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| Source: SunMoon Food. Individually-tagged Fuji apples. |
• Fuji apples are converted into trackable digital assets on DiMuto’s Blockchain platform
• Move is part of SunMoon’s asset-light, consumer-centric and brand-focused strategy
• Blockchain enables real-time product tracking, traceability and enhances food safety
• Frozen Thai durians, US citrus and avocados are next
SunMoon Food Company, a global distributor and marketer of high-quality fruits and vegetables, has successfully implemented the digitalisation of its premium Fuji apples via Blockchain. The implementation process was first activated at the Fuji apple packing house of its partner, Xin Yue Yuan (XYY) Group in Shandong, China.
SunMoon currently has over 15,000 points of sales serving over 100 million households in 13 countries in six continents. SunMoon’s offering of quality, premium products are distributed via supermarkets, convenience stores, online and wholesale channels, airlines, food services as well as SunMoon’s franchise outlets in Singapore.
Through the Blockchain platform, SunMoon is able to digitise its fruits and open up new trade financing opportunities. The move from analogue to digital via Blockchain provides assurance and verified information to potential financiers, shortening the typical supply chain financing time cycle from as long as 60 to 90 days to around 24 hours.
Since mid-October, SunMoon has trained XYY’s packing house employees to tag fruit, equipped the facility to scan batch-specific and carton-specific QR codes and capture photographic verification of the apples’ quality.
Besides Blockchaining individual apples, the carton boxes they are packed in are also Blockchained using unique QR codes. This allows SunMoon to capture real-time packing status updates of order fulfilments, giving an accurate overview of the number of cartons of apples packed, the batch origin of apples in respective cartons, as well as quality of the apples when packed.
This information is then stored on DiMuto’s Blockchain platform*, and ensures that all trade parties, such as SunMoon, suppliers and customers, have real-time visibility of the apples. The technology integrates seamlessly with its existing OneWorld enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Oracle NetSuite’s Suite Commerce Advanced (SCA) systems, integrating business processes more tightly.
SunMoon currently has over 15,000 points of sales serving over 100 million households in 13 countries in six continents. SunMoon’s offering of quality, premium products are distributed via supermarkets, convenience stores, online and wholesale channels, airlines, food services as well as SunMoon’s franchise outlets in Singapore.
Through the Blockchain platform, SunMoon is able to digitise its fruits and open up new trade financing opportunities. The move from analogue to digital via Blockchain provides assurance and verified information to potential financiers, shortening the typical supply chain financing time cycle from as long as 60 to 90 days to around 24 hours.
Since mid-October, SunMoon has trained XYY’s packing house employees to tag fruit, equipped the facility to scan batch-specific and carton-specific QR codes and capture photographic verification of the apples’ quality.
Besides Blockchaining individual apples, the carton boxes they are packed in are also Blockchained using unique QR codes. This allows SunMoon to capture real-time packing status updates of order fulfilments, giving an accurate overview of the number of cartons of apples packed, the batch origin of apples in respective cartons, as well as quality of the apples when packed.
This information is then stored on DiMuto’s Blockchain platform*, and ensures that all trade parties, such as SunMoon, suppliers and customers, have real-time visibility of the apples. The technology integrates seamlessly with its existing OneWorld enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Oracle NetSuite’s Suite Commerce Advanced (SCA) systems, integrating business processes more tightly.
The QR code on SunMoon fruits acts as a physical and digital stamp of quality assurance with an audit trail from packing houses to retail channels. This product traceability allows consumers who buy the SunMoon Fuji apples to access the verified certificates on the DiMuto Blockchain, such as Good Agricultural Practices (GMP) and product origins. Such data, previously not readily available to consumers, can now be accessed through scanning the tagged QR code. Information in the certificates is immutable and are shared amongst relevant parties along the food supply chain.
“The greater transparency across the value chain will significantly reduce many of the inter- and intra- communication costs, and minimise potential disputes between supply chain partners with regard to corroboration of information,” noted Roger Chua, MD, SunMoon.
SunMoon's key motivation to apply the Blockchain technology in the fruit industry is the ability to trace processes back to the relevant operators in the supply chain, Chua added.
“Apart from the function of traceability, packers and receivers are delighted that they can check the condition of the apples and the number of cartons being packed at near real-time on their mobile phones,” he said.
With Blockchain technology, customer feedback also becomes easier. Customers have access to a feedback button about the fruits. They will also be prompted to take photos of the product, as well as provide purchase location details. This helps brand owners, and potentially retailers and buyers, to ensure quality of produce at retail and intermediary channels.
The direct customer access will also enable SunMoon to develop promotional campaigns and loyalty programmes to incentivise consumers to provide feedback, and these can be co-marketed with retail channels.
SunMoon will roll out product traceability and tracking for its frozen Thai durians by end-October, and the company is also in talks with its partners for avocados and citrus in the US to adopt the technology.
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