What manufacturers should know about Blockchain

It is interesting that there are currently two articles on Blockchain on the AGMA website. One, in the Industry News section and the other as a blog by Mary Ellen Doran, Director of Emerging Technology at AGMA.

It serves to illustrate that the technology associated with the Bitcoin industry is now discovering far wider reaching possibilities for manufacturing.

So what is Blockchain? Well, according to the definition given by themanufactuter.com, it can be defined as a record-keeping database technology that stores blocks on information on a chain.

That chain is secure, verifiable and de-centralised to any person on the network. This creates both transparency and security as no one hacker can take down the system, or corrupt the information on it, due to the multiplicity of the network.

What it means for a manufacturing supply chain is the ability to share the current state of an order with a customer or anyone else in the chain. When the product is in transit both customer and manufacturer can track the shipment. It provides an entire incorruptible history from start to finish.

Jack Straw, speaking at the forthcoming Annual Meeting at AGMA will talk about the specific implications of Blockchain for the gear industry – so stay tuned. In the meantime, the links here and here provide more detailed reading.