Patent ID: 6167320
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
A system for the control of the production of a product, comprising:a primary computer, said primary computer accepting the following inputs: a list of activities in said production, interdependencies of the time sequence of said activities, time duration estimates of said activities, and a desired completion date of said production, said primary computer calculating a baseline schedule date for the start of each said activity, said baseline schedule date for the start of each activity being calculated by subtracting the duration of said activity from the baseline schedule date for the start of the following activity, said desired completion date being the last baseline schedule date, said primary computer storing said baseline schedule dates, said primary computer communicating a baseline schedule date to a secondary computer,said secondary computer accepting the following inputs: designations of external elements required to start an activity and an availability date for each of said external elements, said secondary computer calculating a variance value for each of said external elements, said variance value being equal to the amount of lateness of said availability date with respect to said baseline schedule date for said activity, and said secondary computer identifying the external element having the largest variance value for said activity, said secondary computer communicating the largest external element variance value for said activity to said primary computer,means for communicating between said primary computer and said secondary computer,said primary computer transmitting to said secondary computer an activity variance goal for said activity.