US 7,379,905 B2 · Automated data warehouse for demand fulfillment system

Abstract

An automated data warehouse for a demand fulfillment system to provide current supply and demand for generating a work schedule and a material delivery schedule for manufacturing items built to customer order. The automated data warehouse includes outstanding customer orders for items as an accurate measure of current demand, and a current state of an available inventory of material for producing the items as an accurate measure of current supply. The automated data warehouse includes a continuously updated location of a quantity of material from the time the material is accepted into available inventory, during movements from one material source to another, throughout work-in-progress, until the time that the material is consumed. A work schedule and a material delivery schedule are generated periodically to keep up with consumption of materials and fulfillment of customer orders using the automated data warehouse as the source of current supply and demand.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method for scheduling work and delivery of material for mass-producing items in a factory comprising:

obtaining at least one outstanding customer order, wherein each outstanding customer of the at least one outstanding customer order includes an item ordered by a customer, and producing the item requires a required quantity of a required material;
determining a current state of an available inventory of at least one material from a plurality of material sources;
and
periodically generating a work schedule and a material delivery schedule on a tangible medium for producing the item using the at least one outstanding customer order and the current state of the available inventory, wherein
the periodically generating occurs at fixed time intervals;
the periodically generating occurs more than once during a manufacturing shift;
the determining the current state of the available inventory is performed such that the determining the current state of the available inventory is completed immediately prior to the generating the work schedule and the material delivery schedule;
and
the obtaining the at least one outstanding customer order is performed such that the obtaining the customer order is completed immediately prior to the generating the work schedule and the material delivery schedule.

6 more elements

A method for scheduling work and delivery of material for mass-producing information handling systems in a factory comprising:

obtaining a plurality of customer orders, each customer order of the plurality of customer orders including an ordered information handling system, each customer order specifying components for the a corresponding ordered information handling system, producing the information handling system ordered by the customer requiring a plurality of components, and at least one of the plurality of components varying from one ordered information handling system and another ordered information handling system based upon components specified by the customer order;
determining a current state of an available inventory of at least one component from a plurality of component sources;
and
periodically generating a work schedule and a material delivery schedule on a tangile medium for producing the ordered information handling system using the customer order and the current state of the available inventory, wherein
the determining the current state of the available inventory is performed such that the determining the current state of the available inventory is completed immediately prior to the generating the work schedule and the material delivery schedule;
and
the obtaining each of the plurality of customer orders is performed such that the obtaining the plurality of customer orders is completed immediately prior to the generating the work schedule and the material delivery schedule.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Automated data warehouse for demand fulfillment system

Life of this patent

Automated data warehouse for demand fulfillment system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24