System and method for allocating the supply of critical material components and manufacturing capacity

• US 7,058,587 B1
• Filed: 01/29/2002
• Issued: 06/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Blue Yonder Group, Inc. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Manugistics Inc (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Horne, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TARAE, CATHERINE MICHELLE
• Application Number:
  US10/057,983
• Time in Patent Office: 1,589 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/28, 705/18, 705/10, 705/9, 705/7, 703/6, 707/12, 707/8, 709/13
• US Class Current: 705/7.22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

The present invention allocates the supply of critical components and manufacturing capacity by optimizing critical material planning decisions and dynamically allocating constrained materials using advanced substitution logic that considers alternate suppliers and supports product life cycle from design through end-of-life. The present invention may utilize unique synchronized allocations and matched sets logic. The synchronized allocations ensure that all materials necessary for production are available in the appropriate time-phased allocation before beginning production to minimize wasted production capacity and materials. The supply system may include various combination of components, including a Supply Planner, a Resource Optimizer, a Constraint Based Master Planner, a Product Change Analyzer, a Comparer, a Resource Requirements Planner, a Finite Resource Planner, a Customer Promiser, and an Interactive Master Scheduler. Another embodiment of the supply system includes a tool that allows users to define products using engineering specifications.

Claims

1. A system for producing an optimal supply play for allocating a supply of a component, the system comprising:

a) a computerized database containing electronically readable information related to said component, said information describing the supply and changes to the supply;

b) a computerized supply planner that automatically produces a plurality of proposed supply plans for said component using synchronized allocation with the component information in the database, wherein each of said proposed supply plans has associated supply plan values comprising;

α

_i representing a revenue associated with a demand i,

β

_i representing a margin associated with said demand i,

c_j representing a standard cost of an item j,

u_jkt representing a quantity of consumed inventory,

t_jk representing a quantity of issued inventory,

I_jt representing an inventory of an item j at end of a time period t,

M representing a number of independent demands, and

T representing a number of time periods;

c) data input means for accepting user input, wherein said supply planner uses said user input to define user preference values comprising

ω

_CS, ω

_R, ω

_M, and ω

_I representing weightings for customer service, revenue, margin, and inventory for said component,

γ

_CS, γ

_R, γ

_M, and γ

_I representing scaling factors for customer service, revenue, margin, and inventory for said component, and

δ

_it representing a scaling factor to give preference for shipping orders on-time versus shipping late or early,

wherein said supply planner evaluates the plurality of proposed supply chain plans using the associated supply plan values and the user preference values through an objective function comprising;

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a computerized resource optimizer, wherein said resource optimizer uses automated matched sets logic.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a computerized product attribute defining tool.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said computerized product attribute defining tool that accepts engineering specification information from a user and automatically defines the component by using the electronically readable engineering specification information.

5. The system of claim 1 further including a computerized constraint-based master planner, whereby said constraint-based master planner allows a user to automatically specify one or more electronically readable goals to be considered by the computerized supply planner.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said goals comprise:

a maximization of revenue,

a maximization of margin,

a maximization of inventory, or

a maximization of customer service.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a computerized product change analyzer, wherein said product change analyzer automatically compares the effects of a change to the supply at different times.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a computerized comparer, wherein said comparer automatically assesses differences in an electronically readable first supply plan for the supply of the component and an electronically readable second supply plan for a modified supply of the component.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a computerized resource requirements planner, wherein said resource requirements planner automatically suggests a change in the supply to address a shortage identified by the supply planner.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising a computerized finite resource planner wherein said finite resource planner automatically suggests an optimal use of the supply to address a shortage identified by the computerized supply planner.

11. The system of claim 1 further comprising a computerized customer promiser, wherein said computerized customer promiser:

automatically determines a remainder of the supply following implementation of the supply plan, and

automatically assesses feasibility of a new order using on the remainder.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising a computerized interactive master scheduler.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein said database comprises electronically readable input data, electronically readable user-specified data, and electronically readable output data.

14. A method for allocating a supply of a component, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing a computer to a user;

b) said computer forming a component database, said component database containing electronically readable information related to said component, said information describing a supply of said component and changes to the component supply;

c) said computer producing a plurality of proposed supply plans for said component using synchronized allocation said computer using synchronized allocation with the information in the component database, wherein each of said proposed supply plans has associated supply plan values comprising;

α

_i representing a revenue associated with a demand i,

β

_i representing a margin associated with said demand i,

c_j representing a standard cost of an item j,

u_jkt representing a quantity of consumed inventory,

t_jk representing a quantity of issued inventory,

I_jt representing an inventory of an item j at end of a time period t,

M representing a number of independent demands, and

T representing a number of time periods;

d) said computer accepting user input and using said user input to define user preference values comprising

ω

_CS, ω

_R, ω

_M, and ω

_I representing weightings for customer service, revenue, margin, and inventory for said component,

γ

_CS, γ

_R, γ

_M, and γ

_I representing scaling factors for customer service, revenue, margin, and inventory for said component, and

δ

_it representing a scaling factor to give preference for shipping orders on-time versus shipping late or early,

e) said computer evaluating the plurality of proposed supply chain plans using the associated supply plan values and the user preference values through an objective function comprising;

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said computer automatically defines the component using an electronically readable engineering specification.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of computerized optimizing of the supply using automated matched sets logic.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of computerized specifying of one or more goals to be considered in the step of producing a supply plan.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of:

a) computerized modifying of said database to reflect a change in the supply at a first time;

b) computerized preparing of a first supply plan for said first modified database;

c) computerized modifying of said database to reflect the change in the supply at a second time;

d) computerized preparing of a second supply plan for said second modified database; and

e) computerized comparing of the effects of said first and said second supply plans.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of

a) computerized modifying of said database to reflect a change in the supply;

b) computerized preparing of a modified supply plan for said modified database; and

c) computerized comparing of the effects said supply plan and said modified supply plan.

20. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of:

a) computerized identifying of a shortage in the supply created in said supply plan; and

b) computerized modifying of use of said supply to address said shortage.

21. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of:

a) computerized identifying a shortage in the supply created in said supply plan; and

b) computerized modifying said supply plan address said shortage.

22. The method of claim 14 further comprising the steps of

a) computerized determining of a remainder of the supply following implementation of the supply plan, and

b) computerized accessing of feasibility of a new order using the remainder.

23. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform method for selecting an optimal supply allocation plan for a component, said method comprising the steps of:

a) forming an electronically readable component database containing information related to a supply of the component, said information describing the supply and changes to the supply;

b) using synchronized allocation and matched sets logic with the information in the component database to produce a plurality of proposed supply plans for said component, wherein each of said proposed supply plans has associated supply plan values comprising;

a_i representing a revenue associated with a demand i,

β

_i representing a margin associated with said demand i,

c_j representing a standard cost of an item j,

u_jkt representing a quantity of consumed inventory,

t_jk representing a quantity of issued inventory,

I_jt representing an inventory of an item j at end of a time period t,

M representing a number of independent demands, and

T representing a number of time periods;

c) accepting user input and using said user input to define user preference values comprising

ω

_CS, ω

_R, ω

_M, and ω

_I representing weightings for customer service, revenue margin, and inventory for said component,

γ

_CS, γ

_R, γ

_M, and γ

_I representing scaling factors for customer service, revenue, margin, and inventory for said component, and

δ

_it representing a scaling factor to give preference for shipping orders on-time versus shipping late or early,

d) evaluating the plurality of proposed supply chain plans using the associated supply plan values and the user preference values through an objective function comprising;

24. The program storage device readable of claim 23, wherein the method steps performed by said program on instructions further comprise said machine automatically defining the component by using an engineering specification.

25. The program storage device readable of claim 23, wherein the performed method steps performed by said program instructions further comprise:

a) said machine automatically identifying a shortage in the supply created in said supply plan; and

b) said machine automatically modifying said supply plan to address said shortage.