Why use IoT traceability over traditional methods?

Integrating IoT traceability into the supply chain can bring organizations many advantages such as regulated temperature requirements and more accurate tracking.

For example, medical and drug management supply chains use IoT traceability to record aspects such as an item's temperature and humidity. Many drugs must be stored within a specific temperature range, and, without IoT sensors, there is no way to ensure this happens in the supply chain. IoT traceability systems also make recalls more exact. Because each item's movement is recorded, identifying recalled batches becomes much easier. Traceability also combats counterfeiting and gray markets, which, in turn, makes drugs safer for consumers.

Organizations have increasingly added blockchain in many pharmaceutical tracking trials. Blockchain is a distributed database that maintains an ever-growing list of data records secured from tampering or revision. The data is not centralized and there is no single point of failure. No single organization can claim ownership of blockchain data, so groups must work together to confirm legitimate new transactions. The pharmaceutical industry can use blockchain to better manage transactions and improve record keeping across the whole supply chain. Blockchain also makes compliance and IoT traceability more efficient.

Blockchain makes any recorded information immutable. Blockchain is distributed and serves as an open ledger, so the industry can trace a product through the whole supply chain and lifecycle.