Planning coordination systems for coordinating separate factory planning systems and a method of operation

A planning coordination system for providing a protocol to coordinate a planning system of a host factory with separate planning systems of other factories in a manufacturing chain:

• a communication system operable:
• to receive input demands for a product supplied by said host factory, to communicate output responses indicating a number of said product to be supplied by said host factory, to communicate output demands to a planning coordination system of at least one other factory in the manufacturing chain, and to receive input responses from the planning coordination system of the other factory;
• and
• a processing system coupled to the communication system and operable:
• to process each said input response to determine if said input response satisfies an associated output demand, and if not, to provide data representing unsatisfied demand to the host planning system, and to provide an output response that reflects the unsatisfied demand;
• wherein the communication system and the processing system are iteratively operable, such that an exchange of demands and responses results in a predetermined termination condition and such that the exchange of demands and responses is independent of planning capability data used by the planning system.

A computer-implemented method of negotiating demands and responses among plurality of separate factories having separate planning systems in a manufacturing chain, comprising the steps of:

• connecting a planning coordination system to an associated planning system in each of a plurality of separate factories in a manufacturing chain;
• interconnecting each planning coordination system with other planning coordination systems according to the manufacturing chain;
• communicating demands from each planning coordination system to other planning coordination systems, wherein each demand represents a quantity of a product to be provided;
• communicating responses from each planning coordination system to other planning coordination systems wherein each response represents promises to supply said product;
• and
• iteratively repeating communicating demands and communicating responses such that demand and supply information is automatically communicated between factories having supply and demand part relationships until a predetermined termination condition is reached;
• wherein said process of communicating demands and responses is independent of planning capability data used by said planning systems.

A demand/response negotiation protocol system for a factory network having a plurality of factories in a manufacturing chain, each factory having a separate planning system, the factory network comprising:

• a first factory comprising;
• a first planning system operable to generate and to adjust a first output plan for the first factory;
• and
• a first planning coordination system coupled to the first planning system, wherein the first planning coordination system is operable to access the first output plan;
• a second factory comprising;
• a second planning system, separate from the first planning system, operable to generate and to adjust a second output plan for the second factory;
• and
• a second planning coordination system coupled to the second planning system and to the first planning coordination system, wherein the second planning coordination system is operable to access the second output plan;
• the first factory and the second factory in a manufacturing chain and having demand and supply part relationships with one other;
• the first planning coordination system operable to communicate a demand to the second planning coordination system;
• the second planning coordination system operable to receive and process the demand communicated by the first planning coordination system and to communicate a response to the first planning coordination system, wherein the response is based upon the output plan of the second factory;
• the first planning coordination system further operable to receive and process the response communicated by the second planning coordination system, so as to determine whether said response meets the demand from the first factory, and to provide data representing the results of the determination to the first planning system;
• wherein said first planning coordination system and said second planning coordination system are operable to iteratively exchange demands and responses until a predetermined termination condition is reached, and wherein said exchange of demands and responses is independent of planning capability data used by the planning systems.