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Method and apparatus for discrete activity resourse allocation through cardinality constraint generation

  • US 5,216,593 A
  • Filed: 01/24/1991
  • Issued: 06/01/1993
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/24/1991
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A computer based system for discrete activity resource allocation in the manufacture of large, indivisible or highly customized products comprising:

  • order entry/tracking means for collecting orders and maintaining a list of all outstanding orders;

    a bill of materials database and a machine/manpower requirements database;

    bill of material explosion means responsive to said order entry/tracking means for accessing said bill of materials database and transforming said orders into raw material requirements;

    machine requirements explosion means responsive to said order entry/tracking means for accessing said machine/manpower requirements database and determining machine and manpower requirements of each order;

    inventory sensor means for determining available quantity of raw material;

    shop floor sensor means for determining availability of machines and manpower;

    profit analyzer means responsive to said order entry/tracking means, said bill of material explosion means and said machine requirements explosion means for determining a profit associated with each order;

    data preprocessing means responsive to said inventory sensor means, said shop floor sensor means and said profit analyzer means for eliminating orders that cannot be produced and resources that will not affect order selection;

    model generator means responsive to said data preprocessing means for mathematically modeling consumption of resources by orders and an availability of resources;

    cardinality constraint generator means responsive to said model generator means for determining simple choices implied by a mathematical model generated by said model generator means; and

    interactive decision display means for displaying to a user choices generated by said cardinality constraint generator means to assist the user in deciding which orders to make and receiving from the user selection and rejection of orders, said interactive decision display means further providing inputs to said order entry/tracking means and said data preprocessing means based on said user selection and rejection of orders.

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