Computers & Industrial Engineering 157 (2021) 107334

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Computers & Industrial Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/caie

Developing a blockchain framework for the automotive supply chain: A

systematic review
Kotha Raj Kumar Reddy a, Angappa Gunasekaran b, *, P. Kalpana c, V. Raja Sreedharan d,
S Arvind Kumar e
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Information Technology Design & Manufacturing (IIITDM), Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India
b
School of Business and Public Administration, California State University, Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, 20BDC/140, Bakersfield, CA 93311-1022, USA
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Information Technology for Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India
d
Department of Supply Chain Management, BEAR Lab, Rabat Business School, Université Internationale de Rabat, Morocco
e
Automotive Supply Chain Analytics – SME, Chennai, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: As world is affected by demand volatility; process uncertainty; supply chain complexity and information am­
Automotive supply chain biguity forming a VUCA world. To manage this scenario, industries are adopting emerging technologies for
Blockchain business excellence and one among them is Blockchain. Blockchain technology (BCT) is a distributed ledger
Systematic literature review
technology (DLT) that stores transactional records in a tamper-proof and immutable way; it is a promising so­
VUCA world
lution for incorporating transparency and traceability in traditional ecosystem. As automotive industries are
facing a Volatile environment, Uncertain schedules & information; Complex supply chain networks, and
Ambiguous decisions that cripples the automotive supply chain (ASC). Therefore, BCT can be used to address
issues related to ASC in VUCA world. Keeping this in mind, study reported a systematic literature review (SLR) of
BCT applications in ASC. More than seventy research papers were reviewed based on different BCT character­
istics and applications. Through content analysis, study explored how to link supply chain visibility, information
transparency with BCT for an efficient ASC in VUCA world. Moreover, a BCT implementation framework is
proposed for ASC, to provide a decision-making approach for practitioners in VUCA world.

1. Introduction automotive industry is evolving with new technologies ranging from

As world is becoming more impulsive, many industries have started
looking for emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence; Ma­
chine Learning; Industry 4.0, and Blockchain for their business excel­
lence (Rejikumar, Arunprasad, Persis, & Sreeraj, 2019). Because
business operates in a VUCA world which is characterized by Volatile
environments; Uncertain outcomes; Complex operational networks, and
Ambiguous decisions (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). So, to sail business
operations in these rising tides of the VUCA world, businesses need to be
equipped with technology that can minimize challenges in business
operations and facilitate flawless functioning and one such technology is
Blockchain (Kaivo-oja & Lauraeus, 2018). BCT is an emerging technol­
ogy which helps in recording different transactions and creates a new
norm for transactions between different entities with transparency
(Manimuthu, Sreedharan, Rejikumar, & Marwaha, 2019). As
hybrid, electric, and autonomous cars in the form of connected vehicles,
indicating the next stage in digitalization and information sharing.
However, the automotive industry’s supply chain activities are dynamic
and changeable resulting in operational inefficiencies (Bai & Sarkis,
2020). To tackle these inefficiencies better information sharing is
required. With the advent of Industry 4.0, automotive industry wit­
nessed massive deployment of sensors, use of big data techniques,
improved computational power, and storage capacity (Rejikumar et al.,
2019). Also, deployment of prediction algorithms, edge computing,
novel human–machine interfaces, robotics, IoT (Internet of Things) en­
hancements, and 3D/4D printing (Fernandez-Carames & Fraga-Lamas,
2019) help manufacturing facilities to coordinate effectively with their
primary suppliers, Lead Logistics Providers (LLP), and shippers to ensure
timely delivery of parts and optimize inventory levels. Moreover,
Automotive industry heavily depends on components and raw material

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: agunasekaran@csub.edu (A. Gunasekaran), kalpana@iiitdm.ac.in (P. Kalpana), raja.sreedharan@uir.ac.ma (V. Raja Sreedharan), sarvind2@
ford.com (S. Arvind Kumar).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2021.107334
Received 19 June 2020; Received in revised form 13 March 2021; Accepted 13 April 2021
Available online 16 April 2021
0360-8352/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
suppliers from multiple locations, so transparency and accountability
are required for efficient supply chains (Zhang, Zhang, Tao, Liu, & Zuo,
2019). Like any other supply chains, automotive supply chain (ASC) is
facing tremendous pressure to increase transparency, and lower process
uncertainties. Such drive created a need for robust and reliable tech­
nology for the information sharing and monitoring among the ASC
stakeholders (Ramezankhani, Torabi, & Vahidi, 2018).
Therefore, automotive industries explored the Industry 4.0 based
technologies and adopted BCT for their ASC activities (Raghuram,
Sandeep, Sreedharan, & Saikouk, 2020). Further, adoption of BCT for
ASC facilitated original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to collect
vehicle performance and durability-based information known as the
telematics data, which can help the automotive industries to plan their
business operations efficiently. Based on the above discussion, study has
proposed the following research questions:
RQ1. What are ASC practices reported in the literature for BCT
adoption?
RQ2. How can BCT solve critical challenges faced by ASC?
RQ3. What kind of BCT is required to digitize ASC practices?
RQ4. How the supply chain visibility, information transparency, BCT
are linked together into an efficient ASC for the stakeholders?
The unique contribution of the work is as follows: (1) Study explores
the role of BCT in ASC (2) Cluster analysis developed unique areas for
review (3) Developed a BCT enabled framework for ASC in the VUCA
world. (4) Proposed unique implication for researchers, practitioners,
and policy makers from review. The rest of the paper is organized as
follows. Section 2 discusses the background for the research and pro­
vides a brief outline of the most important studies reviewed so far.
Section 3 deals with the review methodology, followed by Section 4,
which reviews the most relevant research related to BCT in ASC &
findings. Section 5 reports the proposed framework & Implications of
the study and ends with the conclusion.
2. Background for research
2.1. Automotive supply chain
ASC is a complex network, consisting of a wide range of vehicle parts
along with multiple stakeholders such as suppliers, distributors, dealers,
Fig. 1. Typical Automotive Supply Chain.
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Computers & Industrial Engineering 157 (2021) 107334
regulatory agencies, and insurance companies (Biswas & Gupta, 2019).
Further, ASC is well-defined and well-controlled through the traditional
practices. With the integration of IoT into the conventional practice,
there exists an incredible opportunity to create a single source of data/
actuality across the supply chain (Rejikumar et al., 2019). This actuality
is where BCT can be used to create a common platform for transparent
supply chain. A typical ASC is illustrated below in Fig. 1.
2.2. Blockchain technology
Blockchain is a digital, decentralized, distributed ledger that pro­
vides a way for digital information to be recorded, shared, and main­
tained by a community. BCT can record transactions among multiple
parties efficiently in a verifiable and permanent way (Helo & Hao,
2019). The features of Blockchain are immutability, decentralization,
privacy, transparency, security, equitable access, and data quality with
large quantities (Li et al., 2019). BCT creates trust in the ecosystem by
introducing immutability, transparency into existing practices; it can be
connected to the ever-increasing sets of data (Leng et al., 2020). More­
over, critical characteristics of Blockchain such as real-time settlement
of transactions, reliability and availability, irreversibility, immutability
enable better information sharing among stakeholders (Yi, 2019).
