Interactive 3D shortage tracking user interface

• US 20080103863A1
• Filed: 11/01/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Holm-Petersen, Morten
• Granted Patent: US 8,671,005 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The claimed method and system provides a user interface that displays a plurality of product order bars (icons) along with a set of dependencies between product orders in a single graphical view. A plurality of iconic bars are used to represent a demand or product order for a segment of a production process. Each bar may indicate a total quantity of raw material ordered at the segment or quantity of raw material incorporated in work-in-progress products ordered at the segment. Each bar may also indicate raw material that will be available to the segment and allocated to the segment. At the same time, each bar may indicate an unavailable portion or deficient quantity of the raw material required at the segment. A time axis may be used to indicate the expected availability (or delivery) times of the bars (orders). Additional stock material that is readily available may also be displayed to indicate that stockpiled material may be used to remedy some of the deficiencies in product orders. Connecting lines may be drawn between bars to indicate a flow of the raw material from one segment of a production process to another. The bars may be updated dynamically when a production planner renders a reallocation of raw material.

Claims

1. A method of displaying dependencies on a raw material and of displaying raw material distribution in a production process comprising:

displaying a plurality of bars representing product orders at segments of a production process, wherein the plurality of bars includes;

a raw material bar representing an order of raw material;

at least one work-in-progress bar representing an order for a first work-in-progress product comprising the raw material and further representing a subassembly that produces a second work-in-progress product based on the first work-in-progress product; and

a terminal bar representing a sales order for a finished product comprising the raw material;

displaying an indication at each bar of a total quantity of raw material required to fill the product order at the segment of the production process corresponding to each bar;

displaying a first color at each bar to represent a portion of the quantity of required raw material that is available for the segment;

displaying a second color at each bar to represent a portion of the quantity of required raw material that is unavailable for the segment; and

displaying a connection between two or more of the plurality of bars, wherein the connection represents a flow of an upstream product to a downstream product order.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication at each bar of the total quantity of raw material is based on a height of each of the plurality of bars and wherein the first color is used to color a bottom portion of the bar and the second color is used to color a remaining top portion of the bar.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of bars further includes a customer bar representing a customer associated with one or more finished product sales orders and wherein the first and second color of the customer bar further represent a portion of a total order of the customer that will be fulfilled and a portion of a total order of the customer that will not be fulfilled, respectively.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the customer bar is displayed in an arrangement based on a supplier designated preference.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising an algorithm for determining the dependencies between upstream products and downstream production orders that includes:

querying a production order table for upcoming work-in-progress production orders that have reservations on the raw material;

querying for upcoming work-in-progress production orders that have reservations on work-in-progress products dependent on the raw material;

querying for sales orders that have reservations on a finished product dependent on the raw material or dependent on a work-in-progress product dependent on the raw material; and

querying for customers that placed the sales orders.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the algorithm further computes the amount of the raw material needed at each bar to fulfill the order at the segment of the production process corresponding to each bar.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising rendering a reallocation of an available upstream product from a first downstream product order to a second downstream product order when the first and second downstream product order use the same upstream product as an input.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating the coloring of downstream bars in response to the reallocation to reflect a change in raw material availability.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the rendering the reallocation comprises dragging a portion of the first color segment of a first bar to a second bar if the first bar and second bar are connected to a common upstream bar.

10. The method of claim 3, further comprising displaying a field on which the plurality of bars are disposed and wherein the raw material bar is disposed near a proximal end of a field and the customer bar is disposed near a distal end of the field, and wherein the work-in-progress bar and terminal bar is disposed between the raw material bar and the customer bar.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the field is oriented along a time axis that is parallel to a longitudinal edge of the field, wherein the longitudinal edge traverses the proximal end and the distal end.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the field is longitudinally partitioned into lateral strips between the proximal and distal end and wherein the lateral strips designate a time corresponding to their intersection with the time axis.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a longitudinal strip is added between two or more lateral strips and wherein the longitudinal strip designates a duration required to finish a production order by a work-in-progress subassembly.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising displaying a longitudinal strip adjacent a longitudinal edge of the field, wherein the plurality of bars further includes a reserve stock bar that is disposed on the longitudinal strip.

15. A user interface of a user computer having rendered thereon a set of raw material dependent product orders, comprising:

a raw material bar representing an order of raw material;

a work-in-progress bar representing an order for a first work-in-progress product comprising the raw material, and further representing a subassembly that produces a second work-in-progress product based on the first work-in-progress product;

a terminal bar representing a sales order for a finished product of the production process comprising the raw material;

a customer bar representing a customer associated with one or more sales orders for finished products comprising the raw material; and

a connection indicator between at least two or more of the bars, wherein the connection indicator represents a flow of the raw material from a first bar to a second bar;

wherein a first color of each bar is used to represent a portion of a quantity of the raw material that is available for an order represented by the bar and a second color of each bar is used to represent a portion of the quantity of the required raw material that is unavailable for the order represented by the bar but necessary to fill the order.

16. The user interface of claim 15, wherein the bars are disposed on a field and wherein the raw material bar is disposed near a proximal end of a field and the customer bar is disposed near a distal end of the field, and wherein the work-in-progress bar and terminal bar is disposed between the raw material bar and the customer bar.

17. The user interface of claim 15, wherein the field is longitudinally partitioned into lateral strips between the proximal and distal end and wherein the lateral strips designate a time.

18. The user interface of claim 15, further comprising a longitudinal strip adjacent to an longitudinal edge of the field and a reserve stock bar disposed on the longitudinal strip.

19. A computing apparatus, comprising:

a display unit that is capable of generating video images;

an input device;

a processing apparatus operatively coupled to said display unit and said input device, said processing apparatus comprising a processor and a memory operatively coupled to said processor; and

a network interface connected to a network and to the processing apparatus;

said processing apparatus being programmed to;

display a raw material bar, a subassembly bar, a sales order bar, and a customer bar, wherein each bar indicates an amount of raw material required to process an order associated with the bar and an amount of raw material allocated to the bar;

display a connection line between two or more bars, wherein the connection line represents a flow of raw material or work-in-progress products comprising the raw material;

wherein the bars are disposed on a field and each bar is positioned between a proximal end and a distal end of the field based on a time in which an order associated with the bar is expected to be available.

20. The computing apparatus of claim 19, wherein the processing apparatus is further programmed to modify the amount of raw material allocated to a bar and update any bars affected by the reallocation to reflect the modification.