Constraint-based production planning and scheduling

• US 20040128176A1
• Filed: 05/02/2003
• Published: 07/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blue Yonder Group, Inc. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Manugistics Group Incorporated (RedPrairie Holding Incorporated)
• Inventors: Jordan, David, Taylor, Brian, Johnston, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,860,737 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

The present invention is a constraint-based planning tool that specifically addresses the needs of complex discrete and process industries by providing a computationally efficient method and system for fulfillment of customer orders in a supply chain. By comprehensively synchronizing and optimizing the flow of materials through the enterprise, the present invention creates a feasible plan for manufacturing operations that simultaneously optimizes both material and capacity constraints by planning and scheduling multiple customer orders, planning for use the various resources located in remote locations needed to fulfill such orders, and scheduling the used resources for replenishment at appropriate times so that the resources meet the needs of the orders.

Claims

1. A method for optimally scheduling manufacturing resources and selecting scheduling opportunities to fulfill customer orders based on user-defined goals, comprising the steps of:

defining at least one human resource and at least one non-human resource, wherein said at least one human and non-human resources are divided into periods of common working time;

receiving an order having an objective;

generating a production method based on said objective and said defined at least one human and non-human resource;

generating routes and scheduling opportunities based on said production method;

selecting one of said routes and said scheduling opportunities based on a scheduling goal and a routing goal;

generating revised routes and revised scheduling opportunities at an end of each of said periods of common working time; and

selecting one of said revised routes and revised scheduling opportunities.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said step of selecting one of said revised routes includes releasing only the human resources at the end of any of said periods of common working time.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said resources include future arrivals of supply stock for bought-in items.

4. A computer-implemented method for deriving at least one plan for scheduling a use of at least one available human and non-human resource to satisfy one or more demands for goods or services comprising the steps of:

describing an environment which models the at least one available human and non-human resources and at least one alternative methodologies for to utilizing said at least one available human and non-human resources;

describing each of said at least one available human and non-human resources and a capacity of each of said at least one available human and non-human resources;

describing a utilization structure which describes use and constraints of said at least one available human and non-human resources;

defining each of said demands as one or more orders where each of the orders has one or more line items;

scheduling said demands according to a set of possible plans based upon the environment, wherein activities can be counted in calendar working days or calendar real days; and

evaluating each possible plan of said set of possible plans for the purpose of at least one of accepting the plan because it is desired to be implemented and rejecting the plan and initiating steps for creating a new plan.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the step of evaluating each possible plan comprises the steps of:

inspecting a relationship between a selected plan and each of said demand and said at least one available human and non-human resource, including resources used for executing the selected plan;

determining whether the demand is satisfied;

comparing the demand to the at least one available human and non-human resources which will be used for executing the selected plan; and

determining whether the selected plan is satisfactory based in part on results of one or more of said steps of inspecting the relationships, determining whether demand is satisfied, and comparing the demand to the resources.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said resources comprise tank resources.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein said scheduling includes at lest one of delaying and reassigning a launch of raw materials to support an order such that said launch will coincide with an arrival of another late material.

8. A computer-implemented method for deriving at least one plan for scheduling a use of at least one available human and non-human resource to satisfy one or more demands for goods or services comprising the steps of:

describing an environment which models the at least one available human and non-human resources and at least one alternative methodologies for to utilizing said at least one available human and non-human resources;

describing each of said at least one available human and non-human resources and a capacity of each of said at least one available human and non-human resources;

forecasting production requirements for demands within a common production process;

describing at least one production schedule which describes the use and limitations on use of at least one of said at least one available human and non-human resources from a point beyond said common production process;

defining each of said demands from said point beyond said common production process as one or more orders where each of the orders has one or more line items;

scheduling said orders according to a set of possible plans based upon the environment; and

evaluating each possible plan of said set of possible plans for the purpose of at least one of accepting the plan because it is desired to be implemented and rejecting the plan and initiating steps for creating a new plan.

9. A system for optimally scheduling manufacturing resources and selecting scheduling opportunities to fulfill customer orders based on user-defined goals, comprising:

means for defining at least one human resource and at least one non-human resource, wherein said at least one human and non-human resources are divided into periods of common working time;

means for receiving an order having an objective;

means for generating a production method based on said objective and said defined at least one human and non-human resource;

means for generating routes and scheduling opportunities based on said production method;

means for selecting one of said routes and said scheduling opportunities based on a scheduling goal and a routing goal;

means for generating revised routes and revised scheduling opportunities at an end of each of said periods of common working time; and

means for selecting one of said revised routes and revised scheduling opportunities.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said means for selecting one of said revised routes includes releasing only the human resources at the end of any of said periods of common working time.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein resources include future arrivals of supply stock for bought-in items.

