Logistics and supplying belong to the quickest developing fields. There are new technologies that have the potential to change traditional rules and means every day. First systems for resource planning (ERP) were introduced in the 70s. In the new millennium, web search engines, standards of e-commerce, broadband connection and robotization followed. Another technology that is going to change the world of logistics is blockchain.

What does a standard process of ordering look like?

At the moment a customer sends their order, they receive a confirmation and also delivery is planned, whose part might be information about the palette, cargo and serial numbers. There is also the transport order, waybill and the needed certificates attached. The problem is that both interested parties get identical copies of all documents, from emails to all further documentation. These “mirror images” create a desynchronized complex that makes it impossible to determine what the original is and who has what information. Especially when there’s any update or change.

What is blockchain going to help with?

If transactions would be saved in one centralized place instead of sending copies of all documents, the whole system would be much more simplified.

This central database is going to contain all the needed documentation and will be accessible only by authorized members of the transaction. The database must be secured against unauthorized manipulation so that only authorized subjects will be able to make entries. Here, blockchain comes into action.

Simplicity, overview, security

Blockchain has the potential to eliminate the current administrative complexity and replace it with a simplified transaction variant that would be verified by third parties. All information would be held for the whole time of the relationship among partners within the supply chain.

This technology also has the ability to optimize transactions using intelligent contracts. Intelligent contracts contain a strict, predetermined set of conditions whose goal is to keep balance. If the condition is not accomplished during the transaction, it will not be recorded by the system.

Transition to a system of one record, that is blockchain, means that for every partner, only one access point must be generated. Each one of the partners has the whole chain replicated, but the need for unique implementation of each partner is eliminated. Thanks to that, the problem of “mirror images” disappears, as well as significant complexity of the whole process.