US5819232A
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Method and apparatus for inventory control of a manufacturing or distribution process
Assignee: Dade Chemistry Systems Inc
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Filing: 1996-03-22
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Granted: 1998-10-06
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Expires: 2016-03-22
Abstract
Abstract A method and apparatus, using a computer model, to control a manufacturing or distribution process, which determines a demand forecast by using an optimized historical weighting factor, determines an upper and a lower bound of a planned inventory by explicitly accounting for the customer order lead time, and computes a production schedule at predetermined intervals to maintain an actual inventory between the upper and lower bounds of the planned inventory.
Inventors
- 👤 Lester Lynn Shipman
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 19:08
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/04; G06Q10/06; G06Q10/063; G06Q10/0631; G06Q10/06314; G06Q10/06315; G06Q10/0635; G06Q10/0637; G06Q10/06375; G06Q20/00; G06Q20/08; G06Q20/20; G06Q20/203; G06Q30/00; G06Q30/02; G06Q30/0201; G06Q30/0202
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
85 words
A computer implemented method of inventory control of a manufacturing or distribution process using a computer model of the manufacturing or distribution process, which comprises the steps of: (a) determining a demand forecast by using an optimized historical weighting factor, (b) determining an upper and a lower bound of a planned inventory by explicitly accounting for the customer order lead time, and (c) computing a production schedule at predetermined intervals to maintain an actual inventory between the upper and lower bounds of the planned inventory.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
85 words
A computer implemented method of inventory control of a manufacturing or distribution process using a computer model of the manufacturing or distribution process, which comprises the steps of: (a) determining a demand forecast by using an optimized historical weighting factor, (b) determining an upper and a lower bound of a planned inventory by explicitly accounting for the customer order lead time, and (c) computing a production schedule at predetermined intervals to maintain an actual inventory between the upper and lower bounds of the planned inventory.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising explicitly accounting for a cost of production changeover and an inventory carrying cost.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
131 words
The method of claim 1, where in step (c), a demand forecast is computed by: (i) dividing the shipment data into predetermined intervals, (ii) using a first predetermined number of intervals as a first history period and a second predetermined number of intervals as a second history period, (iii) using the second history period to compute predicted demand for the intervals of the first history period, (iv) computing the error between the predicted demand and the actual demand for the intervals of the first history period to determine, and (v) determining an historical weighting factor F, said factor being between 0 and 1, by comparing the predicted demand with the actual demand for each interval of the first history period, the weighting factor being optimized by a recursive method of computation.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 3 where the weighting factor F is determined such that the mean average deviation of the difference between the actual demand and the predicted demand is minimized.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
73 words
The method of claim 3 where the upper bound of the planned inventory is computed as the sum of a cycle stock and a safety stock, where the cycle stock is computed using the predicted demand and the historical weighting factor F and the safety stock is computed using a method wherein a period of risk value is replaced by the difference of the period of risk and a customer order lead time.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 3 where the lower bound of the planned inventory is equal to the safety stock, where the safety stock is computed using a method wherein the period of risk value is replaced by the difference of the period of risk and the customer order lead time.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
17 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the customer order lead time is a single value.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
18 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the customer order lead time is a Gaussian distribution function.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
18 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the customer order lead time is a Poisson distribution function.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
22 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the customer order lead time is a probability distribution function determined from historical data.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
16 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the period of risk is a single value.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
17 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the period of risk is a Gaussian distribution function.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
17 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the period of risk is a Poisson distribution function.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
21 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the period of risk is a probability distribution function determined from historical data.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
33 words
The method of claims 5 and 6 where the upper and lower bounds of the planned inventory are selected so that sum of cost of production changeovers and inventory carrying cost is minimized.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
454 words
