SAP is working with 65 produce, pharmaceutical, tech and shipping companies on an automated blockchain-based supply chain tracking system that it believes will bolster visibility and ensure the authenticity of goods such as food and drugs, reports Computerworld (Aug. 24, 2018). The software giant is piloting its SAP Cloud Platform Blockchain with the goal of helping customers use manufacturing and supply-chain products – augmented by blockchain – to enhance transparency, safety and collaboration.
SAP is not alone in developing such a supply chain tracking system. In January, Maersk and IBM announced a joint venture to deploy a blockchain-based electronic shipping system that will digitize supply chains and track international cargo in real time.
But the pharma industry, in particular, has been under scrutiny to ensure it can trace from origin to consumer the drugs it makes and sells. Last month, the Chinese pharmaceutical firm Changchun Changsheng Life Sciences came under investigation for falsifying records related to the production and shipment of a rabies vaccine. This has led to calls for the entire pharmaceutical industry to adopt blockchain tamper-proof ledgers to track the manufacture and shipment of drugs. There’s also the problem of drug knock-off companies, which mass produce generic drugs and flood the market with products that may not yet be approved by regulators. Having a product certified as having been tracked from manufacturing to store shelf would ensure authenticity.
Additionally, certain drugs must be transported and warehoused at specific temperatures. IoT sensors would enable that to be tracked, as well as checking the amount of vibration incurred during the shipping process, which could alert managers as to whether damage may have occurred. SAP’s “Advance Track and Trace” application is piloting the blockchain technology with pharma companies such as Merck., Amgen Merck, Glaxo Smith Klein, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Classroom discussion questions:
- What are the similarities between the drug and food supply chains?
- Describe how blockchain works.