Nike, Kohl’s & Macy’s Trial Blockchain for Gathering Supply Chain Data

A Proof-of-Concept whitepaper has been published by the Chain Integration Pilot (CHIP) of the Auburn University RFID Lab in Alabama, with an objective to illustrate the improvement in processing ability offered by blockchain technology across modern day supply chain.

The proof-of-concept was structured to take in, encrypt, disburse and save serialized info from several points across the supply chain on Hyperledger Fabric.

The trial obtained live info from brands such as PVH Corp., Nike, Herman Kay and key US retailers Kohl’s and Macy’s.

CHIP was established in 2018 and asserts itself to be the initial supply chain venture to incorporate the info drawn from RFID tags onto a blockchain network.

The venture saw info related to 223,036 products saved on a distributed ledger. Of the total data stored, only 1% was from stores and 87% from distribution centers. 12% originated from place of encryption.

CHIP identified blockchain to be a working solution for issues related to serialized data sharing within the supply chain. The report came to the conclusion that the partaking enterprises were “able to record transactions containing serialized data in a common language and share that data with their appropriate trade partners.”

The document recognizes “a tremendous amount of error and inefficiency in currency supply systems,” assessing that the removal of counterfeiting and contraction in the supply chain could open up $181 billion worth of business opportunities.

On the other hand, the document alleges that earlier networks for transactions were developed for “antiquated internet technologies,” and are not fit enough to process huge volumes of serialized data that are continuously generated all across the modern supply chain.

The team highlights the lack of “an effective, industry-wide solution for exchanging serialized data between business partners,” in spite of the launch of serialized data through the use of QR codes and RFID tags ten years before. Additionally, the report contends that earlier approaches to merge framework and draw info en masse’ throughout the supply chain have been “constrained by the industry-wide ineptitude for sharing serialized data.”