Patent ID: 7904352
Filing Date: 2011-03-08
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: entering input data using a computer, the input data including shipping frequency and at least one of item number, manufacturing cost, material demand, supplier site, transit time, and container cost, determining material management costs for a plurality of shipment options using a processor, and outputting using a computer a first set of material management data based on the input shipping frequency and a second set of material management data based on an optimized shipping frequency of full inbound containers, the second set of material management data including a first part that assumes the full inbound containers are sent to a first location and a portion of material in the full inbound containers subsequently is transferred to a second location, and a second part that assumes the full inbound containers are sent to the second location and a portion of material in the full inbound containers subsequently is transferred to the first location, and selecting one of at least two alternative a shipping methods based upon review of the first and second sets of material management data output by the computer, wherein the shipping method is selected by a user of the computer.