12. A system for deriving at least one plan for scheduling a use of at least one available human and non-human resource to satisfy one or more demands for goods or services comprising the steps of:

means for describing an environment which models the at least one available human and non-human resources and at least one alternative methodologies for to utilizing said at least one available human and non-human resources;

means for describing each of said at least one available human and non-human resources and a capacity of each of said at least one available human and non-human resources;

means for describing a utilization structure which describes use and constraints of said at least one available human and non-human resources;

means for defining each of said demands as one or more orders where each of the orders has one or more line items;

means for scheduling said demands according to a set of possible plans based upon the environment, wherein activities can be counted in calendar working days or calendar real days; and

means for evaluating each possible plan of said set of possible plans for the purpose of at least one of accepting the plan because it is desired to be implemented and rejecting the plan and initiating steps for creating a new plan.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the step of evaluating each possible plan comprises the steps of:

means for inspecting a relationship between a selected plan and each of said demand and said at least one available human and non-human resource, including resources used for executing the selected plan;

means for determining whether the demand is satisfied;

means for comparing the demand to the at least one available human and non-human resources which will be used for executing the selected plan; and

determining whether the selected plan is satisfactory based in part on results of one or more of said steps of inspecting the relationships, determining whether demand is satisfied, and comparing the demand to the resources.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein said resources comprise tank resources.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein, said scheduling means includes delaying or reassigning the launch of raw materials to support an order such that said launch will coincide with the arrival of another late material.

16. A system for deriving at least one plan for scheduling a use of at least one available human and non-human resource to satisfy one or more demands for goods or services comprising the steps of:

means for describing an environment which models the at least one available human and non-human resources and at least one alternative methodologies for to utilizing said at least one available human and non-human resources;

means for describing each of said at least one available human and non-human resources and a capacity of each of said at least one available human and non-human resources;

means for forecasting production requirements for demands within a common production process;

means for describing at least one production schedule which describes the use and limitations on use of at least one of said at least one available human and non-human resources from a point beyond said common production process;

means for defining each of said demands from said point beyond said common production process as one or more orders where each of the orders has one or more line items;

means for scheduling said orders according to a set of possible plans based upon the environment; and

means for evaluating each possible plan of said set of possible plans for the purpose of at least one of accepting the plan because it is desired to be implemented and rejecting the plan and initiating steps for creating a new plan.

17. A system for optimally scheduling manufacturing resources and selecting scheduling opportunities to fulfill customer orders based on user-defined goals comprising:

a module for defining at least one human resource and at least one non-human resource, wherein said at least one human and non-human resources are divided into periods of common working time;

a receiving module for receiving an order having an objective;

a first generating module for generating a production method based on said objective and said defined at least one human and non-human resource;

a second generating module for generating routes based on said production method;

a selecting module for selecting one of said routes and scheduling opportunities based on a scheduling goal and a routing goal;

a third generation module for generating revised routes and revised scheduling opportunities at an end of each of said periods of common working time; and

a second selecting module for selecting one of said revised routes and revised scheduling opportunities.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein said second selecting module includes releasing only at least one human resource at the end of any of said periods of common working time.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein resources include future arrivals of supply stock for bought-in items.

20. A system for deriving at least one plan for scheduling a use of available resources to satisfy one or more demands for goods or services comprising:

a module for describing an environment which models the at least one available human and non-human resources and at least one alternative methodologies for to utilizing said at least one available human and non-human resources;

a module for describing each of said at least one available human and non-human resources and a capacity of each of said at least one available human and non-human resources;

a module for describing a utilization structure which describes use and constraints of said at least one available human and non-human resources;

a module for defining each of said demands as one or more orders where each of the orders has one or more line items;

a module for scheduling said demands according to a set of possible plans based upon the environment, wherein activities can be counted in calendar working days or calendar real days; and

a module for evaluating each possible plan of said set of possible plans for the purpose of at least one of accepting the plan because it is desired to be implemented and rejecting the plan and initiating steps for creating a new plan.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein said evaluating module comprises:

a module for inspecting a relationship between a selected plan and each of said demand and said at least one available human and non-human resource, including resources used for executing the selected plan;

a module for determining whether the demand is satisfied;

a module for comparing the demand to the at least one available human and non-human resources which will be used for executing the selected plan; and

determining whether the selected plan is satisfactory based in part on results of one or more of said steps of inspecting the relationships, determining whether demand is satisfied, and comparing the demand to the resources.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein said resources comprise tank resources.

