A Framework for Supply Chain Traceability Based on Blockchain Tokens

Tracing products and processes across complex supply chain networks has become an integral part of current supply chain management practices. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of existing supply chain traceability mechanisms are hindered by several barriers including lack of data interoperability and information sharing, opportunistic behaviour, lack of transparency and visibility and cyber-physical threats, to name a few. In this paper, we propose a forensics-by-design supply chain traceability framework with audit trails for integrity and provenance guarantees based on malleable blockchain tokens. This framework also provides the establishment of different granularity levels for tracing products across the entire supply chain based on their unique characteristics, supply chain processes and stakeholders engagement. To showcase the applicability of our proposal, we develop a functional set of smart contracts and a local private blockchain. The benefits of our framework are further discussed, along with fruitful areas for future research.