SELECTIVE TRANSFER OF INVENTORY ON TEMPORARY BASIS

An embodiment for selectively transferring inventory on a temporary basis is provided. The embodiment may include receiving real-time and historical data relating to a plurality of products in a storage facility. The embodiment may also include identifying one or more high priority products during a selected timeframe. The embodiment may further include predicting a required amount of space in the storage facility to store the one or more high priority products. The embodiment may also include in response to determining the storage facility does not have the required amount of space, assigning a level of priority to each remaining product. The embodiment may further include identifying a transportation vehicle and a transit location of the transportation vehicle to temporarily store at least one first remaining product with a medium priority level. The embodiment may also include autonomously loading the transportation vehicle with the at least one first remaining product.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, and more particularly to a system for selectively transferring inventory on a temporary basis.

Warehouses, as well as showrooms and other retail spaces, store a variety of different types of products. Depending upon the time of year and the product type, some of these products may be more in demand than other products. The products that are in demand may therefore sell more quickly than products that are not in demand or that will not be in demand until the following season. For example, a long-sleeve jacket may not be in demand in July, but may be in demand in the autumn and winter months. The warehouses, showrooms, and/or other retail spaces may have different capacities as well as different locations in a geographical area. Based on the needs in the geographical area, the products may be transferred from one location to another.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a method, computer system, and computer program product for selectively transferring inventory on a temporary basis is provided. The embodiment may include receiving real-time and historical data relating to a plurality of products in a storage facility. The embodiment may also include identifying one or more high priority products in the plurality of products during a selected timeframe based on the real-time and the historical data. The embodiment may further include predicting a required amount of space in the storage facility to store the one or more high priority products based on an estimated sale rate of the one or more high priority products during the selected timeframe. The embodiment may also include in response to determining the storage facility does not have the required amount of space, assigning a level of priority to each remaining product in the plurality of products based on the historical data. At least one first remaining product is assigned a medium priority level and at least one second remaining product is assigned a low priority level. The embodiment may further include identifying a transportation vehicle and a transit location of the transportation vehicle to temporarily store the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level. The embodiment may also include autonomously loading the transportation vehicle with the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of computing, and more particularly to a system for selectively transferring inventory on a temporary basis. The following described exemplary embodiments provide a system, method, and program product to, among other things, identify a transportation vehicle and a location of the transportation vehicle to temporarily store at least one product with a medium priority level and, accordingly, autonomously load the transportation vehicle with the at least one product with the medium priority level. Therefore, the present embodiment has the capacity to improve industrial technology by dynamically creating the required space for high-priority products in a storage facility and returning lower priority products back to the storage facility in an autonomous manner.

As previously described, warehouses, as well as showrooms and other retail spaces, store a variety of different types of products. Depending upon the time of year and the product type, some of these products may be more in demand than other products. The products that are in demand may therefore sell more quickly than products that are not in demand or that will not be in demand until the following season. For example, a long-sleeve jacket may not be in demand in July, but may be in demand in the autumn and winter months. The warehouses, showrooms, and/or other retail spaces may have different capacities as well as different locations in a geographical area. Based on the needs in the geographical area, the products may be transferred from one location to another. The warehouse and/or other retail spaces may not have sufficient space to store every product in inventory. This problem is typically addressed by discounting those products that are in less demand. However, discounting those products that are in less demand has no guarantee that these products will sell and fails to proactively remove these products as inventory.

It may therefore be imperative to have a system in place to proactively remove selective lower priority products from the warehouse and/or other retail spaces such that the required space can be created for higher priority products. Thus, embodiments of the present invention may provide advantages including, but not limited to, dynamically creating the required space for high-priority products in a storage facility, quickly returning lower priority products back to the storage facility in an autonomous manner after a selected timeframe, and booking an appropriate transportation vehicle. The present invention does not require that all advantages need to be incorporated into every embodiment of the invention.

