Hercules — The Future of Supply Chain Management on the Blockchain

Supply Chains Today

Just as the mythical stories about Hercules, the Roman god and hero, are full of adventures, so is the background story of Hercules’ blockchain-based supply chain management software solution.

To put things into perspective, we have to understand how today’s supply chains have evolved into their current state, as well as their shortcomings, before we can fully realize the impact that blockchain has on increasing efficiency in supply chain management.

Managing supply chains can be unbelievably complex. Some supply chains deal with issues that involve hundreds of administrative stages, numerous geographical locations, and copious amounts of invoices and payments paperwork, just to name a few. As a result, coupled with the lack of transparency in our current supply chain solutions, these issues have stirred an interest in blockchain technology that can help transform many businesses involved in the supply chain and logistics industry.

Traditional supply chain management systems make it difficult for customers or buyers to accurately determine the value of products due to the lack of transparency. Even when there is suspected racketeering and collusion, illegal or unethical practices, the current state of supply chains makes it extremely cumbersome to investigate and get to the root of the problems. All this makes centralized supply chains very inefficient, but the elasticity of blockchain offers a much-needed solution because it can be modeled in different ways to fit different processes, network node architectures, and participants. The built-in chain of command offered by blockchain ultimately means the technology can increase efficiency and transparency of supply chains and positively impact everything from warehousing to delivery to payment.

For example, blockchain enables triple entry accounting. Instead of simply having debits and credits, there is another entry on the blockchain which makes real-time auditing possible. When it comes to supply chain- which is a US$64 trillion industry- the impact that blockchain technology will have on this enormous industry will be monumental. Considering that one of the biggest supply chains to date, the One Belt One Road project linking Hong Kong and Rotterdam, is already using the blockchain for trade finance where buyers, sellers, various shippers, escrow agents, tax authorities and other players have access to a shared network database in real-time.

Small companies stand to benefit the most from developments in blockchain since these developments enable them to have similar capabilities as those of large enterprises without the bureaucracy and legacy systems.

Enter Hercules

Hercules SEZC is an open source software development company on blockchain that provides supply chain management software that helps to reduce or eliminate fraud and errors, improve inventory management, minimize courier costs, reduce delays from paperwork, identify issues faster, and increase consumer and partner trust. The Hercules team has developed a protocol that submits data into decentralized storage applications. At its core Hercules is a supply chain Proof of Custody user-facing interface. Users are able to upload manual Inputs, .CSV or image files into the Hercules platform and retrieve them when needed. The Hercules wallet, secured by Edge, is a split-key encryption method for securing user information.

Benefits of using the Hercules Platform

Hercules makes it possible for users to verify the existence, location, attributes and authenticity of assets throughout a given supply chain in a decentralized manner where data is shared among participants. Assets can be tracked at every stage from raw element to finished retail goods. Hercules is fully customizable, allowing each user to tailor the information to be collected and recorded to suit the requirements of their supply chain, and to define which users have access to which data element. Users can also define the types of files that can be recorded to the platform, including text files and image files, among others. Users can also further customize the platform to add additional file types.

To maximize security and help prevent data loss, the data collected by the Hercules platform is encrypted and stored utilizing leading distributed file storage providers. The platform natively supports both IPFS and Storj and can be easily user-customized to support other providers. A cryptographically unique hash of each data element is recorded to the Factom distributed ledger, where it is ultimately anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain, leveraging the immutability and security of the world’s leading blockchain.

The HERC Token Economy

Hercules software is fully open source and the platform is powered by HERC tokens, which are Ethereum ERC20 compatible tokens that act as software access keys for unlocking the information on the Hercules platform. HERC Tokens are required to store or verify data. The HERC is a Software Access Token designed to provide access to universal, decentralized standardization and documentation for the verification of physical assets throughout a supply chain. HERC tokens are the main internal access or utility tokens used to access the digital viewer found within a specified asset token’s supply chain.