Further, Blockchain’s protocols promotes commitment, consensus, se­
curity, privacy, and authenticity for user making it as an excellent
candidate for information sharing for ASC (Yadav and Singh, 2020a).
Also, Researchers and practitioners are predominantly implementing
BCT in the food industry and applying it in other applications namely
healthcare, identity management, land record management, E-gover­
nance, internet of things, and energy management.
2.3. Smart contracts
Smart contracts are a set of code lines which are stored in Blockchain
that are then executed when the predetermined terms and conditions are
met (Viriyasitavat, Xu, Bi, & Hoonsopon, 2019), smart contracts can be
applied for any application which requires stringent evaluation with a
set of conditions, with smart contracts, one can have transparent auto­
mated data-driven decision-making (Xu, Zeng, Yang, & Shao, 2020). In
the automotive industry, smart contracts are useful in addressing
problems such as supplier evaluation system, just in time inventory and
supply method, purchase orders and master agreements, legal avenues
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
for relief, definite and specific terms in requirements, regulation
dividing contracts (Hu et al., 2019).
2.4. Digitalising the automotive supply chain
IoT is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and
digital machines, objects, that are provided with unique identifiers with
the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-
human or human-to-computer interaction (Rathee, Sharma, Kumar, &
Iqbal, 2019). IoT and IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) are both used
for incorporating intelligence and connectivity in an industrial system,
while the difference between them lies in their mode of usage and IoT is
mostly used for consumer requirements; IIoT is used for industrial
requirement in the manufacturing monitoring systems (Rejikumar et al.,
2019).
The survival of auto OEMs would depend on the adaptability to
change in the age of digitalization (Guo et al., 2019). Organizations are
tending towards a digital approach using a large amount of data that is
being captured in the ASCs through IoT, and data can be captured from
the manufacturing facility, processes, finished goods, logistics, and
customer usage patterns. However, this data is obsolete until organized,
deciphered, and comprehensively analysed for inferences. According to
the IEEE forum, the acquired data is being used for occasional technical
checks and process log fulfilments but is rarely being used for detailed
analysis (Zhiqiang & Jun, 2017). In this ever-evolving digital era, data is
the new oil that can significantly impact business processes. However,
with the existing practices, the purpose of using this new oil is not being
valued. There are many challenges with the ASC, which are ignored and
requires attention from its stakeholders, and one among them is the lack
of transparency in the ecosystem (Miglani, Kumar, Chamola, & Zeadally,
2020 & Pournader, Shi, Seuring, & Koh, 2020). Currently, the auto­
motive industry is moving towards electrification, which will eventually
require remodelling of the existing supply chain. For example, an in­
ternal combustion engine, which requires different components from
various suppliers, will be entirely replaced by a battery, that will serve as
the main powertrain component of Electric Vehicle (EV) (Novais,
Maqueira, & Ortiz-Bas, 2019; Özceylan, Demirel, Çetinkaya, & Demirel,
2017).
Various factors contribute to the complexity of the ASC, including
vast geographical distances, the significant presence of intermediaries,
and various levels of suppliers with large supplier bases. There are un­
certainties and duplications in the captured data, and the same data is
being used for a detailed analysis of the ASC system. Also, manufacturers
are not able to communicate the real data about the products to end
customers through traditional systems, the automotive industry is
exceedingly feeble in terms of sharing real-time data across parties
(Queiroz, Telles, & Bonilla, 2019) and nowhere in the supply chain the
authenticity of the data being checked (Guo et al., 2019). Even if the
OEM or supplier shares the data, it will not add any value to the products
or customers until and unless the data is shared through a trusted
platform, combining BCT with IoT can provide exceptional results, since
both augment each other’s features, and the combination can instill trust
in counterparts. IoT captures the data from physical assets without
human intervention, and this captured data can be integrated with the
blockchain infrastructure for the inclusion of shared transactions with
tamper-proof and immutable records.
However, to deal with the challenges of ASCs, stakeholders need to
have a better understanding of the automotive ecosystem (Sharma,
Kumar, & Park, 2019). Most automotive industries are investing in new
digital technologies to capture enormous amounts of data continuously
and help in monitoring the performance of the assets. However, the
entire data needs to be bonded together, adequately managed, cured,
and handled in a decentralized environment for further synthesis (Kang
et al., 2017). Technologies like IoT consist of computing embedded
devices, sensors with excellent sensing capability, and latency-free data
acquisition systems, which can communicate with other devices for
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Computers & Industrial Engineering 157 (2021) 107334
actuation and connecting people through the internet (Kasten, 2020).
Further, data from supply chains can be subjected to advanced analytics
& DLT for data driven decision making & end-to-end visibility in near
real-time (Kamble, Gunasekaran, & Arha, 2019). Integrating digitized
ASC to the BCT needs detailed understanding, to make integration
flawless.
2.5. Integrating BCT with digitized automotive supply chain
BCT consists of four key features that enhance integration and co­
ordination among the members of a supply chain, i.e., transparency,
validation, automation, and tokenization (Chang, Chen, & Wu, 2019).
Transparency relates to a shared ledger of information that is aggregated
from various sources such as the blockchain participants, immutability
of records and consensus-based verification and validates the informa­
tion. Next, automation refers to smart contracts based on verified in­
formation (Shen and Pena-Mora, 2018), and BCT creates tokens that
represent a specific claim on any asset or consensus between blockchain
members. For example, Blockchain can be used to identify and report
counterfeit parts, make the process of a “product recall” more cost-
effective, and make transactions faster and more secure by removing
intermediaries (Xu, Jin, Zeng, Yang, & Chen, 2019). Though BCT is
being widely adopted in the food supply chain, the same is not appli­
cable for ASCs because each supply chain is unique in the way it operates
(Zhao et al., 2019). The Return on Investment (ROI) of the blockchain-
based food supply chain is price sensitive selling of end products (Chang
et al., 2019). In contrast, the ROI for the automotive sector is the way
business-related activities operate before and after implementing
blockchain in the OEM operations. One must study and understand
VUCA in the automotive industry to get benefitted from the BCT
implementation.
2.6. VUCA in the automotive industry
The automotive industry is no exception to the VUCA world. ASCs
are complex networks that involve multiple organizational presences
with support/follow-up from OEM internal employees (Lam & Khare,
2016). In such cases, there is insufficient data about processes and
products to understand the instances comprehensively (Bennett &
Lemoine, 2014). While in some cases, the understanding from existing
data might not be of any value in predicting instances or failures. It is
required to have the right combination of information and experimen­
tation to understand the existing and ongoing situations. Such scenarios
will result in increased volatility and uncertainty in the ASC operations.
Further, the ASC is becoming more complex with the rise of “black
swans” and “perfect storms” which helps to describe the unthinkable or
the improbable events (Paté-Cornell, 2012). Such events create ambig­
uous decisions in ASC. For example, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is an
epitome of the black swan, during such crises, many industries such as
the automotive industries need to validate and improve the agility and
visibility in their supply chains, regardless of the industry type and it
becomes critical to leverage data-driven decision making for risk miti­
gation and resilience in the supply chain (Rizou, Galanakis, Aldawoud,
& Galanakis, 2020). Therefore, the aim is to improve the ASC using the
BCT and integrate the ASC operations with a tamper-proof system for
sharing digital information in real-time among stakeholders (Bernabe,
Canovas, Hernandez-Ramos, Torres Moreno, & Skarmeta, 2019).
