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How Smart Technology is Helping the Manufacturing Industry

In the world of manufacturing, the way things are produced has changed dramatically over the years. From the first moving assembly line created, through to the modern-day invention of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it’s safe to say that manufacturing methods have evolved quickly.

The secret to this progression is advances in technology. Not only has it allowed businesses to speed up production and increase efficiency it has brought greater profit margins too. In today’s market, it’s all about ‘smart technology’ or more accurately ‘enablers’.

Businesses now use technology to optimise their operations — from automated sales and distribution processes to energy management software. Here’s a list of the benefits smart technology can bring.

Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a computer science that can help the capabilities of humans. Voice recognition for example, allows processes to be carried out without being manually entered into a computer. AI also uses algorithms that can record and react to changes in data to help businesses achieve more and increase efficiency. 

Blockchain

Block chain is essentially a programme that helps keep track of goods, logs transactions and manages supply chains, following a ‘chain-like’ process. For businesses, this information is essential – allowing them to record data and deliver real-time analytics on their stock and supply chain without manual input. 

The Industrial Internet of Things 

The collection of data has now become a significant priority for businesses looking to gain a deeper insight into their production processes. With the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), companies can ensure that every device, machine and process is connected through data communication systems. This gives them a greater understanding of their business and can look at ways of enhancing efficiencies and increasing profits. 

Industrial Robotics

An extension of AI, industrial robotics have now become a focal element of the manufacturing process. Modern robotics can now carry out a range of tasks, whilst reducing the risk of injury to workers. Although robotics is a modern invention, they’re intelligent enough to learn human tasks.

More recently ‘collaborative robots’ or ‘cobots’ have been designed to work together with humans. Cobots have become prominent in the automotive industries to help build vehicles. 

Digital Twin

Manufacturers can create a ‘digital twin’ when creating a new product — this allows them to virtually forecast its cost and production. Using this technology, they can evaluate production, visualise products in different environments, track and monitor systems and troubleshoot equipment. This results in a more streamlined development process. 

Condition monitoring

Broken or machinery that needs repair can have significant impact on production. With condition monitoring, businesses can monitor a range of performance conditions, including vibration, temperature, pressure and oil condition. This can help manufacturers prevent breakdowns in equipment by noticing changes and faults at an early stage.

Cyber security

The rise in technology means businesses are open to digital malfunction, including the risk of cyber-attacks — which have been common in several industries. Cyber security is important as it protects computer systems from theft or damage to their software and electronic data. As the manufacturing sector is the third most hit sector in the UK for cyber-attacks, companies to ensure they are adequately protected.

A ‘smart’ way of working

As ‘smart technology’ continues to improve the way manufacturers can do business, evidence suggests that introducing new methods can have a positive impact on a company’s output and profit margins. With energy at the heart of manufacturing processes, it’s important that energy supply is efficient and automated. If you’re switching from oil to gas, such as Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), speak to an expert for help with the process of becoming greener. 

Standard Chartered confirms first supply chain finance transaction on blockchain

Standard Chartered and Linklogis have recently completed their first joint deep-tier supply chain financing transaction for Digital Guangdong and its upstream suppliers.

The project is part of an ongoing strategic collaboration between the two parties since signing a memorandum of understanding in February and marks the first time that the Linklogis platform has jointly delivered deep-tier supply chain financing with an international bank.

Digital Guangdong is a joint venture between Tencent, China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile, which to date has developed more than 700 digital government services and applications and processed over 200 million transactions for the residents of Guangdong, a province in South China.

By leveraging Linklogis’ “WeQChain”, a platform based on Tencent’s blockchain technology, to enable deep-tier supply chain financing, the collaboration between Standard Chartered and Linklogis provided Digital Guangdong with transparency beyond their direct suppliers into their whole supply chain, as well as cheaper and more convenient access to credit for its upstream suppliers.

With the feasibility of the joint transaction successfully demonstrated, Standard Chartered and Linklogis say they are actively expanding the solution to deliver the benefits to more supply chain ecosystems.

Xie Wen, Head of Commercial Banking China at Standard Chartered, said: “Our clients today have to compete not just on their individual strength, but also on the combined strength of their ecosystems. Standard Chartered has always been committed to helping our clients create a healthy and sustainable ecosystem. Through our cooperation with Linklogis, and by leveraging blockchain technology, we will be able to offer our clients a distinct service to empower their ecosystems.”

Charles Song, Chairman & CEO of Linklogis, said: “Linklogis is committed to the development of online, data-driven supply chain financial services to provide seamless integration between companies, funding providers and service platforms. As a FinTech company, we believe closer collaboration with leading financial institutions like Standard Chartered will allow us to build innovative technological applications to solve the fundamental financing problems faced by SMEs.”

IBM and Chainyard unveil Trust Your Supplier blockhain network

IBM and blockchain services and consulting specialist Chainyard have announced Trust Your Supplier (TYS), a blockchain network designed to improve supplier qualification, validation, on boarding and life cycle information management.

Founding participants alongside IBM include Cisco, Anheuser-Busch InBev, GlaxoSmithKleine, Lenovo, Nokia, Schneider Electric and Vodafone. 

Trust Your Supplier is designed to eliminate manual time-consuming processes and help reduce the risk of fraud and errors, creating frictionless connectivity across supply chains.

“Blockchain has the ability to completely transform how companies onboard and manage their supplier network for the future,” said Renee Ure, Chief Supply Chain Officer for Lenovo’s Data Center Group. “Through Trust Your Supplier, both buyers and suppliers will the see the procurement benefits of blockchain through reductions in cost, complexity and speed.”

Trust Your Supplier creates a digital passport for supplier identity on the blockchain network that allows suppliers to share information with any permissioned buyer on the network.

The partners says Blockchain ensures a permissioned based data sharing network, helping reduce the time and cost associated with qualifying, validating and managing new suppliers, while creating new business opportunities among suppliers and buyers. 

Third-party validators, such as Dun & Bradstreet, Ecovadis and RapidRatings provide outside verification or audit capabilities directly on the network.

“Working with IBM and Chainyard on this blockchain initiative represents a great opportunity for Nokia to further enhance our suppliers’ experience and optimise the onboarding process,” said Sanjay Mehta, Vice President Procurement, Nokia. “Using the latest technology to address a classical challenge will be of benefit for everyone, and further increase the speed of using innovative solutions.”

With over 18,500 suppliers around the world, IBM will begin using the Trust Your Supplier network initially onboarding 4,000 of its own North American suppliers over the next few months. IBM Procurement projects a 70 to 80 percent reduction in the cycle time to onboard new suppliers, with a potential 50 percent reduction in administrative costs within its own business.

TradeLens adds ocean carriers Hapag-Lloyd and Ocean Network Express

Hapag-Lloyd and Singapore-based Ocean Network Express (ONE) will join the TradeLens blockchain-enabled digital shipping platform, jointly developed by A.P. Moller – Maersk and IBM.

Hapag-Lloyd and ONE, the world’s fifth and sixth largest carriers respectively, join CMA CGM and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, both of which recently announced they are joining TradeLens.

With these additions, the scope of the platform now extends to more than half of the world’s ocean container cargo.

“TradeLens has made significant progress in launching a much-needed transformation in the industry, including its partnership model. Now, with five of the world’s six largest carriers committed to the platform, not to mention many other ecosystem participants, we can collectively accelerate that transformation to provide greater trust, transparency and collaboration across supply chains and help promote global trade” said Martin Gnass, Managing Director Information Technology at Hapag-Lloyd. 

TradeLens says the addition of the two global carriers will help drive further adoption of the platform around the world now that its customers have access to major carriers in all three leading global vessel sharing alliances on the platform.

With an already significant presence in Asia, ONE is further strengthening and expanding its coverage through joint cooperation with TradeLens to help meet the challenging demands of the crucial Asia market. 

“We believe this innovative approach based on open standards and open governance can benefit the entire industry while ultimately benefitting our customers who rely on the world’s shipping industry to transport global container volume of more than 120 million TEU across international borders each year,” said Noriaki Yamaga, Managing Director, Corporate & Innovation, Ocean Network Express.

TradeLens was launched to help modernize the world’s supply chain ecosystems. It says many of the processes for transporting and trading goods are costly, in part, due to manual and paper-based systems. Replacing these peer-to-peer and often unreliable information exchanges, the platform enables participants to digitally connect, share information and collaborate across the shipping supply chain ecosystem. 

Hapag-Lloyd and ONE will each operate a blockchain node, participate in consensus to validate transactions, host data, and assume a critical role of acting as Trust Anchors, or validators, for the network.

Both companies will be represented on the TradeLens Advisory Board, which will include members across the supply chain to advise on standards for neutrality and openness.

Nestlé reveals open blockchain supply chain pilot

Nestlé says it’s breaking new ground in supply chain transparency through a collaboration with OpenSC – an blockchain platform that allows consumers to track their food right back to the farm.

Through this collaboration, Nestlé becomes the first major food and beverage company to announce that it will pilot open blockchain technology in this way. This is part of Nestlé’s journey towards full transparency.

Founded by WWF-Australia and The Boston Consulting Group Digital Ventures, OpenSC has developed a platform that will give anyone, anywhere access to independently verifiable sustainability and supply chain data.

The initial pilot program will trace milk from farms and producers in New Zealand to Nestlé factories and warehouses in the Middle East. Later, the technology will be tested using palm oil sourced in the Americas. These pilots will allow Nestlé to understand how scalable the system is. 

Magdi Batato, Executive Vice President, Head of Operations, Nestlé S.A. said, “We want our consumers to make an informed decision on their choice of products – to choose products produced responsibly. Open blockchain technology might allow us to share reliable information with consumers in an accessible way.”

Nestlé has piloted blockchain technology since 2017, most prominently with IBM Food Trust. In April, it gave consumers access to blockchain data for the first time, through Mousline purée in France

“This open blockchain technology will allow anyone, anywhere in the world to assess our responsible sourcing facts and figures,” said Benjamin Ware, Global Head of Responsible Sourcing, Nestlé S.A.

“We believe it is another important step towards the full disclosure of our supply chains announced by Nestlé in February this year, raising the bar for transparency and responsible production globally,” Benjamin Ware added.

Can blockchain bring the supply chain into the 21st century?

By Richard Shakespeare, Opus Energy

The supply chain has existed since the industrial revolution, and little has been done to streamline its processes, particularly in the last 50 years. It has also become more than simply moving products from A to B. In today’s industry, supply chains are now more fragmented, complicated and in some cases geographically dispersed. 

The 21st century has enabled more dynamic networks than ever before, with seasonal products facing a higher demand than ever, which are transported further than before. Because of this, the traditional supply chain has become outdated and can be difficult to manage. This is a problem for businesses of any size as their success will often correlate with the success of its supply chain.

So, how can blockchain change this? 

Blockchain is everywhere. It was the buzzword of 2018, and so far, that doesn’t look set to change as we continue through 2019. However, there is still plenty of uncertainty over the technology and the benefits it can bring to different sectors and businesses, including the supply chain – a vital element for numerous organisations.

Originally developed to power bitcoin over ten years ago, blockchain is a surprisingly straightforward concept. In a nutshell, it’s a system that records change and movement of transactions. It’s maintained across several systems that are linked to a peer-to-peer network.

When it comes to the supply chain, blockchain acts as an immutable ledger within a decentralisedlocation. Meaning that any changes in ownership or possession of goods, along with their movements from each end of the supply chain, can be recorded instantly for the greatest possible accuracy, which is essential for businesses.

This increased transparency across the chain can allow for a clear understanding of the value of goods, as well as a more succinct idea of a fair and reasonable cost of each individual product. It also allows for more detailed traceability in goods from across the globe, which gives an insight into the environmental impact of products, as purchasers can follow the entire journey of their orders.

How can it reduce costs? 

Many retail businesses are dependent on global supply chains for transporting their goods via the logistics industry. This market is controlled by freight brokers who can charge a huge mark-up for assisting in the transactions of loads through shippers.

Blockchain can be effective in resolving this issue through the use of smart contracts, which are automatically triggered when a specific action takes place, removing the use of intermediaries, therefore saving money across the chain.

As well as cutting out unnecessary and often expensive admin, the features of blockchain can help improve inventory management, reduce costly data errors and delays, and shorten resolution time when disputes occur. It also allows producers the ability to accurately track capacity and costs, estimate delivery times for multiple routes, and make smarter decisions. 

How can it promote tracability? 

Blockchain ensures that the data it records is permanent and easy to share, giving supply chain players more comprehensive track-and-trace capabilities than ever before. The public ledger means it is possible to trace each product to the very origin of the raw material used. Companies can use this information to provide proof of legitimacy and authenticity. It even allows people to see if their purchase has been ethically sourced and if it has been stored in the correct conditions.

By having a clear and concise understanding of exactly where a product has come from, businesses and their customers are able to have a better understanding of the routes taken and transport options used to deliver their goods. In a society that is becoming more environmentally aware, those who can show improvement or have a clear and transparent policy to their own emission production, may be looked on more favourably.

The future? 

Blockchain has the potential to transform the supply chain and disrupt the way we produce, market, purchase and consume goods. The added transparency, traceability and security to the supply chain can go a long way toward making our economies safer and much more reliable, by promoting trust and honesty and preventing the implementation of questionable practices.

Businesses, especially those in retail or those who rely on supply chains, should consider the benefits of blockchain and not be afraid to step into a different world, which on the surface may appear complicated, but in reality, can offer measurable benefits. 