A method of inventory control of a manufacturing or distribution process comprising: (a) computing a production schedule that reads current inventory from an inventory tracking system, reads the open orders from an order entry transaction system, reads invoiced shipments from the transaction system, (b) at pre-determined intervals regenerating a demand forecast, wherein (i) the demand forecast is computed by dividing the shipment data into predetermined intervals, (ii) designating a first predetermined number of intervals as a first history period and designating a second predetermined number of intervals as a second history period, (iii) using the second history period to compute predicted demand for the intervals of the first history period, (iv) using the second history period to compute the error between the predicted demand for the intervals of the first history period and the actual demand for the intervals of the first history period to determine a historical weighting factor F, said factor being between 0 and 1, and the weighting factor being determined by comparing the predicted demand with the actual demand for each interval of the first history period, the weighting factor being optimized by a recursive method of computation and determined such that the mean average deviation of the difference between the actual demand and the predicted demand is minimized, and (c) at predetermined intervals recalculating the upper bound of the planned inventory, where the upper bound is computed as the sum of cycle stock and safety stock, wherein (i) the cycle stock is computed using the predicted demand and the historical weighting factor F, and (ii) the safety stock is computed using a method wherein the period of risk value is replaced by the difference of the period of risk and the customer order lead time, where the period of risk may be a single value, a Gaussian distribution function, a Poisson distribution function, or a probability distribution function determined from historical data, where the customer order lead time may be a single value, a Gaussian distribution function, a Poisson distribution function, or a probability distribution function determined from historical data, (d) at predetermined intervals recalculating the lower bound of the planned inventory, where the lower bound is equal to the safety stock, wherein (i) the safety stock is computed using a method wherein the period of risk value is replaced by the difference of the period of risk and the customer order lead time, where the period of risk may be a single value, a Gaussian distribution function, a Poisson distribution function, or a probability distribution function determined from historical data, where the customer order lead time may be a single value, a Gaussian distribution function, a Poisson distribution function, or a probability distribution function determined from historical data.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
454 words
A method of inventory control of a manufacturing or distribution process comprising: (a) computing a production schedule that reads current inventory from an inventory tracking system, reads the open orders from an order entry transaction system, reads invoiced shipments from the transaction system, (b) at pre-determined intervals regenerating a demand forecast, wherein (i) the demand forecast is computed by dividing the shipment data into predetermined intervals, (ii) designating a first predetermined number of intervals as a first history period and designating a second predetermined number of intervals as a second history period, (iii) using the second history period to compute predicted demand for the intervals of the first history period, (iv) using the second history period to compute the error between the predicted demand for the intervals of the first history period and the actual demand for the intervals of the first history period to determine a historical weighting factor F, said factor being between 0 and 1, and the weighting factor being determined by comparing the predicted demand with the actual demand for each interval of the first history period, the weighting factor being optimized by a recursive method of computation and determined such that the mean average deviation of the difference between the actual demand and the predicted demand is minimized, and (c) at predetermined intervals recalculating the upper bound of the planned inventory, where the upper bound is computed as the sum of cycle stock and safety stock, wherein (i) the cycle stock is computed using the predicted demand and the historical weighting factor F, and (ii) the safety stock is computed using a method wherein the period of risk value is replaced by the difference of the period of risk and the customer order lead time, where the period of risk may be a single value, a Gaussian distribution function, a Poisson distribution function, or a probability distribution function determined from historical data, where the customer order lead time may be a single value, a Gaussian distribution function, a Poisson distribution function, or a probability distribution function determined from historical data, (d) at predetermined intervals recalculating the lower bound of the planned inventory, where the lower bound is equal to the safety stock, wherein (i) the safety stock is computed using a method wherein the period of risk value is replaced by the difference of the period of risk and the customer order lead time, where the period of risk may be a single value, a Gaussian distribution function, a Poisson distribution function, or a probability distribution function determined from historical data, where the customer order lead time may be a single value, a Gaussian distribution function, a Poisson distribution function, or a probability distribution function determined from historical data.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
82 words
The method of claim 16 where predicted inventory for a predetermined number of future intervals is computed from: the sum of current inventory plus all production scheduled to be produced within the predetermined number of intervals, minus the sum of all open orders scheduled to be shipped within the predetermined number of intervals, minus the scaled forecast demand, the scaled forecast demand being multiplied by the expectation value of the difference between the number of intervals and the customer order lead time.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
12 words
A data structure generated by a method of any of claims 1-17.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
33 words
A machine having a memory which contains a data structure for the control of a manufacturing and distribution process by performing the method of any of claims 1, 3, 5, 6, or 16.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
35 words
A data processing system executing an application program for controlling a manufacturing and distribution process, containing a data structure, the data structure being formed by the method of any of claims 1, 3, or 16.
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