3. Methods
The study focused on conducting an SLR of published research arti­
cles to arrive at an unbiased summary of the blockchain applications in
ASC. SLR adopts a method that is replicable and scientific for estimating
and interpreting the research questions related to the topic of interest
(Queiroz et al., 2019; Addo-Tenkorang and Helo, 2016). Also, SLR aids
in developing insights based on the theoretical analysis of existing
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
research and identifies the gaps in existing literature (Tranfield, Denyer,
& Smart, 2003; Glock, Grosse, Jaber, & Smunt, 2019). The SLR approach
consists of three stages: (1) Planning the review; (2) Conducting the
review, (3) Reporting the review findings.
3.1. Planning the review
The purpose of the review is to study the application of blockchain in
ASC. The emphasis was on studying the building blocks of the block­
chain, on the various ASC activities portrayed in Fig. 2. More specif­
ically, the authors sought to understand how the practice of blockchain
will help to make the ASC resourceful and efficient (Aggarwal et al.,
2019). To list the conceptual boundaries, the authors used keywords
covering blockchains such as digital ledger, shared ledger, decentralized
ledger, and smart contracts. Not many restrictions were applied to the
“automotive supply chain” and search included terms like “automotive”,
“automobile” and “vehicle”. All the review articles were included to fit
the review objective and check if ASC was addressed in the articles.
3.2. Conducting the review
The authors used the Scopus database to conduct the initial search
for the published works. The Scopus database covers referred journals
from major publishing houses such as Springer; Emerald; IEEE; Taylor
and Francis and Elsevier (Kipper, Furstenau, Hoppe, Frozza, & Iepsen,
2020). The study also included blockchain related business articles to
review the industrial insights. Further, the authors excluded the words
‘Conference Paper’, ‘Book Chapter’, ‘Note’, and ‘Book’ from the search
process. Moreover, the backward and forward search ensured that the
selected papers were significant and reflected BCT usage in ASC.
The initial search yielded a total of 963 articles from the Scopus
database using the following combination of keywords.
The keyword search was applied through a pairwise request
considering one keyword from each category representing BCT and ASC.
The study reviewed abstract of selected papers and revealed that not all
publications focused on blockchain applications in ASC. In some articles,
blockchain and other keywords usage were irrelevant to the study. Also,
for inclusion in the review, articles had to meet the following review
criteria 1) The articles should be peer-reviewed and published; 2) The
studies focused on BCT; 3) The studies reported blockchain application
in any aspect of the supply chain; 4) The studies were published in En­
glish. Based on these four criteria, study collected 186 articles. Further,
we subjected the reviewed articles to pass the inter-reliability test
(Sharma, Kamble, Gunasekaran, Kumar, & Kumar, 2020). Each of the
papers was independently rated by three authors (two from India and
one from Morocco), and their ratings were assessed for inter-rater
Fig. 2. Publication selection process.
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Computers & Industrial Engineering 157 (2021) 107334
reliability (Sharma et al., 2020). From the inter-reliability, papers rated
by the three authors were considered, leading to 64 articles. Further, the
articles with the difference in ratings were revalidated through the
iteration process, once the difference in rating was resolved, articles
with common ratings were selected for the study. The rating process
enabled the selection of articles relevant to the purpose of the study, and
an exhaustive sample of 70 articles was obtained through the review
criteria (refer Fig. 2).
3.3. Descriptive statistics – Year wise publication details
The publication selection process (refer Fig. 2) shows that 70 articles
directly supporting BCT in ASC. Further, focus on ASC started increasing
from 2018 onwards. However, BCT interest towards ASC increased in
the year 2019 with 43 articles. IEEE Access, Sensor Journals, and In­
ternational Journal of Production are the major contributors to BCT.
Moreover, the peer-reviewed journals such as IEEE transactions on
Systems, Man and Cybernetics Systems, and Supply Chain Management
have acknowledged the need for research in the ASC using BCT. With the
use of different algorithms like Cryptography; Hash Function; IIOT
Digital Signature Algorithm; Hyperledger Fabric; Deep Learning and
Block-Vehicular Network, it was observed that Cryptography is the most
used algorithm in BCT, followed by Vehicle Network, Deep Learning,
and Hyperledger Fabric. Also, it was found that most of the studies used
various algorithms in literature review reporting and China emerged as
the top contributor followed by the USA, India, and the UK (Fig. 3).
3.3.1. Findings from Descriptive analysis
Using the Descriptive analysis, study explores the relationship be­
tween scholarly articles and BCT application in ASC in terms of country
and journal. Moreover, present work was able to summaries the key
findings on BCT for ASC in Table 1. Furthermore, BCT is no longer
restricted to Bitcoin alone and has the potential to solve many problems
that cannot be addressed by traditional databases (Nayak & Dhaigude,
2019). Although Blockchain for supply chain applications is in its early
stage, it is a perfect fit for digitizing supply chains and for integrating
trust into the existing ecosystem. BCT with IoT ensures verified data
acquisition, tamper-proof data storage, the immutability of shared re­
cords, data analysis, and communicating insights to stakeholders in real-
time. Blockchain has the potential to solve problems in the supply chain
by eliminating trusted third parties that certify raw material, compo­
nents, finished products, and financial transactions as they travel
through the supply chain (Longo, Nicoletti, Padovano, d’Atri, & Forte,
2019). Every participant or node will possess a copy of transactions;
private blockchain can help channelize the information or details for
different stakeholders. As BCT is new, there is a large gap between
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al. Computers & Industrial Engineering 157 (2021) 107334

Fig. 3. Journal vs. Topics vs. Country-wise contribution.

Table 1
Studies on Blockchain applications in ASC.
Authors Method Algorithm System Field Application

Shih et al. (2019) ECS Cryptography Hash Function VANET Traceability Vehicular Network
Sharma et al. (2019) ECS Ethereum Platform Ad Hoc Network Smart City Autonomous Cars
Guo et al. (2019) ECS Digital Signature Algorithm Edge Computing Collaborative Consumption Vehicular Network
Dayana et al. (2019) ECS Hyperledger Fabric Sensor System Smart Contracts Vehicular Tracking
Sushmetha and Vairamuthu (2019) ECS Cryptography VANET Sustainable Development Air Pollution
Reddy and Premamayudu (2019) ES DL Telematics Motor Claims Premium Calculation
Xu, Liu, Li, and Wang (2018) C Cryptography Logic Gates Remote Attestation Vehicular Communication
Lei et al. (2017) ECS Cryptography Intelligent Systems Accident Prevention Vehicular Communication
Kang et al. (2017) C Cryptography PETCON Decentralized Energy Trading Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Sharma, Moon, and Park (2017) C Block-VN Ad Hoc Network Smart City Vehicular Network

Note: C – Conceptual; ECS – Empirical Case Study; ES- Empirical Survey; VANET - Vehicular ad-hoc network; DL- Deep Learning; PETCON - P2P Electricity Trading
system with Consortium blockchain; Block VN – Vehicular Network.

supply chain practitioners and blockchain in terms of blockchain capa­
bility and usage to solve existing critical challenges (Biswas & Gupta,
2019). A detailed description of the inner workings and algorithms of
BCT is out of the scope of this paper, and this study aims to understand
existing supply chain practices through literature review and proposes
an efficient framework for implementing BCT for the ASC potential
areas, this needs a systematic study to evaluate and identify the need for
BCT suitability in ASC practices.
3.3.2. Need for Blockchain technology in automotive supply chain
Although BCT comes with many benefits, every traditional database
cannot be replaced by DLT. There must be a necessity or clear demand
for Blockchain in an ecosystem to solve critical challenges (Astarita
et al., 2020). Although Blockchain has added benefits, it can create
complications without a proper business case and requirements (Man­
imuthu et al., 2019). BCT also has limitations such as slow response time
compared to traditional databases, inability to edit the information once
added, and challenges in managing public and private keys. It is
essential to evaluate the necessity of BCT, or else it will defeat the
purpose of having Blockchain in an ecosystem because it can create silos
in data (Fernandez-Carames & Fraga-Lamas, 2019). BCT exists in two
different types, i.e. Public Blockchain (permission less Blockchain) and
Private Blockchain (permissioned Blockchain), which differ in their
functioning and applications. Private blockchain is faster and more
scalable than public blockchain (Cao, Wang, Zhang, Song, & Lv, 2020).
Since the information in blockchain is going to be immutable, one
must consider the resources and uncertainties while acquiring the in­
formation (Xu et al., 2020). The sources which are the inputs for the
blockchain network are known as blockchain oracles, here IoT infra­
structure is one of the blockchain oracles. Adopting IoT with Blockchain
will have added benefits like accurate information acquisition, real-time
information delivery, removal of unnecessary intermediation, building a
trusted environment in an organization, faster and safer transactions
with multi-tier suppliers, and managing critical data throughout the
product life cycle (Rane and Thakker, 2019). Authors like Viriyasitavat
et al. (2019), Carvalho et al. (2019), and Yi (2019), conducted a liter­
ature review and collected the opinions of industrial experts on BCT
usage, after evaluating ASC and it turned out to be a private blockchain.
Private Blockchain, i.e., Hyperledger Fabric (Dayana, Krishnan, Patrick,
& Venkateswaran, 2019), can be used to solve critical challenges of
ASCs.
3.3.2.1. Challenges for automotive industry. Though the automotive in­
dustry is technologically advanced, the ASCs are facing many challenges
due to inefficient information platforms. Key issues include.
• Inefficiency in sharing real-time data related to inventory, demand,
transactions, etc., with supply chain members (Jaoude & Saade,
2019).

5
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
• Lack of real-time data sharing which results in inventory obsoles­
cence (Bai and Sarkis, 2020)
• Data duplication and inconsistent alert systems without verified
data, while the same data is being utilized for analysis (Attaran &
Gunasekaran, 2019)
• Lack of transparency and traceability in supply chain activities and
logistics (Bürer, de Lapparent, Pallotta, Capezzali, & Carpita, 2019)
and poor visibility (Ferrag et al., 2019)
• Data is being used just for technical checks, rather than detailed
analysis (Rejikumar, Aswathy Asokan, & Sreedharan, 2020)
• Uncertainties in data resulting in the bullwhip effect (Dolgui et al.,
2020)
• Inclusion of paperwork in logistics and the presence of numerous
intermediaries
• (Fu & Zhu, 2019)
• Difficulties in following up with suppliers and their services, with an
absence of a platform for validating the actual status of the inventory
position of suppliers and their supply related capacity constraints
(Bai and Sarkis, 2020; He, Ren, Zhu, Choo, & -. R., 2020)
• Lack of security for intellectual property (IP), understanding the
mobility and car culture in the future (Fraga-Lamas & Fernández-
Caramés, 2019)
• Risk of defect driven products and product recall issues (Perboli,
Musso, & Rosano, 2018)
Based on the above discussion, RQ2 is addressed. Further, the study
focused on understanding the nature of the BCT needed for the ASC.
Therefore, study reviewed the collected articles to explore the BCT based
application in the ASC through the thematic analysis.
Fig. 4. Conceptual Mapping of the keywords.
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Computers & Industrial Engineering 157 (2021) 107334
3.4. Thematic analysis
To explore the concepts of the ASC and the BCT, study analysed
thematic areas to develop a review framework. Similar approach was
adopted by many authors in the past (Sreedharan, Pattusamy, Mohan, &
Persis, 2020; Carvalho et al., 2019; Tiwari, Wee, & Daryanto, 2018).
Based on these studies; the present work collected the keywords from
the reviewed articles and created a cluster to understand the areas which
are influenced by the BCT in the ASC. Using multi-correspondence
analysis to map the keywords based on their similarity from the
reviewed articles. To understand the thematic areas from the chosen
keywords the authors used Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA).
MCA enables one to analyze a given set of qualitative variables and
analyze the pattern of relationships among the given variables (Abdi and
Dominique, 2007). MCA analysis was conducted in the R programing
using the bibliometric package (Cuccurullo, Aria, & Sarto, 2016). Here,
the analysis is carried out by creating a two-dimensional map based on
the number of Document × Word matrices. The authors used the
following conditions for the analysis [CS <- conceptualStructure(M,
field=“ID”, minDegree = 5, k.max = 5, stemming = FALSE), labelsize = 7].
The output obtained from the MCA analysis shows that words with the
same dimension appear closer in the map, which is dimensionally based
on the relative position of the keyword and its distribution. Based on
these, four thematic areas – Pre-production, Transportation, Production,
and Distribution were identified by the authors (refer to Fig. 4).
Further, to cross-validate each of the thematic areas, the author’s
judgment for each of the clusters is evaluated using inter-rater reliability
(Sharma et al., 2020). Using Kendall’s coefficient for the clusters was
calculated. Four different author’s responses were recorded and selected
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
the constructs, which had all the author’s common agreement (>0.783).
Therefore, four thematic areas were identified from the MCA analysis
and validated through Kendall’s coefficient for further analysis
(Raghuram et al. 2020).
4. Review findings & discussion
Therefore, for the Blockchain-enabled ASC, the authors proposed a
review framework (refer Fig. 5) to present the findings for each cluster.
Further, the clusters were critically reviewed and reported in section 4.5,
followed by the BCT framework for ASC in section 5 and followed by the
implication and conclusion.
4.1. Pre-production
Based on the cluster analysis, study developed the review framework
as shown in Fig. 5, which represents the integration of the BCT in the
ASC. Using the four blocks namely (1) Pre-production; (2) Trans­
portation (3) Production (4) Distribution from the review framework.
Also, study has explored the BCT in detail and reported the findings in
the following sections.
4.1.1. Coordination with suppliers
Currently, ASCs are associated with multiple intermediaries between
suppliers and OEMs (Chen et al., 2020). Payments made to suppliers by
the OEM can be sent only via a financial institution, because of its
presence, suppliers payment gets delayed due to bank procedures and
internal processing (Blackman, Holland, & Westcott, 2013). BCT is a
good fit for finance (Miraz, Sharif, & Hassan, 2020), and it promises to
facilitate fast, secure, low-cost payment processing services using
encrypted ledgers that provide trusted real-time verifications of trans­
actions without the need for intermediaries such as correspondent banks
and clearing houses (Yi, 2019). Also, BCT can facilitate multi-tier and
multi-party transactions. Through smart contracts, disintermediation
can be done for the supply chain, which eventually results in healthy and
reduced friction in the ecosystem. The benefits to the suppliers also
include on-time payments, incentives, increased transparency, and
accountability in supply chain activities.
4.1.2. Developing a supplier evaluation system
To develop strategic sourcing relationships for long-term business
benefit, especially in the current challenging macroeconomic environ­
ment, there must be a transparent and mutually win–win platform be­
tween OEMs and suppliers. It could be for self-quality certifications or in
auto payments at the right time without bureaucratic delays or in the
Fig. 5. Review Framework.
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redressals, which will eventually help every member in the supply chain
develop the agility and fitness needed to thrive in the challenging
ecosystem (Queiroz et al., 2019). Further, trust is built when OEMs
incentivize better performing candidates through the single point of
truth information; with this, there is less chance to fuddle over perfor­
mance indicators. This can be effectively addressed through smart
contracts on a blockchain, performance indicators to look for in supplier
evaluation are managing capability, overall workforce capabilities, total
quality management, production planning and control systems,
including on-time parts delivery (Sreedharan, Raju, & Srivatsa Srinivas,
2017). Further, IT capabilities, service index, ecological regulation
conformity, cost, and discount details are also included in this effective
process improvement. A supplier evaluation system can help OEMs in
making decisions about continuing a supplier’s contract or approaching
a supplier in a situation of sudden demand or crises (Sushmetha &
Vairamuthu, 2019).
4.2. Transportation
4.2.1. Digitizing automotive logistics
It is important to capture each possible parameter through IoT de­
vices across logistics, including temperature, humidity, motion, loca­
tion, and authentication of parts. With real-time monitoring, OEMs can
potentially capture harmful events in the earliest priority and can plan
necessary corrections (Cao et al., 2020). Lead logistics providers (LLP),
ocean carriers, shippers, and trade companies must all have capabilities
to capture critical parameters in the process of logistics which eventually
supports OEMs vision (Carvalho, Barroso, Machado, Azevedo, & Cruz-
Machado, 2012; Hye, Miraz, Sharif, & Hassan 2020). The IoT gener­
ated data can be used to extract root cause and vulnerable activities. For
acquiring data from logistics devices such as RFID, GPS modules, GIS
modules, barcode scanners, visual inspection devices, and material
handling equipment can be used (Pournader et al., 2020). As mentioned
earlier, a combination of BCT and IoT will add value to the system by
incorporating trust into ASCs.
4.2.2. Supply chain and logistics visibility
Visibility is required in supply chains, all nodes in ASC to be
informed with the right information about upstream and downstream
members for efficient and informed decision making. Supply chain vis­
ibility is the ability to track parts or products without any disruptions
from manufacturers to the destination, including intermediary activities
(Shih, Hsieh, & Kao, 2019). Visibility promotes efficiency, provides in­
sights about the data acquired from trusted environments (Miraz et al.,
2020), and makes it available for all stakeholders. BCT can optimize the
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
ecosystem with the given digital information and help to achieve supply
chain visibility (Kamble, Gunasekaran, & Gawankar, 2018) with
immutability & transparency (Denis et al., 2020) and maintaining a
single ledger across stakeholders. Therefore, BCT will provide a trusted
environment with transparent (Bai and Sarkis, 2020) and traceable
events and security embedded transactions (Yi, 2019). It was tough to
trace events back in the food supply chain, however, after major retailers
implemented BCT in the food supply chain in collaboration with IBM, it
has become effortless to trace back events, it reduced traceback time
significantly (Jaoude and Saade, 2019; Zhao et al., 2019).
4.3. Production
4.3.1. Preventive maintenance of machine tools
Automotive industries have large machines and tool supplier bases
with an incredible amount of in-house manufacturing facilities, where
maintaining the enormous machines is necessary to minimize downtime
and uphold quality in production. It is essential to forecast spare parts
based on preventive & predictive maintenance, which requires past data
about machines, including alerts, process, stoppages, and failures. The
data is collected through IoT devices and used for detailed analysis (Xu
et al., 2020). Then a BCT based model can be used for scheduling pre­
ventive maintenance and forecasting spare parts, since the entire data is
stored on BCT, transparency will be maintained between OEM and
machine tool suppliers, which will help in smoother negotiations and
better relations (Kasten, 2020).
4.3.2. Inventory optimization
Inventory obsolescence is a more common phenomenon in ASC, due
to a lack of transparency across departments. Going digital in inventory
management can facilitate capturing key parameters like material
storage, Stock keeping unit (SKU) ID, expiry date and demand details
using sensors like material handling devices, barcode sensors, force
sensors etc. (Sharma et al., 2019). After acquiring the physical param­
eters, it will be combined with external parameters and calculated en­
tities; and combined data will be stored in BCT. Optimization of
inventory, space, and cost can be performed using the relevant data
across departments (Ferrag et al., 2019). It is important for OEMs to be
aware of the inventory levels of suppliers; BCT can maintain trans­
parency in holding costs, obsolescence parts, stock limits, and existing
stock levels (Ivanov, Dolgui, & Sokolov, 2019).
4.3.3. Achieving coordination through authentication
In private blockchain, authentication is must to access blockchain
applications. Authentication can be defined based on employee re­
sponsibilities, expertise, and the skilled team an employee belongs to in
the organization (Islam & Kundu, 2019). The stakeholder will have the
privilege to view and modify the data, i.e. appending the data to the
ledger. At a given point, any person from an organization can track or
check the status of an asset or a transaction (Leng et al., 2020), the core
purpose of authentication is to promote a controlled environment and
channelize the data across different teams.
4.3.4. Effective disposal of parts after usage
Another issue that automobile companies face is the effective
disposal of parts after usage to enhance environmental sustainability,
with the known composition, the disposal will be efficient. In the case of
EVs, the disposal of batteries is going to be a significant challenge for
OEMs. So, the idea here is to keep an inbuilt Quick Response (QR) code
for trivial parts, which can be traced and tracked throughout the
component life cycle. The information in the QR code will be facilitated
through BCT, which enables trustable information (Dolgui et al., 2020).
Using the information in QR, efficient disposal can be planned with
proper segregation of various materials, intelligence can be incorporated
in component level (Viriyasitavat et al., 2019a).
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4.4. Distribution
4.4.1. An efficient way of dealing with warranty claim
It is mandatory for OEMs to provide a warranty for their products, to
attract customers, and build trust for the brand. Most of the vehicle parts
come with a warranty because of its cost and importance. BCT based
smart contracts can ensure transparent decision making (Reddy and
Premamayudu, 2019) to approve the warranties and insurance claims.
OEMs can make use of the telematics data from the products in use (Shih
et al., 2019) to get a clear understanding of the product and customer’s
usage history, which will help OEM efficiently manage warranty claims.
Nowadays connected vehicles (CV) & legacy data is available for OEMs
in large volumes, with this data, manufacturers can find the patterns
from vehicles in use. By subjecting a detailed analysis, efficient decisions
about product actions, feature removal, new product development
(NPD) are achievable through existing data.
4.4.2. Recalling defect driven products
Nowadays, OEMs are embedding many sensors into their vehicles, i.
e., telematics, which generates a high volume of data, but this data is not
subject to detailed analysis in most of the instances. A product recall is a
method of call back defective and unsafe products from customers for
service or maintenance. BCT based smart contracts can be used to log all
car repair and maintenance activities along with telematics data for
deciding on recalling defect driven products (Casino et al., 2019).
Digitized or smart cars are set to change the future (Sharma et al., 2019),
and so piloting this idea will enhance the market space of OEMs. As
mentioned earlier, CV data is available in high volumes. By making
better use of CV data, OEM could find potential business use cases to
increase their sales.
4.4.3. Forecast OEM footprint
OEM’s will have a business plan ready with at least five years of
forecast, the business plan includes a product action plan, scope for new
entrants, net revenue assessment, risk and opportunity assessment for
each vehicle line etc. A business plan is specific to each region based on
OEM footprint and industry analysis. OEMs do make use of finished
vehicle accounting, finance present value, vehicle details, supply chain
information, customer experience, manufacturing facilities information
for analysis (Ayvaz and Cetin, 2019). The outcome of the analysis is a
business plan consisting of pricing actions, vehicle launch and drop plan,
risk, and opportunity analysis (Viriyasitavat et al., 2019). Here BCT can
be used to facilitate information transparency across sources, mainly for
the data captured through telematics, since many OEMs are struggling to
include customers into the ecosystem efficiently. As mentioned earlier,
informed decisions are essential for improving business efficiency, by
having customer information inclusion, OEMs can capture new oppor­
tunities in the market by addressing the untapped needs of customers.
Based on the above review, it is obvious that the BCT has a wide­
spread impact in the ASC, which can be foreseen in the reviewed sec­
tions. Also, the ASC is driven by the stakeholders, data from the trusted
sources, blockchain oracles. Therefore, we have proposed blockchain
frameworks that can incentive the ASC performance in section 5.
4.5. Proposed framework & implications
4.5.1. Stakeholders in ASC
ASC deals with many stakeholders (refer Fig. 6) and their roles in­
fluence the kind of IoT infrastructure required/being implemented
across the supply chain. Automotive OEMs rely on two major suppliers –
components or parts suppliers, and machine tool suppliers. There are
fewer transactions with machinery & tools suppliers since large ma­
chinery is a one-time investment (Zhao et al., 2019). Currently, every
link in ASC is not seamlessly connected, and there is a heavy dependency
on intermediaries, which is also not intelligently coordinated to exist as
a single point of truth for OEM/Manufacturers to make proactive
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
Fig. 6. Stakeholders & infrastructure in ASC.
decisions (Fernandez-Carames & Fraga-Lamas, 2019). To achieve a
single point of truth in ASCs, BCT can be potentially leveraged, i.e.
Hyperledger Fabric. The approach is acquiring data from trusted sour­
ces, storing data in a BCT network, creating smart contracts for key
challenges, to build a data-driven decision-making ecosystem (Ali et al.,
2018).
4.5.2. Acquiring data from trusted sources
The input data for Blockchain must be accurate and authenticated as
it is going to be immutable once it is added to the BCT network. IoT and
data acquisition (DAQ) devices can be used to collect data across ASC,
and in some cases, manual entry of data is unavoidable (Alladi et al.,
2019). Logistics in the ASC is extremely complex and expensive, tech­
nologies like IoT, cloud computing, and GPS can be put together to
enable real-time monitoring capabilities that allow OEMs to follow from
assembly lines and during the entire transportation journey to the final
assembly point. Blockchain oracles for this study are IoT and DAQ de­
vices, along with system-generated data when predetermined conditions
are met and restricting manual entry from stakeholders. Moreover, this
interaction can be observed from Fig. 6, GPS is used as an information
linkage between lead logistics providers and customs departments.
Because the shipment tracking is a daunting task for OEM’s, as they rely
on third and fourth-party logistics partners. Further, OEMs have started
incorporating geofencing for the travel routes with optimization, so
location data will be instrumental to get the customs clearance quickly.
Furthermore, studies have started exploring the application of GPS with
GLONASS to increase the OEM visibility to maintain transparency in
terms of payments, carrier, and parts authentication from the customs
(Goncharova & Lindenmeier, 2017). However, it is in earlier stage, with
limited applicability in the ASC, for the same reason it was not consid­
ered for the review.
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4.5.3. Integration of Blockchain oracles
Smart contracts can facilitate the integration of BCT and blockchain
oracle’s data (Chen and Wang et al. 2020). Since BCT is in use, the
authenticity of the data can be achieved. Analytics can be performed to
extract inferences, patterns, and correlations. BCT based application
uses the data collected through blockchain oracles and limits the access
for stakeholders to maintain confidentiality (Hu et al., 2019; Xu et al.,
2020), with this the data is being stored in Blockchain. The same BCT
application can be extended to model the data for optimization, pre­
dictions, and root cause analysis to extract trustable insights that help
OEMs to get a clear picture of their facilities and stakeholders. To make
business decisions efficient, employees must be informed with happen­
ings in the firm with minimal uncertainty in near real time. BCT can
enable communication of insights & information in near real-time in­
formation to stakeholders (Li, Chu, Feng, Tian, & Mu, 2019), BCT en­
ables ASC stakeholders to access IoT generated data without any central
control and management (Manavalan & Jayakrishna, 2019). Based on
the above discussion, the authors have proposed a blockchain frame­
work for the ASC integration; data, and interaction type using the DLT
for better ASC performance and illustrated in Fig. 7.
4.6. Proposed framework
The review findings indicate that BCT is a good fit for ASCs; the data
gathered from various blockchain oracles in ASCs will be used to
introduce BCT across firms (Longo et al., 2019). Also, findings indicate
that BCT in ASC supports improving the visibility, transparency, trace­
ability, and efficiency of the supply chain by solving various challenges
such as decoupling intermediaries, data sharing in near real-time, uti­
lizing entire data for decision making. The proposed framework in Fig. 7
has three main sections: Activities and Data in ASC, Use of DLT, and ASC
performance.
4.6.1. Activities and data in ASC
Here ASC is represented by various stakeholder activities, interaction
type, and data being gathered for Blockchain across the supply chain.
Here, the authors are considering interactions of departments, including
manufacturing, purchase, procurement, production /assembly, in­
ventory management, logistics, and distribution (Ivanov et al., 2019).
The interaction exchange between departments within an organization
or between organizations is of three types, i.e., physical, information,
and financial (Fernandez-Carames & Fraga-Lamas, 2019). Physical
interaction deals with components, parts, and finished goods; it is
dominating in manufacturing, production & assembly, inventory, and
logistics.
Data interaction is trivial, and it conveys insights regarding OEM end
products, processes, etc., in detail, this is the key for BCT implementa­
tion. Large volumes of data are being captured through IoT devices, in
the case of ASC, data will comprise of timestamps, demand and in­
ventory details, purchase and discount details, SKU ID, shipment details,
consignee details, quality reports, the status of the parts, product
description, carrier code, driver and vehicle details, costs of inventory
holding, manufacturing, outsourcing, transportation, telematics data,
machine data, etc. (Reddy and Premamayudu, 2019). The final type of
interaction is financial, where the finance department will clear in­
voices, payments between the supplier and the OEM, that cannot be sent
directly, i.e., without going through a financial institution or a clear­
inghouse (Jain, 2019).
