Supply Me

A supply chain visualization platform

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Inspiration

Going into this hackathon, our team thought about going into this hackathon: “How can we help the now disrupted supply chain?” As of this question, along with our passionate interest in innovative technology, is what lead to the groundbreaking solution that is Supply Me. Our team, during the Coronavirus pandemic, has noticed the issues regarding the production of peculiar products such as produce, which includes vegetables, milk, and other produce. We not only see this but as well the underproduction of goods such as personal protection equipment from companies such as 3M. It was a growing concern our team saw, in which the loss of grip and control in overproduction has led to significant food wastage, and many medical institutions undersupplied with PPE. It’s dangerous in the manner that while so many people are in need, food is being thrown, and medical institutions are in trouble. We were surprised to see a real multi-million-dollar problem under the radar, especially in times like these. We felt compelled to create a solution. Something that would support everyone, including producers, warehouses, and end consumers, but yet also provide a clean and simple user experience at the same time.

What it does

Supply Me is an organized supply chain web application that brings users seeking to find/manage their supply/demand for their company/organization. This includes personal protection equipment manufacturing companies, farms, significant warehouses, hospitals, or even small grocery stores that need to express how much supply of a product is necessary. The system works because a user completes a simple registration form where they upload their company credentials. The credentials would include the name of the company, product type, the number of products needed/stored/manufactured, the general type of the company (producer, warehouse, or retail) and finally, the specific type. After verification, the company (3M, for example) will be placed on a map where supply and demand will be shown. By being placed on the map, the smart route systems will then funnel resources from the producers to the storage (warehouse) and finally to the consumers (stores/restaurants). The intelligent route system, utilizing the Google Map API, can calculate the shortest, fastest route possible for both producers and consumers, thus no more delay time. Furthermore, Google Map API gives more options for customization, agile experiences that bring the real world to our app with static and dynamic maps, Street View imagery, and 360° views. We give users the best way to get supplies and products from A to Z with high-quality directions and real-time traffic updates. To add on, it can determine the route a vehicle travels to create more precise itineraries. Last but not least, the Google Map API lets users discover the world with rich warehouse location data for over 100 million places. Producers can find specific areas using phone numbers, addresses, and real-time signals. A user can also go on our about us page to learn more about the website and its features. Last but not least, they can go on our contact us page to provide the team with any comments or questions to make the platform better over time.

How we built it

We started with a frontend. We had multiple people develop frontends, and we chose the best one. After this, we utilized AWS and MySQL to create a database for the backend. The AWS API used Lambda, and the actual method was written with Python 2.7. We also used AWS to host a remote MySQL database. This way, everyone could access it. The frontend was built with XD, HTML, Javascript, and CSS. We used Ajax to communicate with the backend.

Challenges we ran into

We had a few problems throughout the project, one of the most notable being a partner who was also a part of another team. We managed to work around this by divvying up the roles that we gave him. Another problem was syncing a MySQL database across multiple computers. We were able to tap into our resources and utilize AWS for our backend needs. Another issue we came across was Domain.com and Github's display of HTML files. Sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. We fixed this issue by discussing the problem with the mentors. Knowledge was also a problem, as we didn't know everything we needed to know for this project. However, we all persevered and learned everything we needed to learn. We also didn't know each other before the hackathon, but we got to know each other throughout the course of the project. This also helped us work together more efficiently.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of how we managed to work together efficiently. We are all high schoolers (ages 14-15) who didn't know each other well before this hackathon, but thanks to the hackathon, we were able to meet each other and work on a fantastic project. We also learned a lot in order to complete this hackathon, and these skills will definitely come in handy in the future.

What we learned

We learned a lot more about Javascript, HTML, AWS, CSS, and MySQL. These skills are incredibly useful in computer science-related careers, and we're glad we got this opportunity to learn a bit more about coding vanilla web apps, without using any external frameworks.

What's next for Supply Me

As Supply Me gets more datasets from different other companies, we will be implementing a filtering system, making browsing the supply chain visually more convenient and portable. Supply Me will have to find a way to get a revenue source, such as annual plans for companies, warehouses to purchase. It would benefit the companies by getting more premium services from Supply Me regarding their supply chain system.

Domain Name

supplyingnotdying.online

To view the map on the website please use Moesif CORS chrome extension

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