Blockchain-Enabled Transparency in Global Manufacturing Networks

Abstract Increasingly global supply chains are characterized by multi-level suppliers, cross-border supply chains, and decentralized data infrastructures where it is increasingly difficult to ensure transparency and trust. Digital technologies available now such as cloud platforms, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and Internet of Things (IoT) amplify visibility but continue to suffer from authenticity gaps, traceability gaps, and auditability gaps. Decentralized architecture of blockchain technology and immutable book-keeping and executable smart contracts offer a promising way out of these limitations. This paper proposes the application of blockchain technologies to achieve transparency within global supply networks. It evaluates the theoretical foundation of transparency and information asymmetry, reviews contemporary issues such as risks of counterfeit goods, regulatory imperatives, and information silos and proposes a blockchain-enabled framework tailored specifically for supply network ecosystems. Analysis highlights key benefits such as end-to-end traceability, accountability, sustainability compliance, and quality control and identifies limitations such as scalability limitations, conflict of privacy and regulatory ambiguity. Last but not least, research prospects in the future are enumerated with special reference to blockchain use with AI, IoT, and digital twin technologies conceived and designed to raise up strong, circular, and sustainable supply network infrastructures. Framing blockchain as a trust-establishing infrastructure, the paper proposes its ability to raise up global supply networks that are clear and transparent, trustworthy and collaborative. Keywords: Blockchain Transparency, Global Manufacturing Networks, Traceability and Accountability, Sustainable Manufacturing, Digital Transformation