Blockchain-Based Model to Improve the Performance of the Next-Generation Digital Supply Chain

TLDR

The fourth industrial revolution drives digitalization across industry, yet digital supply chains still lack provenance, transparency, and trust. This study proposes integrating blockchain technology into supply chains to address these shortcomings and enhance performance. The model combines Ethereum blockchain with the InterPlanetary File System to preserve traceability, transparency, and trustworthiness.

Abstract

In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, all aspects of the industrial domain are being affected by emerging technologies. Digitalization of every process is taking place or under process. One of the most important components common to every domain is the supply chain process. Organizations employ a digital supply chain to track the delivery of their products or materials. The digital supply chain is still suffering from a few issues such as no provenance, less transparency, and a trust issue. Blockchain technology, one of the emerging technologies, can be integrated with the supply chain to deal with the existing issues and to improve its performance. In this paper, a model is proposed to integrate blockchain technology with the supply chain to improve performance. The proposed model uses the combination of the Ethereum blockchain and the interplanetary file system to maintain the traceability, transparency, and trustworthiness of the supply chain.