Method for optimal demanufacturing planning
First Claim
1. A method of optimally demanufacturing products containing components and refurbishing said products based on demand statements for said components and said products, said method comprising:
- receiving at least two of said demand statements, each of said demand statements comprising an identifier, a quantity, and a demand statement priority;
satisfying said demand statements based on demand statement priorities; and
at least one of;
identifying at least one product to be demanufactured in order to satisfy said demand statements; and
identifying at least one product to be refurbished in order to satisfy said demand statements.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus that maintains a database of the demands over time for all the different refurbished machines is disclosed. The invention also maintains the supply over time of all the different machines that will be returned from expired leases. The invention maintains the relationship for alternate parts which parts can be used in place of another. The invention also maintains an inventory of parts and machines. As machines are returned from expired leases, they come into inventory. From this inventory, some of the machines will, from time to time be scheduled to be refurbished or demanufactured. The balance will remain in inventory. When a machine is demanufactured, all of the parts that are produced will be put in inventory. However, some may be used immediately to satisfy a demand for the part and the balance may be used to satisfy demand for the same part later or be used as an alternate part for some other part. The invention also maintains a bill-of-materials that is a cross reference of all the parts that can be produced from each machine. Related to this are parametric data that is required. These data are yields associated with the refurbishing and demanufacturing process, the offset or time required for these processes, the resources required and the capacity of the resource, etc. The final set of information that is maintained by the invention are the priorities of the different demands. These priorities can be time sensitive, if required. These priorities reflect the economic advantage of satisfying one demand before another. For example, demands for refurbished machines may have a high priority, reflecting the consideration that refurbishing generally requires minimal effort and generates a large revenue and profit. Demands (auction/sales) for certain parts sometimes have a high resale value and they would be given a high priority. Finally, most of the other demands (service, sales and auctions) for parts may have a lower priority.
33 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of optimally demanufacturing products containing components and refurbishing said products based on demand statements for said components and said products, said method comprising:
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receiving at least two of said demand statements, each of said demand statements comprising an identifier, a quantity, and a demand statement priority;
satisfying said demand statements based on demand statement priorities; and
at least one of;
identifying at least one product to be demanufactured in order to satisfy said demand statements; and
identifying at least one product to be refurbished in order to satisfy said demand statements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of optimally demanufacturing products containing components based on demand statements for said components, said method comprising:
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receiving at least two of said demand statements, each of said demand statements comprising a component identifier, a quantity, and a demand statement priority;
satisfying said demand statements based on demand statement priorities; and
identifying at least one product to be demanufactured in order to satisfy said demand statements. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of optimally demanufacturing products containing components and refurbishing said products based on demand statements for said components and said products, said method comprising:
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receiving at least two of said demand statements, each of said demand statements comprising an identifier, a quantity, and a demand statement priority;
maintaining a database of said components available in products awaiting recycling;
maintaining a database of an inventory supply of said components;
satisfying said demand statements based on demand statement priorities; and
at least one of;
identifying products to be demanufactured in order to satisfy demand statements for said products; and
identifying products to be refurbished in order to satisfy demand statements for said components, wherein said identifying of said products to be demanufactured comprises;
comparing demand statements for said components with said inventory supply of said components to identify needed components;
matching said needed components to said components available in said products awaiting recycling to identify products to be disassembled; and
ranking said products to be disassembled according to which product produces a greater number of needed components. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A program storage device readable by machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by said machine for performing a method of optimally demanufacturing products containing components and refurbishing said products based on demand statements for said components and said products, said method comprising:
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receiving at least two of said demand statements, each of said demand statements comprising an identifier, a quantity, and a demand statement priority;
satisfying said demand statements based on demand statement priorities; and
at least one of;
identifying at least one product to be demanufactured in order to satisfy said demand statements; and
identifying at least one product to be refurbished in order to satisfy said demand statements. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification