Intro

Over the past 5 years, blockchain technology has been applied in new ways to different areas of commerce in ways that are truly changing the dynamic of the industry. Supply chains are just one of the many sectors where blockchain has been leveraged in a way that provides end consumers with proof of traceability and sustainability, in a way that was never before possible. Fine wine, blueberries, olive oil, coffee, cashmere, fresh and smoked salmon, and fresh scallops, are a few of the products that have benefited from leveraging blockchain technology in a way that provides end users with a way to track where the product came from, and whether it was farmed, manufactured, and shipped in an environmentally sustainable way.

Applications

Fine wine is one of the most interesting applications of blockchain technology in the supply chain as of recent, with Near Field Communication enabled screw caps helping to put an end to the flourishing counterfeit market that includes billions of dollars of counterfeit bottles of fine wine. The leveraging of blockchain technology also provides drinkers of the wine with a way to see exactly what vineyard the grapes where grown, when they were harvested, the date of bottling, as well as notes and pairings from taste stewards and chefs, all from tapping the screw cap with an NFC enabled device.

Blueberries are another interesting application within the food supply chain, providing consumers of the juicy fruit with a way to see what farm the blueberries where grown at, what day of the year they were harvested, and temperature information for the blueberries throughout the shipping process from farm to store.

Salmon is perhaps my personal favorite when it comes to applications within the food supply chain. Consumers of fresh and smoked salmon now have a way to see exactly where and when the fish was caught and filleted, when it was smoked or fresh packed, and information on the waters from which the fish is harvested. This gives consumers instantaneously accessible insight into the fish they are eating, and provides those consumers with the comfort of knowing that the fish they are consuming was farmed and harvested in a sustainable way that doesn't have a negative impact on the waters or the population of the fish, all thanks to blockchain technology.

Cashmere is an example of a product that isn't food, but with the creation of a blockchain based platform to help it out on the supply chain, clothing designers and manufacturers can ensure that they are sourcing their fine Mongolian cashmere from a legitimate and humane source.

Future Implementations

It seems every few weeks a new product gets the blockchain tech treatment, enabling consumers to get get a deeper look into the products they are buying. There are still many sectors that have not yet taken advantage of the transparency that distributed ledger technology provides, and I firmly believe that in 2020 we will see many new integrations and platforms built on these technologies, and some that will change transparency and traceability in global supply chain economies forever.

The medical field, real estate market, and the music industry are a few areas that are beginning to leverage distributed ledger technology for the purposes of transparency, but have yet to have any industry standard changing platforms come in to play and really shake things up. Companies can also leverage the IBM Food Trust platform for many purposes not related to food products to increase transparency into their supply chains, and to decrease the costs and maintenance that come with using traditional supply chain platforms.

If you have any ideas for products that could use a dose of blockchain technology, let us know in the comments section!