-

  • Alumni

Submitted

bext360: Blockchain for the Coffee Suppl(AI) Chain
-
Posted on November 15, 2017 at 12:25 am
bext360 develops technologies to streamline critical global commodity supply chains. Its platform, “bext-to-brew”, is transforming the coffee industry by utilizing blockchain, IoT, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Activity Feed

On December 1, 2017, - commented on General Mills UK and the Potential Impact of Brexit on the Dairy Industry :

In addition to the comments above, I worry about the effects within the UK itself with a rise in raw materials costs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/10/24/dairy-farmers-warn-no-deal-brexit-could-push-price-milk/
I don’t see an immediate solution to the rising price of milk. I think they should push the price onto consumers while increasing production of other products in the UK (ex. nut-based milks and icecreams) to diversify the raw materials used for similar lines.

On December 1, 2017, - commented on BMW’s supply chain in the face of isolationism :

Very interesting. I’d like to dig into the point regarding autonomous vehicles. It seems like BMW will need much more coordination with US markets, particularly SF and Pittsburg. Given the complexity in the additional hardware components (chips to run the AI) in addition to the software, I wonder if BMW will be able to reduce manufacturing costs by setting up more production facilities in the US.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/15/the-end-of-the-automotive-supply-chain/

On December 1, 2017, - commented on Blue Bottle Coffee: Riding the “Third Wave” :

I wonder if Blue Bottle is leveraging Nestle to reuse the huge amount of waste generated in coffee production. Wastewater can be reused in a number of ways (or Nestle’s resources can be invested in developing infrastructure to use letter to begin with). There’s a new business called CoffeeFlour that reuses coffee cherries to produce flour — I wonder if Nestle can do something similar to generate synergies across its food products.

On December 1, 2017, - commented on Starbucks: Saving Our Coffee from the Threat of Climate Change :

Interesting read. Could Starbucks increase its impact by reducing the waste products? I wonder how much waste is produced in the production of each batch. Since a large amount of water is used in coffee production, I hope they are reusing the wastewater in particular. They could also invest in infrastructure to use less water to begin with, but that would of course be a lot less cost effective.

On December 1, 2017, - commented on How to revolutionize a “dying” industry by attacking simultaneously top and bottom line – HP’s “instant ink” success of implementing IoT into supply chain and creating customer value :

Interesting! A few thoughts —
1. Is there a high amount of customer adoption currently? Are mostly enterprises or consumers being targeted? I ask because I know some IoT home devices have had a hard time with market penetration and usage adoption in the US — low usage metrics in the consumer sector after the devices have been bought, because of difficulty and laziness in setting the device up. Does HP help with this?
2. If JIT delivery cannot be achieved, can the devices be made smarter to use another color with a higher ink level, forecast higher levels of usage for the second color, and deliver both accordingly? I’m wondering if there’s a machine learning piece involved, in addition to the level reporting.
The environmental impacts are great and I hope this is marketed to the users! Excited to see how this puts HP ahead of its competitors.

On December 1, 2017, - commented on From Farm to Store: Walmart Improves Food Safety with Blockchain Technology :

This is a very interesting article and I’m excited to see how distributed ledgers are used within the supply chain, and which existing protocols (or new ones) end up being used. A few thoughts —
1. You mentioned the lack of trust in food supply chains. What do you think this stems from? Could it be the use of pesticides etc being understated at the production stage.
2. Do you see the incentives offered via cryptoeconomics being useful here? Is there anything other than speed of traceability that would justify the use of blockchains for food tracking?
3. I worry about the environmental impacts of Walmart’s competitors following a similar approach. Do you see the cost of mining rising to prevent this market from becoming saturated (and consuming a huge amount of energy)?