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US 2023/0068628 A1Published application
Inventory and load optimization
AssigneeTarget Brands, Inc.
InventorsAashimi Bhatia, SivaNagaChandra Chinta, Akshay Kumar Katta
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and systems for managing transportation vessels within an enterprise system are disclosed. In example aspects, based on current inventory levels and transportation vessel constraints, an optimized inventory order may be placed to ensure efficient ordering of an item from a vendor. In some instances, a forward ordering adjustment may be made to efficiently use transportation vessel capacity.
Claims20
A method of managing inventory and transportation vessels within an enterprise system, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a software tool implemented on an inventory and transportation management computing system, inputs related to current inventory levels for at least one inventory item selected from a plurality of inventory items, and an optimal inventory balance for the at least one inventory item for a location, the location selected from a plurality of retail locations, a receiving center, and a flow center;
- receiving, at the software tool, inputs related to a capacity of at least one transportation vessel selected from a plurality of transportation vessels;
- determining, individually for each transportation vessel, a capacity constraint, the capacity constraint comprising a minimum amount of the at least one inventory item and a maximum amount of the at least one inventory item that can be transported on the transportation vessel;
- dynamically determining an inventory need for a predetermined initial future time period for each of the at least one inventory items, the inventory need being the difference between the current inventory level and the optimal inventory balance;
- automatically generating an inventory request by:
- determining an inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item based on the inventory need;
- determining a number of transportation vessels of the at least one transportation vessel needed to transfer the inventory item to the location;
- assigning the at least one inventory item to the at least one transportation vessel, wherein assigning the at least one inventory item to the at least on transportation vessel includes determining whether utilization of the at least one transportation vessel is within the capacity constraint and rounding up or rounding down the inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item until the utilization of the at least one transportation vessel is within the constraint, and wherein rounding up or rounding down the inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item is initially based on inventory need determined at a first predetermined periodic basis and fine-tuned with an inventory need determined at a second predetermined periodic basis having greater granularity than the first predetermined periodic basis;
- determining packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel that maximizes the utilization of the at least one transportation vessel;
- and
- generating the inventory request including the rounded up or rounded down order amount for the at least one inventory items and the packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel;
- automatically communicating the inventory request, wherein the inventory request includes a purchase order including the rounded up or rounded down order amount for the at least one inventory item to order and a packing instruction for the transportation vessel;
- and
- generating and providing a user interface including the order read request and a diagram depicting the packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel.
11 more elements
(canceled)
(canceled)
A system for managing inventory and transportation vessels within an enterprise system, the system comprising:
- a computing system including a data store, a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to:
- receive inputs related to current inventory levels for at least one inventory item selected from a plurality of inventory items, and an optimal inventory balance for the at least one inventory item for a location, the location selected from a plurality of retail locations, a receiving center, and a flow center;
- receive inputs related to a capacity of at least one transportation vessel selected from a plurality of transportation vessels;
- determine, individually for each transportation vessel, a capacity constraint, the capacity constraint comprising a minimum amount of the at least one inventory item and a maximum amount of the at least one inventory item that can be transported on the transportation vessel;
- dynamically determine an inventory need for a predetermined initial future time period for each of the at least one inventory items, the inventory need being the difference between the current inventory level and the optimal inventory balance;
- automatically generate an inventory request, wherein to generate the inventory read requests includes to:
- determine an inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item based on the inventory need;
- determine a number of transportation vessels of the at least one transportation vessel needed to transfer the inventory item to the location;
- assign the at least on inventory item to the at least one transportation vessel, wherein to assign the at least one inventory item to the at least one transportation vessel includes to determine whether utilization of the at least one transportation vessel is within the capacity constraint and rounding up or rounding down the inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item until the utilization of the at least one transportation vessel is within the constraint, and wherein rounding up or rounding down the inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item is initially based on inventory need determined at a first predetermined periodic basis and fine-tuned with an inventory need determined at a second predetermined periodic basis having greater granularity than the first predetermined periodic basis;
- determine packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel that maximizes the utilization of the at least one transportation vessel;
- and
- generate the inventory request including the rounded up or rounded down order amount for the at least one inventory items and the packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel;
- automatically communicate the inventory request, wherein the inventory request includes a purchase order including the rounded up or rounded down order amount for the at least one inventory item to order and a packing instruction for the transportation vessel;
- and
- generating and providing a user interface including the order read request and a diagram depicting the packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel.
12 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions which, which executed by a computing system cause the computing system to perform a method of managing inventory items in a supply chain, the method comprising:
- receiving inputs related to current inventory levels for at least one inventory item selected from a plurality of inventory items, and an optimal inventory balance for the at least one inventory item for a location, the location selected from a plurality of retail locations, a receiving center, and a flow center;
- receiving inputs related to a capacity of at least one transportation vessel selected from a plurality of transportation vessels;
- determining, individually for each transportation vessel, a capacity constraint, the capacity constraint comprising a minimum amount of the at least one inventory item and a maximum amount of the at least one inventory item that can be transported on the transportation vessel;
- dynamically determining an inventory need for a predetermined initial future time period for each of the at least one inventory items, the inventory need being the difference between the current inventory level and the optimal inventory balance;
- automatically generating an inventory request by:
- determining an inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item based on the inventory need;
- determining a number of transportation vessels of the at least one transportation vessel needed to transfer the inventory item to the location;
- assigning the at least one inventory item to the at least one transportation vessel, wherein assigning the at least one inventory item to the at least on transportation vessel includes determining whether utilization of the at least one transportation vessel is within the capacity constraint and rounding up or rounding down the inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item until the utilization of the at least one transportation vessel is within the constraint, and wherein rounding up or rounding down the inventory amount to be ordered for the at least one item is initially based on inventory need determined at a first predetermined periodic basis and fine-tuned with an inventory need determined at a second predetermined periodic basis having greater granularity than the first predetermined periodic basis;
- determining packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel that maximizes the utilization of the at least one transportation vessel;
- and
- generating the inventory request including the rounded up or rounded down order amount for the at least one inventory items and packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel;
- wherein when the inventory need is greater than the capacity constraint, the computing system is configured to ration the order amount for the at least one inventory item;
- and
- wherein when the inventory need is less than the capacity constraint, the computing system is configured to increase the order amount for the at least one inventory item, wherein the increased order amount is within the capacity constraint of the transportation vessel;
- and
- automatically communicating the inventory request, wherein the inventory request includes a purchase order including the rounded up or rounded down order amount for the at least one inventory item to order and a packing instruction for the transportation vessel;
- and
- generating and providing a user interface including the order read request and a diagram depicting the packing instructions for the at least one transportation vessel.
15 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.