediately. So, there’s no way any internal or external force can hack into the system.

It’s time to move into the last but most important feature of the blockchain for supply chain scheme.

Transparency

With the help of transparency, the supply chain and blockchain system can excel at its best. Yes, private blockchains do give you the privacy you need; however, it also offers transparency. It means that people on the network will be accountable for their actions.

Whatever goes on the network is visible to all or selectively visible. So, people would be able to see what another person is doing. However, in the case of an enterprise, the system is a bit different as it gives more power to the higher authoritative personals. Because of the nature of the enterprise companies, making it, a public channel would be much more difficult to handle.

So, it would work as the internal networking system with transparency within the employees of the company. And that’s how you make a solid supply chain and blockchain duo.

Blockchain benefits for Supply Chain

If you deploy blockchain for supply chain management, you can improve the overall efficiencies in many ways. In reality, supply chain management requires lots of coordination within the data system. When the system is slow, no management in different locations and the revenues are going down then blockchain in supply chain is a beacon of hope.

You can easily alter the legacy frameworks with blockchain supply chain examples and enjoy easy and fast information sharing. Moreover, you will also be able to prevent counterfeits and increase overall customer satisfaction.

Furthermore, blockchain for supply chain exists to get rid of the unnecessary bureaucracy and helps to trim down the unnecessary resources excellently. So, it’s easy to just redesign the new supply chain and blockchain scheme without any issues.

Anyways, now we’ll dive into the benefits of blockchain for supply chain management and see what benefits it offers.

Transparent Ledger System

Blockchain in supply chain helps to offer more transparent access in every supply chain operations. Furthermore, every time any product goes from point A to point B, it will be logged in the ledger. So, in short, it would create a trail from where the precut came to be from point A to point B. Furthermore, the enterprises can use this in case of a recall.

On the other hand, using these customers will know exactly where the product came to be, and it will finally be a transparent platform. It will also help keep other people accountable for any mistakes they might have made on the ledger.

Tracking In Real-Time

With transparency comes the real-time tracking option. Yes, with blockchain for supply chain management, you can track your products in real time! Furthermore, you can also know what condition they are in, and exactly pinpoint their location as they are on the move.

For example, imagine you ordered materials from the supplier when the supplier attaches the RFID chips to the products you’ll know exactly what condition or location they are.

Supply chain management can then track it from their PC using the blockchain supply chain examples. Moreover, with that, they can estimate how much time it would take the materials to reach the factory.

Once they are here, they can track the production process and check the environment of the inventory whenever they want. So, they won’t have to even step in there in person to know what’s exactly going on in the production line using the blockchain supply chain examples.

Faster Transactions

Another great benefit of the blockchain for supply chain scheme. In reality, there’s a lot of waiting around to get the payment at different levels of the supply chain. But with blockchain for supply chain scheme, it would be a piece of cake.

Blockchain supply chain examples have the potential to break Visa’s record of transaction every second, which is 10,547. Speed is one of the lucrative features of every payment system and with blockchain supply chain examples you’re getting everything at one place.

In reality, the faster the blockchain for supply chain platform is, the better it can process all the transactions. So, in short, blockchain in supply chain has the most potential to scale than the typical Web 2.0 system.

Another great fact about the blockchain is supply chain management is the micropayment options. Therefore, you are not only sending large amounts but smaller amounts as well in mere seconds! How cool is that?

Trustless Chain

Next comes the trustless benefit of the blockchain for supply chain management. In reality, the supply chain management has to trust that the product would be authentic, and it would deliver within a certain time. However, with blockchain in supply chain system, you can know that for sure.

So, there’s no need for putting your blind trust in any parties at all. Also, in case of payment, many companies stay in utter uncertainty that they might get the payment. However, blockchain in supply chain system comes with smart contract integration. The smart contract will automate the payment process once the delivery is made.

Therefore, companies can just take a breath from all the uncertainty once and for all.

This process can get integrated into different levels of the supply chain. For example, vendors can use it to pay manufacturers, and consumers can use it to pay up the vendor.

Product Certification

Product certification is a must when it comes to the supply chain. How else can manufacturers prove that the product is authentic and isn’t a counterfeit? This is where blockchain for supply chain management steps in.

Employees can use the blockchain supply chain examples to certify all the products in every industry. Furthermore, it can help to know whether the product was replaced with counterfeit or not. Moreover, the consumer can easily check up on the blockchain in supply chain platform and know for sure that the product is authentic.

Every year millions of money are wasted due to the fraudulent activities and counterfeit products. However, with blockchain for supply chain management, it would finally be over.