According to at least one embodiment, when moving products in a storage facility, real-time and historical data relating to a plurality of products in the storage facility may be received in order to identify one or more high priority products in the plurality of products during a selected timeframe based on the real-time and the historical data. Upon identifying the one or more high priority products, a required amount of space in the storage facility to store the one or more priority products may be predicted based on an estimated sale rate of the one or more high priority products during the selected timeframe so that it may be determined whether the storage facility has the required amount of space. In response to determining the storage facility does not have the required amount of space, a level of priority may be assigned to each remaining product in the plurality of products based on the historical data, where at least one first remaining product may be assigned a medium priority level and at least one second remaining product may be assigned a low priority level. Then, a transportation vehicle and a transit location of the transportation vehicle to temporarily store the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level may be identified such that the transportation vehicle may be autonomously loaded with the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level. According to at least one embodiment, the identified transit location may be a parking lot. According to at least one other embodiment, the identified transit location may be a parking garage. According to at least one further embodiment, the identified transit location may be a curbside parking space on a street. Upon autonomously loading the transportation vehicle, a return-back timeframe for the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level may be estimated in order to automatically deploy the transportation vehicle to the identified transit location based on the return-back time frame. Once the return-back timeframe is estimated, the transportation vehicle may be autonomously unloaded and the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level may be moved back to the storage facility after the selected timeframe ends.

The following described exemplary embodiments provide a system, method, and program product to identify a transportation vehicle and a location of the transportation vehicle to temporarily store at least one product with a medium priority level and, accordingly, autonomously load the transportation vehicle with the at least one product with the medium priority level.

According to the present embodiment, the inventory transfer program150may be a program capable of receiving real-time and historical data relating to a plurality of products in a storage facility, identifying a transportation vehicle and a location of the transportation vehicle to temporarily store at least one product with a medium priority level, autonomously loading the transportation vehicle with the at least one product with the medium priority level, dynamically creating the required space for high-priority products in the storage facility, quickly returning lower priority products back to the storage facility in an autonomous manner after a selected timeframe, and booking an appropriate transportation vehicle. Furthermore, notwithstanding depiction in computer101, the accident visualization program150may be stored in and/or executed by, individually or in any combination, end user device103, remote server104, public cloud105, and private cloud106. The inventory transfer method is explained in further detail below with respect toFIGS.2A and2B. It may be appreciated that the examples described below are not intended to be limiting, and that in embodiments of the present invention the parameters used in the examples may be different.

Referring now toFIGS.2A and2B, an operational flowchart for selectively transferring inventory on a temporary basis in a selective inventory transfer process200is depicted according to at least one embodiment. At202, the inventory transfer program150receives the real-time and historical data relating to the plurality of products in the storage facility. Examples of the storage facility may include, but are not limited to, a warehouse, a showroom, and/or any other retail space. Examples of the plurality of products may include, but are not limited to, food items, clothing, and/or consumer devices (e.g., smartphones and kitchen appliances).

The real-time data relating to the plurality of products may include customer demands within a geographical location as influenced by season, upcoming sales, and/or local events (e.g., skiing and hiking). The real-time data may also include present inventory outbound flow rate within a sliding time window. For example, a winter jacket may sell at a rate of two jackets per hour from November 15ththrough December 15th. The real-time data may be received from the internet and/or the remote database130via the network module115. For example, time data may be used by the inventory transfer program150to infer the season. Continuing the example, November 15thmay be indicative that the season is fall. Similarly, any upcoming sales and local events may be stored in the remote database130and/or this information may be obtained from a website.

The historical data relating to the plurality of products may include historical sales during prior seasons, prior discounted sales, as well as a rate of selling during prior local events. The historical data may also include the rate of sale of each product during a prior sliding time window. In embodiments of the present invention, the real-time data becomes the historical data after a pre-defined period of time. For example, the pre-defined period of time may be one year or more from the present date. The historical data may be contained in a knowledge corpus, which may be accessed by the inventory transfer program150as described above.

Then, at204, the inventory transfer program150identifies the one or more high priority products in the plurality of products during the selected timeframe. The one or more high priority products are identified based on the real-time and the historical data. As used herein, a “high priority product” is an in-demand product for which room is to be made in the storage facility during the selected timeframe. The selected timeframe may be a time in the future and may be chosen by a user, such as a store manager or a warehouse manager, or derived by a timeframe module, described in further detail below with respect to the description ofFIG.3. For example, when the present date is November 20th, the selected timeframe may be the entire winter season (e.g., December 21stthrough March 21st). Thus, the one or more high priority products may be those products which sell more quickly relative to other products. Continuing the example described above where the winter jacket may sell at a rate of two jackets per hour from November 15ththrough December 15th, the winter jacket may be identified as a high priority product.

