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Who will be the visionary helmet & goggle brand to be the first to implement blockchain technology?
I don’t mean crypto.
I mean taking advantage of trustworthy real-time data using blockchain technology in the manufacturing process.
Believe it or not, the more prominent brands in our sports helmet and goggle sector are the perfect size to implement blockchain technology. As a result, these early adopter brands will gain a competitive edge, and subsequent adopters will also see efficiency improvements.
What could blockchain technology possibly do for your sporting goods company?
Well, below are a few questions to get your curiosity flowing in the right direction. What would your brand prefer:
- More back-office administrative staff or more resources for marketing and sales?
- Pay the right suppliers at the right time, or try to figure out where your money went because you paid a supplier too soon?
- Eliminate any possibility of grey market goods, or have rouge copies of your product distributed somewhere in the world?
- Have real-time traceable information about your products’ whereabouts, or have endless urgent phone calls to try and track your container of goods?
Most of us already have a trusted ecosystem of suppliers, shipment companies, and banks. Nevertheless, as blockchain VC Adam Draper says, “why not replace third-party trust with mathematical proof?”
Understanding blockchain for helmets and goggles
The essential thing to know is that blockchain is an innovative step-by-step authentication methodology that no one can alter. It controls and certifies each step in a process. You can add a step, but you can not alter one. (This is why cryptocurrency used the technology from the outset).
How can your brand leverage this technology and demonstrate leadership in helmet and goggle manufacturing?
The most significant immediate blockchain benefit for our sector is our last step in the manufacturing process: inspection, shipment and delivery.
To outline an example: your company places a PO in a smart contract ecosystem, the supplier receives the information and begins manufacturing for the contract; the system then sends a notification to the inspection agency, which records the details of the goods to be inspected.
These records will be available forever, so you can trace any transaction and also pinpoint the trigger of any problems downstream.
The inspection agency can issue the certificates in a smart contracts system. Using the technology, the smart contract information input is authenticated - so the information is guaranteed to be accurate versus the traditional methodology.
Shippers can then arrange to ship the goods and issue the Bill of Lading in the system, which, depending on the contract, can trigger payment by the bank against the letter of credit (also captured in your ecosystem).
Blockchain is faster, safer and more manageable when it comes to manufacturing delivery turn-around time
By automating, you don’t need as many admin people dealing with paperwork, and you can put more resources into activities with more significant ROI -like marketing.
Your cash flow is simplified. You pay only when you are sure the shipment is where it should be because everyone is working off the same documentation, and tracing errors is immediate.
Count on accurate delivery times by facilitating communication. Also, with proper inspections, you will avoid mishaps that end up on the grey market.
There can be no excuses from suppliers or shipping companies. You are sure to get what you have ordered - with all the goods delivered to the correct geographical location.
Simply put, other technologies can not provide the capabilities of increased transparency, accountability and procedure standardization - cast in stone - that blockchain can.
Contact Clovis Henzen Consulting for strategic and tactical projects to solve your manufacturing challenges.
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