DHL and Accenture Develop Blockchain for the Logistics Sector

DHL in cooperation with Global Technology Consultant, Accenture have released a trend report on the potential to transform the logistics sector using blockchain technology.

The report gives details on of a working prototype designed and developed by both companies that has the ability to track pharmaceuticals from their place of origin through to the end user consumer negating the possibility of any errors or tampering.

DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation Senior Vice President, Matthias Heutger said, “The experiments with blockchain in finance are well known, but we believe logistics is an area where the new technology will have a truly profound impact,” he further added,  “Implementing productive solutions, however, will require further technological development and, critically, collaboration between all stakeholders.”

The blockchain is a new system using a digital database to authenticate, record and maintain transactions and their accompanying data.

DHL Supply Chain CIO Chief, Keith Turner said, “We see especially exciting potential for blockchain in pharmaceuticals, which is why we focused our proof of concept with Accenture on the life sciences and healthcare industry, by utilizing the inherent irrefutability within blockchain technologies, we can make great strides in highlighting tampering, reducing the risk of counterfeits and actually saving lives.”

Interpol has reported that as many as one million people die each year due to fake medications and that nearly 30% of all pharmaceutical products sold in developing markets are counterfeit.

This joint venture allows both DHL and Accenture to track pharmaceuticals throughout the supply chain by using blockchain-based serialization prototype with nodes in six geographies. Recent Lab-simulations have shown impressive results with more than seven billion unique serial numbers and 1,500 transactions per second being handled by the blockchain system.

DHL client team leader and Accenture lead for the travel and transportation industry, Andreas Baier said, “We’ve worked closely with DHL to understand and document the broad impact blockchain will have on supply chains of the future,”

“Using a common, indelible and secure ledger, the industry can achieve much higher safety standards – from the factory to the patient – at much lower cost. This is one of several opportunities blockchain affords to restructure business processes while reducing cost and complexity.”