Continuous planning review system

• US 8,666,848 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2011
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Polsky, Joanne J M, Samnick, Andrew K., Rosenblum, Wesley S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Masud, Rokib
• Application Number:
  US13/252,719
• Time in Patent Office: 882 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/28, 705/16, 705/26.2, 705/29, 235/379, 235/380
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

Systems and methods for inventory planning. In some embodiments, automated real-time inventory replenishment planning is provided based on business inputs, such as vendor order-processing schedules. To this end, continuous inventory review of target inventory positions is performed to automatically derive inventory replenishment frequencies and corresponding buying schedules. Such systems and methods may increase efficiency by decoupling the generation of inventory replenishment plans and the execution of the generated inventory replenishment plans.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computers of an inventory replenishment system of a merchant;

in response to receiving an indication of one or more inventory requirement triggers, automatically scheduling, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, an inventory planning request for a particular inventory item, wherein the inventory planning request is a request to generate a replenishment plan for the particular inventory item;

wherein said scheduling is based on one or more ordering deadlines associated with the particular inventory item, wherein the one or more ordering deadlines are specified by one or more vendors that supply the particular inventory item to the merchant;

in accordance with the scheduled inventory planning request, automatically generating, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, a particular inventory replenishment plan based on the merchant'"'"'s current inventory position of the particular inventory item;

storing, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, the particular inventory replenishment plan; and

executing, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, the particular inventory replenishment plan, said executing comprises sending an order for the particular inventory item to the one or more vendors that supply the particular inventory item to the merchant, wherein said executing includes;

aggregating the particular inventory replenishment plan and one or more other inventory replenishment plans, wherein the particular inventory replenishment plan and one or more other inventory replenishment plans are generated by the inventory replenishment system of the same merchant; and

determining whether adjustment of the particular inventory replenishment plan is required based on aggregation of the particular inventory replenishment plan and the one or more other inventory replenishment plans.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said executing the particular inventory replenishment plan is performed according to a schedule associated with an ordering deadline for a vendor of the particular inventory item.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more other inventory replenishment plans includes at least one replenishment plan for an inventory item that is different from the particular inventory item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether adjustment of the particular inventor replenishment plan is required includes determining whether aggregation of the particular inventory replenishment plan and the one or more other inventory replenishment plans exceeds a fulfillment center receiving capacity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said scheduling an inventory planning request is based on a priority associated with the one or more inventory requirement triggers.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the automatically generated particular inventory replenishment plan includes an indication of a priority associated with executing the particular inventory replenishment plan;

and

wherein said executing the particular inventory replenishment plan is performed according to a schedule that is based at least in part on the indication of the priority.

7. An inventory replenishment system of a merchant, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions that are executable by the system of the merchant to cause the system to perform operations comprising;

scheduling, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, an inventory planning request for a particular inventory item in response to receiving an indication of one or more inventory requirement triggers, wherein the inventory planning request is a request to generate a replenishment plan for the particular inventory item;

automatically generating, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, a particular inventory replenishment plan based on the merchant'"'"'s current inventory position of the particular inventory item, wherein said automatically generating is performed in accordance with the scheduled inventory planning request;

scheduling, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, execution of the particular inventory replenishment plan separate from said scheduling the inventory planning request to generate the replenishment plan for the particular inventory item, thereby decoupling generation and execution of the generated replenishment plan from each other; and

executing, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant and in accordance with said scheduling execution of the particular inventory replenishment plan, the scheduled particular inventory replenishment plan, said executing comprises sending an order for the particular inventory item to one or more suppliers that supply the particular inventory item to the merchant.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the executing the scheduled particular inventory replenishment plan includes:

determining whether adjustment of the particular inventory replenishment plan is required based on aggregation of the particular inventory replenishment plan and one or more other inventory replenishment plans.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said determining whether adjustment of the particular inventor replenishment plan is required includes determining whether the aggregation of the particular inventory replenishment plan and the one or more other inventory replenishment plans exceeds a factory receiving capacity.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more other inventory replenishment plans includes at least one replenishment plan for an inventory item that is different from the particular inventory item.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the particular inventory item and the inventory item that is different are members of a same product category.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein said scheduling an inventory planning request for a particular inventory item includes scheduling based on a supplier'"'"'s order processing schedule.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein said scheduling an inventory planning request for a particular inventory item includes scheduling based on a priority associated with the inventory planning request.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein said scheduling the particular inventory replenishment plan includes scheduling based on a supplier'"'"'s order processing schedule.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein said scheduling the particular inventory replenishment plan includes scheduling based on a priority associated with the inventory planning request.

16. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by an inventory replenishment system of the merchant, an indication of one or more inventory requirement triggers;

scheduling, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, an inventory planning request for a particular inventory item based on the received indication of the one or more inventory requirement triggers, wherein the inventory planning request is a request to generate a replenishment plan for the particular inventory item;

automatically generating, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant, a particular inventory replenishment plan based on the merchant'"'"'s current inventory position of the particular inventory item, wherein said automatically generating is performed in accordance with the scheduled inventory planning request;

scheduling, by the inventory system of the merchant, the particular inventory replenishment plan separate from said scheduling an inventory planning request to generate the replenishment plan for the particular inventory item, thereby decoupling generation and execution of the generated replenishment plan from each other; and

executing, by the inventory replenishment system of the merchant and in accordance with said scheduling execution of the particular inventory replenishment plan, the scheduled particular inventory replenishment plan, said executing comprises sending an order for the particular inventory item to one or more vendors that supply the particular inventory item to the merchant.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein said automatically generating a particular inventory replenishment plan based on a current inventory position includes causing the current inventory position to be determined.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein said scheduling an inventory planning request for a particular inventory item includes:

determining one or more order deadlines associated with one or more vendors of the particular inventory item; and

determining a schedule for the inventory planning request based on the one or more order deadlines.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein said scheduling an inventory planning request for a particular inventory item includes scheduling based on:

a priority assigned to the inventory requirement trigger; and

balancing scheduling demands at the computer system.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein said scheduling the particular inventory replenishment plan includes:

determining one or more order deadlines associated with one or more vendors of the particular inventory items; and

determining a schedule for the particular inventory replenishment plan based on the one or more order deadlines.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a plurality of inventory planning requests based on a first of the one or more inventory requirement triggers, wherein at least two of the plurality of inventory planning requests are for different inventory items.