# US 2022/0164749 A1 · System and method for inventory management and production cost estimation in paper converting environments

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- Number: US 2022/0164749 A1
- Document ID: US20220164749A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/103,982
- Filed: 2020-11-25
- Published: 2022-05-26
- Earliest claimed: 2020-11-25
- Assignees: PaperSoft 2.0, LLC
- Applicants: PaperSoft 2.0, LLC
- Inventors: Thomas Johnson; James Smith; Larry Paul Smith; Catherine Harrison; Janice Porter
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20220164749A1

## CPC

- G06Q 10/06375: {Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change}
- G05B 19/416: characterised by control of velocity, acceleration or deceleration (G05B19/19 takes precedence)
- G06Q 10/06315: {Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis}
- G06Q 10/0875: Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
- G06Q 10/1091: Recording time for administrative or management purposes
- G06Q 30/0206: {Price or cost determination based on market factors}
- G06Q 30/0621: {by configuring or customising goods or services}
- G06Q 50/04: Manufacturing
- G05B 2219/36287: Selection of speed as function of tool diameter
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G)

## Abstract

The present disclosure is for a system and a method for processing requests for custom paper products and estimating costs associated with manufacturing the custom paper products. Specifically, the present invention is an inventory management, yield and cost estimation system and method for use by a paper converting company. The system and method involves determining the output requirements of a custom paper product, determining the available inventory which can be converted into the custom paper products, the available machines and an appropriate converting process to perform the converting and estimating the yield, production time and production cost associated with a given set up for making the custom paper products.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process for computing, in an on-demand converting environment, the yield, production time and/or cost of converting input inventory items into custom output inventory items that meet certain output requirements, wherein it is impractical to track the input and output inventory items via a bill of materials and/or part number system because of the amorphous nature of the input and output inventory items, the process comprising:
receiving a request for a custom paper product comprising one or more output requirements for the custom paper product;
identifying input inventory items with minimum characteristics capable of being converted into output inventory items having the one or more output requirements for the custom paper product;
identifying at least one converting process capable of converting the identified input inventory items into the custom paper product;
identifying at least one machine capable of performing the identified converting process;
obtaining data, the data comprising at least one of: output category attributes, machine speed attributes, and process cost attributes; and
computing at least one of expected yields, costs and production time for converting the identified input inventory items into the output inventory items having the one or more output requirements, wherein the computation is performed based on the obtained data.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the input inventory items have at least one of the following characteristics: grade, thickness, basis weight, weight, linear measure, width, length, diameter, core, quality, condition and mill source, and may additionally have at least one of the following attributes: color, coating, print, perforation, embossing, lamination, folding and windowing.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the output inventory items have at least one of the following characteristics: grade, thickness, basis weight, weight, linear measure, width, length, diameter, core, quality, condition, and mill source, and may additionally have at least one of the following attributes: color, coating, print, perforation, embossing, lamination, folding and windowing.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the converting process is comprised of at least one of the following converting rules: rolls to rolls, rolls to sheets, rolls to patterns, sheets to sheets, sheets to patterns, and patterns to patterns.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the process cost attributes are comprised of converting labor and overhead cost per hour, and machine speed attributes are comprised of at least one of: weight per unit of time, linear measure per unit of time, and items per unit of time.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The process of claim 5, wherein the machine speed attributes are obtained from a machine file, and the process cost attributes are obtained from a process file.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The process of claim 6, further comprising determining whether a multi-converting process or multi-machine process is required based on the machine file and the process file.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The process of claim 5, wherein the machine speed attributes include a cutoff length speed curve to adjust machine speed based on the output requirements of the custom paper product.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, further comprising at least one of: validating the identified input inventory items are appropriate to produce the output requirements, at least one machine is capable of performing the identified converting process and making the one or more output requirements, validating that at least one converting process and at least one machine is appropriate to convert the identified input inventory items into one or more of the output requirements, and validating that a determined waste percentage is below a set threshold.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, further comprising obtaining data from user defined tables.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The process of claim 10, wherein user defined tables are further comprised of user defined units.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The process of claim 10, wherein user defined tables are further comprised of metric to imperial conversion tables and/or imperial to metric conversion tables.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The process of claim 10, wherein user defined tables are further comprised of user defined grades specifying how basis weight is calculated.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the machine attributes are comprised of at least one of run speed, startup time, max input items, input change time, and input removal time.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, further comprising producing the output inventory items.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, further comprising providing a report to a user, the report comprising at least one of yield calculations, expected costs and production time, including cost of material, waste and converting costs.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the process can be completed without relying on an order entry number, part number or bill of materials.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein at least one of the output inventory items having the output requirements is designated as at least one of: a finished good inventory item ready to be sold and shipped, and an input inventory item to be stored in inventory for use in a future converting process.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the custom paper product may comprise a custom foil or custom film product.