Inventory management method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A consumable supplies monitoring and ordering system, comprising:
- a sensor that detects a quantity of said consumable supplies;
means for determining usage information of said consumable supplies for a predetermined period of time in response to a signal from said sensor; and
means for modifying scheduled deliveries of additional consumable supplies based upon historical rates of consumption of said consumable supplies, in accordance with said usage information determined by said determining means and said detected quantity of consumable supplies.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Method and apparatus for inventory monitoring a supply consumed in the manufacturing of a finished product. An inventory management system monitors the quantity of supplies in a storage facility. Based upon historical data related to the rate of usage of the supplies, the inventory management system determines the period of time until the stored supplies are depleted. If the supplies are depleted prior to a next scheduled delivery of replacement supplies, the inventory management system communicates with the supplier to move ahead the delivery date. Conversely, if the inventory management system determines that the supplies are being consumed at a rate lower than projected, the inventory management system will instruct the supplier to delay a shipment date. Supervisory personnel may access the system from a local location or a remote location. In addition, an alarm is activated when there is a sudden change in the rate of usage of the stored supplies. Provisions are included for remotely accessed the inventory management system, and for detecting the receipt of replacement supplies in order to authorize the payment for the replacement supplies.
158 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A consumable supplies monitoring and ordering system, comprising:
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a sensor that detects a quantity of said consumable supplies; means for determining usage information of said consumable supplies for a predetermined period of time in response to a signal from said sensor; and means for modifying scheduled deliveries of additional consumable supplies based upon historical rates of consumption of said consumable supplies, in accordance with said usage information determined by said determining means and said detected quantity of consumable supplies. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A consumable supplies monitoring and ordering system, comprising:
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a sensor that detects a quantity of consumable supplies stored in a storage facility, said sensor outputting a signal related to said quantity of stored consumable supplies; a converting device that converts said output signal of said sensor to a predetermined signal; a processing unit that receives said predetermined signal to determine usage information of said consumable supplies over a predetermined period of time, said processing unit employing said usage information to project when said consumable supplies will be completely depleted; and means for communicating with a supplier of said consumable supplies to modify a scheduled delivery of additional consumable supplies, based upon the projection of when said consumable supplies will be depleted, if said scheduled delivery would result in an undesirable quantity of stored consumable supplies. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A monitoring and ordering system, comprising:
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a sensor that detects a quantity of supplies; means for determining usage information of said supplies for a predetermined period of time based upon a signal from said sensor; and means for scheduling deliveries of additional supplies based upon a rate of consumption of said supplies, in accordance with said usage information determined by said determining means and said quantity of supplies detected by said sensor.
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29. A method for monitoring and ordering supplies stored in a storage facility, comprising the steps of:
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sensing a quantity of supplies stored in the storage facility; determining a rate at which the stored supplies are consumed based upon the sensed quantity of supplies stored in the storage facility; ascertaining a modified delivery request schedule of replacement supplies based upon the sensed quantity of stored supplies and the rate at which the stored supplies are being consumed; and communicating the modified delivery request schedule to a supplier of the supplies. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification