Intelligent fulfillment agents

• US 20050256787A1
• Filed: 07/20/2005
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blue Yonder Group, Inc. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: i2 Technologies US Incorporated (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Balakrishnan, Sivakumar, Wadawadigi, Ganesh, Mohapatra, Deepak, Jain, Ajay
• Granted Patent: US 8,135,630 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

A method for distributed inventory management includes receiving information regarding a number of participants in a value chain and information regarding one or more items relevant in the value chain. The method also includes modeling relationships between two or more of the participants based on the received information and modeling the one or more items based on the received information. The method further includes receiving inventory data from the participants relating to the one or more items, evaluating the received inventory data according to one or more business rules associated with an agent, executing a business process associated with the agent based on the evaluation of the inventory data and the models of the relationships and the items, and communicating output of the business process to one or more of the participants.

Claims

1-25. -25. (canceled)

26. A distributed order fulfillment system, the system comprising one or more components collectively operable to:

receive information regarding a plurality of participants in a value chain and information regarding one or more items relevant in the value chain;

receive inventory data from the participants relating to the one or more items;

receive a request for quote for one or more items from a buying participant;

determine one or more selling participants that should receive the request for quote based on the received information regarding the participants and the items;

communicate at least a portion of the request for quote to the determined selling participants;

receive one or more responses to the request for quote from the selling participants;

communicate the responses to the buying participant;

receive one or more purchase orders from the buying participant for one or more items from one or more of the selling participants;

assign a promise to one or more of the purchase orders;

determine, based on one or more sourcing rules specified by a selling participant, an appropriate destination from among a plurality of destinations associated with the selling participant to which at least one of the purchase orders is to be communicated; and

communicate the at least one purchase order to the appropriate destination associated with the selling participant.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the components are further operable to:

model relationships between two or more of the participants based on the received information; and

model the one or more items based on the received information.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein modeling the relationships between two or more of the participants comprises specifying the identity of one or more of the participants, the locations of the participants, the roles of the participants in the value chain, and one or more business rules associated with one or more of the participants.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein modeling the items comprises specifying the identity of one or more items relevant in the value chain, a description of the items, the locations at which each item is active, and an item hierarchy.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the components are further operable to consolidate the responses to the request for quote from the selling participants into a consolidated response for communication to the buying participant.

31. The system of claim 26, wherein the components are further operable to validate the purchase order.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein the components are further operable to notify non-selected selling participants.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein assigning a promise to a purchase order comprises assigning a promise based on a selection of a selling participant by the buying participant.

34. The system of claim 26, wherein assigning a promise to a purchase order comprises assigning a promise based on an evaluation of the responses to the request for quote.

35. The system of claim 26, wherein assigning a promise to a purchase order comprises assigning a promise based on a real-time evaluation of the inventory data associated with a particular selling participant.

36. The system of claim 26, wherein the components are further operable to track the status of the order during an order execution process and communicate the status to relevant participants.

37. The system of claim 26, wherein the components are further operable to communicate an alert to relevant participants if an exception occurs during order fulfillment.

38. The system of claim 26, wherein one or more of the components of the system are operated by one or more of the participants.

39. The system of claim 26, wherein one or more of the components of the system are implemented in an e-marketplace independent of the participants.

40. A method for distributed order fulfillment, comprising:

receiving information regarding a plurality of participants in a value chain and information regarding one or more items relevant in the value chain;

receiving inventory data from the participants relating to the one or more items;

receiving a request for quote for one or more items from a buying participant;

determining one or more selling participants that should receive the request for quote based on the received information regarding the participants and the items;

communicating at least a portion of the request for quote to the determined selling participants;

receiving one or more responses to the request for quote from the selling participants;

communicating the responses to the buying participant;

receiving one or more purchase orders from the buying participant for one or more items from one or more of the selling participants;

assigning a promise to one or more of the purchase orders;

determining, based on one or more sourcing rules specified by a selling participant, an appropriate destination from among a plurality of destinations associated with the selling participant to which at least one of the purchase orders is to be communicated; and

communicating the at least one purchase order to the appropriate destination associated with the selling participant.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

modeling relationships between two or more of the participants based on the received information; and

modeling the one or more items based on the received information.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein modeling the relationships between two or more of the participants comprises specifying the identity of one or more of the participants, the locations of the participants, the roles of the participants in the value chain, and one or more business rules associated with one or more of the participants.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein modeling the items comprises specifying the identity of one or more items relevant in the value chain, a description of the items, the locations at which each item is active, and an item hierarchy.

44. The method of claim 40, further comprising consolidating the responses to the request for quote from the selling participants into a consolidated response for communication to the buying participant.

45. The method of claim 40, further comprising validating the purchase order.

46. The method of claim 40, further comprising notifying non-selected selling participants.

47. The method of claim 40, wherein assigning a promise to a purchase order comprises assigning a promise based on a selection of a selling participant by the buying participant.

48. The method of claim 40, wherein assigning a promise to a purchase order comprises assigning a promise based on an evaluation of the responses to the request for quote.

49. The method of claim 40, wherein assigning a promise to a purchase order comprises assigning a promise based on a real-time evaluation of the inventory data associated with a particular selling participant.

50. The method of claim 40, further comprising tracking-the status of the order during an order execution process and communicate the status to relevant participants.

51. The method of claim 40, further comprising communicating an alert to relevant participants if an exception occurs during order fulfillment.