US 6,594,535 B1Granted

Material and inventory control system for a demand flow process

AssigneeDemand Flow Institute, LLC

InventorJohn R. Costanza

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Abstract

A material flow design system for a mixed-model demand flow manufacturing line is presented. The material flow system utilizes a replenishment card/replenishment container system of material management. The material flow design system defines the size of replenishment containers and the location of material deduct points in the production path. The material flow design system may further include a design system for designing an inventory control system. The inventory control system involves locating backflush and intermediate backflush locations on the production path and deduct points in the material flow sequence. An inventory monitoring system monitors material flow, deducts material from inventories at deduct points, and credits material to inventory indicated by the deduct points when products produced by the manufacturing line flow through material backflush points defined in the manufacturing line.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A material flow design system, comprising a computer system executing a software program having software segments for:

determining a material requirements for a manufacturing line, the material requirements including at least one material required by the manufacturing line, the determining act comprising:
obtaining a bill-of-material for each product produced by the manufacturing line, the bill-of-material including at least one material required by the manufacturing line to produce the product;
adding each of the at least one material from the bill-of-material for each product to the material requirements;
and
wherein the manufacturing line includes at least one process, the material requirements includes materials requirements at each of the at least one process of the manufacturing line, and the material requirements further include an overall materials requirements for the manufacturing line;
determining whether each of the material included in the material requirements of the manufacturing line is purchased or manufactured in an independent production path;
if the material requirements are purchased, defining at least one replenishment material pull sequence for each of the at least one material of the material requirements, the replenishment material pull sequences including at least one point-of-usage associated with a process located on the manufacturing line, the defining act comprising:
determining at least one process that requires the material;
determining a point-of-usage re-supply to the at least one process;
and
determining whether any other point-of-usage re-supplies should be utilized to replenish the point-of-usage re-supply between the point-of-usage and an external raw inventory storage;
and
if the material requirements are purchased, sizing replenishment containers, the replenishment containers located at each of the at least one point-of-usage of the at least one replenishment material pull sequence, the sizing act comprising:
determining a replenishment time for each replenishment container, each point-of-usage in the replenishment material pull sequence includes a replenishment container and a replenishment signal;
determining a signal type for the replenishment signal, where the signal type is either a single card signal or a multiple card signal;
defining a signal card for the replenishment signal;
and
calculating the size of the container based on parameters that include the replenishment time, a demand at capacity for material at the point-of-usage, a package size for purchased material, and the signal type.

15 more elements

A material flow design system, comprising a computer system executing a software program having software segments for:

determining a material requirements for a manufacturing line, the material requirements including at least one material required by the manufacturing line, the determining act comprising:
obtaining a bill-of-material for each product produced by the manufacturing line, the bill-of-material including at least one material required by the manufacturing line to produce the product;
adding each of the at least one material from the bill-of-material for each product to the material requirements;
and
wherein the manufacturing line includes at least one process, the material requirements includes materials requirements at each of the at least one process of the manufacturing line, and the material requirements further include an overall materials requirements for the manufacturing line;
determining whether each of the material included in the material requirements of the manufacturing line is purchased or manufactured in an independent production path;
if the material requirements are manufactured in an independent production path, defining at least one replenishment material pull sequence for each of the at least one material of the material requirements, the replenishment material pull sequences including at least one point-of-usage associated with a process located on the manufacturing line, the defining act comprising:
determining at least one process that requires the material;
determining a point-of-usage re-supply to the at least one process;
and
determining whether any other point-of-usage re-supplies should be utilized to replenish the point-of-usage re-supply between the point-of-usage and an external raw inventory storage;
and
if the material requirements are manufactured in an independent production path, sizing replenishment containers, the replenishment containers located at each of the at least one point-of-usage of the at least one replenishment material pull sequence, the sizing act comprising:
calculating a run to replenishment amount for the independent production path;
calculating replenishment times;
calculating the material needed;
determining a signal type for the replenishment signal by calculating whether a single signal card or a multiple signal card system is used;
defining a signal card for the replenishment signal based on the signal type;
and
calculating a quantity of material required for each container, wherein each point-of-usage in the replenishment material pull sequence includes a container and a replenishment signal.

