Demand-production scheme planning apparatus, and storage medium

• US 7,668,743 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2000
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Toshihiro, Kojima, Hidetsugu, Kondo, Motohisa, Suzuki, Hirosumi, Fujiyoshi, Hayaaki, Otokubo, Kentaro, Kaneko, Kuniya
• Primary Examiner(s): Sterrett; Jonathan G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOI, PETER H
• Application Number:
  US09/729,800
• Publication Number:
  US 20010020230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,366 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/9, 705/30, 705/29, 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/7.26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

An apparatus for planning a demand-supply scheme of a supply chain so as to increase the corporate profit. A demand-supply scheme including order receipt, order placement, purchase and supply in the unit of a month of each step of a supply chain that includes various steps, such as product sales steps, product-producing steps, steps of producing parts for producing products, etc. is set so that the order placement to each producing step becomes within an order receivable range that is calculated from the equipment, the manpower, the number of times of operation, etc. of the producing step. Furthermore, a demand-supply scheme is planned and changed so as to maximize a profitability index that is calculated by using a cost regarding the production of a product that includes a material cost, a manpower cost, and an equipment cost, a stock management cost, a transportation cost, etc.

Claims

1. A demand-supply scheme planning apparatus comprising:

first means for storing data regarding a cost and a time that are needed between a purchase step and a supply step of each demand-supply step of a supply chain and stock amount of items required in each demand-supply step, the supply chain including a plurality of demand-supply steps each having an order receipt step, an order placement step, a purchase step, and a supply step that are related to a commodity;

second means for inputting an order receipt scheme, which includes an order quantity, of a demand-supply step of the plurality of demand-supply steps that is located at a supply-side terminal of the supply chain;

third means for determining basic scheme data regarding the order receipt step, the order placement step, the purchase step, and the supply step of each of the plurality of demand-supply steps based on the inputted order receipt scheme and at least the stored data relating to the stock amount items required, for each demand-supply step, and distributes the order quantity among the plurality of demand-supply steps based on the basic scheme data of each demand-supply step, the third means determining an amount of order placement of each demand-supply step, based on at least an amount of order receipt, an amount of stock, and a target amount of stock allocated to each demand-supply step from the stock amount;

fourth means for calculating a profitability index of each demand-supply step of the supply chain based on the basic scheme data determined and the data stored by the first means;

fifth means for adjusting the basic scheme of at least one demand-supply step by at least one of a) changing an initial distribution of the order quantity of the order receipt step, b) advancing or delaying at least a portion of an order amount of the order placement step, and c) changing a target amount of stock of items allocated to the demand-supply step from the stock amount, wherein the fourth means calculates a first profitability index for a first version of the supply chain without making said adjustments, and calculates an additional profitability index for each adjusted version of the supply chain after making said adjustment; and

sixth means for establishing a demand-supply scheme for manufacturing the commodity by selecting the version of the supply chain having the highest calculated profitability index.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the commodity includes a product and a part.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the commodity includes a service.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fifth means further adjusts the basic scheme of the at least one demand-supply step by changing the target amount of stock.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first means further stores data regarding an order-receivable amount of each demand-supply step, and the fifth means further adjusts the basic scheme of the at least one demand-supply step by changing a predetermined parameter regarding order receipt within the order-receivable amount.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fifth means further adjusts the basic scheme of the at least one demand-supply step by changing a predetermined parameter that sets a starting timing of the order placement step.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an adjustment means for adjusting a distribution of the scheme data regarding the order receipt step, the order placement step, the purchase step and the supply step for each of the plurality of demand-supply steps.

8. A program stored on a computer readable medium, the program having instructions for causing a computer to execute a demand-supply scheme planning method, comprising the steps of:

A) storing first data regarding a cost and a time that are needed between a purchase step and a supply step of each demand-supply step of a supply chain in which a plurality of demand-supply steps each having an order receipt step, an order placement step, a purchase step, and a supply step that are related to a commodity, and second data regarding stock amounts of items required in each demand-supply step;

B) inputting an order receipt scheme, which includes an order quantity, of a demand-supply step of the plurality of demand-supply steps that is located at a supply-side terminal of the supply chain;

C) determining basic scheme data regarding the order receipt step, the order placement step, the purchase step, and the supply step of each of the plurality of demand-supply steps based on the inputted order receipt scheme and at least the stored data relating to the stock amount of items required, for each demand-supply step;

D) determining an amount of order placement of each demand-supply step, based on at least an amount of order receipt, an amount of stock, and a target amount of stock allocated to each demand-supply step from the stock amount;

E) determining a supply chain distribution scheme by distributing the order quantity among the plurality of demand-supply steps based upon the basic scheme data of each demand-supply step;

F) adjusting the basic scheme data of at least one demand-supply step by at least one of a) changing an initial distribution of the order quantity of the order receipt step, b) advancing or delaying at least a portion of an order amount of the order placement step, and c) changing a target amount of stock of items allocated to the demand-supply step from the stock amount;

G) calculating a first profitability index for a first version of the supply chain distribution scheme in which said adjustment has not been made;

H) calculating an additional profitability index for each adjusted supply chain distribution scheme in which said adjustment has been made; and

I) selecting the supply chain distribution scheme having the highest calculated profitability index as the supply chain distribution scheme to be used in manufacturing the commodity.

9. A program according to claim 8, wherein the commodity includes a product and a part.

10. A program according to claim 8, wherein the commodity include a service.

11. A program according to claim 8 wherein step F further comprises changing a predetermined parameter constituting the target amount of stock.

12. A program according to claim 8, further comprising:

storing data regarding an order-receivable amount of each demand-supply step; and

wherein step E further comprises changing a predetermined parameter relating to order receipt within the order-receivable amount.

13. A program according to claim 8, wherein step E further comprises changing a predetermined parameter that sets a starting timing of the order placement step.

14. A computer programmed to perform the program according to claim 8.

15. A program according to claim 8, wherein step G further includes adjusting a distribution of the scheme data regarding the order receipt step, the order placement step, the purchase step and the supply step for each of the plurality of demand-supply steps.

16. A demand-supply scheme planning apparatus comprising:

first means for storing first data regarding a cost and a time that are needed between purchase of a product or a part and shipment of the product in each demand-supply step of a supply chain, second data regarding a transportation cost involved in the shipment of the product and a time needed for transportation of the product, third data regarding target stock amount of the product and the member of each demand-supply step, fourth data regarding stock amounts of items required in each demand-supply step, and fifth data regarding an amount of order receipt wherein each demand-supply step places an order for a product or a member for producing the product upon receiving an order for the product, and determines an amount of order placement based on at least an amount of order receipt, an amount of stock, and a target amount of stock, and ships the product purchased in accordance with the order placed, or produces and ships the product using the member purchased in accordance with the order placed;

second means for inputting stock records of the product and the member of each demand-supply step of the supply chain;

third means for inputting an order receipt scheme, which includes an order quantity, of the product of a demand-supply step located at a shipment-side terminal of the supply chain;

fourth means for calculating a first profitability index for a first version of the supply chain, based on basic scheme data regarding order receipt, order placement, purchase and shipment of each demand-supply step, and the data stored by the first means, and an additional profitability index for at least one second version of the supply chain after adjusting the basic scheme data of at least one demand-supply step by at least one of a) changing an initial distribution of the order quantity of the order receipt step, b) advancing or delaying at least a portion of an order amount of the order placement step, and c) changing a target amount of stock of items allocated to the demand-supply step from the stock amount

fifth means for establishing a demand-supply scheme by selecting the version of the supply chain having the highest calculated profitability index.

17. An apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the fifth means determines a deviation between a value obtained by subtracting the order receipt scheme of the demand-supply step located at the shipment-side terminal from the stock record of the demand-supply step and the stock target value of the demand-supply step, as an amount of order placement, and distributing the amount of order placement as order placement to a demand-supply step where the order placement from the demand-supply step at the shipment-side terminal is possible, in such a manner that a profit increases, based on the first and the second data stored by the first means.

18. An apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

sixth means for setting an order receivable range of each demand-supply step based on a fourth data regarding a product order receivable range of each demand-supply step stored in data stored by the first means; and

seventh means for determining appropriateness of each demand-supply step based on the order receivable range set by the sixth means and the order receipt of each demand-supply step set by the fifth means.

19. An apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the seventh means determines whether a processing capability of each demand-supply step is excess or insufficient.

20. An apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

sixth means for setting an order receivable range of each demand-supply step based on a fourth data regarding a product order receivable range of each demand-supply step stored in data stored by the first means; and

seventh means for determining whether the order receipt of each demand-supply step used by the fifth means is within the order receivable range set for the corresponding demand-supply step by the sixth means; and

eighth means for, if the seventh means determines that the order receipt is not within the order receivable range, changing the scheme data used by the fifth means so that the order receipt of the demand-supply step subjected to the determination becomes within the corresponding order receivable range.

21. An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the eighth means switches a portion or a whole amount of the order receipt of the demand-supply step subjected to the determination to order receipt of a demand-supply step that is capable of shipping a product identical to that shipped by the demand-supply step subjected to the determination.

