All the technology you could think of in one place!

Artificial intelligence, Blockchain and Internet of Things all in one place!

This company is shaping the future by applying all these new technologies to such a simple thing as a cup of coffee.

In a world where the consumer wants to know more and are willing to pay more for those goods that are  sustainable, can be traced, are organic or from fair trade, this new company is at the fore front of innovation!

The Internet of Things

A lot has been written already about the Internet of Things (IoT) and how it will affect nearly every business and industry; In my opinion, one of the most exciting areas of impact and disruption is the global Supply Chain.

One great example to illustrate this is this short clip from the TV show Portlandia, in this episode, two friends are dinning out and before ordering they insist on knowing as much as possible about the chicken they will be eating. They find out his name, what he was fed, his social habits etc. The process of assessing the chicken before agreeing to eat it might be a bit too bizarre, but with the IoT, this will become the norm. We will be able to experiment that type of transparency, and eventually it will be demanded by suppliers, customers and end consumers.

Among many other, some of the benefits that the IoT will bring are:

- Operational efficiency: The real-time visibility derived from the IoT enables information to be shared at every level allowing deficiencies to be identified quickly so that problems can be immediately rectified, or possibly even prevented altogether. Companies can see delays, slowdowns or trends that will affect the bottom line and inefficient processes that are costing them money can be identified and corrected

- Customer services: The IoT will dramatically reduce the amount of time from click to fulfillment. With customers demanding more and more information the IoT will fulfill up to the minute details on where their item is in transit and accurate alerts notifying them of delivery dates and times.

- Inventory management: The IoT will allow organizations to automatically know when products must be restocked or reordered, eliminating delays or inventory issues that would send customers to the competition.

Linked to this, loss management will greatly improve: with sensors tracking every movement, it will be almost impossible for merchandise to simply “disappear”, and if it does, it will be possible to know exactly where the incident happened and what factors may have contributed to merchandise loss.

- Asset Tracking and in transit visibility: New RFID (we talked about RFID technology here) and GPS sensors can track products “from floor to store” and even beyond. At any point in time, manufacturers can use these sensors to gain granular data like the temperature at which an item was stored, how long it spent in cargo, and even how long it took to fly off the shelf.

With some many possibilities, challenges will also need to be considered:

- Need of many different technical elements to deploy the end-to-end IoT solutions: Network infrastructure, devices, applications, platforms, security solutions, and integration services.

- Security: All the information must be prevented from falling into the wrong hands, or hacked. Sensors should only send specific information, which must be held in a secure, private cloud environment. Here is where Blockchain technology (see more about Blockchain here) will play a definitive role.

Overall, with everything becoming much more internet-driven, IoT in the supply chain is still only in its infancy, but sure to take off, exciting times lie ahead!

Blockchain for supply chain

Traceability is one of the most important foundations of logistics; but to achieve the highest levels of transparency we would need a shared ledger that is updated and validated in real time with each network participant. This is exactly what Blockchain technology provides; It enables equal visibility of activities and reveals where an asset is at any point in time, who owns it and what condition it’s in.

For those of you that are not familiar yet with Blockchain technology, don't miss out the video below that explains in a few minutes how this technology works and why it can revolutionize the Supply Chain of the future.

Very summarized, some of the benefits of Blockchain technology in Supply Chain are:

- Reduce or eliminate fraud and errors

- Improve inventory management

- Minimize courier costs

- Reduce delays from paperwork

- Identify issues faster

- Increase consumer and partner trust

But how is Blockchain revolutionizing Supply Chain?

Let´s look at some of the biggest retailers in the world for example; Wall Mart and Carrefour.

Carrefour plans to use a Blockchain ledger to improve traceability of food in order to address damaged food issues and the brand damage impact this could have, but also the shift in consumer preferences towards added value on the transparency and sustainability of the food products sold.

Walmart has also made strides in incorporating Blockchain technology in its business. Walmart partnered with IBM to create a unique ledger among its network of suppliers as well. The retail giant plans to address the food quality and the cases of fictitious pickups to strengthen its logistics. IBM and Walmart ran tests on the pilot program on tracking mango shipments which cut tracking time from several days to two seconds.