Development of a framework for tracking goods in manufacturing networks using a distributed ledger technology

Abstract

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Globalisation, shorter product life cycles, and increasing product varieties have led to complex
\nsupply chains. At the same time, there is a growing interest by customers and governments in
\nhaving a greater transparency of brands, manufacturers, and producers throughout the supply
\nchain. Due to the complex structure of collaborative manufacturing networks, the increase in
\nsupply chain transparency is a challenge for manufacturing companies. Distributed ledger
\ntechnologies offer an innovative solution to increase the transparency, security, authenticity,
\nand auditability of products. However, there are still uncertainties when applying the
\ndistributed ledger technology to manufacturing scenarios and thus enable all stakeholders to
\ntrace the audit history of each component of an assembled product. This research work
\nproposes a framework to increase the transparency and auditability of products in collaborative
\nmanufacturing networks by adopting the distributed ledger technology. The framework
\nconsiders the challenges of manufacturing supply chains with the opportunities of distributed
\nledger technologies and combines them in a conceptual implementation process of supply chain
\nmanagement systems. In this context, each component of a product is represented by a unique
\nvirtual identity generated by distributed ledger-based smart contracts. These virtual identities
\ncan only be sent and merged if defined conditions specified in smart contracts are met. This
\nenables all physical processes and their dependencies to be mapped in the distributed ledger.
\nThe results, based on a practical implementation of the framework, show that a transparent
\nauditability of assembled products and all the components they consist of can be achieved.
\nApplications based on the proposed framework can currently only enable real-time tracking
\nreliably in permissioned networks. The implementation on a permissionless network provides
\nfull transparency for all stakeholders including the customer, while the implementation on a
\npermissioned network only provides a restricted transparency for the customers.