Explosions of bill-of-materials lists

• US 8,965,797 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2012
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kageyama, Yasuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): PARIKH, HARSHAD R
• Application Number:
  US13/554,353
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054427A1
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• Field of Search: 705/29, 705/22
• US Class Current: 705/29
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/10 Tax strategies

Abstract

In a parallel explosion unit of a parallel explosion apparatus, a processing unit extracts an end product, extracts an assembly directly constituting the end product, and an determines whether or not a BOM tree having the assembly as a vertex is already broken down. When the BOM tree of the assembly is not yet broken down, the processing unit registers the number of units of each component constituting the assembly in an explosion result list and generates a tree-specific list in which the number of units of each component and a registration position of the component in the explosion result list are recorded. When the BOM tree of the assembly is already broken down, the processing unit adds the number of units of each component recorded in the tree-specific list to the number of units at the registration position of the component likewise recorded in the explosion result list.

Claims

1. A method for performing explosions of bill-of-materials (BOM) lists of products, the method comprising:

a processing unit determining whether or not a BOM list of an assembly that is identified as an assembly within a selected product is already broken down into a first BOM graph structure for another product comprising an identified assembly node, and a plurality of component nodes each depending from the identified assembly node and representing different components of the identified assembly and comprising respective numbers of units of each of the plurality of components within the identified assembly;

in response to determining that the BOM list of the identified assembly is not broken down into the first BOM graph structure, the processing unit breaking down the BOM list of the identified assembly into a new BOM graph structure comprising a product node that represents the selected product and the identified assembly node depending from the product node and a plurality of component nodes each depending from the identified assembly node and representing different components of the identified assembly and comprising respective numbers of units of each of the plurality of components within the identified assembly, and storing respective numbers of units of each of the components nodes in a BOM matrix within different respective component row positions within a column of the BOM matrix for the selected product, wherein the BOM matrix comprises rows for the identified assembly and for each of the components, and columns for each of a plurality of products that include the specified selected product; and

in response to determining that the BOM list of the identified assembly is already broken down into the first BOM graph structure, the processing unit adding the numbers of units of each of the components nodes of the first BOM graph structure to numbers of units of respective corresponding ones of the components for the selected product that are stored in the different respective component BOM matrix row positions within the BOM matrix column for the selected product, and within a column of the BOM matrix columns for the another product.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit further locates each of the component rows within the BOM matrix relative to others of the component rows within the BOM matrix as a function of an order of the components that is determined by one of a depth-priority search and a width-priority search of components of the BOM list of the identified assembly of the selected product.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of the processing unit breaking down the BOM list into the new BOM graph structure comprises representing the component nodes by a linked list and a component-units-number array that stores the numbers of units of each component corresponding to respective nodes in the linked list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

integrating computer-readable program code into a computer system comprising the processing unit, a computer readable memory and a computer readable tangible storage medium;

wherein the computer readable program code is embodied on the computer readable tangible storage medium and comprises instructions that, when executed by the processing unit via the computer readable memory, cause the processing unit to perform the steps of determining whether or not the BOM list of the identified assembly is already broken down into the first BOM graph structure, breaking down the BOM list of the identified assembly into the new BOM graph structure in response to determining that the BOM list of the identified assembly is not broken down into the first BOM graph structure, and in response to determining that the BOM list of the identified assembly is already broken down into the first BOM graph structure, adding the numbers of units of each of the components nodes of the first BOM graph structure to the numbers of units of the respective corresponding ones of the components for the selected product that are stored in the different respective component BOM matrix row positions.

5. A system, comprising:

a processing unit in communication with a computer readable memory and a tangible computer-readable storage medium;

wherein the processing unit, when executing program instructions stored on the tangible computer-readable storage medium via the computer readable memory;

determines whether or not a bill-of-materials (BOM) list of an assembly that is identified as an assembly within a selected product is already broken down into a first BOM graph structure for another product comprising an identified assembly node, and a plurality of component nodes each depending from the identified assembly node and representing different components of the identified assembly and comprising respective numbers of units of each of the plurality of components within the identified assembly;

in response to determining that the BOM list of the identified assembly is not broken down into the first BOM graph structure, breaks down the BOM list of the identified assembly into a new BOM graph structure comprising a product node that represents the selected product and the identified assembly node depending from the product node and a plurality of component nodes each depending from the identified assembly node and representing different components of the identified assembly and comprising respective numbers of units of each of the plurality of components within the identified assembly, and stores respective numbers of units of each of the components nodes in a BOM matrix within different respective component row positions within a column of the BOM matrix for the selected product, wherein the BOM matrix comprises rows for the identified assembly and for each of the components, and columns for each of a plurality of products that include the specified selected product; and

in response to determining that the BOM list of the identified assembly is already broken down into the first BOM graph structure, adds the numbers of units of each of the components nodes of the first BOM graph structure to numbers of units of respective corresponding ones of the components for the selected product that are stored in the different respective component BOM matrix row positions within the BOM matrix column for the selected product, and within a column of the BOM matrix columns for the another product.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processing unit, when executing program the instructions stored on the tangible computer-readable storage medium via the computer readable memory, further locates each of the component rows within the BOM matrix relative to others of the component rows within the BOM matrix as a function of an order of the components that is determined by one of a depth-priority search and a width-priority search of components of the BOM list of the identified assembly of the selected product.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the processing unit, when executing program the instructions stored on the tangible computer-readable storage medium via the computer readable memory further breaks down the BOM list into the new BOM graph structure by representing the component nodes by a linked list and a component-units-number array that stores the numbers of units of each component corresponding to respective nodes in the linked list.

8. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer readable tangible storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer processing unit, causes the computer processing unit to

determine whether or not a bill-of-materials (BOM) list of an assembly that is identified as an assembly within a selected product is already broken down into a first BOM graph structure for another product comprising an identified assembly node, and a plurality of component nodes each depending from the identified assembly node and representing different components of the identified assembly and comprising respective numbers of units of each of the plurality of components within the identified assembly;

in response to determining that the BOM list of the identified assembly is not broken down into the first BOM graph structure, break down the BOM list of the identified assembly into a new BOM graph structure comprising a product node that represents the selected product and the identified assembly node depending from the product node and a plurality of component nodes each depending from the identified assembly node and representing different components of the identified assembly and comprising respective numbers of units of each of the plurality of components within the identified assembly, and store respective numbers of units of each of the components nodes in a BOM matrix within different respective component row positions within a column of the BOM matrix for the selected product, wherein the BOM matrix comprises rows for the identified assembly and for each of the components, and columns for each of a plurality of products that include the specified selected product; and

in response to determining that the BOM list of the identified assembly is already broken down into the first BOM graph structure, add the numbers of units of each of the components nodes of the first BOM graph structure to numbers of units of respective corresponding ones of the components for the selected product that are stored in the different respective component row positions within the BOM matrix column for the selected product, and within a column of the BOM matrix columns for the another product.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 8, wherein the computer readable program code instructions, when executed by the computer processing unit, further cause the computer processing unit to locate each of the component rows within the BOM matrix relative to others of the component rows within the BOM matrix as a function of an order of the components that is determined by one of a depth-priority search and a width-priority search of components of the BOM list of the identified assembly of the selected product.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the computer readable program code instructions, when executed by the computer processing unit, further cause the computer processing unit to break down the BOM list into the new BOM graph structure by representing the component nodes by a linked list and a component-units-number array that stores the numbers of units of each component corresponding to respective nodes in the linked list.