What is LinkXG

LinkXG is a sharing network for supply chain data. It gives companies a secure, consistent way to share authoritative product and company information with partners across their value chain — and to see where products really come from.

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The problem

Supply chains run on shared data, but the sharing itself is painful. Suppliers receive the same data requests from multiple customers. Each request means another spreadsheet, another portal, another format. Product specifications, certifications, facility information, compliance documentation — all requested repeatedly, in slightly different ways, by every customer. Buyers chase suppliers for information that arrives late, incomplete, or in inconsistent formats. Worse, they have almost no visibility beyond their immediate suppliers. When a customer asks “where does this material actually come from?”, the answer usually requires weeks of manual effort — if it can be answered at all. Both sides spend time on data logistics instead of their actual work.

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How LinkXG solves it

LinkXG sits between suppliers and buyers as a trusted intermediary for data exchange. It does not replace your ERP, PLM, or other internal systems. Instead, it provides the infrastructure to securely share data from those systems with your value chain partners. For suppliers, LinkXG replaces repetitive data requests with a single source of truth. You upload your product and company data once, then share it with any customer who needs it. You control exactly what each customer sees, protecting sensitive information like upstream supplier identities or detailed cost structures. For buyers, LinkXG provides consolidated visibility across your supply chain — not just your immediate suppliers, but potentially the entire chain of custody back to raw materials. All your supplier data in one place, structured consistently, with the ability to trace what goes into the products you buy.

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The connected chain

The real power of LinkXG emerges when multiple tiers of the value chain participate. Consider a simple example: a retailer buys finished goods from a manufacturer, who sources components from various suppliers, who in turn source raw materials from their own suppliers. When each company in this chain uses LinkXG: Your suppliers add their products and define what materials and inputs go into each one. Those inputs reference products from their own suppliers. Your view shows not just what your supplier sells you, but what goes into it. You can trace the chain of custody through multiple tiers, seeing the origin of materials and the companies involved at each step. Your customers can see further still. When you share products with your customers and allow propagation, they gain visibility into your suppliers as part of their own supply chain view. This creates genuine end-to-end traceability: a retailer can trace a finished product back through manufacturing, components, and raw materials — with each company in the chain maintaining control over what they reveal.

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Privacy at every tier

Traceability does not mean transparency without consent. When you share a product with a customer, you decide whether to reveal your upstream suppliers or keep them obfuscated. By default, your suppliers appear as anonymised references — “Upstream Supplier U-1842” rather than their real company name. Your customer can see that upstream suppliers exist, what they contribute, and broadly where they are located, but not who they are. If you choose to reveal an upstream supplier’s identity, you can do so explicitly. But no customer can see more than you permit, and no supplier can be identified without the consent of the company that shares their data. This solves the “leapfrog problem” that makes companies reluctant to share supply chain information: the fear that customers will bypass them and go directly to their suppliers.

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Key concepts

Companies are the core entities in LinkXG. Every organisation on the platform — whether supplier, buyer, or both — is represented as a company with its own profile, certifications, and facilities. Products are the goods a company manufactures or supplies. Each product record captures specifications, compliance data, certifications, and other attributes relevant to your industry. Materials and inputs are the components that go into making a product. By linking products to their inputs, LinkXG enables traceability: understanding not just what a product is, but what it is made from and where those inputs originated. Connections are explicit relationships between two companies. A supplier connects with a customer (or vice versa), and no data flows until both parties accept. Share policies define what a supplier shares with a specific customer through an active connection. You choose which products to share, what level of detail to expose, and whether to reveal or obfuscate your own upstream suppliers. Visibility packages are predefined bundles of data fields that make sharing configuration straightforward. Instead of setting permissions on dozens of individual fields, you select a package that matches your disclosure intent.

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Who uses LinkXG

LinkXG serves companies at every position in the value chain. Suppliers use LinkXG to manage data requests efficiently and to demonstrate the provenance of their products. Operations managers and product managers are the typical users, handling data uploads and connection requests. Buyers use LinkXG to consolidate supplier data and trace supply chains for compliance, risk management, and procurement decisions. Procurement managers, supply chain managers, and compliance teams are the typical users. Many companies operate as both supplier and buyer, depending on which direction they are looking in the value chain. A components manufacturer is a supplier to an assembly plant, but a buyer from raw materials producers. In LinkXG, the same company can share products downstream to customers while tracing inputs upstream from their own suppliers.