A Walmart associate restocks fresh vegetables at a store in Rogers, Arkansas, USA.
Walmart's old system took more than six days to identify the point of origin for mangoes. The completed project's system takes just
2.2 seconds.
Speed Tracer
Companies are discovering a real-world use for blockchain, using the tech to launch new traceability projects that help them track everything from food to jewels more accurately—and faster.
In collaboration with IBM, Walmart recently completed two blockchain pilot projects to trace pork products in China and mangoes from Central and South America. In the mango project, which was completed last year, the company compared traceability capabilities on a package of the fruit from Mexico sold in the United States. Walmart's old system took more than six days to identify the point of origin for the mangoes. The completed project's system takes just 2.2 seconds.
Traceability has been crucial to the food industry for decades, helping companies support health and safety recalls, says Sylvain Charlebois, DBA, professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Most companies rely on paper-based systems that are clunky, error-prone and slow. But consumers’ growing interest in the provenance of their food is now driving investment in projects using block-chain and internet of things sensors to trace supply chains. “Food companies want guarantees around their supply chain, and that's driving these projects,” Dr. Charlebois says.
Missing Link
Transparency and traceability are the crux of blockchain itself. The peer-to-peer virtual network of ledgers stores blocks of data about transactions, creating a digital history that can be viewed by anyone with access to the network. New data entries can be seen and verified by the network of users, and if anyone tries to alter any data, everyone can see it.
For point of origin projects, blockchain creates a verified data trail that retailers can use to trace a product or raw material back to its original source and view every step it followed along the way. “The immutability of blockchain is what is exciting for traceability,” says Blake Harris, senior program officer and aquaculture traceability lead for World Wildlife Fund (WWF) U.S., Washington, D.C., USA. “These projects help organizations generate a level of trust across their supply chains.”
—Blake Harris, World Wildlife Fund U.S., Washington, D.C., USA.
IBM is launching blockchain projects with other retailers and food companies, including Dole, Nestlé and Unilever. Late last year, WWF-Australia, WWF-New Zealand and WWF-Fiji partnered with blockchain developer ConsenSys and Sea Quest, a tuna fishing and processing company in Fiji. The project tracks tuna from the vessel to the processing facility to the distributor as a way to prove the fish were harvested legally. The goal of the project was to give consumers an app that lets them scan tuna packaging and see instantly where and when the fish was caught, and by which vessel and fishing method.
Beyond the grocery aisle, consumers’ concerns over labor abuses have other industries—from diamond-mining to textiles—jumping on the blockchain bandwagon and launching projects to help verify the point of origin for their products, says Mr. Harris.
De Beers, the diamond mining and retail company, is running a pilot project to trace diamonds using blockchain to prove the stones were not mined in war zones; and pharma companies are using it to verify chemical composition and quality throughout their supply chains.
Blockchain Buy-in
Although the potential for blockchain's use in traceability is huge, getting supply chain stakeholders on board with such projects can be a challenge, Dr. Charlebois says: “When it comes down to sharing data, a lot of suppliers feel vulnerable.”
Transparency demands can make it hard to maintain a competitive edge—particularly for commodity providers and smaller companies. And while companies like Walmart are large enough to force suppliers to comply as a condition of doing business, that doesn't make for a friendly project environment. “Project success is about partnership and collaboration,” he says.
For organizations interested in launching such projects, Mr. Harris recommends starting small and focusing on a few suppliers or a simple supply chain. Although smaller pilots might not be able to trace every product end to end, they can demonstrate results in a section of the supply chain and prove to suppliers that the data will remain secure. “Start small, learn from the pilots and build from there,” he says. “These projects may take time, but demand for traceability is here to stay.” —Sarah Fister Gale