5 blockchain logistics projects. Part 2

Vinturas is a consortium created by such european logistic companies as AutoLink, Axess Logistics, Groupe CAT, Koopman Logistics Group and NVD in order to develop new business models and provide supply chain transparency.

Together with IBM, the consortium works on integration of a digital blockchain platform for continuous tracking of vehicle procurement.

The digital platform provides the following data:

• The exact location of a vehicle according to its VIN at all stages of the supply chain from the manufacturer to the dealer
  
• Estimated delivery time of a vehicle to a dealer center
  
• Actual confirmation of vehicle delivery to the dealer based on electronic CMR data
  
• A complete package of digital documents providing all the information collected during the journey of the VIN through the supply chain.
  

It is planned that by the time of the platform full operational launch there will be more than 12 million vehicle records available on it. Car manufacturers are expected to reduce their costs by more than 10% as a result of increased transparency in the supply chain, and fleet owners will receive tremendous support in the process of planning and distributing the fleet.

IBM and Chainyard have launched a Trust Your Supplier project, which is a blockchain network designed to improve supplier qualification, validation, onboarding as well as to manage information about all supplier work processes.

Such large companies as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Cisco, GlaxoSmithKline, Lenovo, Nokia, Schneider Electric and Vodafone have already joined the project.

Trust Your Supplier creates a digital passport to identify a supplier on a blockchain network, which allows suppliers to exchange information with any permissioned customer. The blockchain technology provides a permissioned access to a shared database. This helps to reduce time and costs related to new suppliers qualification and opens up new business improvement opportunities for suppliers and buyers. The network gives access to third-party validators, such as Dun & Bradstreet, Ecovadis and RapidRatings to provide outside verification or audit.

Trust Your Supplier also allows you to connect existing procurement business networks, transferring the necessary data required for contracts and accounts exchange, without the need to enter this data into several systems simultaneously. The IBM Supply Chain Business Network cloud system, which brings together multiple supply chain participants, connects to Trust Your Supplier using an open API to access existing verified supplier information. The Trust Your Supplier platform is built on the IBM Blockchain platform hosted on IBM Cloud

The platform allows you to accelerate and automate access and information management and serves as a reliable source of identification data.

Currently, more than 18,500 suppliers worldwide use IBM services, and in the near future the company plans to connect 4000 of its suppliers from North America to Trust Your Supplier.

SAP has developed and launched the SAP Information Collaboration Hub for Life Sciences platform, which is a blockchain-based hub that helps to identify counterfeit products in the US drug supply chain.

The solution was developed together with such pharmaceutical companies as AmerisourceBergen, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and others.

Since the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, obliging wholesalers to verify the authenticity of drugs before reselling, has come into force in the United States in November 2019, the use of the SAP platform will greatly simplify this process.

The system allows customers to verify the product code, batch, expiration date and serial number recorded on the blockchain network, where all the manufacturer's data is stored. The SAP solution uses MultiChain, an open source platform that allows you to create private blockchain networks.

The pharmaceutical manufacturer creates the serial number data, product identifier (GTIN), batch identifier, including expiration date and randomly selected unique identifier for each product unit. This data is printed on the product packaging in the form of a barcode and text. Then a barcode hash is created for each numbered product and sent to the blockchain.

Any person in the supply chain, including a patient or a medical worker in a pharmacy or hospital, can easily scan the barcode on the package before the product is sold. The mobile application decodes the barcode, creates a hash of the contents of the barcode and checks its against the hash in the blockchain network through the organization's node or the service provider's node. In case when a product is returned to a storage facility, a US wholesaler can inspect the returned item using the platform, thus complying with US law.

ShipChain is a logistics ecosystem that uses blockchain technology to fight fraud and reduce losses in the freight industry.

The platform combines distributed ledger technology and traditional RESTful web services, hereby providing logistics companies with a comprehensive integration system that gives users access to such advantages of blockchain technology as autonomous contract execution, immutability of historical data and no single point of failure.

The ShipChain is based on Solidity smart contracts, which are stored on the Ethereum blockchain.

The platform works together with such companies as Scanlog, GTX Corp, CaseStack, Zinnovate and Parcelive, which leverage it to track their shipments, and also help to expand the system functionality .

For example, Scanlog, a Scandinavian logistics company, integrated the ShipChain platform into its global logistics network. At the first stage of cooperation, the company uses technology to monitor a small number of trucks. Axle Gateways GPS devices were installed in company's vehicles cabins. The devices send encrypted GPS data to the Scanlog repository and generate a unique signature for this data, which is placed on the Ethereum blockchain.

By tracking its shipments, Scanlog is able to identify the steps that will make their global transport network more productive and effective, as well as reduce overall costs and develop more efficient offers for their customers.

SAP and Bumble Bee Foods, North America's largest shelf-stable seafood company, implemented a blockchain service from the SAP Cloud Platform to track yellowfin tuna products way from ocean to a store.

Thanks to SAP blockchain technology, consumers and buyers can easily access complete Bumble Bee Foods product origin data simply by using their smartphones to scan a QR code on a product's packaging. Blockchain technology provides instant access to information on how fish products get to the market, including the size of the catch, point of capture, fishermen info, as well as data necessary to verify product authenticity, freshness and safety.

Despite the growing demand for transparency of information on supplied products, consumers often face fake products or don't have the ability to confirm the information provided.

The introduction of the blockchain allows companies such as Bumble Bee Foods to store data on the entire history of supply chains in a secure network that is accessible to all participants.