US 10,290,004 B1Granted

Supply chain management system for supplying clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) totes to a network of wood-treating lumber and prefabrication panel factories and wood-framed building construction job sites

AssigneeM-Fire Suppression, Inc.

InventorStephen Conboy

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A cloud-based system network for managing the supply chain management operations associated with shipping clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) totes from a chemical factory or warehouse to a network of lumber factories producing Class-A fire-protected lumber, and/or wood-framed building construction job sites with interior wood surfaces being spray-treated with Class-A fire protection during the construction phase. The system network includes a data center with web, application and database servers for supporting one or more mobile applications running on mobile computing devices (e.g. smart-phones and tablet computers). The mobile applications were configured for (i) scanning barcode symbols and/or RFID-tags on CFIC totes, measuring the weight of such CFIC totes at the chemical factory and/or warehouse, capturing GPS coordinates of the CFIC totes and recording such data within the centralized supply chain management database, and also for (ii) scanning barcode symbols and/or RFID-tags on CFIC totes at the destination factory, warehouse and/or construction job site, measuring the weight of such CFIC totes, detecting GPS coordinates, comparing recorded weights, and enabling automated inventory replenishment.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of managing supply chain management operations associated with shipping clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) material in locked CFIC totes from a chemical factory or warehouse to a shipping destination for use in treating wood to provide treated wood with Class-A fire protection, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) issuing a purchase order for shipment of a quantity of clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) liquid to a shipping destination, for use in treating wood to provide treated wood with Class-A fire protection;
(b) receiving and processing said purchase order and determining a shipment of CFIC totes required to fulfill said purchase order;
(c) procuring one or more CFIC totes containing CFIC material in the form of a CFIC powder or a CFIC liquid, either by (i) blending the CFIC power and/or the CFIC liquid and then filling up and sealing one or more CFIC totes, and/or (ii) removing one or more CFIC totes containing said CFIC material, from an inventory of CFIC totes maintained in a warehouse;
(d) generating barcoded shipping labels for said shipment of CFIC totes, wherein said shipping labels include a purchase order identification number associated with said purchase order;
(e) applying said barcoded shipping labels on said shipment of CFIC totes to produce a shipment of barcoded CFIC totes including one or more barcoded CFIC totes;
(f) before shipping said shipment of said barcoded CFIC totes to said shipping destination, scanning the barcoded shipping label on each said barcoded CFIC tote in said shipment, weighing each said barcoded CFIC tote and recording the measured weight of said barcoded CFIC tote in a supply chain management database;
(g) shipping each barcoded CFIC tote in said shipment to said shipping destination;
(h) receiving each barcoded CFIC tote in said shipment at said shipping destination, scanning the barcoded shipping label on said barcoded CFIC tote, accessing said supply chain management database, measuring the weight of the scanned barcoded CFIC tote, and recording the measured weight of said barcoded CFIC tote in said supply chain management database;
and
(i) at said shipping destination, comparing the weight of each said barcoded CFIC tote measured and recorded during step (h), against the weight of said barcoded CFIC tote measured and recorded during step (f), and applying the following rules:
(1) if the weight difference determined during the weight comparison performed at said shipping destination is within a predetermined threshold, then accepting received barcoded CFIC totes in said shipment and indicating acceptance of said shipment in said supply chain management database;
and
(2) if the weight difference determined during the weight comparison performed at said shipping destination is above the predetermined threshold, then rejecting received barcoded CFIC tote in said shipment, and indicating rejection of said shipment in said supply chain management database.

10 more elements

A system network for managing supply chain operations associated with shipping clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) totes from a chemical factory or warehouse to a shipping destination for use in treating wood to provide treated wood with Class-A fire protection, said system network being cloud-based and comprising:

a data center with web, application and database servers for supporting one or more mobile applications running on a plurality of mobile computing devices;
wherein said one or more mobile applications are configured for supporting the following functions on said system network:
(a) issuing a purchase order for shipment of a quantity of clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) material to a shipping destination, for use in treating wood to provide treated wood with Class-A fire protection;
(b) receiving and processing said purchase order and determining a shipment of CFIC totes required to fulfill said purchase order;
(c) procuring one or more CFIC totes containing CFIC material in the form of a CFIC powder or a CFIC liquid, either by (i) blending the CFIC power and/or the CFIC liquid and then filling up and sealing one or more CFIC totes, and/or (ii) removing one or more CFIC totes containing said CFIC material, from an inventory of CFIC totes maintained in a warehouse;
(d) generating barcoded shipping labels for said shipment of CFIC totes, wherein said barcoded shipping labels include a purchase order identification number associated with said purchase order;
(e) applying said barcoded shipping labels on said shipment of CFIC totes to produce a shipment of barcoded CFIC totes including one or more barcoded CFIC totes;
(f) before shipping said shipment of said barcoded CFIC totes to said shipping destination, scanning the barcoded shipping label on each said barcoded CFIC tote in said shipment, weighing each said barcoded CFIC tote, and recording the measured weight of said barcoded CFIC tote in a supply chain management database;
(g) shipping each barcoded CFIC tote in said shipment to said shipping destination;
(h) receiving each shipped barcoded CFIC tote in said shipment at said shipping destination, scanning the barcoded shipping label on said barcoded CFIC tote, accessing said supply chain management database, measuring the weight of the scanned barcoded CFIC tote, and recording the measured weight of said barcoded CFIC tote in said supply chain management database;
and
(i) at said shipping destination, comparing the weight of each said barcoded CFIC tote measured and recorded during step (h), against the weight of said barcoded CFIC tote measured and recorded during step (f), and applying the following rules:
(1) if the weight difference determined during the weight comparison performed at said shipping destination is within a predetermined threshold, then accepting received barcoded CFIC totes in said shipment and indicating acceptance of said shipment in said supply chain management database;
and
(2) if the weight difference determined during the weight comparison performed at said shipping destination is above the predetermined threshold, then rejecting received barcoded CFIC totes in said shipment, and indicating rejection of said shipment in said supply chain management database.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/921,617Filed 14 Mar 2018 · continuation
Priority: 2 Dec 2017
Published: US 2019/0172071 A16 Jun 2019
Granted: 14 May 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification21 codes

G06Q 30/018
Commerce: certifying business or products
B27K 3/0228
Processes; Apparatus: spraying apparatus, e.g. tunnels
B27K 3/025
Processes; Apparatus: controlling the process
B27K 3/0278
Processes; Apparatus: involving an additional treatment during or after impregnation

Family

Application15/829,914Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 2 Dec 2017
Application15/866,454Parent of this continuation · filed 9 Jan 2018
Application15/866,456Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 9 Jan 2018
Application15/866,454Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 10,260,232 B1Related patent
US 10,311,444 B1Related patent
US 10,332,222 B1Related patent
US 2019/0172071 A1Published application
US 2019/0172072 A1Published application
US 2019/0172160 A1Published application
US 10,290,004 B1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.