ZIM joins TradeLens as blockchain solution records 5m shipments

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services is the latest member of TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled digital shipping solution jointly developed by A.P. Moller – Maersk and IBM.

The news comes as more than five million shipments have been recorded on TradeLens to date by 60 network members and 100 total ecosystem members.

TradeLens uses blockchain technology to enable trust between multiple trading partners — from carriers to freight forwarders, customs officials, port authorities and more — when transacting in a digitized global trade documentation process.

TradeLens ecosystem members get a single shared view of a transaction without compromising details, privacy or confidentiality and can collaborate more efficiently and with greater certainty through real-time access to shipping data and shipping documents.

By joining TradeLens, ZIM says it can continue its push toward digitizing its processes to enable efficiencies and cost savings by enabling greater transparency and more efficient processes.

Eyal Ben Amram, ZIM CIO, said: “We are very pleased to join TradeLens, as part of our vision to be at the forefront of digital innovation in shipping. ZIM endorses a proactive approach of promoting and investing in innovative digital solutions, such as the pioneering blockchain-based electronic Bill of Lading initiative, in collaboration with Wave Inc, and the recent investment in Ladingo, a ground-breaking e-commerce solution.”

“ZIM will bring a strong ethos of digital innovation to the TradeLens ecosystem and we’re thrilled to welcome their team. TradeLens has made great progress in bringing transformation to traditional shipping processes through technology that enables greater transparency and efficiency,” said Mike White, TradeLens leader for Maersk. “What makes the solution so effective is its ability to deliver these benefits while still allowing carriers like ZIM and others to maintain their competitive advantages. The more carriers and other ecosystem members that join the platform, the closer we come to bringing about a new era in global trade.”

“The addition of ZIM to TradeLens shows exactly why we worked with Maersk to create this solution,” said Daniel Melka, Country General Manager, IBM Israel. “Blockchain networks like TradeLens work best when comprised of a diverse network of participants who work together to affect change for an entire industry, which is what we are seeing happen with TradeLens.”

Veratrack eyes pharma supply chain digitisation

A London-based start-up has picked up £1 million in seed funding to help realise the company’s ambitions of digitising the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Techcrunch reports Veratrack has secured backing from individual investors including the ex-head of corporate strategy for Microsoft, Charlie Songhurst, Tony Fitzpatrick, EVP of operations at Vectura Group and Antonin de Fougerolles, CEO of Fox Therapeutics.

Leading the round is Force Over Mass, along with Ascension Ventures, Blockchain Valley Ventures, Seedcamp and TrueSight Ventures.

Veratrack offers a “document collaboration and workflow management platform” allowing users to communicate seamlessly with supply chain partners at different organisations while chronologically executing the steps required to release a product to market.

It also uses blockchain technology to create “iron-clad-audit trail” of all document events, allowing for increased visibility for supply chain partners along with the ability to react and adjust to events, which ultimately leads too better patient care.

In an interview with Tech Crunch, Veratrek CEO and co-founder, Jason Lacombe, said: “There are a variety of cloud-based document management services operating in other industries; however, they are not regulatory compliant for the pharmaceutical industry.

“From the inception of Veratrak, we have built our software to be GAMP 5 compliant, to the highest security and quality standards, and have worked alongside users at pharmaceutical and life sciences companies to test our solution and provide feedback on what we are building.”

Veratrak charges customers a monthly per-head license fee based on volumes of licenses purchased by organisations. 

“We also offer all our paying customers free guest licenses to invite on their external partners to collaborate on document workflows,” added Lacombe. 

“This creates some significant network effects and virality. We have seen this work well with other companies like DocuSign that invite collaborators via email to sign documents.”

‘Vibrant’ British blockchain sector to benefit UK business

The most in-depth market research report to date mapping the UK’s distributed ledger technologies (DLT) landscape has revealed the potential of this nascent technology to disrupt industries across the country.

New research from Digital Catapult, an advanced digital innovation centre, discovered an ecosystem active across a wide range of sectors, with British companies at different stages of development and numerous industry-spanning applications to help lower costs, enable more efficient public services and improve supply chain traceability.

The report asserts that the UK became globally recognised as a leader in DLT in 2015, but that since then rapid changes have seen the UK’s early lead potentially slip behind China, Singapore, Malta and the USA, countries which have been more agile in their approach to DLT pioneers.

The new research report, ‘Blockchain in Action: State of the UK Market’, surveyed over 260 UK DLT companies, gathering concrete data on the breadth of the ecosystem. It highlights the opportunities from adopting blockchain and other DLT, as well as identifying the major challenges which must be addressed if the UK is to benefit from this high-potential technology.

