Today TE-FOOD stated it has collaborated with GE Aviation for blockchain solutions. TE-FOOD is a track and trace company that, to date, has concentrated on the food sector. It has blockchain food traceability deals with some big names, including French retailer Auchan, Swiss retailer Migros, Vinamilk, and others.

Last year GE Aviation’s Digital Group unveiled it was beginning to utilize the blockchain to track the ancestry of parts employed in aircraft engines as part of its TRUEngine offering. In terms of scale, GE has 64,000 engines placed in commercial and military aircraft.  PwC expects blockchain could decrease maintenance and repair costs globally by approximately 5% or $3.5 billion. Those savings will be badly required as the sector strives to overcome from the impact of COVID-19.

Historically the lineage of a part was traced using paper, and more lately, it included tracking the history by multiple ERP systems. At the time, GE Aviation’s David Havera said in a statement: “Blockchain drives up to 50 percent higher residual value for used spares material, a faster resale process, easy portability and improved productivity for asset transfers.”

TE-FOOD stated its food traceability solution is being adapted to allow the tracking of both documents and functions by aviation OEMs, the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) network, as well as airlines and lessors.

 “The current offering builds on the experience GE Aviation gained with TRUEngine, combined with TE-FOOD’s experience in the food traceability and digital identification/verification of physical assets,” the spokesperson said in a statement. If you move back, there is a moderate amount of overlap between the two supply chains. For instance, there are inspections with food, as there are quality inspections for aero parts, and both have logistics. However, the repair and overhaul process is pretty different, although it may be a thing of appending documents to the blockchain.

The blockchain solution will allow supply chain participants to combine data and sign and verify documents digitally. For a comprehensive lineage, historical paper records can be combined, and by utilizing blockchain, all the data is stored securely and reliably. Aside from having all the data organized, it can also be aggregated for reports.

Both TE-FOOD and GE Aviation have utilized Ethereum to date. In GE Aviation’s case, it has been an enterprise blockchain version, whereas TE-FOOD seldom employs the public blockchain. Aside from TE-FOOD’s product traceability framework, GE Aviation will also apply TE-FOOD’s BlockSeal signature and document verification solution.

Utilizing blockchain to trace aircraft parts through maintenance, repair, and overhaul can bring important efficiencies as others have identified. Honeywell launched an online parts portal leveraging blockchain, and Boeing currently added $1 billion of inventory to the store. Four months ago, industry body SITA started the MRO Blockchain Alliance to trace, track, and record aircraft parts. Six months ago, Rolls Royce ran a Blockchain Innovation Challenge in Singapore, concentrated on aircraft engine maintenance. And one of the first to see at the sector was Thales and Accenture back in 2018.