IBM Launches Trust Your Supplier (TYS) Blockchain Project, Supporting Supply Chain Management

• IBM has launched the Trust Your Supplier network.
• Founding partners include Lenovo, Nokio, Anheuser-Busch, and others.

IBM is a technology giant, and their entry into the blockchain sector is hardly surprising. Now, the company has officially launched a network that is based on this fintech, bringing alone some major companies like Lenovo, Nokia, and Vodafone. An announcement was released on Monday regarding this progress, according to The Block.

The new network is being called “Trust Your Supplier” (TYS), and it is supposed to help in the management of supply chains, including the onboarding, lifecycle information, and supplier validation. Other founding participants include Anheuser-Busch, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco, and Schneider Electric.

Manual processes, overall, tend to create more work for the supplier that manage their own supply chains, and that process tends to make things difficult in identity verification and document tracking. However, blockchain technology allows these companies to automate processes , which means a lowered risk of error and even fraud.

In their statement, IBM said,

“Trust Your Supplier creates a digital passport for supplier identity on the blockchain network that allows suppliers to share information with any permissioned buyer on the network.”

Presently, IBM has 18,500 suppliers around the world, and the implementation of the TYS network makes it possible to reduce the time needed for onboarding new suppliers by up to 80%. Furthermore, the administrative costs within IBM itself are reduced by about 50%.

Chainyard, a blockchain startup, is using the new IBM blockchain platform to build up the network. Presently, the network is only operating at a limited capacity, but the full commercial launch should be happening by the third quarter this year.

Renee Ure, the chief supply chain officer for the Lenovo data center group, said,

“Blockchain has the ability to completely transform how companies onboard and manage their supplier network for the future. Through Trust Your Supplier, both buyers and suppliers will see the procurement benefits of blockchain through reductions in cost, complexity and speed.”

At the center of TYS is a “digital passport,” which shows the supplier identity, which was designed with the help of Chainyard. Outside verification and auditing capabilities are supported by third-party validators, including Dun & Bradstreet, Ecovadis and RapidRatings. While this digital passport is tailored to TYS directly, it was created with an open interface to be adaptable.