Blockchain May Be Poised to Transform Supply Chains; Here’s How

As our regional economies have melded into a global marketplace, supply chains have placed emphasis on faster procurement at lower costs in a way that has contributed to the negative impacts of climate change. With blockchain technology on the rise, some experts believe it is poised to help companies reach their sustainability goals and improve the bottom line.

Supply chains are complicated, and the current nearsightedness in terms of an increased emphasis on speedy procurement at the cheapest price has “resulted in pressure on suppliers, forcing them to resort to irresponsible sourcing practices such as deforestation and pollution,” Eric Piscini, CEO of high-tech startup Citiziens Reserve, told Environmental Leader. “As a result, supply chains have become opaque, contributing to numerous corporations’ lack of understanding around where their goods are coming from and the implications of such purchases.”

In order to meet the growing consumer demand for sustainably sourced goods, businesses must be able to verify the authenticity and history of their products. “The utilization of blockchain-based supply chain solutions offers effective methods for validating this information,” Piscini says. “Upon validation, decentralized marketplaces provide an avenue for selling these goods to ensure consumer comfort when purchasing.”

Additionally, he adds, the auditable provenance information collected in a blockchain-based system allows for reporting internally and externally, helping users measure and reach sustainability goals. With this in mind, Citizens Reserve — led by Piscini and several entrepreneurs and former Deloitte blockchain executives — has unveiled SUKU, an industry agnostic supply chain solution aimed at tackling the issues of transparency, efficiency, and product visibility in legacy systems.

A blockchain-based platform, SUKU expects to open new markets, improve operations and reduce the cost of running supply chains. The SUKU ecosystem intends to provide key advantages to trading partners such as access to real-time, transparent data around the precise location of goods, privacy of partners, a bid and order marketplace, auditability of activities and the automation of contractual agreements.

Almost all enterprises require a supply chain to some extent, but the technology supporting them remains expensive, inefficient and fragmented, Piscini points out. With SUKU, the company hopes to build the decentralized supply chain as-a-service platform that can span across industries, enabling myriad trading partners, on a global scale, to interact in ways that were previously nearly impossible.

“Whether locating a Chinese supplier, or finding a carrier to haul products from LA to Toronto, these challenges are amplified by the lack of one global governing body or a set of standards to ensure end-to-end visibility,” the company says.

Importance of Communications across Geography, Sectors

Recent contentious incidents such as the Chinese pharmaceutical scandals have showcased the need for one layer of connection for trading partners to communicate and transact with each other. “From hardware to energy, all industries utilizing a supply chain take risks working with untrusted partners,” Piscini says.

SUKU’s “supply chain-as-a-service” concept expects to eradicate the three primary obstacles in supply-chain by providing visibility of products, access to capital and innovation, and engagement between stakeholders. In order to bring greater visibility to the supply chain, SUKU aims to display the precise location and status of goods in real-time, which is essential in ensuring that all parties can act proactively, instead of reactively when an issue arises. The platform expects to provide companies with access to new marketplaces and technologies, while  better connecting suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.

The SUKU platform anticipates the use of two blockchains, Ethereum and Quorum, to maximize the benefits of both networks. The public Ethereum blockchain, used extensively for smart contract deployments, is expected to handle supply chain payments. The permissioned Quorum blockchain aims to facilitate transactions such as bids and offers, where confidentiality is critical. SUKU’s native token is necessary to incentivize and reward partners of the platform. The platform’s built-in transparency and auditability also project to empower more socially responsible practices amongst trading partners by providing greater awareness about the provenance and origin of goods, as well as the values of the organizations they work with, according to Citizens Reserve.