Modeling distribution of emergency relief supplies for disaster response operations
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsMarkus Ettl, Soumyadip Ghosh, Young M. Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system to supply multiple items through a network of inventory staging areas and distribution points by determining inventory stocking levels for a staging area and distribution points, and inventory shipments from said staging area to distribution points and between the distribution points, using an optimization formulation whose objective is to cover maximum overall demand at the distribution points in a given period of time, and to minimize total cost of meeting demand.
Claims20
A method for supplying multiple items through a network of inventory staging areas and distribution points, comprising:
- determining, using a processor, inventory stocking levels at a staging area and distribution points, and inventory shipments between said staging area and distribution points and between the distribution points, using an optimization formulation whose objective function is to cover maximum overall demand at the distribution points in a given period of time, and to meet the said demand at minimum total cost.
A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of supplying multiple items through a network of inventory staging areas and distribution points, comprising:
- determining, by a processor, inventory stocking levels at a staging area and distribution points, and inventory distribution from said staging area and distribution points and between the distribution points, using an optimization formulation whose objective is to cover maximum overall demand at the distribution points in a given period of time, and to minimize total cost of meeting the demand.
A system for supplying multiple items through a network of inventory staging areas and distribution points, comprising:
- a processor;
- an analytic engine operable execute on the processor and to determine inventory stocking levels at a staging area and distribution points, and inventory shipments from said staging area and distribution points and between the distribution points, using an optimization formulation whose objective is to cover maximum overall demand at the distribution points in a given period of time, and to minimize total cost of meeting demand.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.