Invented by Walter Charles YUND, Patricia Denise Mackenzie, Joseph James Salvo, John William Carbone, Benjamin Edward Beckmann, Dan Yang, Peter Koudal, General Electric Co
The General Electric Co invention works as follows
Some embodiments” provide a system for facilitating transaction processing in an industrial asset supply chains with a first and second entity. From a database of a first entity, a computer processor for the first entity can retrieve information about pre-delivery data associated with an industrial asset. The first entity processor can then record the pre-delivery information about the industrial asset using a distributed, secure transaction ledger. A second entity processor can retrieve information from a database of a second entity relating to a post delivery event that involves the industrial asset. The second entity processor can then record data on the post-delivery events involving the industrial asset using a distributed, secure transaction ledger. Post-delivery data could indicate that, for instance, the industrial asset was delivered, installed, working correctly, used, etc.
Background for Blockchain enabled transactions processing for an Industrial Asset Supply Chain
Some embodiments disclosed relate to industrial assets, and more specifically, to transaction processing enabled by blockchain for a supply-chain.
One type of business management system is a way to organize the supplies that a company (e.g. a corporation) uses for manufacturing or delivering products and/or services. Supply chains are often used to describe the organization and management process of supplies. A supply chain is a collection of people, organizations, activities, actors, and resources. The term ‘entities’ is used to refer to the various organizations, people, activities, information and actors that make up a supply chain. (referred to herein as?entities?) A supply chain may be a complex network of resources that span the globe. This can limit the ability of a supply-chain entity to transfer the risks. A failure to allocate risk and opportunities in order to drive revenue growth and cost reduction can have a significant impact on the ability of an organization to deliver goods or services and remain profitable.
In a globalized economy, supply chain entities may have to face challenges in allocating materials globally. For example, they might need to decide where to locate inventory to best meet future demand. A supply chain defect may be hard to detect and difficult to verify. A centralized system managed by an organization or consortium trusted by the supply chain’s various parties could be implemented to improve information exchange. In order to implement these types of systems, it may be necessary that vital business information is either stored or passed through a location under the control of the centralized system. A mechanism to establish the identity of users is also required, and is often stored centrally. These systems may be vulnerable to multiple failures and attacks. For example, concentrated or persistent cyber-attacks.
Due to the complexity of managing an extended supply chain of physical flows (e.g., parts, products, and processes), information flows (e.g., events and statuses), and/or contractual/financial flows (e.g. With the current technology of paper-based processes and disintegrated systems, it can be costly and difficult to design a supply chain transaction system. It may be possible to implement individual tools for manual processes. However, this approach is not practical and inefficient. “It would be desirable to provide methods and systems to efficiently and secure manage transactions for supply-chain entities.
Some embodiments” provide a system for facilitating transaction processing in an industrial asset supply chains with a first and second entity. From a database of a first entity, a computer processor for the first entity can retrieve information about pre-delivery data associated with an industrial asset. The first entity processor can then record the pre-delivery information about the industrial asset using a distributed, secure transaction ledger. A second entity processor can retrieve information from a database of a second entity relating to a post delivery event that involves the industrial asset. The second entity processor can then record data on the post-delivery events involving the industrial asset using a distributed, secure transaction ledger. Post-delivery data could indicate that, for instance, the industrial asset was delivered, installed, working correctly, used, etc.
Some embodiments include: means for retrieving by a computer processor of a first-entity database electronic records containing information about pre-delivery information about an industrial asset. Means for recording pre-delivery information about the asset by the computer processor.
The technical effects of certain embodiments of the present invention provide improved methods to manage supply chain transactions efficiently and securely. Referring to the detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings will provide a better understanding of its nature.
The following detailed description provides a comprehensive understanding of the embodiments. It will be obvious to those with ordinary skill in art that embodiments can be practiced without the need for these details. Other cases, well-known procedures, components, and circuits are not described in detail to avoid obscured embodiments.
Below are descriptions of specific embodiments according to the invention. The specification may not include all the features of an actual implementation in an attempt to give a brief description. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers’ specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. It should also be noted that although such a development effort may be time-consuming and complex, it would still be routine design, fabrication, or manufacture for people of average skill who have the benefit of this disclosure.
It may be desirable for supply chain companies to manage transactions efficiently and securely. The phrase “supply chain” is used in this document. The phrase “supply chain” can be used to describe, for instance, a series of processes or entities involved in the production and/or dissemination of a product (such as a component of an industrial asset). FIG. FIG.1 is a block diagram at a high level of a typical supply 100. The supply chain 100 may include suppliers 110 who provide raw materials or components to a manufacturer. These could be tracked by sending purchase orders via facsimile. The manufacturer 120 may fabricate an industrial asset and arrange for delivery/installation 140 via a distributor 130. These steps in the supply chain may involve Electronic Data Interchange. These steps in the supply chain might involve exchanging Electronic Data Interchange (?EDI?) The industrial asset will eventually be delivered to a client 150 (e.g.?in the fields?) In some cases, a customer 150 will arrange for an asset to be used 160 by a user (e.g. a doctor could use a Magnetic Resonance Image (?MRI?) “A doctor might use a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (?MRI?)
It can be challenging to handle transactions in a creative or efficient manner because there are so many ways to exchange information within the supply chain. Payment terms are an important part of the current supplier-buyer relationship. Payment terms are often determined by the timing of receiving goods or services, as agreed between the buyer and supplier. These payment terms can define the financial flow in a supply chain that is complex and are dependent on the flow of information about the receipt or the service. These payment terms, which are dependent on the receipt of goods and the terms of the contract, can cause a misalignment in the physical, information, and financial flows within a supply-chain. Payments may only be made based on the receipt of a good and not at the time of use, such as the assembly point, date of deployment or date of commissioning. There is no decentralized way to enable buyer-supplier payment based on the use of assets in the field (nor the ability securitize such payments).
To reduce these problems, the supply chain system 200 has a platform for a first entity 210 that includes a communication port for exchanging information with an entity database 212. (This database, which contains information about industrial assets, is a good example). A second entity platform may also have a port for exchanging information with a database 252. The second entity database 252 could include, for instance, electronic data records related to industrial asset events 254, such as an asset identifier (256), an event type (258), a date and the time of the event. As an example, the first platform 210 could be linked to a manufacturer or supplier while the second platform 250 could be connected to a user or customer.
The first entity platform 210 or the second entity platform can be associated with, for instance, a Personal Computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, an enterprise server, sever farm, db, database, and/or other storage devices. Laptop computer, tablet computer, smartphone, enterprise server, server farm, database, or other storage device. In some embodiments, a?automated’? First entity platform 210 can automatically record supply chain data in the ledger of transactions 290 using a blockchain validation process. The term “automated” is used in this document. The term “automated” may be used to describe, for instance, actions that are performed without the need of a human’s intervention.
In the context of this document, devices such as those that are associated with the platform 210 for the first entity and any other device described in this document may exchange information through any communication network, which could be a Local Area Network, Metropolitan Area Network, or any combination thereof. “As used herein, devices including those associated with the first entity platform 210 and any other device described herein may exchange information via any communication network which can be one or more of a Local Area Network (?LAN? Wide Area Networks (?WAN? Public Switched Telephone Networks (?PSTNs? Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Wireless Application Protocol (?WAP?) Internet, intranets, extranets, etc. “Note that all devices described in this document may communicate through one or more of these communication networks.
The platforms 210 and 250 can store data into data stores or retrieve information from them. Data stores could, for instance, store records of prior transactions, current transactions, digital events, and so on. The data stores can be stored locally or remotely from the platforms 250, 210. In FIG. Any number of devices can be included in FIG. In addition, the various devices described in this document may be combined according embodiments of the invention. In some embodiments, for example, the first platform 210, the first database 212 and/or any other devices may be located together and/or comprise a single device.
The system 200 in FIG. The system 200 of FIG. 2 is only an example. Other embodiments could be associated with other elements or components. In some embodiments the elements of system 200 process supply chain transaction data using blockchain technology. As an example, FIG. According to some embodiments of the present invention, FIG. According to certain embodiments, the system 200 described in FIG. 2 or any other system can be used. The flowcharts described herein are not intended to imply an order of steps. Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in any order. Any of the methods described in this document may be implemented by hardware, software or a combination of both. “For example, a computer readable storage medium can store instructions that, when executed by a device, result in performance in accordance with any of the embodiments herein described.
The method shown in FIG. The method of FIG. The method can also be associated with a particular supply chain such as a local, international, global, or other supply chain. A first entity computer processor can retrieve electronic records, including pre-delivery information about the industrial asset, from a database of a first party. The first entity could be, for example, associated with a component manufacturer, a distributor of the industrial asset or a distributor.
The first entity processor computer may, at S320, record pre-delivery information about the industrial asset using a distributed, secure transaction ledger. In some embodiments, a secure, distributed ledger may include blockchain technology, which is controlled either by a centralized entity, or multiple distributed entities.
At S330 a computer processor of a second party may retrieve from a database of a separate entity electronic records, including information associated with an ‘event’ after delivery. The industrial asset. The second entity could be, for instance, a delivery or installer entity, customer, user of the asset, etc. The term “event” is used in this document. Any action or state change associated with a industrial asset may be referred to as an event. “Events could include signs that an industrial asset was delivered, installed, is working correctly, or has been used.
The secure, distributed ledger can be used to record data related to the post-delivery events of an industrial asset. The secure, distributed ledger can store a variety of data associated with industrial assets, such as quality data, delivery data, mission-critical information and physical location data. It may also include information about product quality, quantity, material quality, inspection data, price, delivery conditions, shipping data, smart contracts, and more.
