SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALLOCATING SUPPLIERS USING GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM AND SUPPLIER CAPABILITY

• US 20110022440A1
• Filed: 07/24/2009
• Published: 01/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Qiu, Minmin, Ren, Changrui, Ding, Hong W., Wang, Wei CRL, Dong, Jin, Lee, Young M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,129,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A system and method for allocating suppliers to customers locate a plurality of suppliers in a geographical information system. Relative capability associated with each of the plurality of suppliers is determined. For each supplier in the plurality of suppliers, the system and method generate lines by linking said each supplier to neighboring suppliers in the plurality of suppliers, establish relative capability points on the lines between said each supplier and the neighboring suppliers, and define boundaries of a coverage region associated with said each supplier based on the relative capability points. A customer located in the coverage region is allocated to the associated supplier of the coverage region.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for allocating suppliers to customers, comprising:

locating a plurality of suppliers in a geographical information system;

determining relative capability associated with each of the plurality of suppliers;

for each supplier in the plurality of suppliers,

generating by a processor lines connecting said each supplier to neighboring suppliers in the plurality of suppliers;

establishing by a processor relative capability points on the lines between said each supplier and the neighboring suppliers; and

defining by a processor boundaries of a coverage region associated with said each supplier based on the relative capability points; and

allocating by a processor a customer located in the coverage region to the associated supplier of the coverage region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the coverage regions are defined by lines established on the relative capability points perpendicular to the lines generated between suppliers, the established lines forming one or more polygons with a supplier in the one or more polygons.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the relative capability of suppliers is determined by factors comprising one or more of storage space of warehouse, number of transportation trucks, or average inventory on-hand or average operation cost or combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, further including:

establishing by a processor one or more critical regions that are outside the boundaries of coverage regions for all suppliers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more critical regions are defined by lines established on the relative capability points perpendicular to the lines generated between suppliers, the established lines forming one or more polygons without a supplier in the one or more polygons.

6. The method of claim 4, further including:

allocating by a processor a customer located in the critical region to a selected supplier using one or more rules.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more rules include:

considering relative capability in the adjacent suppliers.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more rules include:

considering distance to the adjacent suppliers.

9. The method of claim 1, further including exporting supplier allocation information from the graphical information system into an electronic document.

10. The method of claim 1, further including presenting supplier allocation information on a graphical user interface.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating lines connecting said each supplier to neighboring suppliers includes deriving linear equations connecting a point representing a location of said each supplier with one or more points representing locations of the neighboring suppliers.

11. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for allocating suppliers to customers, comprising:

locating a plurality of suppliers in a geographical information system;

determining relative capability associated with each of the plurality of suppliers;

for each supplier in the plurality of suppliers,

generating by a processor lines by linking said each supplier to neighboring suppliers in the plurality of suppliers;

establishing by a processor relative capability points on the lines between said each supplier and the neighboring suppliers; and

defining by a processor boundaries of a coverage region associated with said each supplier based on the relative capability points; and

allocating by a processor a customer located in the coverage region to the associated supplier of the coverage region.

12. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the coverage regions are defined by lines established on the relative capability points perpendicular to the lines generated between

13. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the relative capability of suppliers is determined by factors comprising one or more of storage space of warehouse, number of transportation trucks, or average inventory on-hand or average operation cost or combinations thereof.

14. The program storage device of claim 11, further including:

establishing by a processor one or more critical regions that are outside the boundaries of coverage regions for all suppliers.

15. The program storage device of claim 14, wherein the one or more critical regions are defined by lines established on the relative capability points perpendicular to the lines generated between suppliers, the established lines forming one or more polygons without a supplier in the one or more polygons.

16. The program storage device of claim 14, further including:

allocating by a processor a customer located in the critical region to a selected supplier using one or more rules.

17. The program storage device of claim 16, wherein the one or more rules include:

considering relative capability in the adjacent suppliers and distance to the adjacent suppliers.

suppliers, the established lines forming one or more polygons with a supplier in the one or more polygons.

23. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein the generating lines by linking said each supplier to neighboring suppliers in the plurality of suppliers includes deriving linear equations connecting a point representing a location of said each supplier with one or more points representing locations of the neighboring suppliers.

18. A system for allocating suppliers to customers, comprising:

a locator module operable to locate a plurality of suppliers in a geographical information system;

a processing module operable to determine relative capability associated with each of the plurality of suppliers, for each supplier in the plurality of suppliers, the processing module further operable to generate lines by linking said each supplier to neighboring suppliers in the plurality of suppliers, establish relative capability points on the lines between said each supplier and the neighboring suppliers, and define boundaries of a coverage region associated with said each supplier based on the relative capability points, the processing module further operable to allocate a customer located in the coverage region to the associated supplier of the coverage region; and

a user interface module operable to present allocation of customers to suppliers.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processing module is operable to establish one or more critical regions that are outside the boundaries of coverage regions for all suppliers.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the coverage regions are defined by lines established on the relative capability points perpendicular to the lines generated between suppliers, the established lines forming one or more polygons with a supplier in the one or more polygons, and wherein the one or more critical regions are defined by lines established on the relative capability points perpendicular to the lines generated between suppliers, the established lines forming one or more polygons without a supplier in the one or more polygons.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the processing module generates the lines linking said each supplier to neighboring suppliers by deriving a linear equation connecting a point representing a location of a supplier to another.