Track and trace supply chain solutions provider Adents International today announced that the company has developed a new unit-level product tracking platform using distributed ledger blockchain technology in collaboration with Microsoft Corp.

The platform, named Adents Novatrack, would be used to secure entire supply chains to provide end-to-end trackability of individual units. Christophe Devins, founder and chief executive of Adents, said the platform would provide “blockchain-based unit identification for various industries around the world” and “total transparency all along their supply chains and secure product authenticity for end users.”

Adents Novatrack combines blockchain, artificial intelligence and “internet of things” technologies to provide a platform that can automate tracking whenever a unit is acted upon. Embedded sensors and other elements automatically update the blockchain and use cryptography to ensure secure communication.

The platform would also be used to provide a standard of communication between different industries, allowing separate parts of a supply chain – which may reside across separate business entities – to interconnect without compromising security. This would be done with blockchain mechanisms such as identity management, public key infrastructure and strong encryption.

As part of Adents collaboration with Microsoft, the system will use the Azure Intelligent Cloud platform to provide real-time performance, high scalability, granular business-driven data privacy and energy-efficient consensus.

“Microsoft’s Azure Cloud platform will ensure the secure international deployment of Adents NovaTrack to accelerate the fight against industrial counterfeiting,” said Laurent Curny, general manager at Microsoft Services France. Curny added that NovaTrack would “introduce valuable new ways of addressing traceability challenges throughout supply chains owing to our advanced blockchain and AI technologies.”

Adents intends to use NovaTrack initially for pharmaceutical supply chains to help the industry reduce counterfeit drugs and increase efficiency. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an estimated 10 percent of pharmaceutical products sold worldwide and 2.5 percent of global imports are counterfeit. Government regulations and compliance meant to protect consumers mean that transparency and auditability of supply chains can be paramount business concerns.

Supply chain tracking with blockchain has seen a lot of development over the years, with multiple platforms explored by retailers and shipping outfits on land and sea. Food safety has been a primary goal of supply chain blockchains, with IBM Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. at the vanguard with a globe-spanning retail giant network.

FedEx Corp. announced an initiative to standardize blockchain technology for transport, and shipping giants Pacific International Lines Pte Ltd. and port operator PSA International Pte Ltd. Pacific International Lines in Singapore partnered with IBM to build blockchain supply chain management software.

Image: Adents