Why ThinkIQ Is Better Than Blockchain For Supply Chain Optimization
AI in supply chain is transforming how manufacturers approach efficiency, transparency, and compliance. Blockchain in supply chain traceability enables companies to secure their transaction records; however, it lacks the comprehensiveness and real-time context needed to truly improve operations. ThinkIQ leads the way with enhanced analytics of material flow in real-time, intelligent data integration, and unrivaled supply chain visibility, which gives businesses, particularly in the food and beverage industry, greater agility and better decision-making.
Smart Manufacturing And Industry 4.0
Imagine a collaborative Smart Manufacturing platform, providing full visibility not only into what you have, but also the complete history of how it was made, where materials came from, how it was processed, and quality control at every stage. This is also the foundation of Industry 4.0.
Key Components of Industry 4.0
The are 4 main components of Industry 4.0 are:
- Interconnection: The ability of machines, devices, sensors, and people to connect with and communicate with one another via the Internet of Things (IoT), or Internet of People (IoP).
- Information transparency: The transparency provided by Industry 4.0 technologies allows operators to make informed decisions based on full information. The interconnectedness allows operators to collect enormous amounts of data and information from every point in the manufacturing process, providing visibility into relevant differences in performance and spotting key areas of improvement to improve functionality.
- Technical assistance: The technological capabilities of systems to assist humans in decision-making and problem-solving, and the ability to help humans with difficult or unsafe tasks.
- Decentralized decisions: Cyber-Physical Systems’ capability to autonomously decide and fully achieve their tasks without human intervention. Only in the case of exceptions, disruptions, or conflicting goals are tasks delegated to a higher level.
To achieve Industry 4.0 status, you will need to go through 5 levels of Smart Manufacturing:
- Data Capture
- Visualization & Integration
- Material-Centric Intelligence
- Transformational Intelligence
- Industry 4.0 Smart Manufacturing
So, what is the best way forward to achieve Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 status in today’s supply chain management?
Blockchain Versus Material Ledger
Almost everyone has heard the term blockchain, especially about Bitcoin. If you are not familiar with the concept, according to Wikipedia, a blockchain is:
“…a distributed database that is managed by multiple participants and it is a growing list of ordered records, referred to as blocks… that is inherently resistant to modification…”
While safer than an ordinary database, blockchain does not provide the necessary operational intelligence in most modern-day supply chain management, especially in food and beverage, for several reasons:
- It does not provide real-time supply chain visibility.
- It cannot track contextualized material movements.
- It is slow to update and energy-intensive.
Conversely, a Material Ledger is a new mechanism for intelligently tracking material and energy flows and transformations, their financial value, process data, and quality data. An ideal Material Ledger would be:
- Generic and industry-neutral: Equally applicable to discrete, batch, process, and hybrid manufacturing.
- Tracks material/energy flows over time: Unlike blockchain’s point-in-time transaction tracking.
- Solid accounting theory: Built on the double-entry system, to connect operations to finance.
- Validates material balance: Ensures that incoming material flows equal outgoing material flows, along with root cause verification.
- Contextualizes process and quality data: Provides actionable data across operations, production, and your supply network.
- Facilitates complex inventory methods: FIFO, LIFO, blended lots with variable algorithms.
- Reduces COGS and inventory waste: Improves cash flow and operational efficiency.
ThinkIQ’s Material Ledger uses artificial intelligence and supply chain analytics to offer predictive insights and operational efficiencies that other solutions cannot.
Anonymous Financial Transactions Or Material Traceability
The purpose of blockchain is to follow along with anonymous financial transactions. On the other hand, ThinkIQ’s Material Ledger follows physical materials and energy with its associated context and provides unprecedented traceable supply chain visibility, allowing businesses, including those in the food and beverage industry, to optimize processes and reduce costs.
With ThinkIQ, customers have access to granular, data-based visibility on material flow and provenance attribute data supported by a connected IoT structure at every step of the supply chain. Customers were able to improve their bottom line by millions of dollars by discovering areas where waste and/or assets were being used unsuccessfully or faced quality challenges.
Real-World Example: General Mills
When General Mills buys grain, ThinkIQ monitors quality and handling every step of the way. Where everything happens, when it happens, and how it happens – all of these steps are tracked to improve quality and productivity.
This is an example of how supply chain visibility, coupled with artificial intelligence and supply chain insights, can help manufacturers make educated and data-based decisions.
Plant and Performance Optimization
Some of the features of ThinkIQ’s technology include:
- Adaptive semantic models: discover patterns in time-series data under different process/home models
- Pattern recognition engine: identifies co-occurrences of operational events
- Combine multiple data sources: combines IoT, time-series, and transactional data for actionable insights
This data strategy takes operational data and turns it into intelligence for improved planning, forecasting, and resource allocation.
The ThinkIQ Edge
With AI in supply chain operations, ThinkIQ allows manufacturers to:
- Track material flows in real-time.
- Recognize inefficiencies before they get out of hand.
- Stay compliant in highly regulated industries.
- Predict and elude expensive disruptions.
In industries where quality, compliance, and speed are essential, ThinkIQ provides an operational advantage that blockchain alone cannot provide.
Industry Applications and Benefits
ThinkIQ is applicable in many industries: discrete manufacturing, batch, process, and hybrid industries. The most significant advantages include:
- Lower waste and inventory costs.
- Better product quality and compliance.
- Real-time visibility and insights into operations throughout the supply chain.
- More effective planning, forecasting, and resource allocation.
ThinkIQ makes it easy for manufacturers to respond to changing demand, regulation, and trends in supply chain management.
Conclusion
To achieve operational excellence in today’s manufacturing environment, organizations need supply chain visibility in real-time and actionable insights. Blockchain in supply chain traceability improves transparency, but ThinkIQ’s Material Ledger solution uses both artificial intelligence and supply chain analytics for improved production performance, reduced expenses, quality assurance, and safety, especially in the food and beverage industry.
It is time to realize Smart Manufacturing and full supply chain visibility. Begin your journey today by downloading ThinkIQ’s ebook titled “Revolutionizing Digital Transformation in Manufacturing through Advanced Materials Traceability,” or contact us now to understand how your operations can achieve measurable results.
