In a bid to bolster performance and improve efficiency, 100 Japanese manufacturers, including industry lead Mitsubishi Electric, have agreed to use distributed ledger technology (DLT) in sharing production data, according to a Nikkei report on June 17, 2019.  

Strategic Blockchain Collaboration  

Per sources close to the matter, Japanese multinational Mitsubishi Electric, Yaskawa Electric, DMG Mori, and 97 other firms are set to begin sharing production data securely with each other via blockchain technology

Reportedly, Manufacturers previously guarded data gathered at their factories jealously to prevent their direct competitors from taking advantage of the highly valuable information.

However, these firms now believe that the secure sharing of their production data could be of immense benefit, and they are now looking to harness the immutability property of DLT to share data between themselves securely.

2020 Vision 

The blockchain initiative is expected to go live in 2020, and it will be overseen by the Industrial Value Chain Initiative (IVI), a body made up of industrialists and academicians focused on promoting smart manufacturing and the internet of things (IoT) in Japan.

Specifically, insider sources have revealed that the primary objective of the project is to uplift the Japanese manufacturing industry by enabling both large corporations and startups alike to participate in the project.

Once the project launches, participating companies will be able to decide how much data to share, the number of firms to share it with and whether to offer it as a free service or charge a fee for the shared information.

The companies included will share on product design data, the status of production equipment, as well as quality inspection information.

The team firmly believe that by using blockchain technology for this project, the risk of data leaks will be reduced while the workflow of both manufacturers and suppliers will experience less friction.

“For instance, parts suppliers could kick start mass production faster if an electronics maker shares the data from computerized numerical control machine tools,” declared Nikkei.

Unlike its Chinese neighbors, Japan pays the same level of attention to both its cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. Earlier in February 2019, BTCManager informed that Japan’s Marubeni corporation had collaborated with Lo3 Energy to launch a blockchain-based energy solution.