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EP0425405A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

An automated customer order promising and confirming method

Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1990-08-29
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-08-29
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Abstract

Abstract A computer based customer order promising and confirming method system automatically interfaces to a production planning system to provide an integrated approach to the front-end planning process. The process estimates pro­jected order completion based on customer requested or­ders. First, the customer requested orders are received and the requirements (as specified by the orders) are entered in the planning system. Next, a check is made to see if the requirement(s) can be satisfied by either unallocated inventory or unallocated scheduled production. If the results of this check meet the requirement(s), the information is provided for order- promising pending order confirmation. If the results on the other hand do not meet the requirement(s), the process then utilizes the logic of a material requirements planning system (MRP) to explode the requirements and generate a statement of time phased dependent requirements. The logic of the MRP is used to simulate the process of procurement and/or fabri­cation of the necessary components to calculate possible delivery dates. The effect of releasing new or­ders/requirements is further simulated by capaci­ty/resource planning logic to verify if production capaci­ty is available to meet delivery dates requested by the customer or suggested by MRP. Following the simulation process, the system provides the order processing operator with clear information on best available date(s) if re­quested, whether the customer specified date(s) can be met, and if customer specified date(s) cannot be met, the best available date(s).

Inventors

  • 👤 Frank L. James
  • 👤 Bharath Natarajan
  • 👤 Joseph S. Phillips Jr.

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-02 21:19
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/08; G06Q10/087; G06Q10/0872

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim 190 words
An automated customer order promising and confirming method for implementation on a computer, providing for the customer order promising capability based on user production capacity verification to aid a user in making decisions that will improve a customer order promising process, said method comprising the steps of: prompting the user to input to the computer customer information and item requirements; comparing customer item requirements to invento­ry records stored in said computer; based on said comparing step, determining if inventory is currently available to meet customer requirements; if inventory is not currently available and there is a customer specified date for delivery of the item, determining if inventory will be available in planned production of the item; if inventory will not be available in planned production, using a material requirement planning system, determining net time-phased item requirements against on-hand and on-order inventory; using a capacity requirements planning system, determining whether user production capacity is available to meet a customer specified date; and if the customer specified date can not be met, establishing production availability of the item and determining a best available date for delivery of the item to the customer.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 190 words
An automated customer order promising and confirming method for implementation on a computer, providing for the customer order promising capability based on user production capacity verification to aid a user in making decisions that will improve a customer order promising process, said method comprising the steps of: prompting the user to input to the computer customer information and item requirements; comparing customer item requirements to invento­ry records stored in said computer; based on said comparing step, determining if inventory is currently available to meet customer requirements; if inventory is not currently available and there is a customer specified date for delivery of the item, determining if inventory will be available in planned production of the item; if inventory will not be available in planned production, using a material requirement planning system, determining net time-phased item requirements against on-hand and on-order inventory; using a capacity requirements planning system, determining whether user production capacity is available to meet a customer specified date; and if the customer specified date can not be met, establishing production availability of the item and determining a best available date for delivery of the item to the customer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 67 words
The automated order promising method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of using a material require­ment planning system and determining net time-phase item requirements comprises the steps of: performing an explosion of customer requirements using item data stored in said computer; offsetting requirements by lead times to obtain time-phased requirements for the item; and netting time-phased requirements against on-hand and on-order inventory of the item.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 81 words
The automated order promising method as recited in claim 2 wherein if material is available for the item, said step of using a capacity requirements planning system and determining whether user produc­tion capacity is available comprises the steps of: determining a load imposed by customer require­ments on user production capacity; adding the load from the customer requirements to cumulative load requirements on user production capacity; and then subtracting a load determined by said adding step from a predefined user production capaci­ty.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 102 words
The automated order promising method as recited in claim 2 wherein if material is not available for the item, then performing the following steps: notifying the user that material is not avail­able; using said time-phased requirements, determining a load imposed by customer requirements on user production capacity; adding the load from the customer requirements to cumulative load requirements on user production capacity; then subtracting a load determined by said adding step from a predefined user production capaci­ty; comparing a difference obtained in said sub­tracting step with management rules for resource scheduling; and if capacity exists, compiling best available dates for customer requirements.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 31 words
The automated order promising method as recited in claim 4 further comprising the step of displaying to the user the capability of meeting customer requested dates or system recommended alternate dates.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 52 words
The automated order promising method as recited in claim 4 wherein if capacity does not exist for a given production period of user production capacity, then performing the following steps: incrementing the production period; and repeating said adding, subtracting and comparing steps to determine if capacity exists for the next production period.

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