Leveraging the usage of blockchain toward trust-dominated manufacturing systems

Abstract

Smart manufacturing has transformed the role of data in manufacturing, with a significant focus on secure data infrastructure. As factories engage with external data sources, cybersecurity becomes crucial. Blockchain technology is introduced to safeguard this infrastructure, ensuring secure and transparent data flow, which is vital for industries like pharmaceutical, aerospace, automotive, and electronics manufacturing. This review provides a comprehensive taxonomy of blockchain architectures, analyzing their working modes, strengths, and weaknesses while identifying appropriate use cases. It also examines consensus algorithms, categorizing them as either crash fault tolerant (CFT) or Byzantine fault tolerant (BFT) and further classifies them based on whether they are proof-based or voting-based. The review explores the intrinsic limitations of blockchain systems and highlights specific manufacturing challenges where blockchain can be instrumental. It also discusses the synergy between blockchain and cybersecurity, emphasizing how they work together to enhance security and accountability. The paper concludes by identifying private blockchain as the most suitable architecture for certain manufacturing applications, particularly in supply chain management and machinery control. A SWOT analysis is conducted on this architecture to provide a detailed understanding of its potential and challenges. The review suggests that while no single consensus algorithm is best universally, each has its own merits depending on the application. Lastly, the SWOT analysis serves as a catalyst for future research, guiding efforts to maximize blockchain’s strengths and mitigate its weaknesses in industrial contexts.