Application of the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain in a supply and maintenance chain for critical assets

The permissioned Blockchain technology is widely proposed to improve of the integration between different companies, providing a non-intermediated infrastructure to enforce trusts within a consortium. A typical case-study for assessing the real impact of this technology is the classical “supply-chain” scenario. The work described in this paper targeted the application of a permissioned Blockchain (Hyperledger Fabric) for a particular “supply-chain” use case in which the traded assets within the consortium are both highly technological physical components and intangible assets, such as the skills of the operators, in the domain of military aircraft maintenance. In such scenario, the assets are not simply purchased and bought along the supply chain, but there is the need for highly efficient, certified maintenance operations. We called this scenario “supply and management chain”, and the work described aimed at providing a permissioned Blockchain infrastructure supporting it.