17 more elements

A method for designing a material flow system, comprising:

determining a material requirements for a manufacturing line, the material requirements including at least one material required by the manufacturing line, the determining act comprising:
obtaining a bill-of-material for each product produced by the manufacturing line, the bill-of-material including at least one material required by the manufacturing line to produce the product;
adding each of the at least one material from the bill-of-material for each product to the material requirements;
and
wherein the manufacturing line includes at least one process, the material requirements includes materials requirements at each of the at least one process of the manufacturing line, and the material requirements further include an overall materials requirements for the manufacturing line;
determining whether each of the material included in the material requirements of the manufacturing line is purchased or manufactured in an independent production path;
if the material requirements are purchased, defining at least one replenishment material pull sequence for each of the at least one material of the material requirements, the replenishment material pull sequences including at least one point-of-usage associated with a process located on the manufacturing line, the defining act comprising:
determining at least one process that requires the material;
determining a point-of-usage re-supply to the at least one process;
and
determining whether any other point-of-usage re-supplies should be utilized to replenish the point-of-usage re-supply between the point-of-usage and an external raw inventory storage;
and
if the material requirements are purchased, sizing replenishment containers, the replenishment containers located at each of the at least one point-of-usage of the at least one replenishment material pull sequence, the sizing act comprising:
determining a replenishment time for each replenishment container, each point-of-usage in the replenishment material pull sequence includes a replenishment container and a replenishment signal;
determining a signal type for the replenishment signal, where the signal type is either a single card signal or a multiple card signal;
defining a signal card for the replenishment signal;
and
calculating the size of the container based on parameters that include the replenishment time, a demand at capacity for material at the point-of-usage, a package size for purchased material, and the signal type.

15 more elements

A method for designing a material flow system, comprising:

determining a material requirements for a manufacturing line, the material requirements including at least one material required by the manufacturing line, the determining act comprising:
obtaining a bill-of-material for each product produced by the manufacturing line, the bill-of-material including at least one material required by the manufacturing line to produce the product;
adding each of the at least one material from the bill-of-material for each product to the material requirements;
and
wherein the manufacturing line includes at least one process, the material requirements includes materials requirements at each of the at least one process of the manufacturing line, and the material requirements further include an overall materials requirements for the manufacturing line;
determining whether each of the material included in the material requirements of the manufacturing line is purchased or manufactured in an independent production path;
if the material requirements are manufactured in an independent production path, defining at least one replenishment material pull sequence for each of the at least one material of the material requirements, the replenishment material pull sequences including at least one point-of-usage associated with a process located on the manufacturing line, the defining act comprising:
determining at least one process that requires the material;
determining a point-of-usage re-supply to the at least one process;
and
determining whether any other point-of-usage re-supplies should be utilized to replenish the point-of-usage re-supply between the point-of-usage and an external raw inventory storage;
and
if the material requirements are manufactured in an independent production path, sizing replenishment containers, the replenishment containers located at each of the at least one point-of-usage of the at least one replenishment material pull sequence, the sizing act comprising:
calculating a run to replenishment amount for the independent production path;
calculating replenishment times;
calculating the material needed;
determining a signal type for the replenishment signal by calculating whether a single signal card or a multiple signal card system is used;
defining a signal card for the replenishment signal based on the signal type;
and
calculating a quantity of material required for each container, wherein each point-of-usage in the replenishment material pull sequence includes a container and a replenishment signal.

17 more elements

A method in a material flow design system for controlling a material flow to a manufacturing line including at least one process, the method comprising:

(a) determining a material requirements for the manufacturing line, the material requirements including a material required by the manufacturing line to produce a product, the material being purchased from an external raw storage;
(b) defining a replenishment material pull sequence for the material purchased from the external raw storage, the replenishment material pull sequence including a point-of-usage associated with a process located on the manufacturing line, the defining act (b) comprising:
(i) determining the process that requires the material;
(ii) determining a first point-of-usage re-supply associated with the process;
and
(ii) determining whether any other point-of-usage re-supplies should be utilized to replenish the first point-of-usage re-supply between the point-of-usage and the external raw storage;
and
(c) sizing replenishment containers located at the point-of-usage of the replenishment material pull sequence.

5 more elements

A method in a material flow design system for controlling a material flow to a manufacturing line including at least one process, the method comprising:

(a) determining a material requirements for the manufacturing line, the material requirements including a material required by the manufacturing line to produce a product, the material being manufactured in an independent production path;
(b) defining a replenishment material pull sequence or the material purchased from the external raw storage, the replenishment material pull sequence including a point-of-usage associated with a process located on the manufacturing line and the point-of-usage including a replenishment signal;
and
(c) sizing replenishment containers located at the point-of-usage of the replenishment material pull sequence, the sizing act (c) comprising:
(i) determining a signal type for the replenishment signal wherein the signal type is determined to be either a single signal card system or multiple signal card system;
(ii) defining a signal card system for the replenishment signal based on the signal type;
and
(iii) calculating a quantity of the material required for each container.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/229,398Filed 11 Jan 1999
Granted: 15 Jul 2003
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

G05B 19/41865
Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible…:…
G06Q 10/087
Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management: inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling,…
G06Q 10/08726
Using inventory planning: for replenishment processing, procedures, or recommendations using forecasting or optimisation
G06Q 10/0877
Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders: by inventory control or reporting using inventory…