Afternoon Coffee: Accenture uses blockchain for supplier marketplace; Boeing delays new plane; supply chains see U.S.-China trade war slowing growth

Accenture想出了一个blockchain-enabled solutioncalled True Supplier Marketplace, a shared procurement platform for Accenture buyers or others to more easily onboard suppliers and manage their information, the consulting company said in a blog post. The new platform places the supplier data responsibility with the suppliers, and the blockchain network allows for the supplier data to be shared securely. The company said the new system was born after it was noticed that keeping track of global suppliers and contractors was a hurdle, and onboarding new ones involved a lot of data collection. Accenture said some of the benefits it has seen include:

• 73% reduction in time to onboard a supplier end to end — from 15 days to 4 days
• Drastically reduced time spent by buyer procurement teams to maintain and update vendor master data
• More than 95% compliance rate achieved through embedded risk assessments and workflow logic

New Boeing chief calls for rethink on new jetliner project

Boeing’s new CEO Dave Calhoun has effectively shelved plans for a newmid-market aircraft, in the wake of the 737 MAX crisis, Reuters reports. “Since the first clean sheet of paper was taken to it, things have changed a bit ... the competitive playing field is a little different,” he told journalists on a conference call Wednesday.

“We’re going to start with a clean sheet of paper again; I’m looking forward to that,” Calhoun said.

U.S.-China trade war is biggest threat to global growth: logistics survey

The logistics industry continues to see thetrade warbetween the U.S. and China as the biggest threat to global economic growth, according to a survey by logistics firm Agility and consultancy agency Transport Intelligence

The survey of 330 logistics and supply chain professionals showed that 28% of respondents see a U.S.-China trade war as the biggest threat to global growth in 2020.

U.S.-Iranian tensions were next at 19%, followed by a slowdown in the Chinese economy at 17%.