As part of IBM’s approach to combating COVID-19 with technology solutions that enable more trustworthy information, accelerated discovery, resiliency and adaptation, the company announced IBM Rapid Supplier Connect, a blockchain-based network designed to help government agencies and healthcare organizations identify new, non-traditional suppliers who have pivoted to address the shortage of equipment, devices and supplies needed for COVID-19 relief efforts.

Rapid Supplier Connect is available at no cost until August 31, 2020 to qualified buyers and suppliers in the United States and Canada.

Suppliers and buyers currently joining the network include hospitals and other organizations such as Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider, and The Worldwide Supply Chain Federation, which is onboarding more than 200 American suppliers from its 3,000 global community members.

“Northwell Health has had adequate supplies to protect patients and our staff during the increase in New York COVID-19 patient cases,” said Phyllis McCready, vice president and chief procurement officer at Northwell Health. “It is through creating our own GPOs and supply chain, and joining forces with non-traditional suppliers that we have maintained an adequate stockpile of PPE and other equipment and supplies, so we are pleased to join IBM Rapid Supplier Connect.”

With healthcare workers and other first responders feeling the impact of supply chains disrupted by unprecedented challenges, many large and small businesses from outside the traditional healthcare procurement system are reconfiguring to mass produce masks, gowns and other essential supplies. In order to begin purchasing from them at scale, buyers — including hospitals, state procurement divisions, pharmacies and others — need help identifying these new suppliers, efficiently vetting and on-boarding them, and understanding their real-time inventory availability. The network also helps identify existing supplies and excess inventory going unused, allowing hospitals to make it available to others and redirect supplies where they are needed most.

Buyers who access the network can benefit from a broader range of suppliers outside of their traditional supply chain, a streamlined supplier onboarding process, validation checks and inventory information in near-real time. Suppliers benefit from a portable online identity, access to user feedback and the ability to post and manage inventory availability. Real-time insight into a volatile and uncertain supply chain is never simple, and with the challenges of the current global situation, IBM harnessed the Trust Your Supplier blockchain-based identity platform built by Chainyard for qualification and identification, in conjunction with its existing Sterling Supply Chain Suite and highly scalable Inventory Visibility microservice to deliver this increased visibility.

Rapid Supplier Connect complements existing supply chain networks and their payment systems, however buyers also have the option to use the services of a third-party paymaster for a fee, CDAX, which will secure funds on behalf of buyers in a custody and settlement account, holding goods ordered contractually from the supplier under a consignment arrangement until the buyer verifies acceptance of the order and releases funds to the seller. Project N95, which is serving as a clearinghouse for information on COVID-related suppliers will also help with supplier vetting. Dun & Bradstreet is contributing its identity resolution, firmographic data, and supplier risk and viability scores, RapidRatings provides financial health data on suppliers, and KYC SiteScan will provide “Know Your Business” due diligence report access. Thomson Reuters will provide access to its CLEAR customer due diligence tool, to provide buyers with access to real-time and comprehensive data to vet suppliers and identify potential fraud risks.

Joining the network is expected to take buyers and suppliers approximately 30 minutes, with industry and technical support provided by IBM’s operational support center to assist with onboarding and getting value from the network.

BluJay Solutions, a leading provider of global supply chain software and services, and Uber Freight announced a partnership furthering their shared commitment to help businesses build resilient global supply chains, with cutting-edge freight technology.

In the face of global change and especially volatile demand, real-time insight into market prices has become essential. Supply chain leaders must be able to see current market conditions in order to make decisions quickly and adapt accordingly. Now, by integrating directly with BluJay’s Transportation Management via API, shippers can instantly access Uber Freight’s real-time pricing and tendering capabilities, with reliable capacity.

“It’s become more important than ever for supply chains to be flexible and dynamic to keep pace with a constantly changing market,” said Laurent Hautefeuille, Head of Business Development at Uber Freight. “Together with BluJay, we’re making our tech-forward approach to freight available to more businesses looking for increased foresight and control of their operations.”

“At BluJay, we aim to help our customers achieve operational excellence by providing the tools they need to make immediate, informed business decisions. With Uber Freight’s transparent marketplace, our TMS customers can easily access a new level of capacity with real-time visibility so they can plan for the weeks ahead and account for last-minute market shifts,” said Bryant Smith, Global Product Manager at BluJay Solutions. “This integration and the responsiveness it allows shippers is a ‘right now’ solution for customers facing today’s challenges, but also during the more traditional market fluctuation.”

Uber Freight integrates directly with the BluJay platform to power instant quotes, booking, and carrier matching. The integration allows businesses that use BluJay’s Transportation Management application in North America and soon, Europe, to tap into Uber Freight’s pricing insights and vast network of over 50,000 carriers. The API-based integration can be turned on within hours for shippers, allowing for fast access to end-to-end supply chain visibility.

