Blockchain Applications Spread to Automotive & Manufacturing Industries
Research and Markets, a global repository of market research reports, announced the addition of a new report from New York-based firm Frost & Sullivan titled “Blockchain Technology Revolutionizing Automotive Industry.” Focused on exploring applications of blockchain technology to areas of the automotive sector, a multi-trillion dollar international industry, the report outlines key aspects in need of reevaluation.
Ranging from supply chain management to leasing and even Internet of Things, Frost & Sullivan set out to provide both a comprehensive overview and in-depth investigation into a variety of automotive industry verticals where blockchain has been identified as a potential disruptor. This report comes at a time of unprecedented interest in blockchain tech from industries outside of financial services and related businesses. With the addition of the Frost & Sullivan report, automotive and manufacturing have begun to build momentum on par with music and media as industries experiencing blockchain penetration outside of a lab or R&D setting.
Identifying Industry Use-Cases
One of the key questions Frost & Sullivan hoped to answer revolved around different potential use cases of blockchain within the automotive industry. Frost & Sullivan are not alone in conducting this research; written by Internet of Things author Matthew Jones, a recent blog post by IBM shared the computing giant’s perspective on how the automotive industry might benefit from the introduction of blockchain.
Says Jones, “The Automotive industry is a complex ecosystem with multiple parties involved in the design, production, distribution, marketing, selling, finance and servicing of vehicles.” IBM, highly active in the blockchain space with initiatives like a newly created partnership with Maersk, has been analyzing the prospects of utilizing the technology to reduce the cost for international endeavors in supply chain management and finance. The partnership with Maersk represents a highly coordinated global effort, spearheaded by the two corporations and in conjunction with trade agencies, governments, and logistics organizations.
“Damco, Maersk’s supply chain solutions company, supported origin management activities of the shipment while utilizing the [blockchain] solution. The international shipment of flowers to Royal FloraHolland from Kenya, Mandarin oranges from California, and pineapples from Colombia were also used to validate the solution for shipments coming into the Port of Rotterdam.”
The Future of Manufacturing
These efforts echo research conducted by technology solutions consulting firm Cognizant, who released a whitepaper earlier this year detailing the ability for blockchain technology to reduce the manufacturing “trust-tax,” the term Cognizant uses to describe the premiums companies and organizations pay to enter partnerships with trusted manufacturers and suppliers. This vetting and selection process proves to be cost-inefficient for many business and government ventures, denying them access to the solutions necessary to carry out their operations.
“Blockchain-enabled smart contracts, distributed ledgers, and immutable cryptographic records,” the whitepaper asserts, “are poised to reduce production costs, drive greater operational efficiencies, and unleash new business opportunities for manufacturers worldwide.”
With the rising interest in its underlying protocols, blockchain technology has reached a stage of maturity where enough on-ramps exist to make distributed ledgers not only useful beyond payments processing but attractive to globally recognized industry leaders. As a direct result of reaching a critical mass of skilled blockchain development firms and the rising price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin, we can expect more forays into the ecosystem across many verticals. The only question is what’s next?
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