Patent ID: 6049742
Filing Date: 2000-04-11
Classification: G06Q,Y02P

Abstract:
A computer-implemented decision-support method to generate a projected supply planning (PSP) or estimated supply planning (ESP) match between existing assets and demands within boundaries established by manufacturing specifications and process flows and business policies using manufacturing specification and calendar information accessed by material requirements planning (MRP) matching tools to ensure synchronization between these matching tools to determine what supply can be provided over what time-frame, the method comprising the steps of:selecting user provided part numbers of interest and modifying a user provided production specification information to reflect this selection;specifying substitution rules, wherein the substitution rules allow one part to be substituted for another part;specifying a start date and shutdown dates;optionally allowing a user to modify any due dates for projected receipts;specifying a ""from/to"" split of allocation fractions to reflect business plans, and to allow the projection of assets across multiple bills of material levels;selectively inputting new starts for an individual date and dates propagated across a span of dates;executing a forward-flush solver to generate a projected or estimated supply plan;aggregating the supply plan and required starts into user-defined time buckets;creating and analyzing explanation reports of the solution generated by the forward flush solver; andcomparing the supply plan with the required demands to assess a ""fitness"" of the plan relative to meeting demand.