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Blockchain technology is changing the rules in many industries for its high potential. It has already modified our concept of currency, but have you ever thought about it in correlation with wine? Some entrepreneurs and start-ups have done it by finding new ways of creating value in the wine market.

As a matter of fact, the provenance of the product, certification and control of the quality are all fundamental aspects of the agri-food sector. Indeed, it is very difficult to assess the authenticity of a bottle of wine because it may occur that after an inspection carried out by an expert it could be refilled or altered. By some estimates, almost 20 % of the total wine production in the world is counterfeit with huge losses in terms of revenues for the top wine estates.

These are all issues that the implementation of a Blockchain process can quickly remove. In fact, this technologic ledger fits perfectly: it is timeless, immutable and independent. These databases could enable the customers to be informed about the journey of their bottles from vineyard to table. According to that idea, some companies have been founded with the aim of using Blockchain to track the entire production process. For example, the Israeli VinX or the Wine Blockchain EY, born from the collaboration of EY Italy with the startup EZ LAB. The latter has developed an app that permits to scan the barcode of the bottle in order to know everything about the product.

In addition, according to some surveys, over 70% of the customers would be willing to pay a premium price if the transparency was higher. Given that, the adoption of Blockchain databases could potentially expand the market. Indeed, the producers would be able to demonstrate that their wine is certified and controlled, while the consumers would trust more and consequently recognize more value to their purchase.

To conclude, Blockchain is likely to modify the wine industry over the next years. In fact, this technology enables the winegrowers to overcome several issues that looked unsolvable so far.

 

References:

 

• https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/04/overstocks-investment-arm-funded-blockchain-for-wine/

• http://www.ezlab.it/case-studi es/wine-blockchain/

• http://socialvignerons.com/2018/09/11/how-will-blockchain-technology-change-wine-interview-with-maureen-downey/

 

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During recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about Artificial Intelligence and its potential threat to thousands of workers all over the world. Some papers have shown how the impact will reduce the number of jobs critically (Hughes 2014), meanwhile other authors are more cautious in making predictions (Brynjolfsson et al., 2018).

Its impending imminent will affect the entire structure of the firm and, thus, their supply chain. Chatbots in procurement, new predictive analytics and autonomous vehicles for logistics are only a few of the applications that can be implemented in the modern Supply Chain Management.

But what will the impact be of AI on this fundamental process?

According to Gary Hanifan and Kris Timmermans from Deloitte, the true point is not the human replacement, but the value that a new kind of collaboration can generate. Robots are programmed to complete tasks, not entire jobs, unlocking new perspectives in terms of increase in human capabilities.

In particular, three kind of new jobs could be considered:

 

• Trainers who have to “translate” human behaviour into algorithms, whose goal is to teach AI systems how to operate as best as they can
• Explainers who analyse the data, giving accountability to the AI’s processes
• Sustainers who are in charge of controlling the adherence of AI’s actions to the original goals, also taking into account an ethical dimension

 

Furthermore, sensors and devices could gather a huge amount of data that should be analysed in order to make the processes more efficient. Consequently, another role could arise: the digital engineer.

To conclude, the arrival of the AI could create new jobs in the Supply Chain. These professions will face the task of managing these robots and interpreting the resulting data. Clearly, all these new positions should own some analytical and mathematical skills because they will have to deal with a vast amount of information.  Therefore, in order to do this a proper digital and statistical background is necessary.

Alberto Duretto

 

References:

 

• Hanifan, G., Timmermans, K., (2018). New Supply Chain Jobs Are Emerging as AI Takes Hold. Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2018/08/new-supply-chain-jobs-are-emerging-as-ai-takes-hold
• Hughes, J. (2014). A strategic opening for a basic income guarantee in the global crisis being created by AI, robots, desktop manufacturing and biomedicine. JET press. Available at: https://jetpress.org/v24/hughes2.htm
• Erik Brynjolfsson et al., (2018). What Can Machines Learn, and What Does It Mean for Occupations and the Economy?. AEA Papers and Proceedings. Available at: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tom/pubs/AEA2018-WhatCanMachinesLearn.pdf