Blockchain and Transparent Supply Chains

One of the key areas where blockchain technology can impact environmental improvements in organizations is through supply chains. Blockchain technology can streamline processes within organization bringing an abundance of positive improvements to environmental compliance in particular. Traceability of products can be improved reducing issues and human errors, this can be seen from amazons roll out of warehouse robots where they have seen vast financial gains, and in turn had a more productive warehouse to household process. It can also provide much more traceability within an organization. Whether you are a food company tracking your chicken to the store shelf or controlling documents for a large organization traceability is key in managing and improving productivity.

We will use potatoes for an example, they are grown from seed potato and end up in your fridge. So its lifespan covers many processes before it gets on your plate. The seed potatoes need to bought and planted, they then get planted at a farm (which has various different factors for growth based on environment), they are then harvested, transported and stored. After they have been stored they are cleaned and then packaged before getting stored again before leaving a warehouse. They then get transported to various stores around the country and then the customer will buy and cook. Each packet will have a sell by date, and as time moves on we a re now seeing that on your bag of potatoes you can find out exactly where the potato was grown. So why has this happened over recent years?

Firstly the customer now wants to know much more about there product due to much more competitive markets. I personally try to by potatoes that I know haven't been doused in fertilizers and that are grown using more environmental friendly methods of farming. So the customer now has a little more control. Secondly the vast amounts of improvements over the past few years in supply chain traceability has lead to vast improvements for organizations. If there was an issue with a bag of potatoes for instance and the customer had found an issue with the product. The potato company can then find out exactly where the issue may have occurred, and can then check that other products that are in the same batch when they find the issues don't reach the customer. Thirdly, the organisations can now look at different batches and compare them in a more streamline manner. This means they can see that 100 tonnes of potatoes was grown in the same space as 80 tonnes in another farm or area. They can then look at increasing yields, look at improving soil fertility. This supply chain traceability empowers so many improvements for organizations to increase their CSR and environmental objectives and targets set year on year.

Building a transparent supply chain:

weblink: https://hbr.org/2020/05/building-a-transparent-supply-chain

Above is a link to an excellent article which was written by Vashul Gaur and Abhinav Gaiha for the Harvard business review back in 2020. I find the article very useful in understanding how transparent supply chain traceability can help improve a magnitude of issues in current organizations. They dig deep into current and conventional methods of supply chain management and compare it to blockchain methods and how they can further improve these processes. They also explain that to sit on the sidelines while others adopt these technologies you may be left behind and their competitors can take advantage. Once again I feel a quick read of the above document may help shine some light on areas of improvement within your organization.