Patent ID: 7818220
Filing Date: 2010-10-19
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A collaborative inventory management method for managing material inventory sourced by a customer from a plurality of suppliers, comprising: a. designating at least one supplier as a steady supplier to the customer; b. designating at least one second supplier as a lead supplier to the customer; c. allocating a supply split between the steady supplier and the lead supplier for supplying material to customer over a period of time; d. providing customer inventory level data collected by use of inventory data processing equipment and usage forecast data collected by use of usage forecast data processing equipment from the customer to the lead supplier; e. providing a customer shipment schedule by use of readable shipment schedule generation equipment to the steady supplier; f. providing an order create and ship notice from the steady supplier to the customer; g. transforming the order create and ship notice to contain selective quantity and date of shipment data through use of data processing equipment; h. sending selective quantity and date of shipment data to the lead supplier through use of data transmission equipment; and i. planning by the lead supplier of shipments to manage inventory level data responsive to actual usage by the customer and shipment of material from the steady supplier to customer and in accordance with the supply split.