Natural Products Companies Manage Supply Chain Challenges With Blockchain

PRINCETON, N.J., April 27, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The natural products industry, which includes dietary supplements, organic foods and beverages, and now cannabis products, has grown over 20% since 2014, reaching over $200 billion in revenue. However, this growth has faced significant challenges where increased demand for natural products is limited by a finite supply of farm grown ingredients, most of which are sourced from countries like China and India.

So how are natural products companies adapting to the complex supply chain along with increased FDA and consumer scrutiny? One method, is integrating blockchain enabled supply chain management software platforms.

Dr. Anand Swaroop, CEO of Cepham, a global manufacturer of botanical raw materials with operations in New Jersey, India, China and Africa, says his company needed to change its overall approach to Supply Chain Management (SCM). "These days, having high quality, sustainable products, and a strong message isn't enough, " says Swaroop. "We needed to find a way to track supplier and buyer transactions and documents, and be prepared for audits and recalls. It's the least visible part of the business, but it's critical to our overall success and building trust with our customers."

In proactively addressing his SCM challenges, Swaroop focused his energy on emerging technology. He recently integrated a cloud-based, blockchain-enabled supply chain transparency system created by TagOne, a Princeton, NJ based technology company founded by ex-SAP leaders. He's thrilled with the early results. "TagOne has made an immediate difference. It helped us organize all of our systems into a single interface, and provides a much clearer picture of our overall supply chain with deep analytics, which ultimately leads to more trust from customers."

TagOne's CEO, TJ Gupta, says that the TagOne system being used by Cepham is the culmination of years of hard work and first-hand learning. "After spending more than a decade helping pharmaceutical companies with supply chain transparency solutions, we saw the transition taking place in the natural products industry, and realized that our solution could be a tremendous asset to executives working with food, beverages, supplements or cannabis." He adds that the TagOne solution, which leverages mobile, cloud and blockchain technology, helps build confidence with executives by helping to streamline their supply chain process, and also gain visibility into all the ingredients being sourced with a blockchain enabled visual map. A big smile crosses Gupta's face as he notes that consumers are also big winners here. "Blockchain, being an immutable digital ledger, enables seed to shelf transparency for the first time in history. And in the end, the consumers win because they know what they are putting in their bodies."

According to Yadim Medore, CEO of Pure Branding, and creators of "The ROI of Transparency" research report, the new level of transparency that blockchain brings to the table will be a huge asset to an increasingly wary consumer base. "For supplier companies that produce ingredients, offer raw materials, or provide contract manufacturing for brands that sell to consumers and/or practitioners, demonstrating supply chain transparency could be the single most important factor that determines the sale. 73% of consumers say that transparency is of value to them, and supplement brands are looking for support in telling their transparency stories."

As for the future, Gupta notes that ongoing innovation in blockchain will deliver unparalleled transparency up and down the supply chain, from the point of a seed being selected, to the moment of purchase at retail. "It's amazing to be able to solve two problems at once: helping businesses thrive in a more complex world, and at the same time, empowering consumers to make better & healthier buying decisions."

About TagOne LLC: TagOne is a technology company that delivers transparency to the natural foods industry through innovation in supply chain management. The platform empowers B2B customers with End-to-End (E2E) track and trace capabilities, resulting in increased operational visibility and leadership agility. Learn more at http://www.TagOne.com.

SOURCE TagOne