Visibility and synchronization in a multi tier supply chain model
First Claim
1. A system including one or more business entities defining a head of a supply chain;
- one or more sets of tiers of suppliers, wherein each said set of tiers is disposed in an extended supply chain;
an electronic commerce facilitator coupled to said one or more business entities and said one or more sets of tiers of suppliers;
a database including information from said one or more sets of tiers of suppliers relating to two or more of the following;
price, inventory, delivery schedules, backorders and supply interruptions, exceptional events, contracts, and past transactions; and
an order collaboration system coupled to said electronic commerce facilitator, whereby said one or more business entities can view updates to supply chain conditions for said plurality of said tiers.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems with which manufacturers can review reliable information about supply conditions including multiple supplier tiers, and maintain order collaboration for an extended supply chain. The manufacturer can: view updates to supply chain conditions; aggregate information from multiple products; collect and analyze information regarding supply chain performance of multiple supplier tiers; obtain feedback information for its design process in response to supply chain performance; review and enforce compliance with contract terms between the manufacturer and its suppliers; direct first tier and later tier suppliers to allocate parts in relatively short supply to particular projects within an enterprise in which the manufacturer is included; can define dictionaries of data shared among tiers, such as part numbers; and determine for which parts there is no strong preference in design or manufacture, allowing its first tier and later tier parts suppliers to use any design that meets design specifications.
38 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A system including
one or more business entities defining a head of a supply chain; -
one or more sets of tiers of suppliers, wherein each said set of tiers is disposed in an extended supply chain;
an electronic commerce facilitator coupled to said one or more business entities and said one or more sets of tiers of suppliers;
a database including information from said one or more sets of tiers of suppliers relating to two or more of the following;
price, inventory, delivery schedules, backorders and supply interruptions, exceptional events, contracts, and past transactions; and
an order collaboration system coupled to said electronic commerce facilitator, whereby said one or more business entities can view updates to supply chain conditions for said plurality of said tiers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for operating an order collaboration system for an extended supply chain, including steps of
receiving a request from one or more business entities regarding supply chain information relevant to one or more designs or parts used in designs; -
determining which data is relevant to said request, wherein said data is derived from one or more suppliers across one or more supply chains or past business records associated with said manufacture and is related to at least one of the following;
price of at least one electronic or computer part, quantity available of said electronic or computer part, delivery schedules for said electronic or computer part, backorders, supply interruptions, exceptional events and contracts, and said data is stored in a database coupled to a hub;
aggregating said data in such a way that said aggregated data is responsive to said request; and
generating a report and presenting said report to said one or more business entities, wherein said report is responsive to said request. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification