Blockchain, IoT and Big Data technologies in logistics and supply chain

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how new technologies can improve supply chains and logistics. Global supply chains involve many parties and they are very complex. Huge amounts of goods are moving every day, but they are not working effectively. Information flow is slow and it involves a lot of expensive paperwork. If the supplier is on the other side of the globe than the buyer, they probably don’t know each other’s well, and that creates the problem. There´s no trust. Businesses store all their data in their own silos and are very cautious about how to share it. Lack of trust creates huge obstacle and slows down the movement of the goods.

In logistics, lots of old-fashioned documents are required. The main objective was to investigate blockchain, Internet of Things and Big data, and try to find new solutions for suppliers of the goods. These new technologies have the potential to revolutionize supply chains. Especially blockchain. But there are many reasons why this has not happened. I try to find out what are the downsizes and question marks that are slowing down the progress. Sources that I used were latest articles and books, and I also had a chance to interview three global supply chain leaders.

Based on the results IoT and big data are already widely used, and these two technologies can offer new solutions for suppliers. Blockchains are not there yet, but there are already many different solutions available. In fact, most of the goods that are moving across the globe are already using blockchain based platform. And it works. But clearly there are reasons why it is not mainstream yet.