Blockchain as Middleware+

Part 7: Blockchain in Supply Chain ManagementInternational audienceIn supporting decision making of manufacturing companies, the added value of cross-domain data exchange for aggregating information is well established in enterprise organization research and is represented, for example, in the reference model “Internet of Production” (IoP). Currently, there is little research regarding the role of Blockchain technology in such a reference model and how specifically the IoP needs to be expanded to address cross-company data exchange. This paper presents a proposal for such an extension to outline the use of Blockchain technology and to elaborate the open research demands for implementation. In particular, desk research and the development of concrete use cases for cross-company data exchange between business application systems were carried out. The results are, on the one hand, extending the IoP by a third dimension, which corresponds to the supply chain, and, on the other hand clarification of the role Blockchain technology can take in this context