GATEWAY BALANCING

• US 20090037245A1
• Filed: 08/02/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: Gabrielson, Richard S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,131,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A gateway balancing module for balancing shipments of a plurality of containers between a plurality of associated gateways includes a determine demand subcomponent, a calculate containers subcomponent, a determine capacity subcomponent, and a generate balance recommendations subcomponent. The determine capacity subcomponent is adapted to determine available de-consolidation capacity for each of the plurality of associated gateways. The generate balance recommendations subcomponent is adapted to provide a user with a gateway balancing recommendation based upon a comparison of the handicapped gateway demand and the de-consolidation capacities of each of the plurality of associated gateways.

Claims

1. A gateway balancing module for balancing shipments of a plurality of containers between a plurality of associated gateways, the module comprising:

a determine demand subcomponent adapted to determine de-consolidation demand on each of the plurality of associated gateways based upon a total number of containers associated with each of the gateways;

a calculate containers subcomponent adapted to determine a handicapped de-consolidation demand on each of the plurality of associated gateways based upon de-consolidation complexity;

a determine capacity subcomponent adapted to determine available de-consolidation capacity for each of the plurality of associated gateways; and

a generate balance recommendations subcomponent adapted to provide a user with a gateway balancing recommendation based upon a comparison of the handicapped gateway demand and the de-consolidation capacities of each of the plurality of associated gateways.

2. The module of claim 1, wherein the de-consolidation complexity includes a carton complexity factor determined by a ratio of shipping cartons in a container to cubic volume of the container.

3. The module of claim 1, wherein the de-consolidation complexity includes an item complexity factor determined by a total number of different items types per container.

4. The module of claim 1, wherein the de-consolidation complexity includes a distribution center complexity factor determined by a total number of distribution centers to which contents of a container are allocated.

5. The module of claim 1, wherein the de-consolidation complexity includes an item handling complexity factor determined by a handling mode associated with contents of a container.

6. The module of claim 5, wherein the handling mode relates to at least one of whether the contents are conveyable and require more than one person to carry.

7. The module of claim 1, wherein a plurality of complexity factors are averaged to obtain an overall complexity value for each of the plurality of containers.

8. The module of claim 1, further comprising a determine confirmed demand subcomponent adapted to identify and designate confirmed container shipments as ineligible for gateway balancing.

9. The module of claim 1, further comprising an apply gateway business rules subcomponent adapted to determine which of the plurality of associated gateways are eligible alternative gateways for gateway balancing.

10. The module of claim 1, further comprising:

a balancing recommendation component adapted to generate a gateway balancing recommendation for a shipment assigned to an importation gateway based upon forecasted gateway capacity and handicapped gateway demand;

a manual overrides component adapted to generate at least one of manual assignments and manual exclusions of purchase order shipments from generation of the gateway balancing recommendation.

11. The module of claim 1, further comprising:

a profile maintenance component adapted to maintain a gateway capacity profile and a container complexity profile;

wherein the balancing recommendation component accesses the profile maintenance component to determine gateway capacity and handicapped gateway demand.

12. A method for balancing a container shipment between a plurality of gateways, the method comprising:

determining container de-consolidation demand on each of a plurality of gateways based upon a total number of containers associated with each of the gateways;

determining an adjusted container de-consolidation demand on each of the gateways based upon container de-consolidation complexity;

determining available container de-consolidation capacity for each of the gateways;

providing a system user with a recommended gateway for delivery of a container shipment based upon a comparison of the adjusted gateway demand and the container de-consolidation capacities of each of the plurality of gateways;

assigning a ship to deliver the container shipment to the recommended gateway;

delivering the container shipment to the recommended gateway with the ship; and

unloading the container shipment from the ship at the recommended gateway.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising deconsolidating the container shipment at a gateway de-consolidator.

14. A method for balancing shipments of containers between gateways comprising:

determining de-consolidation demand on each of a plurality of associated gateways based upon a number of containers assigned to each of the associated gateways;

determining a container complexity factor for each of the containers assigned to each of the associated gateways;

adjusting the container de-consolidation demand on each of the gateways by the container complexity factor;

determining available container de-consolidation capacity for each of the associated gateways; and

providing a system user with a gateway balancing recommendation based upon the adjusted container de-consolidation demand and the container de-consolidation capacity of each of the associated gateways.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the container complexity factor includes averaging a plurality of complexity factors to obtain an overall container complexity factor for each of the containers.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising ranking the associated gateways based upon eligibility for balancing shipments of containers between the associated gateways.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein determining available container de-consolidation capacity for each of the associated gateways comprises determining a maximum de-consolidation quantity for each of the associated gateways.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining a maximum de-consolidation quantity for each of the associated gateways includes pre-establishing allocated de-consolidation capacities with each of the associated gateways.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising generating at least one of manual assignments and manual exclusions of shipments of containers from gateway balancing.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising identifying and designating confirmed shipments of containers as ineligible for gateway balancing.