System and method to improve manufacturing

• US 7,747,470 B2
• Filed: 04/14/2005
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Time Wise Solutions, LLC
• Original Assignee: Time Wise Solutions, LLC
• Inventors: Meadows, Larry, Rodrigue, Rodney P., Shehata, Terry, Stimac, Alfredo
• Primary Examiner(s): Garg; Yogesh C
• Application Number:
  US11/106,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20060235706A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,902 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/26, 705/27, 705/400, 705/37, 716/15, 700/121
• US Class Current: 705/26.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system and related method for the rapid response to one or more product fabrication bid requests. The system includes a translation function for translating received product information into information suitable for a manufacturer to produce fabrication information. The system further includes a product fabrication function for generating product fabrication setup sheets and programming based on the translated product information. The system also includes a bid preparation function that produces bid information, such as pricing and scheduling, based on the generated product fabrication information. A process that had taken days to complete is finished in minutes. The related method includes the steps of querying a database of available manufacturers for their capability and available equipment to fabricate a desired product. The method also includes the steps of translating received product information into manufacturing information applicable to one or more identified manufacturers, generating product fabrication information specific to the one or more identified manufacturers, and producing responsive bid information based on the generated product fabrication information. A plurality of identified manufacturers may join together to use the system and method to respond to a bid request.

Claims

1. A method to enable a rapid response to a request to bid on the manufacture of a product by a bid requester, the method comprising the steps of:

a. obtaining information provided by a bid requester associated with the manufacture of the product;

b. identifying, by one or more computer processors, the manufacturing capabilities of a plurality of manufacturers considered capable of manufacturing the product by querying a database of one or more manufacturers to produce a list of manufacturers capable of manufacturing the product;

c. translating, by one or more computer processors, the information associated with the manufacture of the product into a format that is compatible with the identified capabilities of the plurality of manufacturers;

d. generating, by one or more computer processors, product fabrication information specific to the manufacturers based on the product information provided by the bid requester;

e. generating, by one or more computer processors, bid response information based on the generated product fabrication information for each of the plurality of manufacturers identified as capable of fabricating the product, including the identification of combinations of manufacturers capable of fabricating the product in partnership;

f. contacting the identified manufacturers considered capable of manufacturing the product in partnership to determine their interest in bidding on the manufacture of the product; and

g. providing to the interested manufacturers the bid request information and the product fabrication information specific to the interested manufacturers.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of generating product fabrication information includes the step of establishing tool crib requirements and machining computer programming codes for one or more identified fabrication machines.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of generating product fabrication information includes generating one or more machine setup instruction sheets.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the product fabrication information includes the identification of one or more required machines, machinery settings, manhours required to fabricate, and cost of materials.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the information associated with the manufacture of the product is a two-dimensional drawing of the product.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the two-dimensional drawing is translated into a three-dimensional rendering of the product.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the only information associated with the manufacture of the product is a physical specimen of the product.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the physical specimen is rendered into a digitized format and translated into physical dimensions for generation of one or more machine drawings.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 wherein physical dimensions of the physical specimen are generated using a coordinate measuring machine.

10. A system to enable a rapid response to a request to bid by a bid requester on the manufacture of a product, the system comprising:

a. a translation function for translating information provided by the bid requester associated with the manufacture of the product into a format that is compatible with the manufacturing capabilities of one or more manufacturers

b. a product fabrication function for generating product fabrication information based on the translated information;

c. an updatable database of manufacturers with the interest and capability to manufacture products, wherein the database may be queried to identify such manufacturers;

d. a bid preparation function for generating bid response information based on the product fabrication information, wherein the bid response information includes the identification of a plurality of manufacturers capable of fabricating the product in partnership, wherein the bid response information may be used to generate a list and initiate contact with the plurality of identified manufacturers considered capable of manufacturing the product in partnership to determine their interest in bidding on the manufacture of the product; and

to provide to a plurality of interested manufacturers the bid request information and the product fabrication information specific to the interested manufacturers, and to generate a bid that may be accepted or rejected by the bid requester; and

e. one or more computer processors, wherein the translation function, the product fabrication function, the bid preparation function, and the updatable database are embodied in one or more computer programs stored in one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums and are executed by the one or more computer processors.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the database includes information of the equipment and required equipment operation information of the manufacturers.

12. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the only information provided by the bid requester is a physical specimen of the product to be manufactured, the system further comprising a coordinate measuring machine to produce physical dimensions of product information based only on the physical specimen.

13. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the product information includes a two-dimensional drawing and the translation function generates a thee-dimensional rendering of the product.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13 wherein the product fabrication function generates fabrication machine identification information, one or more setup instruction sheets for the identified machine, and machine programming codes.

15. The system as claimed in claim 14 wherein the hid preparation function produces output based on the machine identification information, the one or more setup sheets, and the programming codes, selected from the group consisting of product price, fabrication scheduling, three-dimensional product rendering, and selected machine information.