Management method for sourced inventory

• US 7,818,220 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2006
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Original Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Inventors: Deevers, Susan Lynn, Simon, Roland James, Slocum, Gregory Howard
• Primary Examiner(s): Refai; Ramsey
• Application Number:
  US11/471,332
• Publication Number:
  US 20080004997A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,582 Days
• Field of Search: 705/22, 705/28
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

A collaborative inventory management method for managing material inventory sourced by a customer from a plurality of suppliers includes: designating at least one supplier as a steady supplier to the customer; designating at least one second supplier as a lead supplier to the customer; allocating a supply split between the steady supplier and the lead supplier for supplying material to customer over a period of time; providing customer inventory level data (I) and usage forecast data (U) from the customer to the lead supplier; providing a customer shipment schedule to the steady supplier; providing an order create (OC) and ship notice (SN) from the steady supplier to the customer; transforming the (OC) and (SN) to contain selective quantity and date of shipment data (Q/D); sending Q/D data to the lead supplier; and planning by the lead supplier of shipments to manage (I) responsive to actual usage by the customer and shipment of material from the steady supplier to customer and in accordance with the supply split.

Claims

1. A collaborative inventory management method for managing material inventory sourced by a customer from a plurality of suppliers, comprising:

a. designating at least one supplier as a steady supplier to the customer;

b. designating at least one second supplier as a lead supplier to the customer;

c. allocating a supply split between the steady supplier and the lead supplier for supplying material to customer over a period of time;

d. providing customer inventory level data collected by use of inventory data processing equipment and usage forecast data collected by use of usage forecast data processing equipment from the customer to the lead supplier;

e. providing a customer shipment schedule by use of readable shipment schedule generation equipment to the steady supplier;

f. providing an order create and ship notice from the steady supplier to the customer;

g. transforming the order create and ship notice to contain selective quantity and date of shipment data through use of data processing equipment;

h. sending selective quantity and date of shipment data to the lead supplier through use of data transmission equipment; and

i. planning by the lead supplier of shipments to manage inventory level data responsive to actual usage by the customer and shipment of material from the steady supplier to customer and in accordance with the supply split.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein transforming the order create and ship notice to quantity and date of shipment data further comprises the step of selectively screening the data to exclude sensitive business information of the steady supplier.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting a receipt from the customer to the lead supplier and the steady supplier for quantities of material received by the customer.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein further comprising factoring in-transit shipment time between the steady supplier and the customer in the planning by the lead supplier of shipments necessary from the lead supplier to manage inventory level data.