Development of a Microservice Architecture and Services for a Rapid Response Online Product Marketplace

Abstract

Abstract. The global pandemic has exposed deficiencies in supply chains in rapidly responding to urgent medical needs and demonstrated the challenge of promptly acquiring medical supplies during emergencies. Even under policy tools and using existing e-commerce alternatives, being able to promptly acquire medical supplies, including personal protective equipment and medical devices, is still a significant concern for future emergency situations. Hence, the details for an open, extensible, service-oriented product marketplace platform that enables rapid matchmaking between consumers and manufacturers in such emergency situations are presented in this work. This marketplace is especially designed based on a microservice architecture, where each service operates independently and communicates through message exchanges, optimizing the supply chain for items according to customers’ preferences and constraints regarding budget and lead time. In addition, the results of implementing a simplified prototype of the platform, where a healthcare worker is using the online product marketplace to order a replacement part of a respirator mask, are also demonstrated. By using this online product marketplace, manufacturers will benefit from improved accessibility to their products, services, and manufacturing resources (also under normal operations), while consumers will gain unprecedented access to existing products and manufacturing resources.