Systems and methods for manufacturing

• US 20030125972A1
• Filed: 08/21/2002
• Published: 07/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HBI Branded Apparel Enterprises LLC (Hanesbrands Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: HBI Branded Apparel Enterprises LLC (Hanesbrands Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wilson, Randy, Luce, Anthony D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,356,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

Systems and method for the manufacture of goods, including apparel, piece goods, and other assembled items are described. Embodiments of this invention provide systems for managing the flow of component parts to an assembly site, the assembly of finished goods, and the flow of finished goods from the assembly site to distribution sites. Embodiments of this invention are particularly advantageous for use in the apparel industry, for example, in the manufacture of garments such as t-shirts.

Claims

1. An integrated manufacturing system comprising:

a web application server;

a manufacturing application installed on said web application server, wherein said manufacturing application is capable of receiving manufacturing-related data from a plurality of supplier facilities;

a computer network in communication with said web application server; and

a supplier facility, comprising a first client processor in communication with said computer network.

2. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein said manufacturing application comprises an apparel manufacturing application.

3. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein said manufacturing application comprises a module.

4. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 3, wherein said module comprises a module selected from the group consisting of:

an order receiving module;

an inventory tracking module;

a product shipping module;

a quality audit tracking module;

a personnel tracking module;

a production tracking module;

a payroll interface module;

an attribution tracking module;

a supplies tracking module;

an in-plant production scheduling module; and

a multi-lingual module.

5. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein said computer network comprises at least one of a public computer network, a private computer network, and a governmental computer network.

6. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein said first client processor comprises:

a data collection server; and

a data collection device in communication with said data collection server.

7. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 6, wherein said data collection device comprises a stationary bar code scanner.

8. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 6, wherein said data collection device comprises:

a wireless network base station; and

a portable bar code scanner in communication with said wireless network base station.

9. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein said computer network comprises a computer network selected from the group consisting of a dial-up network, a wide area network, and the Internet.

10. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein said supplier facility comprises an independent supplier facility.

11. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein said supplier facility comprises a self-owned supplier facility.

12. The integrated manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein said first client processor comprises a client personal computer (PC), comprising a web browser application.

13. A method for providing integrated manufacturing administration comprising:

receiving a manufacturing-related data element from a supplier facility; and

combining said manufacturing-related data element with a plurality of manufacturing-related data elements in an integrated manufacturing data store.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said integrated manufacturing data store comprises an integrated apparel manufacturing data store.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said supplier facility comprises an independent supplier facility.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein said supplier facility comprises a self-owned supplier facility.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein said manufacturing-related data element comprises a data element selected from the group consisting of:

an order receiving data element;

an inventory tracking data element;

a product shipping data element;

a quality audit tracking data element;

a personnel tracking data element;

a production tracking data element;

a payroll interface data element;

an attribution tracking data element;

a supplies tracking data element; and

an in-plant production scheduling data element.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein said second manufacturing-related data element comprises a data element selected from the group consisting of:

an order receiving data element;

an inventory tracking data element;

a product shipping data element;

a quality audit tracking data element;

a personnel tracking data element;

a production tracking data element;

a payroll interface data element;

an attribution tracking data element;

a supplies tracking data element; and

an in-plant production scheduling data element.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving said manufacturing-related data element comprises receiving said manufacturing-related data element via a computer network.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said computer network comprises a computer network selected from the group consisting of a dial-up network, a wide area network, and the Internet.