Flexible production and material resource planning system using sales information directly acquired from POS terminals

A production quantity determining and flexible manufacturing system including:

• at least one point of sale computer terminal located at a sales outlet for collecting sales information relating to at least one product sold at the least one sales outlet;
• a host computer located remote from the at least one point of sale computer terminal and being operatively connected to the at least one point of sale computer terminal for receiving the sales information from the at least one point of sale computer terminal, the host computer including a production quantity determining computer software routine which is executed on the host computer for determining a production quantity of the at least one product to be produced in future based on the sales information received from the at least one point of sale computer terminal units and generating an electronic signal indicative of the production quantity determined by the production size determining unit;
• and
• a production control computer terminal operatively connected to the host computer and including a production control routine comprising a software program executed on the production control computer for receiving the electronic signal indicative of the production quantity from the production quantity determining routine in the host computer and for electronically controlling a plurality of production drive units to set desired speeds and power levels for a plurality of manufacturing machines used to manufacture the production quantity determined by the production quantity determining routine in the host computer;
• wherein
• the host computer includes a directing unit for transmitting the electronic signal indicative of the production quantity received from the production quantity determining routine to a raw materials ordering unit and to the production control computer terminal.

A production quantity determining apparatus comprising:

• a host computer;
• an estimating unit of said host computer being operatively connected to at least one point of sale terminal located at at least one sales outlet for at least one product for receiving sales information from the at least one point of sale terminal and estimating a total amount of sales of the at least one product sold at a plurality of sales outlets;
• a demand forecast unit of said host computer for receiving the estimated total sales from the estimating unit and generating a demand forecast quantity for the at least one product based on the estimated total sales;
• and
• a production size determining unit of the said host computer for determining a production quantity of the at least one product to be produced in the future based on the demand forecast quantity;
• wherein
• the estimating unit includes a product characteristics data table having a plurality of data relating to a product classification, a price classification, a consumer age classification and a merchandising classification for the at least one product.

A production quantity determining apparatus comprising:

• a host computer;
• an estimating unit of said host computer being operatively connected to at least one point of sale terminal located at at least one sales outlet for at least one product for receiving sales information from the at least one point of sale terminal and estimating a total amount of sales of the at least one product sold at a plurality of sales outlets;
• a demand forecast unit of said host computer for receiving the estimated total sales from the estimating unit and generating a demand forecast quantity for the at least one product based on the estimated total sales;
• and
• a production size determining unit of said host computer for determining a production quantity of the at least one product to be produced in the future based on the demand forecast quantity;
• wherein
• the demand forecast unit includes a plurality of demand forecast tables each of which includes a plurality of sales course patterns and final sales estimates, wherein each of the demand forecast tables include data for a certain period of time which period of time is different from that of the other demand forecast tables.

A method of determining and flexibly manufacturing a production quantity of at least one of a plurality of products sold at at least one sales outlet, the method comprising the steps of;

• operatively connecting a plurality of sales information collecting units to a main production control unit including a production size determining unit;
• collecting sales information data in the plurality of sales information collecting units from at least one sales outlet as a product is sold at the at least one sales outlet;
• transmitting the sales information data from the plurality of sales information collecting units to the operatively connected main production control unit;
• determining at the production size determining unit a production quantity of the product to be produced in the future based on the sales information data collected from the at least one sales outlet and generating output data indicative of the production quantity determined at the production size determining unit;
• operatively connecting the main production control unit to a raw materials ordering unit which flexibly orders a plurality of raw materials required for manufacturing a plurality of products based on sales information collected at the plurality of sales information collecting units and to a production unit which flexibly manufactures the plurality of products based on sales information collected at the plurality of sales information collecting units;
• transmitting the output data indicative of the production quantity determined at the production size determining unit to the operatively connected raw materials ordering unit and the production unit;
• ordering at the raw materials ordering unit the raw materials required to manufacture the production quantity of the product based on the sales information data collected at the plurality of sales information collection units and in response to the raw materials ordering unit receiving the output data indicative of the production quantity from the operatively connected main production control unit;
• and
• manufacturing at the production unit the production quantity of the product based on the sales information data collected at the plurality of sales information collection units and in response to the production unit receiving the output data indicative of the production quantity from the operatively connected main production control unit.

A production system comprising:

• a plurality of sales information collecting units located at a plurality of sales outlets for collecting sales information concerning a plurality of goods that are sold at the plurality of sales outlets;
• and
• a main production control unit including a host computer being operatively connected to each of the plurality of sales information collecting units for receiving the sales information from the sales information collecting units, the main production control unit including a production size determining unit comprising a computer program executed on said host computer for determining a production quantity to be produced in the future for the plurality of goods based on the sales information received from the plurality of sales information collecting units and the computer program generating output data indicative of the production quantity determined by the production size determining unit;
• and
• a raw materials ordering unit for flexibly ordering a plurality of raw materials required for manufacturing the plurality of goods based on the sales information collected at the plurality of sales information collection units the raw materials ordering unit being operatively connected to the main production control unit, wherein after the production size determining unit determines the production quantity, the main production control unit transmits the output data indicative of the production quantity determined by the production size determining unit to the operatively connected raw materials ordering unit and the raw materials ordering unit orders raw materials required for producing the production quantity of the plurality of goods in response to receiving the output data indicative of the production quantity from the main production control unit.

A production system comprising:

• a plurality of sales information collecting units located at a plurality of sales outlets for collecting sales information concerning a plurality of goods that are sold at the plurality of sales outlets;
• and
• a main production control unit including a host computer being operatively connected to each of the plurality of sales information collecting units for receiving the sales information from the sales information collecting units, the main production control unit including a production size determining unit comprising a computer program executed on said host computer for determining a production quantity to be produced in the future for the plurality of goods based on the sales information received from the plurality of sales information collecting units and generating an electronic signal indicative of the production quantity determined by the production size determining unit;
• a raw materials ordering unit for flexibly ordering a plurality of raw materials required for manufacturing the plurality of goods based on the sales information which is collected at the plurality of sales information collecting units and transmitted from the plurality of sales information collecting units to the operatively connected main production control unit, the raw materials ordering unit being operatively connected to the main production control unit;
• and
• a production unit for flexibly manufacturing the plurality of goods based on the sales information which is collected at the plurality of sales information collecting units and transmitted from the plurality of sales information collecting units to the operatively connected main production control unit, the production unit being operatively connected to the main production control unit,
• wherein after the production size determining unit determines the production quantity, the main production control unit electronically transmits the electronic signal indicative of the production quantity determined by the production size determining unit to the operatively connected raw material ordering unit and the production unit and the raw materials ordering unit orders the raw materials required to produce the production quantity of the plurality of goods and the production unit produces the production quantity of the plurality of in response to receiving the electronic signal indicative of the production quantity from the main production control unit.