In recent years market expansion and globalization have led to new market requirements, which resulted in more complex supply chains. Within these complex supply chains, the lack of visibility and cross-enterprise data-exchange on the whereabouts of goods has led to the occurrence of undesired dwell-time of products between processes, resulting in a decrease in supply chain performance with regards to throughput times. This paper addresses the current lack of visibility and cross-enterprise data-exchange in supply chains by designing a Digital Chain that is based on Internet of Things (IoT)-sensor technology and blockchain technology. Through use of a Digital Chain, undesired dwell-time of goods is diminished and therefore supply chain performance is improved concerning Service-Level Objectives regarding Throughput Times (SLOTT). A Digital Chain is defined as a digital representation of a physical supply chain that mimics its counterpart in great detail through continuous updating of state changes of the physical counterpart via sensor-based data. Digital Chains are expected to improve supply chain SLOTT performance as they provide for upfront, iterative forecasting of arrival times of goods. In this paper the following research question is answered: ‘What are the design characteristics to develop a Digital Chain, based on combining IoT-sensors with blockchain technology, to improve supply chain SLOTT performance?’