22. An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the seventh means changes, in time, at least an amount of the order receipt of the demand-supply step subjected to the determination relative to the order receipt scheme.

23. An apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the seventh means determines whether a sum of the changed order receipt and the order receipt used by the fifth means is within the order receivable range set by the sixth means, if the eighth means accomplishes order receipt changing, in time, at least an amount of the order receipt.

24. An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the eighth means changes at least a portion of the third data of each demand-supply step stored by the first means.

25. An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the eighth means changes the scheme data so that the order receipt of each demand-supply step becomes within the corresponding order receivable range and so that the profitability index increase.

26. An apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising output means for outputting the scheme data used by the fifth means.

27. An apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said fifth means further adjusts the scheme data regarding order receipt, order placement, purchase and shipment of each demand-supply step.

28. A program stored on a computer readable medium, the program having instructions for causing a computer to execute a demand-supply scheme planning method comprising the steps of:

storing first data regarding a cost and a time that are needed between purchase of a product or a part and shipment of the product in each demand-supply step of a supply chain comprised of a plurality of demand-supply steps, second data regarding a transportation cost involved in the shipment of the product and a time needed for transportation of the product, third data regarding targets of stock of the product and the member of each demand-supply step, and fourth data regarding stock amounts of items required in each demand-supply step, wherein each demand-supply step places an order for a product or a member for producing the product upon receiving an order for the product, and that ships the product purchased in accordance with the order placed or that produces and ships the product using the member purchased in accordance with the order placed;

inputting stock records of the product and the member of each demand-supply step of the supply chain;

inputting a basic scheme for the order receipt step, order placement step, purchase step and supply step of each demand-supply step in accordance with an order quantity and at least the stored data relating to the stock amount of items required;

determining an amount of order placement of each demand-supply step, based on at least an amount of order receipt, an amount of stock, and a target amount of stock allocated to each demand-supply step from the stock amount;

inputting a supply chain distribution scheme by distributing the order quantity among the plurality of demand-supply steps based on the basic scheme of each demand-supply step;

adjusting the basic scheme of at least one demand-supply step by at least one of a) changing an initial distribution of the order quantity of the order receipt step, b) advancing or delaying at least a portion of an order amount of the order placement step, and c) changing a target amount of stock of items allocated to the demand-supply step from the stock amount;

calculating a first profitability index for a first version of the supply chain distribution scheme in which said adjustment has not been made;

calculating an additional profitability index for each supply chain distribution scheme in which said adjustment has been made; and

selecting the supply chain distribution scheme having the highest calculated profitability index as the supply chain distribution scheme to be used in manufacturing the commodity.

29. A program according to claim 28, further comprising a step of:

adjusting the scheme data regarding order receipt, order placement, purchase and shipment of each demand-supply step.

30. A supply chain distribution scheme planning apparatus comprising:

a data storage portion that stores parameters for a plurality of demand-supply steps that form a supply chain, wherein each demand-supply step includes an order receipt step, an order placement step, a purchase step, and a supply step, and wherein the stored parameters include stock amounts of items required in each demand-supply step;

a data input portion for inputting an order quantity;

a supply chain distribution scheme determining portion that determines a basic scheme for the order receipt step, order placement step, purchase step and supply step of each demand-supply step in accordance with the order quantity and at least one stored parameter, and determines a supply chain distribution scheme by distributing the order quantity among the plurality of demand-supply steps based on the basic scheme of each demand-supply step, the supply chain distribution scheme determining portion determining an amount of order placement of each demand-supply step, based on at least an amount of order receipt, an amount of stock, and a target amount of stock allocated to each demand-supply step from the stock amount;

an index calculating portion that calculates a profitability index of the supply chain distribution scheme based on the basic scheme determined by the supply chain distribution scheme determining portion for each demand-supply step of the supply chain;

a basic scheme adjustment portion that adjusts the basic scheme of at least one demand-supply step by at least one of a) changing an initial distribution of the order quantity of the order receipt step, b) advancing or delaying at least a portion of an order amount of the order placement step, and c) changing a target amount of stock of items allocated to the demand-supply step from the stock amount, wherein the index calculating portion calculates a first profitability index for a first version of the supply chain distribution scheme in which the basic scheme adjustment portion has not made said adjustment, and calculates a second profitability index for a second version of the supply chain distribution scheme in which said adjustment has been made by the basic scheme adjustment portion; and

a selecting portion that selects the supply chain distribution scheme having the highest calculated profitability index as the supply chain distribution scheme to be used in manufacturing a commodity.