Redistribution of parts in a distribution network

• US 7,562,812 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2007
• Issued: 07/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Blue Yonder Group, Inc. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: i2 Technologies US Incorporated (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Birjandi, Rosa H., Shapiro, Joel A., Bakkalbasi, Omer, Veerappanaicker, Dharmaraj
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US11/696,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20070185760A1
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 705/28, 705 7- 10, 235/376, 703/1, 703/2, 703/21, 709/203, 709/223
• US Class Current: 235/376
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• 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 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials

Abstract

Redistributing parts includes defining locations. An actual inventory of parts is established among the locations, and a desired allocation of the parts is established among the locations. A demand for the parts at each location is determined using the actual inventory and the desired allocation. Paths are determined, where a path transfers an excess part from one location to another location. A transfer function describing a cost of transferring the excess part along the paths is generated. The transfer function is optimized to achieve the desired allocation of the excess parts at a minimum cost.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for redistributing a part, comprising:

a server system coupled with one or more databases, the server system comprising;

means for defining a plurality of locations including at least one dummy location;

means for establishing an actual inventory of a plurality of parts among the plurality of locations;

means for establishing a desired allocation of the plurality of parts among the plurality of locations;

means for determining a demand for the plurality of parts at each of the plurality of locations using the actual inventory and the desired allocation;

means for determining a plurality of paths, each path operable to transfer at least one of the plurality of parts from one of the plurality of locations location to another one of the plurality of locations;

means for generating a transfer function describing a cost of transferring a plurality of excess parts along the plurality of paths; and

means for optimizing the transfer function to achieve the desired allocation of the plurality of excess parts at a minimum cost.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transfer function describes a cost associated with transferring the plurality of excess parts along a plurality of alternative paths.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises means for optimizing the transfer function by minimizing the transfer function.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises means for determining the plurality of paths by sending a notification if there is no path between one location and another location.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises means for establishing the desired allocation by calculating an optimized allocation of the plurality of excess parts among the plurality of locations.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the dummy location comprises a positive demand for attracting the plurality of excess parts.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of paths includes at least one path to the dummy location that is associated with an infinite transfer cost.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the dummy location comprises a positive demand, the positive demand is the difference between a total excess and a total demand.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises means for satisfying a constraint requiring that the parts transferred to one of the plurality of locations and the parts transferred from the one of the plurality of locations satisfy the demand for the parts at the one of the plurality of locations.