Among the first customers to benefit from this partnership are food manufacturers and packaging companies experiencing surges in volume as they provide essential products during the pandemic. “For many BluJay customers, right now it’s more crucial than ever that their products make it to grocery shelves on time,” said Bill Madden, VP of Managed Transportation Services (MTS) at BluJay. “We have been successful in our ability to rapidly and accurately execute on behalf of our customers, and have leveraged solid support through BluJay’s Uber Freight API integration. For example, we were able to stand up the platform and push the first load tender all inside of a single business day for one of our food manufacturer shippers. We’re seeing early adoption across both our managed customers and our TMS shippers, all with the same goal of making the right decisions quickly to keep freight moving through the supply chain.”

More than $18 billion in annualised freight moves through BluJay’s Transportation Management platform, with approximately $3 billion managed on behalf of shippers by BluJay’s MTS team, also known as Logistics as a Service.

The partnership comes within a growth year for Uber Freight. To date, the company announced joint work with other global cloud service providers and expanded to serve thousands of shippers around the world with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, and Amsterdam.

Sharing the Green Deal vision of sustainable transport and a carbon neutral Europe by 2050, two leading companies in the commercial vehicle industry, Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group, have signed a preliminary non-binding agreement to establish a new joint venture. The intention is to develop, produce and commercialize fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicle applications and other use cases. Daimler will consolidate all its current fuel cell activities in the joint venture. The Volvo Group will acquire 50% in the joint venture for the sum of approximately EUR 0.6 billion on a cash and debt free basis.

“Transport and logistics keep the world moving, and the need for transport will continue to grow. Truly CO2-neutral transport can be accomplished through electric drive trains with energy coming either from batteries or by converting hydrogen on board into electricity. For trucks to cope with heavy loads and long distances, fuel cells are one important answer and a technology where Daimler has built up significant expertise through its Mercedes-Benz fuel cell unit over the last two decades. This joint initiative with the Volvo Group is a milestone in bringing fuel cell powered trucks and buses onto our roads,” says Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management Daimler Truck AG and Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG.

“Electrification of road transport is a key element in delivering the so called Green Deal, a carbon neutral Europe and ultimately a carbon neutral world. Using hydrogen as a carrier of green electricity to power electric trucks in long-haul operations is one important part of the puzzle, and a complement to battery electric vehicles and renewable fuels. Combining the Volvo Group and Daimler’s experience in this area to accelerate the rate of development is good both for our customers and for society as a whole. By forming this joint venture, we are clearly showing that we believe in hydrogen fuel cells for commercial vehicles. But for this vision to become reality, other companies and institutions also need to support and contribute to this development, not least in order to establish the fuel infrastructure needed,” says Martin Lundstedt, Volvo Group President and CEO.

The Volvo Group and Daimler Truck AG will be 50/50 partners in the joint venture, which will operate as an independent and autonomous entity, with Daimler Truck AG and the Volvo Group continuing to be competitors in all other areas of business. Joining forces will decrease development costs for both companies and accelerate the market introduction of fuel cell systems in products used for heavy-duty transport and demanding long-haul applications. In the context of the current economic downturn cooperation has become even more necessary in order to meet the Green Deal objectives within a feasible time-frame.

The common goal is for both companies to offer heavy-duty vehicles with fuel cells for demanding long-haul applications in series production in the second half of the decade. In addition, other automotive and non-automotive use cases are also part of the new joint venture’s scope.

To enable the joint venture, Daimler Trucks is bringing together all group-wide fuel cell activities in a new Daimler Truck fuel cell unit. Part of this bundling of activities is the allocation of the operations of “Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell GmbH”, which has longstanding experience in the development of fuel cell and hydrogen storage systems for various vehicle applications, to Daimler Truck AG.

The joint venture will include the operations in Nabern/Germany (currently headquarters of the Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell GmbH) with production facilities in Germany and Canada.

The signed preliminary agreement is non-binding. A final agreement is expected by Q3 and closing before year-end 2020. All potential transactions are subject to examination and approval by the responsible competition authorities.

Facts: Fuel cells and hydrogen as fuel

• A hydrogen fuel cell converts the chemical energy of the fuel, in this case hydrogen, and oxygen (in the air) into electricity. The electricity powers the electrical motors that propel an electrical vehicle.
• There are two main ways to produce the hydrogen needed. So-called green hydrogen can be produced locally at the gas station, using electricity to convert water into hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is expected to be produced from natural gas, utilizing carbon capture technology to create a carbon neutral fuel.