23. The system according to claim 21, wherein, said scheduling module includes delaying or reassigning the launch of raw materials to support an order such that said launch will coincide with the arrival of another late material.

24. A system for deriving at least one plan for scheduling a use of available resources to satisfy one or more demands for goods or services comprising the steps of:

a module for describing an environment which models the available resources and alternative ways to utilize said resources;

a module for describing each of said available resources and a capacity of each of said available resources;

a module for forecasting production requirements for demands within said common production process;

a module for describing at least one production schedule which describes the use and limitations on use of some of said available resources from a point beyond said common production process;

a module for defining each of said demands from said point beyond said common production process as one or more orders where each of the orders has one or more line items;

a module for scheduling said orders according to a set of possible plans based upon the environment; and

a module for evaluating each possible plan of said set of possible plans for the purpose of either (a) accepting the plan because it is desired to be implemented, or (b) rejecting the plan and initiating steps for creating a new plan.

25. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform the steps of optimally scheduling manufacturing resources and selecting scheduling opportunities to fulfill customer orders based on user-defined goals, comprising the steps:

defining at least one human resource and at least one non-human resource, wherein said at least one human and non-human resources are divided into periods of common working time;

receiving an order having an objective;

generating a production method based on said objective and said defined at least one human and non-human resource;

generating routes and scheduling opportunities based on said production method;

selecting one of said routes and said scheduling opportunities based on a scheduling goal and a routing goal;

generating revised routes and revised scheduling opportunities at an end of each of said periods of common working time; and

selecting one of said revised routes and revised scheduling opportunities.

26. The program storage device according to claim 25 wherein said step of selecting one of said revised routes includes releasing only the at least one human resource at the end of any of said periods of common working time.

27. The program storage device according to claim 25 wherein, in said step of defining resources, said resources include future arrivals of supply stock for bought-in items.

28. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform the steps of deriving at least one plan for scheduling a use of available resources to satisfy one or more demands for goods or services, comprising the steps of:

describing an environment which models the available human and non-human resources and alternative ways to utilize said resources;

describing each of said available resources and a capacity of each of said available resources;

describing a utilization structure which describes the use and limitations on use of substantially all of said available resources;

defining each of said demands as one or more orders where each of the orders has one or more line items;

scheduling said demands according to a set of possible plans based upon the environment wherein activities can be counted in calendar working days or calendar real days; and

evaluating each possible plan of said set of possible plans for the purpose of either (a) accepting the plan because it is desired to be implemented, or (b) rejecting the plan and initiating steps for creating a new plan.

29. The program storage device according to claim 28 wherein the step of evaluating each possible plan comprises:

inspecting the relationship between the selected plan and each of said demand and said resources, including what resources will be used in executing the plan;

determining whether the demand is adequately satisfied;

comparing the demand to the resources which will be used in executing the plan; and

determining whether the plan is satisfactory based in part on results of one or more of said steps of inspecting the relationships, determining whether demand is satisfied, and comparing the demand to the resources.

30. The program storage device according to claim 29, wherein said resources comprise tank resources.

31. The program storage device according to claim 29, wherein, in said step of scheduling said demands, said scheduling includes delaying or reassigning the launch of raw materials to support an order such that said launch will coincide with the arrival of another late material.

32. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform the steps of deriving at least one plan for scheduling a use of available resources to satisfy one or more demands for goods or services, comprising the steps of:

describing an environment which models the available resources and alternative ways to utilize said resources;

describing each of said available resources and a capacity of each of said available resources;

forecasting production requirements for demands within said common production process;

describing at least one production schedule which describes the use and limitations on use of some of said available resources from a point beyond said common production process;

defining each of said demands from said point beyond said common production process as one or more orders where each of the orders has one or more line items;

scheduling said orders according to a set of possible plans based upon the environment; and

evaluating each possible plan of said set of possible plans for the purpose of either (a) accepting the plan because it is desired to be implemented, or (b) rejecting the plan and initiating steps for creating a new plan.