Introducing DropChain: Supply Chain Efficiency. Built on the Blockchain. Powered by the People.
The Problem
Food fraud is a $40 billion global problem. The consumption of counterfeit goods has resulted in countless cases of illness and fatality. The proliferation of counterfeit goods is destroying consumer trust in the food and beverage industry and causing irreparable damage to brand reputations.
A systemic lack of transparency in global supply chains is a key contributor to fraud within the consumables industry. Once a product leaves its manufacturing facility, the journey to your table is long and complex. Distributors and logistics organizations control this journey, and transparency can only be achieved if these middlemen maintain and share their information with the rest of us.
The Opportunity
Clearly, brand owners, higher-tier distributors and consumers stand to gain from supply chain transparency. Transparency generates data which empowers brands and tier 1 distributors to make better business decisions. Transparency gives consumers confidence in the contents of their grocery baskets. Lower-tier distributors, on the other hand, gain no benefit from making this data available. On the contrary, greater transparency translates into an additional, uncompensated workload.
To date, billions of dollars have been spent developing complex global supply chain solutions. Yet, none have been able to consistently trace a bottle of wine from grape to glass. Many have recognized the ability for blockchain technology to provide substantial cost reductions and efficiencies to supply chain operations. The very nature of distributed ledger technology will enable increased traceability of material supply chains, mitigate risk of fraud and counterfeit and even strengthen corporate reputation by providing transparency of raw materials used in products. However, blockchain data dwells only in the digital realm, while most delivery systems still involve physical products and human interaction. How can we link the digital to the physical without upending legacy systems?
The DropChain Solution
Recognizing that today’s solutions do not address the human element of distribution networks, DropChain is designing a gamified, decentralized platform to engage and incentivize the true gatekeepers to supply chain integrity.
DropChain’s technology aims to solve four core problems in foodstuff distribution:
- Data fragmentation in supply chains, by developing an open-standard, low-cost, and easy to adopt solution for all supply chain stakeholders;
- Supply chain transparency and data integrity, by creating an innovative gamified crypto-economic incentive program which rewards the contribution of each physical distribution point;
- Lack of ground-level consumer data for brands, by providing granular consumer and small business data to brands through a global dashboard, enabling them to track the distribution of their brands down to street level.
- Consumer distrust, by enabling users to authenticate consumables and trace them back to their source.
The DropChain team comprises industry experts from across blockchain tech, IT, and food & beverage distribution. DropChain CEO and Founder, Billy Chan, is the founder of China’s B2B alcohol distributor, Foowala. Over the past 4 years, Foowala has bridged the gap between reputable alcohol manufacturers and Chinese retail shops & restaurants. Whilst Foowala has made significant improvements in the industry, over 70% of wine sold in China is fake, and Chinese consumers and retailers are desperate for a resolution.
Foowala will be amongst the first of DropChain’s early adopters to demonstrate the platform’s viability and use case. From there, DropChain’s scalable solution aims to extend far beyond alcohol distribution in China to safeguard global supply chains across the food and beverage industry.
Learn more about the DropChain Project at www.dropchainproject.com and join the conversation on Telegram.
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