Operational efficiency is critical to maximizing profitability across your logistics solution. Whether you have a growing e-commerce operation or a global supply chain, real-time visibility into your workflows can identify bottlenecks and eliminate inefficiencies. PubNub specializes in giving actionable insight into many customers' logistics solutions in real-time.
This blog discusses the high-level components and architecture needed to create a real-time supply chain using PubNub.
Components
PubNub Channels
These are the communication channels over which data is exchanged. Different channels can be created for specific data types, like order updates, shipment status, or location tracking.
Create separate channels for different data types, e.g.
Location Updates Channel: GPS data from supply chain vehicles.Inventory Status Channel: Real-time inventory updates from warehouses.Delivery Status Channel: Status updates from carriers on package deliveries
Data Producers
These are the entities that publish data to PubNub channels, which might be either physical or virtual. This could include:
Logistics providers: Sending updates on shipment status, location, and estimated delivery times.
Carriers: Providing real-time tracking information and exceptions.
IoT devices: Sharing sensor data from vehicles or containers.
Data Consumers
Entities that subscribe to PubNub channels to receive data.
Customers: Tracking their orders and receiving notifications.
Warehouse management systems: Receiving updates for incoming shipments and inventory management.
Third-party logistics providers: Accessing data for optimization and coordination.
Applications
Applications can act as either data producers or data consumers (or both) and represent ways for users to interact with your solution.
Client Applications
Real-time data needs to be presented to users so it can be monitored, but users need to be given flexibility:
Web dashboards
Accessible from anywhere on any device. They are built using frameworks like Next.JS, React, or Angular and subscribe to receive real-time updates using the PubNub API.
Mobile apps
Required for mobile employees and can be more performant or convenient than reusing web apps. Implemented using React Native, Swift, or Kotlin, PubNub natively supports all popular languages, mobile push notifications, and access control.
Desktop apps
Can take full advantage of the device power and screen real-estate to provide a consistent experience for office workers.
Examples of users who might monitor the real-time data are used by logistics managers, warehouse staff, or delivery agents.
Data Flow
Data Generation:
Data producers generate real-time data based on their activities (e.g., shipment updates, location tracking, GPS devices in trucks, warehouse management systems, IoT (Internet of Things) sensors).
Data Publishing:
There are 2 ways to capture the data from the producers.
The first option is to deploy your own server and take responsibility for routing and scaling as the volume of data grows.
The second (recommended) option is to use PubNub OnRequest Functions, which are called whenever there is a new order. PubNub Functions provide automatic scalability and minimal latency, allowing you to streamline your deployment and avoid disruptions.
Validate and transform the data:
The PubNub Function (or your server) receives the data; it is then validated, transformed, and enriched as necessary. Transformation of the data streams could involve real-time analysis with artificial intelligence/machine learning, or you could aggregate the data for offline analysis of success metrics such as customer experience or customer satisfaction.
The data is then published to the relevant channels using the PubNub SDK (channel names are configurable and will depend on your use case, for example, you might have channels named
location-updatesorinventory-status).Data Syndication:
Processed data is either stored in databases or directly published to appropriate PubNub channels for consumer applications to access.
You can also choose to syndicate data externally to business partners specializing in data analytics or decision-making and forecasting.
Data Delivery:
PubNub delivers the published data in real-time with low latency to the subscribed consumers.
Data Consumption:
End-user applications (dashboards, mobile apps) subscribe to relevant channels to receive and monitor real-time updates. In response to those updates, actions are taken, such as order updates, triggering actions, or providing information to users.
Workflow Diagram: Supply Chain Management
Next Steps
To learn more, check out PubNub's Transport and Delivery Solutions page or schedule a demo to see how PubNub can add real-time visibility to your logistics solution.