Greater Security

The supply chain needs to be the ultimate secure place. With the help from the blockchain for supply chain management, now it really can be ultra-secure. As the ledger is immutable, no one can tamper with the data. Furthermore, their multi-layer security protocols in the supply chain and blockchain keep the hacker far away from the system.

As a result, there’s no single point of entry. If a hacker wants to attack the blockchain in supply chain system, he would need to attack the network with multiple devices all at once, which is quite impossible. In reality, that takes up more resources than he’ll actually gain so, it’s not really worth it.

Lower Carbon Footprint ??

With manufacturing products comes the added carbon emissions. However, with the help from blockchain in supply chain system, the need for a return would be gone. How? Well, it’s because with blockchain supply chain examples you can control the quality more accurately.

So, in every stage, you can produce high-quality output consistently. Thus, the return or recycle process of the supply chain will reduce drastically. And it would not only drive up revenue, but it would also get rid of the extra product making process. Therefore, less carbon footprint.

So, blockchain for supply chain doesn’t only ensure more revenue, but it also ensures a greener production

MOBI - Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative

MOBI impacts for Detroit OEMS

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2019/10/24/can-blockchain-jumpstart-detroit/#3494ac25313e

MOBI VID 2

some use cases

Leasing life cycle

Joe Bannon

MOBI CMDM

OMF - Open Mobility Foundation

https://www.openmobilityfoundation.org/

https://github.com/openmobilityfoundation/mobility-data-specification

OMF use cases

Some examples of how cities are using MDS in practice:

• Verify how many scooters are operating.
• Verify whether scooters are being deployed equitably across neighborhoods.
• Determine whether scooters are dropped off outside of a service area.
• Determine whether scooters are being parked in safe and appropriate parking areas.
• Ensure compliance with device caps and operating regulations.
• Ensure inform and help manage 311 / Service Request style operations.
• Inform future capital investments such as dockless vehicle drop zones or furniture zones.
• Inform infrastructure planning efforts such as the addition of bike lanes or street redesigns.
• Provide visibility into the relationship between micromobility and other modes, such as public transit
• Inform micromobility policy making – number of scooters, distribution, etc.
• Develop ways to communicate dynamic information on unplanned events, such as emergency road closures, water main breaks, etc. to mobility providers to help them keep their users and contractors informed for better route planning and re-balancing efforts.

OMF apps and projects 

Open Mobility Foundation

• mds-core - A reference implementation of an MDS Agency Server, built using PostgresQL, TypeScript, NodeJS.
• mds-compliance-mobile - A mobile app for performing in-the-field data validation and compliance monitoring.

City of Los Angeles

• mds-dev - Code to do cap checking, fake data generation and more with provider data.
• mds-validator - Code to validate MDS APIs using JSONSchema.
• aqueduct - ETL, Data Warehousing, and Machine Learning Platform for LA City Data Science team. Handles extracting MDS provider APIs and storing in data warehouse.
• mds-agency-cli - Nodejs-based command-line interface to exercise the Agency API in the LADOT sandbox

MDS-core - reference implementation of MDS Agency Server

github.com/openmobilityfoundation/mds-core

Repo for LADOT MDS implementation for contribution to the Open Mobility Foundation. It represents what is currently up and running for Los Angeles production MDS as well as new features under development. Includes the following:

• A current LADOT implementation of all MDS endpoints
• Development versions of mds-audit, mds-policy, and mds-compliance
• MDS logging (mds-logger), daily metrics (mds-daily) and Google sheet reporting app for technical compliance.

Debugging with Visual Studio Code

Node.js: Express Server

• Select the Node.js Express Server debug configuration
• Select the file that implements the Node/Express server for a package (typically server.ts) in the Explorer panel
• Press F5

Mocha Tests

• Select the Node.js: Mocha Tests debug configuration
• Select any one of the files in a package's test folder
• Press F5

Kubernetes/Istio

MDS can be provisioned to a Kubernetes cluster as follows:

• Install and configure Docker Desktop
  • preferences / advanced: cpus:6, memory:8G, swap:1G
  • preferences / kubernetes: enabled kubernetes
• Add kubectl to your PATH environment, e.g. for OSX:
  • export PATH=/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin:${PATH}
• Ensure an active kubernetes cluster is configured and accessible:
  • kubectl config set-context docker-desktop

Lastly, build and deploy MDS to your kubernetes cluster:

./bin/mdsctl bootstrap build install:mds test:integration

To cleanup the MDS cluster consider:

./bin/mdsctl uninstall

For a complete listing of available operations consider:

./bin/mdsctl

Opportunities

Challenges

Solutions

Details

Next Steps

Related articles

Link