Key findings include:

  • The UK’s DLT ecosystem can be divided into four major categories: distributed ledger developers (13%), dApp developers (35%), service providers (37%), and centralised systems (15%).
  • DLT is not confined to the financial services sector – the companies we spoke to are active across a wide range of sectors from manufacturing to the creative industries
  • 38% of the companies interviewed feel that their technology could be applied to all vertical markets, not just FinTech
  • 74% of DLT companies have products ready to demonstrate and are already generating revenue
  • 80% had used personal funds to start their companies, and are often led by mature business leaders using their own money to found the company.
  • 41% had raised a traditional seed round of investment
  • 25% were not currently seeking investment
  • 74% of companies expressed regulatory uncertainty as their most pressing challenge, with the irreconcilability of GDPR with permissionless, public blockchain development and a lack of clarity around ICO regulation quoted as key concerns.
  • Over half (54%) of companies have struggled to open a UK bank account with several resorting to opening multiple accounts around the world
  • Almost half (45%) of companies consulted required additional specialist legal advice to bring their companies to fruition. Many are concerned that lawyers do not understand the intricacies of the technology and believe they have received poor advice around ICOs and intellectual property protection.

The report was launched alongside DLT Field Labs, a new initiative from Digital Catapult that brings together technology businesses, industry partners and researchers to deploy and test the latest distributed ledger technology in real world (and close to real world) environments.

It says DLT companies are grappling with an unclear and fragmented regulatory landscape, amid damaging preconceptions about the viability of their sector and lack of authoritative legal advice. As such, the first DLT Field Labs will look at barriers in the construction industry that blockchain and other DLT solutions could help to overcome.

Jeremy Silver, CEO, Digital Catapult, said: “Digital Catapult is taking an active step to improve understanding of DLT in multiple sectors for the wider benefit of the UK economy. To do that, and encourage further adoption of this technology, we must dispel the myths, cut through the hype, and educate organisations outside of the financial services sector to the varied applications of DLT and how we can help them to de-risk innovation.”

Law firm Mishcon de Reya has signed up as a lead sponsor for the DLT Field Labs initiative. Dr Alastair Moore, Head of Analytics and Machine Learning, said: “We’re thrilled to support Digital Catapult in its exploration of the practical applications of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies, not just in the legal profession but throughout any number of industries where there is opportunity for impact. Our hope is that by being a part of the DLT Field Labs we can help to accelerate the use and comprehension of DLT in our industry and, ultimately, provide better advice to enable UK DLT companies to fulfil their potential.”

TEMCO & LogisticsX form Global Supply Chain and Logistics Alliance (GSLA)

Bitcoin-based supply chain platform TEMCO and decentralised last mile logistics platform LogisticsX have announced the signing of a strategic partnership, kickstarting the Global Supply Chain & Logistics Alliance (GSLA).

The partners says GSLA seeks to solve supply chain management problems across the globe by bringing together supply chain and logistics blockchain projects as well as industry experts, citing differences in regulations, culture, language, and business ecosystem that needs to be harmonised.

Among the issues the GSLA seeks to solve is one of localisation when companies expand overseas. No single blockchain project can navigate every detail of the business ecosystem in every country alone. Therefore, through expertise gained from operating in each country’s ecosystem, GSLA partners will seek out a joint solution that will allow for the best practices of each local partner to be shared.

Scott Jaeseob Yoon, CEO of TEMCO, said: “The formation of GSLA is a much-needed step towards solving the global supply chain and logistics problem through blockchain. We are very excited about this partnership and the future of GSLA with companies that will be coming onboard.”

TEMCO is a blockchain-based startup that aims to connect isolated supply chains, developing unique services for the benefit of businesses in the industry. The firm also offers companies with Business Intelligent tool to help them access interconnected data efficiently on the blockchain.

TEMCO recently secured institutional investment from Korea Investment Partners (KIP), a venture capital outfit. KIP has been investing in other companies such as Naver, Kakao, Korbit, DoubleU Games and Bithumb.

Erik Cheong, COO of LogisticsX, added: “We are excited to be working with TEMCO and building the GSLA alliance together with them. Each project has strong business partnerships that are looking to expand overseas and we can help each other to understand and navigate the intricacies of regulations and business environments in each country. We are confident there will be many synergies from working together.”

For its part, LogisticsX is a decentralised platform that says it aims to transform the last mile delivery ecosystem by enforcing global logistics standards using smart contracts to increase traceability, transparency, and reducing friction between all logistics stakeholders and consumers

It recently secured $3 million in a private round of funding from ICON Foundation, De-Block & Bluewhale Foundation, Gilga Venture Capital, Inchain Capital & CRC Capital.

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