4.6.2. Use of distributed ledger technology
DLT is available in two types i.e. of private/public blockchains and
can be used to improve organizations’ performance (Ayvaz & Cetin,
2019). Here, the focus is on Hyperledger Fabric, a private blockchain
network that assures control over applications with defined and definite
authentication for stakeholders. Here, the initial aim is to implement
BCT in ASC, once the pilot produces efficient and supportive results,
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
Fig. 7. Proposed Blockchain framework.
OEMs can explore the scope of integrating digital technologies (machine
learning, deep learning, AI, etc.) with BCT (Queiroz and Fosso Wamba,
2019), which will eventually make systems smarter with inferences and
predictions.
4.6.3. ASC performance
The review findings suggest that implementing BCT in the ASC will
produce competent supply chains. BCT can increase visibility with
transparent and traceable events (Bai and Sarkis, 2020) across the
supply chain and helps in constructing a trusted environment. This
application allows close monitoring of suppliers and logistic providers
and promotes better control over the supply chain with disintermedia­
tion, on-time payments etc. The present study highlights the role of BCT
in digitizing ASC practices (RQ3). Moreover, the VUCA (Volatility, Un­
certainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) world is threatening all walks of
life; therefore, the authors proposed an implementation framework for
the ASC using the BCT in the VUCA context.
4.7. Implementation framework
As discussed earlier, the automotive industry is sailing in the VUCA
world and it emphasizes on BCT for the ASC operations is increasing
every day. VUCA is a cute and trendy way of depicting unpredictable
change (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014; Srinivas & Sreedharan, 2018). The
information-sharing mechanism and visibility among the stakeholders
are influenced by the VUCA world, leading to poor operation in the ASC
Fig. 8. Implementation framework.
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(Casino, Dasaklis, & Patsakis, 2019). Therefore, the authors explored the
impact of the VUCA on the ASC and developed an implementation
model using the BCT. Here the authors have proposed an implementa­
tion framework that holistically evaluates the ASC activities using the
BCT in Fig. 8.
Study has highlighted how VUCA world links with ASC applications
and BCT in Fig. 8. Here, the ASC applications can be classified into four
groups. (1) Digitizing ASC with IoT; (2) Blockchain application-based
users (3) IoT integration with Data acquisition; (4) Smart Contracts.
Each group is affected by the attributes of the VUCA and causes troubles
across the ASC. Therefore, we classified the different attributes of VUCA
and the ASC related issues and linked the issues with the BCT that can
attain the expected outcome (Refer Table 2) for the better operation of
ASC in VUCA world.
The Linux Foundation proposes that the Hyperledger Fabric is one of
the blockchain projects within Hyperledger. Unlike bitcoin, in Hyper­
ledger Fabric, the user can create smart contracts (Nasir, Qasse, Abu
Talib, & Nassif, 2018; Shrestha & Nam, 2019). Like other blockchain
networks, it has a single ledger, which uses smart contracts to perform
transactions, and it is a system in which participants must manage their
transactions (Astarita et al., 2020). Hyperledger Fabric is a private and
permissioned network, where the members of the network enrol through
a trusted Membership Service Provider (MSP). Hyperledger Fabric
mainly consists of three parts: Assets, Chain code, and Ledger.
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
Table 2
Attributes of the VUCA world and its root cause.
VUCA Root cause for VUCA Issues in the ASC
world
Volatility Unpredictable even after Demand, Bullwhip effect, Price changes
understanding the situation with
historical data
Uncertainty Available information not clearly Manufacturing lead times, Material
defined by the environment handling, and logistics
Complexity Lack of infrastructure to meet Structural and operational complexities,
external requirements interdependencies, and variability of
processes
Ambiguity Lack of intelligent information and Regulatory environment with unclear
outcomes are not clearly decisions on emissions and sustainable
understood measures
• Assets are in the form of JASON or Binary format for better security
of data.
• Chain code runs smart contracts written on DLT and defines the asset
structure, transaction, and business logic.
• Distributed Ledger tracks all asset transactions and records change of
assets.
Hyperledger Fabric’s primary intention is to integrate projects in
DLT, with support from different programming languages like Node.js,
Java, and Go can be used to develop smart contracts (Tilkov & Vinoski,
2010; Zhu, Loke, Trujillo-Rasua, Jiang, & Xiang, 2019). A hyper ledger
can accommodate cross-industry integration for developing blockchain
and distributed ledgers, which concentrates on improving the perfor­
mance of the IT system. Also, through the cryptography design Hyper­
ledger ensures reliable transactions for different ASC stakeholders across
the globe (Linux Foundation, 2016). Therefore, the Hyperledger fabric
can address the issues in the ASC and achieve the expected outcomes as
shown in Table 2. Moreover, the proposed framework can facilitate
better information-sharing mechanisms and visibility among the stake­
holders under the influence of the VUCA world for the ASC. Further, the
present section articulated the BCT enabled implementation framework
for the ASC in the VUCA world and its implications are discussed in the
following section 4.8.
4.8. Implications of the study
4.8.1. Implications for practitioners
The need for transparent, traceable, visible, and efficient supply
chains will drive the digital transformation in the automotive industry.
As emerging technologies are disrupting many practices, practitioners
are required to assess their current position in the industry. Practitioners
need to be informed about the pros and cons of BCT in the ASC; while a
firm is adopting a trending technology, it is important to conduct a study
to analyze the amount of complexity it brings into the firm along with
added benefits. Here the prime focus is to demonstrate the capabilities,
scope, and benefits of BCT in ASC to practitioners and suggest the key
areas which can be digitized and improved by ASC productivity.
Furthermore, the RQ4 is answered by developing an implementation
framework for the ASC, which is illustrated in Fig. 8. Also, the review
suggests that Blockchain can be extended to most of the aspects of ASC,
not limited only to the areas proposed here. BCT has the potential to
convert the automotive industry activities into intelligent interoperable
entities. The analysis of data collected through sensors from
manufacturing processes, facilities, and logistics delivers insights that
can enhance OEMs’ productivity and profitability. Practitioners need to
invest in digital and emerging technologies to solve critical problems of
the supply chain to increase their business operations, build trust, and
create a single point of truth. BCT can be leveraged to many applications
across industries, for example, in the automotive industry itself, there
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BCT Technologies Expected Outcomes
Hyperledger Fabric, Supplier evaluation system;
IoT Supply chain and logistics visibility; Forecast OEM
footprint
IoT/IIoT, Cloud Coordination with suppliers;
computing, Digitizing logistics; Optimization
Hyperledger Fabric,
GPS
Hyperledger Fabric, Achieving coordination through authentication;
Telematics, big data Effective disposal of parts after usage; Recalling
defect driven products
Hyperledger Fabric, Preventive maintenance of machines; Efficient way
IoT, of dealing with warranty claims;
Telematics, Analytics
are potential areas that can benefit in addition to the areas which are
discussed here. For instance, blockchain can be used in smart car
maintenance programs, to digitize tollbooth activities (Dayana et al.,
2019) by collaborating with OEMs, develop a BCT based digital twin of a
car, constructing a shared mobility ecosystem, and track life events of
cars throughout its life cycle. BCT use cases may change for each orga­
nization based on its vision and business functionalities. So, practi­
tioners are advised to perform an analysis to find out the complex
challenges their organizations are facing, and whether BCT can solve
their challenges, and answer the question of whether they can accom­
modate BCT in their ecosystem. Once they have a clear picture of BCT
capabilities in their ecosystem, practitioners can invest in digital tech­
nologies to improve their existing procedures. The arrival of BCT is like
the arrival of the internet in the early 2000s, and many organizations
have realized that it will soon become a disruptive technology, by
experimenting with Blockchain in their business. Machine learning ap­
plications also contribute to the efficiency and productivity of supply
chains integrating with Blockchain. This integration can provide greater
control over inbound/outbound logistics, optimized vehicle routing,
efficient usage of facilities, preventive/predictive maintenance, and
improved monitoring of supplier activities. Also, digital technologies
ensure real-time monitoring/ tracking, quick recall of defect driven
products, identification of counterfeit parts, and monitoring of regula­
tory activities. By adopting digital technologies, OEMs can create data-
driven smart manufacturing systems and supply chains.
