IBM has recently announced the launch of blockchain project which is called “Trust Your Supplier”(TYS) and already has big-name firms like Lenovo, Nokia, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Glaxo Smith Kline, Schneider Electric and Vodafone on board.

As announced on Monday, TYS joined IBM’s successful project of track-and-trace logistics and supply chain blockchain consortia, which includes TradeLensand Food Trust.

TYS is mainly going to focuson supplier onboarding, ageneralterm gicento a wide and varied combinationsof supplier detailslike bank account data, tax certifications, ISO certifications, certificates of insurance and other data necessaryfor exchanging, purchasing and deliveringorders and invoices.

Marie Wieck, general manager at IBM Blockchain, said:

“That onboarding cycle is typically very manual in many companies, even those with very efficient supply chains, just in terms of the vetting and validation of those suppliers. Getting a new supplier on-boarded quickly, particularly when there are new capabilities coming up every day, is critical to how rapidly you introduce new products and services.”

Chief supply chain officer for Lenovo’s data center group, Renee Ure supported this in a statement, saying, “Through Trust Your Supplier, both buyers, and suppliers will see the procurement benefits of blockchain through reductions in cost, complexity and speed.”

Enterprise blockchain projects are knownfor moving forward at a very slowpace, workingfrom proof-of-concept to pilot and finally to actualproduction.Although,IBM hasfinally come upwith a fully formed production blockchain.

Big Blue had started working on the project with a procurement division of its own and is applying the blockchain technologytooperate 4,000 out of its18,500 suppliers. IBM informed thatit expects to see a 70-80%reduction in the cycle time to integratenew suppliers, with a potential 50% decreasein administration related expenseswithin its own business.

TYS is limited only to the existing participantsfor now, with plans for commercial availability in Q3 of this year. Wieck said that, currently, its footprint is only availableto North America, but the intention is to expand the network globally.

Network of networks

A “digital passport” for supplier identity is a key innovation by TYS.

One of IBM’s initial blockchain partners, Chainyard, which alsodevelopsHyperledger Fabric, helped design crucial parts of this project. Third-party validators like Ecovadis, Dun & Bradstreet, and Rapid Ratingsprovide audit capabilities outsourced verification for suppliers via the said passport.

Wieck said the digital passport is made specifically for TYS, but it has been created with a pluggable open interface in mind, like most things IBM does.

As such, some of the usesof TYS could also be applicable to TradeLens,which isIBM’s shipping cargo blockchain system launchedin collaboration with Maersk back in 2018. She said there are variousdocument-sharing use casesof blockchainthat could be beof help bythe TYS supplier network.

She also explained thatTradeLens, for example, is working on improvisinginvoice settlement, factoring and invoice conflictre solution.

Wieck explained:“We have been talking about the notion of interoperability between blockchain networks – the idea of a network of networks which can expand these economies.”