Every day, solution providers continue to research, develop, and integrate “Industry 4.0” technologies, like 3-D printing, Blockchain distributed digital ledgers, cognitive capabilities, connected devices, and robotics within sourcing, procurement, and payables / accounts payables business tools, giving rise to a new generation of supply management tools, dubbed “Procurement 4.0.” Blockchain ledgers, in particular, now rival “artificial intelligence” as the tech trend of modern business era, making the Blockchain solutions market fertile ground for big tech companies and enterprising start-ups, alike. As a result, there is a nearly constant stream of Blockchain news emanating every week. And so, the Payables Place editorial team thought that it’d be fun and worthwhile to cover these developments in a separate and semi-regular technology round-up, dubbed, When Blockchain Meets Supply Chain. Enjoy!
Oracle Launches Applications for its Cloud-Based Blockchain Platform
At Oracle OpenWorld, the California-based provider of business applications, databases, and infrastructure, announced the launch of Oracle Blockchain Applications Cloud, a set of Blockchain-based, enterprise-grade, turnkey business applications for the cloud. Readers may recall that a little more than a year ago, we covered Oracle’s launch of the Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service and noted that it had already begun to attract early partners and users. Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service comes with integration kits that allow B2B customers to integrate with Oracle on-premises and/or cloud-based systems, like ERP and SCM. In a year’s time, Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) has added four off-the-shelf applications to its Blockchain-based platform intended to provide business users and consumers with greater product traceability, transparency, fidelity in its authenticity or provenance (point of origin), and ultimately greater trust.
These new applications are: 1) Intelligent Track and Trace, which by virtue of its namesake, provides users with end-to-end product track-and-trace capability — from its point of origin to the point of sale; 2) Lot Lineage and Provenance, which gets into the details of a product, down to its “genealogical” footprint, to help users better understand specific products and how they might be affected by compliance requirements, product recalls, etc.; 3) Intelligent Cold Chain, which not only monitors products that must be continuously refrigerated, such as food products and pharmaceuticals, but also provides recommendations on how to adjust climate as they make their way through the supply chain; and 4) Warranty and Usage Tracking, which digitizes and automates usage information for high-value products as well as associated warranties, and helps to expedite the claim and settlement process in a way that is auditable and helps to reduce product abuse.
OriginTrail Integrates with Oracle Blockchain Platform to Drive Global Use
Earlier this month, Serbia-based OriginTrail, which develops supply chain transparency and distributed ledger systems, announced that it has partnered with Oracle in an effort to integrate its Blockchain-based supply chain applications with the Oracle Blockchain Cloud Service and make Blockchain more widely accessible. For companies that already use Oracle, the integration with OriginTrail is meant to make it easier to access OriginTrail’s Blockchain-based supply chain transparency applications, as well as access other trading partners that leverage Oracle services, like ERP or SCM. In this sense, OriginTrail will serve as a bridge between two different companies that leverage two different providers of two different platforms. The ultimate goal is to drive global Blockchain adoption and to share more data between more trading partners to create an economy of trust.
SyncFab Signs MOU with C Block Capital to Service Asian Market Buyers
Last month, SyncFab, a San Francisco-based supply chain management and procurement solution provider specializing in smart manufacturing, announced a partnership with C Block Capital Group, a Hong Kong-based venture-capital investment firm that focuses on Blockchain investments. SyncFab has been developing Blockchain-based supply management applications, in addition to non-Blockchain based supply management technologies. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they agreed that SyncFab would have access to fintech advisory clients of C Block Capital Group. Together, they would examine potential ways “to streamline the business models” of C Block Capital’s mostly Pan-Asian businesses using Blockchain-based supply chain applications.
LINKCHAIN Partners with GoChain to Develop Blockchain-Based Supply Management Solution
Last month, LINKCHAIN, a Michigan-based provider of supply chain management applications, announced that it has partnered with GoChain, a Saint Kitts and Nevis-based Blockchain provider, to develop a a Blockchain-based B2B network on GoChain’s ledger. LINKCHAIN will leverage GoChain’s public Blockchain protocol that is compatible with the Ethereum network to build its B2B network and provide a marketplace where buyers can search for and transact with suppliers at faster speeds and with more security than existing Ethereum-based Blockchain networks. According to company officials, “GoChain will provide technical, marketing, and fundraising support to LINKCHAIN” and will effectively help the company operationalize their concept. GoChain has already partnered with Microsoft Azure to create a private Blockchain system on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.
