Applied Stochastic Models for Business and Industry has recently published a special issue. The issue, Blockchain for Logistic Industry includes four papers that explore the very latest analysis, opinions and findings on the issues blockchain technology will face in finding a home in the logistics industry. A portion of the foreward by guest editor Gautam Srivastava is included below: 

In “A Comprehensive Review of Blockchain Applications in Industrial Internet of Things and Supply Chain Systems”, the authors presented a comprehensive review of blockchain applications in the Industrial; Internet of Things and supply chain systems. The authors focus on the security aspects of blockchain integration within industrial applications with the support of emerging edge computing technology.

In “Securing Logistics System and Supply Chain using Blockchain”, the authors propose a permissioned blockchain with relevant processes and functions to obtain a holistic framework for securing the supply chain and logistic operations. The efficacy of the proposed framework was demonstrated using a specific case study.

In “Blockchain for Supply Chain Performance and Logistics Management”, the authors address a collection of problems for managing modern supply chains to share a knowledge base on information management. Furthermore, the effects of product and service on the quality of information, effects of consumer demands occurrences on information flow, outsourcing and globalization, and emerging threats to supply chains by concerned parties was examined by the authors.

Finally, in “Smart Contract for Electricity Transactions and Charge Settlements Using Blockchain”, the authors look at the future “let go” electricity market, smart contracts for grid enterprises doing electricity transactions and charge settlements based on blockchain technology, as well as the trading model using the smart contracts. By running a smart contract instance in a peer-to-peer network composed of 4000 nodes, their experiments show that the success rate is 99.38% and the average time consumption for each transaction is 16 s.

Combining the concepts of blockchain technology and stochastic modeling has only just begun, and this special issue as a whole can pave the way for future research avenues in this highly important interdisciplinary area of study.

ASMBI – Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry (formerly Applied Stochastic Models and Data Analysis) was first published in 1985, publishing contributions in the interface between stochastic modelling, data analysis and their applications in business, finance, insurance, management and production. In 2007 ASMBI became the official journal of the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics.