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US 2009/0276268 A1Published application
Systems And Methods For Selecting Flour
AssigneeRich Products Corporation
InventorsPraveen Upreti, Rohit Jalali, William E. Grieshober, JR., John S. Roberts, Melissa D. Haller, Michael Fuchs, Ilya Y. Ilyin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Flour may be treated to denature the proteins and modify starches. The invention includes methods and systems for determining whether to use treated flour or untreated flour. The invention also includes methods and systems for determining whether to treat flour or not.
Claims29
A method of selecting between treated flour and untreated flour, comprising:
- providing a microprocessor programmed to determine a customer margin differential (“CMD”), the CMD being determined by the microprocessor doing the following:
- (a) determine a cost (“C1”) of untreated flour, which is equal to C.f.×W.f., where C.f. is the cost of untreated flour per unit weight, and W.f. is the weight of untreated flour per unit of final product;
- (b) determine a cost (“C2”) of treated flour, which is equal to C.t.f.×W.t.f., where C.t.f. is the cost of treated flour per unit weight, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (c) determine a cost differential (“C3”) of other components, which is equal to the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when untreated flour is used minus the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when treated flour is used;
- (d) determine a cost differential (“C4”) of processing costs, which is equal to the manufacturing cost of producing the final product with untreated flour minus the cost of producing the final product with treated flour;
- (e) determine the CMD, which is equal to C1−C2+C3+C4;
- operating the programmed microprocessor so that the CMD is determined;
- determining whether the CMD is a positive number;
- indicating selection of treated flour if the CMD is a positive number.
6 more elements
A method of determining whether to treat flour, comprising:
- providing a microprocessor programmed to determine a customer margin treatment differential (“CMTD”), the CMTD being determined by the microprocessor doing the following:
- (a) determine an incremental cost (“C1”), which is equal to C.f.×(W.f.−W.t.f.), where C.f. is the cost of untreated flour per unit weight, and W.f. is the weight of untreated flour per unit of final product, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (b) determine a cost (“C2”) of treating flour, which is equal to C.f.t.×W.t.f., where C.f.t. is the cost of treating the flour per unit weight, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (c) determine a cost differential (“C3”) of other components, which is equal to the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when untreated flour is used minus the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when treated flour is used;
- (d) determine a cost differential (“C4”) of processing costs, which is equal to the manufacturing cost of producing the final product with untreated flour minus the cost of producing the final product with treated flour;
- (e) determine the CMTD, which is equal to C1−C2+C3+C4;
- operating the programmed microprocessor so that the CMTD is determined;
- determining whether the CMTD is a positive number;
- indicating a determination to treat flour if the CMTD is a positive number.
6 more elements
A system for selecting between treated flour and untreated flour, comprising:
- a microprocessor programmed to determine a customer margin differential (“CMD”), the CMD being determined by the microprocessor doing the following:
- (a) determine a cost (“C1”) of untreated flour, which is equal to C.f.×W.f., where C.f. is the cost of untreated flour per unit weight, and W.f. is the weight of untreated flour per unit of final product;
- (b) determine a cost (“C2”) of treated flour, which is equal to C.t.f.×W.t.f., where C.t.f. is the cost of treated flour per unit weight, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (c) determine a cost differential (“C3”) of other components, which is equal to the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when untreated flour is used minus the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when treated flour is used;
- (d) determine a cost differential (“C4”) of processing costs, which is equal to the manufacturing cost of producing the final product with untreated flour minus the cost of producing the final product with treated flour;
- (e) determine the CMD, which is equal to C1−C2+C3+C4;
- (f) determine whether the CMD is a positive number;
- (g) provide a signal indicating selection of treated flour if the CMD is determined to be a positive number;
- an input device capable of receiving values required by the microprocessor to determine the CMD;
- an output device capable of displaying an indication that treated flour is selected if the signal is provided.
7 more elements
A system for determining whether to treat flour, comprising:
- a microprocessor programmed to determine a customer margin treatment differential (“CMTD”), the CMTD being determined by the microprocessor doing the following:
- (a) determine an incremental cost (“C1”), which is equal to C.f.×(W.f.−W.t.f.), where C.f. is the cost of untreated flour per unit weight, and W.f. is the weight of untreated flour per unit of final product, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (b) determine a cost (“C2”) of treating flour, which is equal to C.f.t.×W.t.f., where C.f.t. is the cost of treating the flour per unit weight, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (c) determine a cost differential (“C3”) of other components, which is equal to 5 the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when untreated flour is used minus the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when treated flour is used;
- (d) determine a cost differential (“C4”) of processing costs, which is equal to the manufacturing cost of producing the final product with untreated flour minus the cost of producing the final product with treated flour;
- (e) determine the CMTD, which is equal to C1−C2+C3+C4;
- an input device capable of receiving values required by the microprocessor to determine the CMTD;
- an output device capable of indicating a determination to treat flour if the signal is provided.
5 more elements
A method for manufacturing a final product from flour and non-flour components, comprising the steps of:
- (a) calculating a customer margin differential (“CMD”) by:
- (i) determining a cost (“C1”) of untreated flour, which is equal to C.f.×W.f., where C.f. is the cost of untreated flour per unit weight, and W.f. is the weight of untreated flour per unit of final product;
- (ii) determining a cost (“C2”) of treated flour, which is equal to C.t.f.×W.t.f., where C.t.f. is the cost of treated flour per unit weight, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (iii) determining a cost differential (“C3”) of other components, which is equal to the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when untreated flour is used minus the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when treated flour is used;
- (iv) determining a cost differential (“C4”) of processing costs, which is equal to the manufacturing cost of producing the final product with untreated flour minus the cost of producing the final product with treated flour;
- and
- (v) determining the CMD, which is equal to C1−C2+C3+C4;
- (b) selecting a treated-flour recipe for the final product if the CMD is positive or a non-treated-flour recipe for the final product if the CMD is negative;
- and
- (c) manufacturing the final product according to the selected recipe.
7 more elements
A method for manufacturing a final product from flour and non-flour components, comprising the steps of:
- (a) calculating a customer margin treatment differential (“CMTD”) by:
- (i) determining an incremental cost (“C1”), which is equal to C.f.×(W.f.−W.t.f.), where C.f. is the cost of untreated flour per unit weight, and W.f. is the weight of untreated flour per unit of final product, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (ii) determining a cost (“C2”) of treating flour, which is equal to C.f.t.×W.t.f., where C.f.t. is the cost of treating the flour per unit weight, and W.t.f. is the weight of treated flour per unit of final product;
- (iii) determining a cost differential (“C3”) of other components, which is equal to the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when untreated flour is used minus the cost of non-flour components used to make the final product when treated flour is used;
- (iv) determining a cost differential (“C4”) of processing costs, which is equal to the manufacturing cost of producing the final product with untreated flour minus the cost of producing the final product with treated flour;
- and
- (v) determining the CMTD, which is equal to C1−C2+C3+C4;
- (b) selecting a treated-flour recipe for the final product if the CMTD is positive or a non-treated-flour recipe for the final product if the CMTD is negative;
- and
- (c) manufacturing the final product according to the selected recipe.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.