Supply Chain - Reading Assignment

Blockchain Business Course
#121
  1. Building a trusted way to ensure the safety of food sources in the Supply Chain. Killing babies and pets is bad for business.
  2. Hopefully we will feel more comfortable about the source of the food or products in knowing the origins, the dates, and chain of custody.
  3. Walmart gets a bad rap for doing business with nations, in particular China, that are known to ignore industry standards for safety and quality and for forging documents saying that they comply with standards. Walmart needs an independent way to ensure safety and quality.
  4. The entities involved in the chain of custody could not be trusted.
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#122
  1. What is the motivation behind Walmart investing in a blockchain solution?

The push was given by an outbreak of Escherichia coli and the consequence fall of consumption of spinaches. It was clear that if there was the possibility to track the origin where the outbreak started there would have not been a such sudden fall of sales but genuine ones might be consumpted anyway.

  1. How will this new solution benefit us as customers?

In terms of more transparency

  1. How will this new solution benefit Walmart as a corporation?

A much higher image about food quality

  1. What was the missing piece in their solution before they found blockchain?

  2. A shared forum where companies could begin to see each othersā€™ transactions and develop trust. That missing piece was compared to the blockchain.ā€

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#123
  1. Walmart is interested in knowing the origin of the products they sell to their customers to increase trust and confidence.
  2. Customers will be able to verify the origin of the food they buy
  3. Walmart will be seen as a company choosing good product and ensure customers food safety
  4. A share ledger with a record of all transaction of the actors of their products supply chain
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#124
  1. What is the motivation behind Walmart investing in a blockchain solution?
    Enables them to more accurately and quickly identify problems in the supply chain. For example, sourcing the problem of food poisoning cases.
  2. How will this new solution benefit us as customers?
    We, as customers, will have more confidence that the food we eat is fit for consumption and free of contamination or disease due to the faster method of identifying problems in the supply chain.
  3. How will this new solution benefit Walmart as a corporation?
    Improved public relations, faster identification of problems within supplier chain. Less disruption to revenues.
  4. What was the missing piece in their solution before they found blockchain?
    Transparency of transactions which also enable the development of trust.
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#125

  1. To be able to track products in a more secure efficient and reliable way on the supply chain system, providing transparency for the consumers and overall confidence in the system.

  2. Allows us to have a real time understanding of what we eat, where it comes from and allows us to have confidence in the products.

  3. Allows Walmart to make better and smarter decisions when purchasing goods form a wholesaler or Business, leading to a more reliable partnership and better ROI.

  4. An immutable database to keep their information safe and secure, and can be accessed by everyone on the network.

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#126

1. What is the motivation behind Walmart investing in a blockchain solution?
Most supply chains are bogged down in manual processes. This makes it difficult and time consuming to track down an issue. By placing a supply chain on the blockchain, it makes the process more traceable, transparent and fully digital. Each node on the blockchain could represent an entity that has handled the food on the way to the store, making it much easier and faster to see if one of the affected farms sold infected supply to a particular location with much greater precision.
2. How will this new solution benefit us as customers?
Before moving the process to the blockchain, it typically took approximately 7 days to trace the source of food. With the blockchain, itā€™s been reduced to 2.2 seconds. That substantially reduces the likelihood that infected food will reach the consumer.
3. How will this new solution benefit Walmart as a corporation?
The goal ultimately being making sure that the food that is sold at Walmart is safe for consumption, and if there is a problem, making auditing the supply chain a trivial activity.
4. What was the missing piece in their solution before they found blockchain?
Transparency.

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#127
  1. What is the motivation behind Walmart investing in a blockchain solution?
    In a word Money. spoilage not only results in loss of product but also in market share. As consumers loose confidence in a product sales decline.
    Spoiled foods can also lead to costly litigation.
    The costs of developing the blockchain far outweigh the costs of the existing issue/s.
  2. How will this new solution benefit us as customers?
    This new solution benefits customers by providing transparency as to the origins and transportation of food products.
  3. How will this new solution benefit Walmart as a corporation?
    With a blockchain Walmart can pinpoint any problems in thier supplychain and solve any issues quickly.
  4. What was the missing piece in their solution before they found blockchain?
    An immutable database that keeps tracking information safe and can be accessed by all interested parties
1 Like
#128

  1. What is the motivation behind Walmart investing in a blockchain solution?
    To make the supply chain process more traceable, transparent and fully digital. For example, to track down efficiently an issue such as an E. Coli outbreak in the lettuce.

  2. How will this new solution benefit us as customers?
    Safer food and more transparency on its origins.

  3. How will this new solution benefit Walmart as a corporation?
    It saves time for tracking an issue or to do an audit, thus saves money. It provides a safer product, thus more sells.

  4. What was the missing piece in their solution before they found blockchain?
    The one-step-up and one-step-back model of food traceability didnā€™t provide quickly the overview of the whole supply chain.

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#129
  1. The motivation behind Walmart investing in a Blockchain solution is to authenticate the items that are shipped globally to make sure safety standards are met for consumption.
  2. As consumer I want to make sure the food is coming from a source that is legit and not fake. The product is made as exactly as the description said on the database and can be track in order to make sure its authenticity.
  3. It will boost the confidence of consumer to use their products by verifying the data on the chain, especially nowadays people are becoming more aware of what they need and want to consume in the daily basis.The more transparent the system is the more people participate and use their service and products.
    4.The missing piece was the idea of a shared forum to see each othersā€™ companies transactions and develop trust.
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#130

@filip I have noticed that this was pilot by IBM and Walmart over 3 years ago, any progress of how the implementation goes?
thanks!

