Fraud, counterfeits, theft - what you do not control in your supply chain can destroy your business. How? Let's look at a few examples:
- Loss of profits: Did you know that the #1 source of theft and fraud in business worldwide is the employees themselves? Maybe you have a network of warehouses for your business. In one, the foreman accepts a shipment of 100 units, but only enters 80 in the system. The other 20 he sells and pockets the proceeds. The remaining 80 are transfered to other warehouses in your network. You know that someone is stealing from you, but finding out who is that person is very hard. In fact, maybe your IT guy is helping, by changing data in your document management system.
- Low quality: Maybe you purchase only high-quality plumbing parts for your building business. But somewhere in the chain of handlers, one of your pallets is replaced with a cheaper, less-reliable analogue. When the pallets arrive at the work site, you know that you cannot use these lower-quality parts, but you have no way of knowing where the switch happened in the chain.
- Dangerous counterfeits: Maybe you manufacture a line of health-and-beauty products. You certify your products to be safe, but a client buys what appears to be your product and is poisoned by it. Investigation shows that the person unknowingly bought a counterfeit of your product that contained dangerous ingredients. In addition to the humanitarian tragedy, the damage to your reputation can be irreparable. You need to protect your customers.
Whatever your scenario, you need to protect your supply chain to protect your business.
- Document your supply chain. What key shipments or products pass through whose hands?
- Understand your document process. Who has access to enter information into your document systems or create a document with information about a shipment?
- Verify access to data. Who has what access to change information or documents, and the potential motivation to make those changes?
- Use a solution for Traceability. TechAbantu provides a lightweight solution for supply chain control that is within the reach of small business, but offers functionality even for enterprise.
How does it work?
The system generates a unique QR code (these are codes like the example on the line above) for each unit being handled. The code can be printed and affixed to a package, or it can be simply scanned from the smart phone of one responsible goods handler to the smart phone of the next handler.
Each handler signs electronically that he receives the unit. He has the opportunity to enter or correct information about the unit received, for example, if the weight is different than indicated.
Each time someone signs electronically, a record of the fact, along with all of the data that he entered or corrected, is encrypted, to protect from prying eyes, and written into a private blockchain.
Why blockchain? We are not talking about cryptocurrency here. The blockchain technology is a special decentralized database, where any attempts to change the written data are immediately detectable and correctable. Not even TechAbantu can change what was written to the decentralized database. So even if your IT staff is motivated to change the information, they do not have the opportunity.
If you like, you can provide the QR code to your end customers. When they scan, they will see what information from the records that you wish to show them, ensuring that they have a genuine product from you, validated to be safe, high quality, ethically-sourced, etc.
TechAbantu's solution can work alongside your current document management system, so that you do not need to interrupt your operations, learn any new systems, or migrate historical data. However, if you wish to move your document management to the TechAbantu Traceability solution, we are able to support that, as well.
The system provides the following:
- Online and integrated reporting: see in real time who is handling which units or shipments. Use this to plan ahead.
- API ("Application Program Interface") for integrating your systems with the decentralized database.
- Mobile-friendly design and architecture, allowing handlers and customers to use the system conveniently from smart phones or tablet devices.
Get started today. We are happy to help you to understand what solution best meets your needs. Our operators are available through the chat window at the lower left of the screen.