3 ms·

Supply chain is still reasonable, because you can't really trust any part of it.

JumpCrisscross 6y ago
> Supply chain is still reasonable, because you can't really trust any part of it But the part you can't trust is in the physical realm. The fanciest blockchain won't tell you if the package's contents have been tampered with or pilfered.
chewzerita 6y ago
From my limited knowledge (basically 0) of supply chains, I disagree. (Though I am neutral on the statement "you can't really trust any part of it.") The anecdote I heard was that say you have a blockchain to keep track of your goods shipping on trucks. When the trucks leave and enter a facility their payload is entered into the blockchain. The idea is that it will make sure that every party along the supply chain can say "well I got the next person what they needed" so you can easily put blame on and correct for missing/failing items. Sounds good, right? Well, not so fast. It turns out that some of the items were stolen from a truck (whether by an employee or otherwise). The truck arrives at the next facility, scans in and certifies that they have the proper items and none are the wiser! Hold on, can't they just physically check at each stop to actually make sure that they have the right cargo? Bingo! At that point, what problem does the blockchain actually solve? Blockchain works okay-ish for digital goods (cryptocurrency), but completely falls apart for physical goods.
lottin 6y ago
You can't trust it but somehow your entire business already depends on it?
- hef19898 6y ago
  You can very much trust it. Mostly, that is. The issues usually occur when data flows and physical flows get disconnected. No way blockchain will solve that.
- throwaway3699 6y ago
  Most companies aren't completely aligned with all their suppliers. Just look at Apple trying to root out child labour. A formally verified supply chain has some limited use cases because you can prove some pieces aren't lying to you (e.g. that you're actually not sourcing your parts from conflict materials, and they are coming from somebody reputable).

> Supply chain is still reasonable, because you can't really trust any part of it But the part you can't trust is in the physical realm. The fanciest blockchain won't tell you if the package's contents have been tampered with or pilfered.

chewzerita 6y ago

From my limited knowledge (basically 0) of supply chains, I disagree. (Though I am neutral on the statement "you can't really trust any part of it.") The anecdote I heard was that say you have a blockchain to keep track of your goods shipping on trucks. When the trucks leave and enter a facility their payload is entered into the blockchain. The idea is that it will make sure that every party along the supply chain can say "well I got the next person what they needed" so you can easily put blame on and correct for missing/failing items. Sounds good, right? Well, not so fast. It turns out that some of the items were stolen from a truck (whether by an employee or otherwise). The truck arrives at the next facility, scans in and certifies that they have the proper items and none are the wiser! Hold on, can't they just physically check at each stop to actually make sure that they have the right cargo? Bingo! At that point, what problem does the blockchain actually solve? Blockchain works okay-ish for digital goods (cryptocurrency), but completely falls apart for physical goods.

lottin 6y ago

You can't trust it but somehow your entire business already depends on it?

hef19898 6y ago
You can very much trust it. Mostly, that is. The issues usually occur when data flows and physical flows get disconnected. No way blockchain will solve that.
throwaway3699 6y ago
Most companies aren't completely aligned with all their suppliers. Just look at Apple trying to root out child labour. A formally verified supply chain has some limited use cases because you can prove some pieces aren't lying to you (e.g. that you're actually not sourcing your parts from conflict materials, and they are coming from somebody reputable).