#131
  1. What is the motivation behind Walmart investing in a blockchain solution?

Walmart felt the need for more efficient tracking of goods flowing through its supply chain to be able to identify root causes of problems and address them as fast as possible.

  1. How will this new solution benefit us as customers?

Increased transparency on the journey of each product from supplier to customer.

  1. How will this new solution benefit Walmart as a corporation?

More efficient supply chain, better problem resolution and thus becoming more trusted and relied upon.

  1. What was the missing piece in their solution before they found blockchain?

It was a shared forum where companies could begin to review each othersā€™ transactions and build trust.

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#132

What is the motivation behind Walmart investing in a blockchain solution?
To quickly and easily trace the origins and distribution of products, to ensure that if in the case of a problem, such as contamination. The supply can be quickly identified, isolated and removed from the supply chain.

How will this new solution benefit us as customers?
It will give us confidence that any problems with the food supply chain will be quickly and efficiently dealt with.

How will this new solution benefit Walmart as a corporation?
The public perception, and consumer confidence would be high and enhance the credibility of Walmart.

What was the missing piece in their solution before they found blockchain?
They were looking for transparency and the need for trustlessness.

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#133

  1. They want to track the quality of their food items.

  2. Details of the products such as factory data, farm origin and shipping and storage temperature and expiration dates would be more transparent.

  3. It streamlines the tracking process and can free resources to other sides of its business. Also the customers would be happier to shop at Walmart if they know that a product quality tracking system is in place.

  4. A shared forum where companies can see each otherā€™s transactions and develop trust.

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#134
  1. To easier track down different products origin
  2. It becomes harder to lie about different products origin and what they contain, which makes it safer for the consumer
  3. They will earn more money if they can establish more trust with the consumer
  4. An immutable database which tracks the products every step
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#135

  1. To eliminate fraud and inaccuracies in the food transport chain so that the process becomes more efficient. This would result in cost savings, faster delivery, more trust in the product.

  2. Customers would have more trust and confidence in the product and in Walmart as the supply chain would be transparent and verifiable.

  3. Walmart would benefit by having a more streamlined transport and supply chain and better customer trust and loyalty. It would lead to cost savings, elimination of unnecessary and inefficient layers and more product transparency allowing them to identify problems quickly and deal with them early.

  4. The missing piece was that there was no shared forum where entities in the supply chain could see each others data and transactions and develop trust.

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#136
  1. They wanted to have better track of their supply chain.
  2. Weā€™ll have more reliable information about products.
  3. Faster pproblem recognition and increased trust from customers.
  4. A lack of place where companies could see each other transactions and therefore lack of trust between them.
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#137

1,2 & 3) The motivation for Walmart to invest in a blockchain solution is to give transparency and confidence to consumers when buying food products. This is because in the past there have been food contaminationā€™s which affect the demand for foods and also can hurt company reputation. Last decade a deadly ecoli outbreak occurred which severely impacted the sale of spinach for example.

If the flow of food products can be tracked through a supply chain (Network) then consumers will be able to have confidence in the food they purchase knowing that the correct ingredients and care has been taken through every step of the chain from the producers to the end consumer. This greatly benefits a company like Walmart who need to ensure their products meet standards and their reputation is not put at risk by poor conditions for producing, storing and transporting the food products.

Walmart also feel they are able to greatly reduce fraud & inaccuracies through the transparency of the supply chain. It also allows for trust between Walmart and the network of companies that lead to food being on their shelves as each company involved can see eachothers transactions and data on chain.

  1. Before Walmart found blockchain they described the missing piece in their solution as ā€˜A shared forum where companies could see eachothers transactions and develop trustā€™.
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#138
  1. To place their supply chain on the blockchain, making the process more traceable, transparent and fully digital and to track source of food so as to track the quality.
  2. We can check where the fruits/vegetables came from and verify its tracking and not just trust labeling of items by Walmart.
  3. They can hold accountable their vendors and quick track the issues without going through a lot of usual paperwork.
  4. Database with integrity that can be tracked quickly and efficiently. And lack of trust when goods are transferred from one place to other till final product is established.
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#139
  1. What is the motivation behind Walmart investing in a blockchain solution?
    To ensure the safety of their food product.
  2. How will this new solution benefit us as customers?
    Itā€™ll help quickly identify sources contamination in the food we eat.
  3. How will this new solution benefit Walmart as a corporation?
    It increase food quality at the store. In the long run it will reduce in litigation costs and help with PR.
  4. What was the missing piece in their solution before they found blockchain? It was not accessible by other partners. Now they have shared service.
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#140
  1. To find food contamination much faster and potentially prevent it from affecting customers.
  2. Food will be safer and more traceable in terms of quality and origin. Audits will become trivial.
  3. Walmart will be perceived as a retailer that takes food safety very serious. They will also cement their position as an industry and thought leader.
  4. Elements of the food documentation were spread out across the supply chain an were not readily accessible in the event of a food contamination.
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