Despite the benefits associated with BCT in ASC, practitioners will
face a few challenges for the successful adoption of Blockchain into their
business. The challenges that need to be addressed are:
• BCT implementation cost: BCT implementation cost will be a one-
time investment, where these applications require maintenance at
frequent intervals. Since BCT is in the infant stage for supply chain
applications, practitioners will face challenges in benchmarking
supply chain activities.
• Scalability: Since private Blockchain is in use here, scalability could
overcome with less difficulty than in the case of public Blockchain.
Accommodating all stakeholders with defined and definite authen­
tication requires stringent evaluation in the initial stages (Yang, Li,
Yu, & Wang, 2019).
• Lack of awareness and transition difficulty: People in the industry are
not very knowledgeable about BCT and its capabilities. Once a DLT is
enabled across the organization, it will be necessary to motivate and
train people in Blockchain, although it will be difficult for them to
get used to the new environment.
• Unclear regulatory environment: Through smart contracts, origi­
nated customs and destination customs can be automated, but other
subsidiary organizations should also be able to support the OEM’s
vision. It is challenging to integrate all nodes of the supply chain, as
all activities are not in OEMs control.
K. Raj Kumar Reddy et al.
• Interoperability challenges: There will be challenges in connecting
all the data about manufacturing processes, facilities, products, and
logistics.
4.8.1.1. Implications for researchers. Based on this study, we would
present some broad areas which require further investigation by
researchers:
• As mentioned earlier, Blockchain is like the internet from the early
2000s. The hype for this technology started in recent times, and
currently, many organizations provide Blockchain as a service. There
is a need for performance analysis for the automotive industry with a
range of blockchain applications. This analysis can help practitioners
make a better choice in developing new sustainable business models.
• Here, supply chain visibility, traceability, and transparency are dis­
cussed for a better ecosystem for ASC. It will be interesting to get an
idea about the aspects mentioned above from the financial aspects,
such as the costs before and after leveraging BCT. It will be inter­
esting to follow an ROI framework in the ASC context.
• Studies should focus on the long-term impact of BCT in business for
automotive products and services.
• Studies must aim at showing how data-driven decision making and
Blockchain augment each other for the sustainable production and
consumption of resources.
• Automotive logistics is tough to track, and researchers can focus on
the kind of IoT that can be used at each stage to capture all param­
eters efficiently.
• Once the framework mentioned above is deployed, it would be
interesting to know which department or stakeholder is utilizing
most of it for the ASC.
4.8.1.2. Implications for policymakers and regulatory authorities. OEMs
and other actors will have many expectations after implementing digital
technologies, considering the high cost of investment and hard work put
into installation. If an OEM decides to deploy IoT across its supply
chains, the upstream and downstream members should be able to sup­
port that vision. However, many suppliers have not automated their
manufacturing processes, and logistics members do not have the infra­
structure to capture data, with access to the internet being a problem in
some remote locations. It will be necessary to motivate and create
awareness in supply chain members to move towards digital so that the
entire ecosystem is connected. Many regulatory activities have not
become digital, and still, there is much paperwork that exists in logistics
during customs. Without digital transactions, it will be tough to follow
up payments with BCT. If all regulatory authorities upgrade to digita­
lization, supply chain activities can yield better outcomes.
5. Conclusion and limitation of the study
The study makes a significant contribution towards the research gaps
identified in the literature, providing useful information on investi­
gating the scope for BCT in the ASC. The review addressed status of the
automotive industry towards the digital era, and the implementation of
BCT in ASC is addressed in the RQ1. Further, the literature review
covered seventy research articles and was categorized to get a clear
picture of the current outlook of the automotive industry towards BCT
adoption in the VUCA world. For the RQ2, we investigated how BCT
networks and its suitability for adoption in ASCs, i.e., public or private
Blockchain, and evaluated the organization’s requirements towards
BCT. Answering RQ3, we have highlighted the considerable benefits to
ASC through BCT and reviewed the articles based on the review
framework (Fig. 5). For the RQ4, the study proposed a BCT-ASC appli­
cation framework (Figs. 6 & 7), which can increase the ASC visibility
and increase the information transparency among the stakeholders.
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However, with high-cost investment in digital technologies and devel­
oping blockchain capabilities, policymakers need to subsidize invest­
ment, create awareness about digital technologies, and make them more
affordable so that they can be used to support the vision of
manufacturers.
The study is meant for exploring the development of an efficient end-
to-end application of BCT for ASC which takes input data from block­
chain oracles and runs on a DLT. From, which the OEMs can expect
visibility, transparency, and transparency in supply chain activities as
outcomes. Also, the study discussed the implications for practitioners,
researchers, policymakers, and regulatory authorities along with limi­
tations of BCT in use. BCT has received increasing attention in recent
years, and studies on it were published from 2018 onwards, we have
tried our best to consider all inputs. Notably, the study has its limitation,
(1) Due to limited literature on the VUCA context in ASC; study could
not report BCT adoption challenges in VUCA situation. This shows that
more work is required for the ASC in VUCA aspect using emerging
technologies. (2) Demand-side of ASC is reported based on the findings
for the literature, which is limited for application in a real-life scenario.
To overcome this, vehicle delivery and customer relationship manage­
ment constructs must be reviewed and linked to implementation
framework for future works. (3) The proposed framework presented
must be tested in the OEM setting to foresee the scalability and usability
in the ASC. TO achieve researchers needs to setup a IoT experiment,
which is driven by BCT specific to algorithm such as (4) Finally, the
VUCA framework has classified four groups such as Digitising ASC with
IoT; Blockchain application-based users; IoT integration with Data
acquisition, and Smart Contracts. However, most of the reviewed work
did not develop a decision-making model for the BCT in the ASC.
Therefore, using the proposed group’s future researchers can develop a
decision-making model for the BCT application in the ASC.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Kotha Raj Kumar Reddy: Conceptualization, Writing - original
draft. Angappa Gunasekaran: Methodology, Writing - review & edit­
ing. P. Kalpana: Formal analysis. V. Raja Sreedharan: Writing - review
& editing, Conceptualization. S Arvind Kumar: Conceptualization.
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