At representing supply chains and prodiuction chains on the blockchain, we have one big advantage: these chains can be integrated with each other in a pretty natural way. Examples might be from the business perspective:
- Integrating two dependent supply chains, like supply chain for automobiles that is preceded by the supply chain of the metal industry. The two chains can be built up individually and integrated later on.
- Refining a supply chain with production chains. As a first step, creating a supply chain might model production elements only on a higher level that can be refined with the help of a detailed production chain model.
From a technical point of view the integration might be different as well:
- Integrating supply or production chains on blockchain is pretty simple.
- Integrating supply or production chains among several blockchain technologies might be supported by atomic swap or interledger protocols.
- last but not least, supply chains can be integrated with a more complicated intermediary like with the help of a market for different resources.
