Page 47 - Food&Drink Magazine October 2018

SMART BUSINESS
✷ PILOT PROJECT
Chain reaction
Blockchain is the key to serving up a well-balanced food and beverage supply chain, writes Katie Kinraid of BluJay Solutions.
A LARGE amount of data is being exchanged every day across food and beverage supply chains, and this continues to increase in volume due to rising consumer demand and changing dietary habits.
The emergence of blockchain solutions with multiple applications, however, will enable businesses to better manage the complex movement of inbound and outbound goods.
1MONITOR FOR SHELF LIFE, EXPIRATION DATES, WEIGHTS, AND STORAGE LIMITATIONS Increasing demands from customers and the growing complexity of the food and beverage marketplace will require a solution that can integrate with companies’ existing systems to provide an end-to-end control over their inventory without much disruption to their business.
their supply chain economics for disruptive advantages. This is because a GTN is comprised of many connected partners for businesses to connect with hundreds, if not thousands, of participants
up and down their supply chains and the tools to manage the increasing complexity
of the food supply chain.
3
STREAMLINED, AND FLEXIBLE PLATFORM
A GTN supports quality, speed, and scalability. It enables food suppliers to optimise their supply chain with true end-to- end visibility to improve customer satisfaction while freeing up internal resources to focus on other corporate valuable initiatives. BluJay’s collaboration with logistics partners further enables customers in the food industry to leverage managed transportation services that give them the benefits of scale
BLOCKCHAIN
PUT TO THE TEST
Alibaba’s new blockchain platform is being put to the test in Australia and New Zealand by Blackmores and Fonterra, which have commenced
a pilot to ship products to China. This is the first trial of Alibaba’s
Food Trust Framework, which uses blockchain technology to improve supply chain traceability and transparency.
The pilot follows Alibaba’s announcement last year that it would engage PwC in Australia, New Zealand and China as a service provider to advise the company on the set up
of a framework to protect product authenticity and provide a safe and trusted marketplace for consumers.
Alibaba also signed a Memorandum of Understanding last year partnering with Blackmores, Australia Post, Fonterra and New Zealand Post in the Framework.
Blackmores and Fonterra are the first companies to trial the Food Trust Framework. Blackmores is shipping Odorless Fish Oil while Fonterra is shipping Anchor dairy products to consumers who purchase them on Alibaba’s Tmall Global platform.
Once the pilot is complete and if successful, the Framework could form the basis of a global supply chain model applied across all of Alibaba Group’s e-commerce markets.
“ With the right solution, businesses are able to minimise quality or shelf life loss between harvest and retail... resulting in a more proactive and nimble food supply chain.”
Last year, the world’s biggest e-commerce company – Alibaba Group – introduced the Food Trust Framework, designed to provide end-to-end supply-chain traceability and transparency, boost consumer confidence, and build a trusted platform for cross-border trade. This blockchain framework is aimed at combating food fraud – counterfeit or low quality food products will be identified faster (see box).
Here is a round-up of the many advantages blockchain solutions can offer Australian food and beverage companies as they grapple with increasing levels of complexity.
With the right solution, businesses are able to minimise quality or shelf life loss between harvest and retail. This results in a more proactive and nimble food supply chain that benefits both the food industry, its logistics partners, and end consumers.
2
and additional cost savings.
✷
SCALE AS NEEDED
ON AN INTEGRATED,
OBTAIN REAL-
TIME VISIBILITY
FOR PARTICIPANTS THROUGHOUT THE SUPPLY CHAIN
By harnessing the power of a Global Trade Network (GTN), companies can unlock the power of a collaborative supply chain network to transform
✷ ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katie Kinraid is general manager APAC at logistics and transportation software and services company BluJay Solutions.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | October 2018 | Food&Drink business | 47