Accenture Partners with Thales Group to Update Aircraft Supply Chains Using Blockchain

Accenture, the consultancy firm from Dublin, has teamed up with Thales Group, an aerospace MNC from France, in order to make use of Blockchain to upgrade aircraft supply chains. A press release was issued on 16th July to announce this intriguing project and it appears that we will not have to wait for long to see the technology in action.

Based on a type of fabric known as Hyperledger Fabric, this solution will be first used on 21-22 July at United Kingdom’s Farmborough Airshow. This project will combine Blockchain technology with a Thales contribution- the “physically unclonable function” (PUF) too, in order to effectively ensure tracking, tracing and authentication of aircraft parts and materials.

The global managing director of Accenture’s Aerospace and Defense sides, John Schmidt, stated that the new project sees them bring in a fresh touch of elegance and security in the complex and multi-layered supply chains of the aerospace and defense spheres using Blockchain technology. The new solution is expected to make it easier to trace
and track a host of components in the chain while facilitating maintenance know-how and preventing frauds and counterfeits. Adding that Blockchain technology is expected to be a “game-changer” in the aerospace industry.

Schmidt once again expressed sentiments very similar to what he had said last year about this technology’s potential to ensure originality and guard against counterfeiting. Although there have been doubts voiced in some quarters of the world economy, Accenture remains confident of the success of this project, hoping to incorporate this technology in about 86% of aerospace and defense firms over the coming 3 years. Indeed, the Hyperledger Fabric has seen an upsurge in implementation and popularity in recent times, especially through the use of the IBM Blockchain that helps in implementing distributed ledger technology.