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Date
2025-12
Abstract
Global supply chains operate as intricate networks that span multiple regions and involve numerous stakeholders. In recent years, increased demand for sustainability, heightened public scrutiny and the rise of cyber threats have exposed significant weaknesses in traditional supply chain management, particularly around transparency and traceability. Fragmented data silos and a lack of end-to-end visibility hinder effective monitoring and accountability, leaving supply networks vulnerable to fraud, counterfeiting and industrial espionage. These challenges have generated a clear requirement for secure, interoperable, technology driven platforms capable of providing auditable records, enhancing efficiency and supporting sustainability goals.
This thesis investigates how blockchain technology—specifically, multi blockchain architectures—can address these systemic problems and deliver robust supply chain traceability. It begins by reviewing the fundamentals of supply chain management, detailing the social and environmental pressures that demand more transparent practices, and outlining the foundations of blockchain as a decentralised, tamper evident ledger. A systematic review of 1375 peer reviewed publications (2016 2023) was then conducted using predefined search strategies, inclusion/exclusion criteria and evaluation metrics to synthesise existing research. The review reveals that most current solutions employ single chains, which often struggle with scalability, interoperability and data confidentiality.
Drawing on these insights, the thesis proposes a hybrid blockchain architecture that combines permissioned and public networks. Permissioned platforms (e.g. Hyperledger Fabric) handle sensitive internal data, ensuring confidentiality and regulatory compliance, while public blockchains (e.g. Ethereum) provide transparent, immutable provenance records accessible to consumers and regulators. The design also integrates distributed storage (IPFS) for large datasets and oracle networks to feed real-time sensor information into smart contracts, enabling automatic updates and verifiable event logging.
To validate the proposed architecture, a working prototype was developed. It models key supply chain processes—supplier ordering, manufacturing, quality auditing, distribution, and logistics tracking—with smart contracts enforcing contract terms and capturing events across multiple chains. The preliminary evaluation shows that this multichain approach enhances transparency, reduces manual reconciliation, mitigates the risk of tampering and cyber fraud, and provides stakeholders with a reliable mechanism for verifying product provenance.
This research concludes that multi-chain architectures offer a pragmatic and scalable path toward secure, transparent, and sustainable supply chain management. By combining the strengths of permissioned and public ledgers, integrating IoT and smart contracts, and employing secure cross-chain bridges, the proposed system delivers tangible benefits over single-chain solutions. The thesis highlights practical considerations for adoption—including governance, performance tuning and regulatory compliance— and identifies avenues for future work, such as privacy preserving analytics, dynamic consensus mechanisms and broader industry case studies.
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Description
Peer-reviewed
Publisher
University of Limerick
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Ashraf_2025_Prototype.pdf
Adobe PDF, 1.62 MB
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Funding Information
Sustainable Development Goals
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License
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International