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Automotive technology leader Surgere joins Blockchain in Transport Alliance

Blockchain enhances Surgere’s supply chain solutions by providing automated ledger

Surgere has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a member-driven organization that shares a common mission of driving the adoption of emerging blockchain architecture forward. Surgere’s cloud-based software solution – currently delivering unprecedented supply chain visibility and control – will be valuable to the BiTA effort.

As an additional layered technology, blockchain will enhance Surgere’s ability to identify and track transactions digitally and share that information through distributed ledgers. “Blockchain enables instant visibility of inventory transactions, captured by Surgere’s extremely accurate RFID solutions, which can be immediately and collectively processed throughout the supply chain,” said Rusty Coleman, Surgere’s Vice President of Digital Transformation. “That visibility can remove artificially created demand patterns and make visible smooth and continuous demand for tiers near real-time. Harnessing that visibility and creating new rules within ERPs can lead to operational efficiencies and reduce lead-time across the supply chain.”

Surgere’s collaboration with BiTA to advance blockchain is congruent with a statement made by Bill Wappler, Surgere’s CEO, in February. Wappler said, “Our customers rely on us to be efficient, precise and trustworthy… To us, ‘innovation’ is about thinking scientifically as well as creatively, extending the confines of the technology that exists today. The combined outcome for our clients is reduced cost and increased productivity.”

“On behalf of BiTA’s members, I welcome Surgere to the Alliance,” said BiTA President Patrick Duffy. “Surgere’s expertise, particularly in the automotive supply chain, will be valuable as BiTA moves blockchain education forward.”


As Surgere continues to lead supply chain innovation across the automotive industry, it will continue to invigorate its solutions with technological advancements, like blockchain.

An example, Surgere’s AutoSphere – a community of automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), suppliers and transportation providers all working together in a single software environment on a shared cloud-based platform – is now onboarding over 1,551 suppliers in 2019. That number will triple in 2020. Each year, the automotive industry loses between 16 and 18 percent of reusable packaging assets, which, according to Wappler, amounts to an enormous “multi-billion-dollar problem. Until now, everyone worked at solving supply chain losses uniquely with non-standard solutions. AutoSphere changes everything.”

A recent study from McKinsey Digital found that only about one-sixth of the world’s largest companies adopting IoT report a significant return on investment. Surgere’s supply chain solutions can boost IoT performance by providing 99.9 percent data acquisition accuracy throughout the supply chain. That level of accuracy enables advanced analytics and superior supply chain response. Most of Surgere’s clients experience ROI inception within six months.  

“Supply chain professionals know it’s important to reduce lead-time and inventory,” said Coleman. “That increases cash flow, improves efficiency, and provides timely available to promise. Blockchain is a tool that should be leveraged to give access to instant and transparent information. Blockchain is the new payback tool to explore and exploit.”


Coleman underscored, “For organizations willing to move forward with advancements, like AutoSphere and blockchain, operating costs will decline, and business will run with greater transparency and efficiency.”

About Surgere

Founded in 2004, Surgere’s role in the evolving i4.0 supply chain reality is to provide its clients with advanced asset visibility, data analytics and control through each segment of the automotive supply chain – packaging, transportation, yard, finished vehicles, plant and cross-global. For more information, please visit www.surgere.com

About the Blockchain in Transport Alliance

Founded in August 2017, BiTA has quickly grown into the largest commercial blockchain alliance in the world, with nearly 500 members that collectively generate over $1 trillion in revenue annually. BiTA members are primarily from the freight, transportation, logistics and affiliated industries. Alliance members share a common mission to develop a standards framework, educate the market on blockchain applications and encourage the use of those applications. For more information about BiTA, please visit https://bita.studio.