Patent ID: 11868962
Assignee: COUPANG CORP.
Field: IT methods for management (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 19:
20. A computer-implemented method inventory shuffling, the method being performed by at least one processor of a networked server executing stored instructions to perform steps comprising:
receiving information comprising data regarding a network of a plurality of fulfillment centers (FCs) in one format or protocol, the data comprising an inbound capacity and a total capacity of each FC;
converting the received information into another format or protocol;
based on the converted information, initializing a data structure comprising a plurality of nodes, the plurality of nodes corresponding to the plurality of FCs, wherein the number of nodes is equal to the number of FCs;
determining, based on a ratio of the inbound capacity and the total capacity, a utilization value for each FC;
receiving, for assignment to one or more FCs, a product identifier associated with a product, the identifier associated with a first quantity and a minimum order quantity, wherein the product identifiers are divided into one or more categories by:
receiving information associated with a plurality of product identifiers with highest demand forecast quantities to a first set of categories and;
assigning the remaining subsets of the product identifiers with the next highest demand forecast quantities to a second set of categories and;

performing a preliminary mapping of the first quantity to the plurality of FCs based on the associated minimum order quantity;
determining a category associated with the product identifier;
based on determining that the product identifier is associated with a first set of categories, rebalancing the preliminary mapping of the first quantity based on the utilization value associated with each FC, wherein rebalancing the preliminary mapping comprises:
evaluating a cost function for each FC; and
adjusting the data structure comprising the plurality of nodes to reassign the first quantity to the plurality of FCs based on the weighting factor associated with each of the plurality of FCs and the cost function for each FC;

receiving data associated with a second quantity to be delivered to the network of the plurality of FCs in one format or protocol;
converting the received data into another format or protocol; and
based on the converted data and the rebalanced preliminary mapping, causing a second quantity to be delivered to the network of the plurality of FCs.