Blockchain in The Supply Chain Use Cases: Certify the Existence of Goods in Inventory

The analysis of use cases proposed by Community NdT participants continues.

Certify the Existence of Goods in Inventory (proposed by Omlog- logistics services and Guerra- SME food processor).

This solution is useful for companies that keep their goods in temporary stores (e.g., cross-docking). From the point of view of the logistics service provider, the ability to ensure the traceability of the customer's goods throughout the entire transportation cycle ensures an important competitive advantage. In fact, during the journey the goods often change hands, while remaining- in the eyes of the customer- always under the responsibility of the transport service provider.

Furthermore, the continuous visibility of the traveling goods allows to reduce the related insurance premiums to the full benefit of the logistics provider’s final economic result.

Equally valid appears the benefit for the manufacturing company to use of blockchain-based applications that certify the existence of goods in stock, especially in cases where raw materials received from suppliers are subject to quality checks prior to their final acceptance and accounts booking. The certification assured on blockchain allows to deal with any disputes based on the certainty of the existence of the goods subject to inspection.

The possibility to certify the existence of the goods in stock allows also a potential lender to recognize the value of the assets - while ensuring their use to the selling company - so as to activate an inventory finance service: the de-stocking of goods from the transferor company balance sheet and the contemporary right to property for the lender to collateralize the loan.

The list of use cases identified by the companies of Community NdT continues with examples that will be presented in subsequent articles.