Method for Fair Sharing Limited Resources Between Multiple Customers
First Claim
1. A method for determining a production plan comprising:
- creating a constraint which proportionally shares limited resources among competing demands of equal priority; and
applying said constraint using a linear program to create a production plan.
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Abstract
The invention disclosed comprises a method for encouraging fair sharing of limited material inventory and capacity between multiple customers when creating a production plan the invention allocates resources among competing demands in a linear programming production planning system by first classifying the demands into fair share sets, wherein all demands within each set have the same priority, calculating the cumulative demand for each resource within each set, and then allocating the resources to the demands in order of fair share set priority. If, during the allocating process, the supply of a given resource cannot satisfy a given cumulative demand of a given set, the given resource is allocated proportionally (e.g., evenly or according to usage proportions) among all demands that contribute to the given cumulative demand within the given set. This is an advanced planning system for optimizing established planning objectives (e.g., customer service, short lead times, low inventory, and prioritized allocation of supply and capacity) to compute a feasible production plan for the enterprise.
19 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for determining a production plan comprising:
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creating a constraint which proportionally shares limited resources among competing demands of equal priority; and applying said constraint using a linear program to create a production plan. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13)
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8. A method of allocating resources among competing demands in a linear programming production planning system, said method comprising:
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classifying said demands into fair share sets, wherein all demands within each fair share set have the same priority; calculating the cumulative demand for each resource within each fair share set; and allocating said resources to said fair share sets in order of fair share set priority, wherein, if during said allocating process the supply of a given resource cannot satisfy a given cumulative demand of a given fair share set, said given resource is allocated proportionally among all demands that contribute to said given cumulative demand within said given fair share set. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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14. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of allocating resources among competing demands in a linear programming production planning system, said method comprising:
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classifying said demands into fair share sets, wherein all demands within each fair share set have the same priority; calculating the cumulative demand for each resource within each fair share set; and allocating said resources to said fair share sets in order of fair share set priority, wherein, if during said allocating process the supply of a given resource cannot satisfy a given cumulative demand of a given fair share set, said given resource is allocated proportionally among all demands that contribute to said given cumulative demand within said given fair share set. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification