I realize this is a big ask, maybe even a pipe dream, but I want to ask. One of the shining lights in the current pandemic has been the rise of people and businesses to help make PPE, the most prominent example (that I’m aware of) is:
If you go to that site, you’ll see they basically hand the design, BOM, suppliers, logistics to you on a silver platter. Any company that has the capability can sign-up to manufacture face shields and ship them where needed.
Would it make any sense for Node Red to develop some type of decentralized MRP / logistics system for this or some future crisis? I suppose what I’m envisioning the ability for interested parties to install a flow that ties their capabilities into a larger system for producing some particular product. For example, there might be a coordinator node for a particular project and nodes for suppliers, manufacturers, and consumers that they would install and integrate with each other and their internal systems.
This is way above my head to know how to do this, which is probably why I’m dumb enough to even suggest it. But, I thought it was at least worth throwing the idea out there.
