Systems and methods for managing an asset inventory

• US 20060224482A1
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Aragones, Amy Victoria, Iyer, Naresh Sundaram, Aragones, James Kenneth
• Application Number:
  US11/095,242
• Publication Number:
  US 20060224482A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

A method of managing an asset inventory is provided. The method includes obtaining data related to assets of the asset inventory and analyzing the obtained data to estimate a total number of assets required by the asset inventory over a time period. The method also includes determining a first cost of owning an asset and a second cost of leasing an asset and allocating the asset inventory between a first number of owned assets and a second number of leased assets to achieve an estimated least-cost value of maintaining the total number of assets over the time period.

Claims

1. A method of managing an asset inventory, comprising:

obtaining data related to assets of the asset inventory;

analyzing the obtained data to estimate a total number of assets required by the asset inventory over a time period;

determining a first cost of owning an asset and a second cost of leasing an asset; and

allocating the asset inventory between a first number of owned assets and a second number of leased assets to achieve an estimated least-cost value of maintaining the total number of assets over the time period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset inventory comprises a spare engines inventory and the assets comprise spare engines for a fleet of aircrafts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to assets comprise an asset utilization, or an asset lease acquisition cost, or an asset lease utilization cost, or an asset repair cost, or an asset life, or an asset maintenance turnaround time, or an asset transport time, or an asset depreciation, or an asset purchase cost, or an asset storage cost, or an asset ownership cost, or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to assets comprises a plurality of failure modes of components of the assets.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of failure modes comprise a gear box related failure, or a combustor failure, or a foreign object damage, or a high pressure compressor failure, or a high pressure turbine failure, or a life limited part, or a low pressure system failure, or a maintenance error, or a slow acceleration, or a control failure, or a performance failure, or combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the obtained data comprises analyzing the obtained data to determine failure rate distributions for the components of the assets and forecasting failure of the components of the assets over the time period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating the assets to be owned by the asset inventory comprises balancing the cost of owning the first number of assets against the cost of leasing the second number of assets.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising employing a stochastic forecast to determine the first number of owned assets and the second number of leased assets for the time period.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining a leasing schedule for leasing the second number of leased assets to substantially reduce the cost of maintaining the total number of assets over the time period.

10. A method of managing an asset inventory, comprising:

obtaining data related to assets for the asset inventory;

analyzing the obtained data to estimate a total number of assets required by the asset inventory over a period of time;

allocating the asset inventory between a first number of owned assets and a second number of leased assets to achieve an estimated least-cost value of maintaining the total number of assets over the period of time; and

determining a schedule for leasing the second number of assets to be leased for the asset inventory.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the asset inventory comprises a spare engines inventory and the assets comprise spare engines for a fleet of aircrafts.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the data related to assets comprise an asset utilization, or an asset lease acquisition cost, or an asset lease utilization cost, or an asset repair cost, or an asset life, or an asset maintenance turnaround time, or an asset transport time, or an asset depreciation, or an asset purchase cost, or an asset storage cost, or an asset ownership cost, or combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein analyzing the obtained data comprises analyzing the obtained data to determine failure rate distributions for the components of the assets and forecasting failure of the components of the assets over the time period.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein allocating the asset inventory comprises determining a first cost of owning an asset and a second cost of leasing an asset for the asset inventory.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the schedule for leasing the second number of assets comprises employing a stochastic forecast to estimate time periods for which the second number of the assets is required by the asset inventory.

16. A computer program for managing an asset inventory, the computer program being disposed on one or more tangible media, the computer program comprising:

code for obtaining data related to assets of the asset inventory;

code for analyzing the obtained data to estimate a total number of assets required by the asset inventory over a time period;

code for determining a first cost of owning an asset and a second cost of leasing an asset; and

code for allocating the asset inventory between a first number of owned assets and a second number of leased assets to achieve an estimated least-cost value of maintaining the total number of assets over the time period.

17. The computer program of claim 16, further comprising code for analyzing the obtained data to determine failure rate distributions for the components of the assets and forecasting failure of the components of the assets over the pre-determined period through a processor.

18. The computer program of claim 16, further comprising code for employing a stochastic forecast to determine the first number of assets to be owned by the asset inventory.

19. A computer program for managing an asset inventory, the computer program being disposed on one or more tangible media, the computer program comprising:

code for obtaining data related to assets for the asset inventory;

code for analyzing the obtained data to estimate a total number of assets required by the asset inventory over a period of time;

code for allocating the asset inventory between a first number of owned assets and a second number of leased assets to achieve an estimated least-cost value of maintaining the total number of assets over the period of time; and

code for determining a schedule for leasing the second number of assets to be leased for the asset inventory.

20. The computer program of claim 19, further comprising code for analyzing the obtained data to determine failure rate distributions for the components of the assets and forecasting failure of the components of the assets over the pre-determined period.

21. The computer program of claim 19, further comprising code for determining the second number of assets to be leased by the asset inventory based upon a second coat of leasing an asset and the cost of maintaining the total number of assets.

22. A system for managing an asset inventory, comprising:

a database having data related to assets of the asset inventory; and

a processor configured to analyze the data to estimate a total number of assets required by the asset inventory over a time period and to allocate the asset inventory between a first number of owned assets and a second number of leased assets to substantially reduce a cost of maintaining the total number of assets.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the processor comprises a simulator configured to determine failure rate distributions for components of the assets over the time period.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the simulator is configured to forecast failure of the components of the assets over the time period based upon the estimated failure rate distributions for the components.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a schedule for leasing the second number of assets to be leased for the asset inventory.