Izertis at BNEW: Increase of industrial productivity and improvement of results through Blockchain

Our Director of Digital, Sheila Méndez, has participated in the second edition of BNEW -Barcelona New Economy Week- that took place this week. BNEW is a benchmark event at the national level within the framework of technology that is committed to reactivating the economy and the business fabric. In it, the speakers have discussed increasing industrial productivity and improving results through the use of blockchain technology. Here are some of our director's reflections.

What experiences have you had in the industrial field, or in other industries? What learnings could you share in this regard?

Since we started betting on Blockchain, we have always focused on taking advantage of the benefits that this technology provides beyond the financial world and cryptocurrencies. Which has given us the opportunity to specialize in the use cases and application benefits of Blockchain in different sectors, such as the industrial sector.

In this sense, I would like to highlight that one of our first projects was aimed at the study and application of Blockchain in the industry, for the transformation towards an industry 4.0. In this project, we were able to experiment with use cases of traceability and certification of the quality of the parts, as well as the automation of production processes through the use of Blockchain as a coordinator of the work of intelligent machines.

In addition to these experiences, we have also worked on a more specific project together with CAPSA in which we have applied the combination of IoT and Blockchain technologies, with the aim of being able to trace and control the quality of the products that travel in refrigerated containers, all this in an automated way.

So then, what do you think this technology contributes and why do you think the industry should bet on it?

Thanks to the accumulated experience and knowledge, I can guarantee you that Blockchain can drive what we call the fourth industrial revolution. At present we are improving the capabilities of industrial machines, as well as providing them with intelligence, but the coordination of the different production units is a barrier that limits us from exploiting this fourth industrial revolution.

Blockchain systems allow us to have a single point to work on, making it possible to collect information from various agents in a single system. Thanks to which, the time used to collect the information required to carry out any operation is reduced. In addition to this, we achieve traceability and transparency about the production process itself, which allows us to streamline and automate any production process with full guarantee of the veracity of the information.

How do you see the future of blockchain technology in the industrial field?

Complex and at the same time hopeful. In the current situation, the need to transform our productive and economic model has remained even more latent, for which, the commitment to a modernized industrial model has to be one of the pillars on which to work.

We are aware that the application of this technology represents a change in the way of working, however, we understand that it is also the cornerstone of the fourth industrial revolution. Therefore, we have to continue working in our day to day so that customers in the industrial field can understand the transformative capacity of this technology and the benefits derived from its application, and begin to apply it.

For this, it is not necessary to build huge projects, but rather, the key lies in small pilots or MVPs in which to involve the agents of the industrial sector, so that they can validate by themselves the value that the application of this technology brings.

If you had to bet on a project, use case or application of Blockchain technology in the industrial sector, what would it be?

That is clear to me. The starting point has to be Win to Win cases with different industrial agents, allowing all of them to benefit from the application of technology. And for this, we see key the use of Blockchain in the value chain, in order to guarantee the traceability of the products.

From the production chain to the distribution chain, the different agents involved in these processes require guarantees about the status of the products with which they work. This technology allows us to have a record, in which both parties record their compliance in relation to the status of a product during its exchange between them. In this way, we can refine responsibilities with guarantees in the future.

At the end of the day, what is required is data governance, which is key in industrial processes. Blockchain systems allow us to govern the data on a shared registry accessible to all. Thanks to which, we can know the life cycle of a product, certifying its quality and origin.