Transparency with Blockchain and Physical Tracking Technologies: Enabling Traceability in Raw Material Supply Chains

Abstract

By combining blockchain with physical tracking technologies, raw materials can potentially be traced throughout their global supply chains. Physical tracking technologies enable observing how raw materials move within the physical world, whereas blockchain translates these events into the digital world with an immutable record. This paper presents a taxonomy of different physical tracking technologies and examines if and how the combination of these technologies render raw material supply chains more transparent. Although academic literature highlights the theoretical benefits of combining these transformative technologies, large scale projects are still in their early stages. Following a brief literature review, this paper leverages an empirical approach to classify different tracking technologies, their fields of application and limitations, as well as how these technologies can enable supply chain transparency. Obviously, there is no single technology that can fulfil all requirements along complex supply chains. However, the relevant combination of respective technologies can help bridge gaps by increasing transparency within supply chains.

Building blockchain‐driven dynamic capabilities for developing circular supply chain: Rethinking the role of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring

“…In the mining industry, Minespider, a German corporation, provides end‐to‐end supply chain traceability solutions such as product passports that use blockchains to a customer. The customer, Minsur, a Peruvian mining company, uses product passports to trace materials and collect data along the supply chain, providing sustainability metrics of recycling and other efforts, thus enabling a circular economy (Bacchetta et al, 2021). Minsur developed dynamic capabilities that enabled it to reconfigure its circular supply chain through blockchain to implement new technologically based circular supply chain practices over manual ones.…”