Also, as described above with respect to step202, a planned discounted sale in the price of the product during the selected timeframe may result in the identification of the product as a high priority product. For example, where the selected timeframe is December 21stthrough March 21st, the inventory transfer program150may access the historical data stored in the knowledge corpus to identify prior discounted sales during that time period in the past (e.g., December 21stthrough March 21stof the previous year). Continuing the example, when the historical data of prior discounted sales indicates the prior discounted sale was a success (e.g., selling the target number of products), the product may be identified as a high priority product. Furthermore, as described above with respect to step202, a local event during the selected timeframe may result in the identification of the product as a high priority product. For example, where the selected timeframe is December 21stthrough March 21st, the inventory transfer program150may access the historical data stored in the knowledge corpus to identify the rate of selling during prior local events. Continuing the example, when the historical data of the rate of selling during prior local events indicates an uptick in the rate of selling of the product, then when the same local event is scheduled in the future the product may be identified as a high priority product.

Next, at206, the inventory transfer program150predicts the required amount of space in the storage facility to store the one or more high priority products. The required amount of space is identified based on the estimated sale rate of the one or more high priority products during the selected timeframe. As described above with respect to step204, the estimated sale rate may be predicted from the real-time and the historical data. For example, where the real-time data indicates the winter jacket sells at a rate of two jackets per hour from November 15ththrough December 15th, and when the historical data indicates this rate is expected to continue during the selected time period (e.g., December 21stthrough March 21st), the required amount of space may be enough space to store the total number of the high priority product expected to sell during the business day. Continuing the example, where the business hours of the storage facility is 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (i.e., 8 hours), then when the rate is two jackets per hour, the storage facility should have enough space to sell 8*2=16 jackets. It may be appreciated that in embodiments of the present invention where the storage facility is the warehouse (i.e., a location that does not directly sell products), the required amount of space for the warehouse may be enough space to store the high priority products that are to be moved to the retail location.

In another example, in addition to the jackets, a kitchen appliance (e.g., a mixer) may also be identified as a high priority product during the selected timeframe (e.g., December 21stthrough March 21st). Continuing the example, where the estimated sale rate of the mixer is three mixers per hour, and where the business hours of the storage facility is 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (i.e., 8 hours), then the storage facility should have enough space to sell the16jackets and 8*3=24 mixers. Thus, in embodiments of the present invention, more space may be required for one high priority product than is required for another high priority product.

Then, at208, the inventory transfer program150determines whether the storage facility has the required amount of space. The determination may be made based on the maximum product storage capacity of the storage facility. The inventory transfer program150may access an inventory database, such as the remote database130, to identify the total number of products currently occupying the storage facility and the types of these products. Continuing the example described above where the storage facility should have enough space to sell the 16 jackets and 24 mixers, then the required amount of space may be 24+16=40 high priority products. When the maximum capacity is, for example, 100 total products, and when 70 other products are currently occupying the storage facility, the storage facility may not have the required amount of space. In another example, the required amount of space may be 40 high priority products. Continuing the example, when the maximum capacity is also 100 total products, and when 60 other products are currently occupying the storage facility, the storage facility may have the required amount of space.

In response to determining the storage facility does not have the required amount of space (step208, “No” branch), the selective inventory transfer process200proceeds to step210to assign the level of priority to each remaining product in the plurality of products. In response to determining the storage facility does have the required amount of space (step208, “Yes” branch), the selective inventory transfer process200ends.

Next, at210, the inventory transfer program150assigns the level of priority to each remaining product in the plurality of products. The level of priority is assigned during the selected timeframe based on the historical data. According to at least one embodiment, at least one first remaining product is assigned a medium priority level and at least one second remaining product is assigned a low priority level. As used herein, a “medium priority product” is a product which is to be moved to the transportation vehicle during the selected timeframe, described in further detail below with respect to steps212and214. Also, as used herein, a “low priority product” is a product which is to be sold at a discount and that may not be moved to the transportation vehicle during the selected timeframe.

The at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level may be a product that is expected to earn high priority status immediately after the selected timeframe ends. For example, a windbreaker may not be a high priority product during the selected timeframe (e.g., December 21stthrough March 21st), but the historical data may indicate that the windbreaker may become a high priority product in the spring months (e.g., March 22ndthrough June 22nd).

The at least one second remaining product with the low priority level may be a product that is not expected to earn high priority status immediately after the selected timeframe ends. For example, a short sleeve shirt may not be a high priority product during the selected timeframe (e.g., December 21stthrough March 21st), and the historical data may indicate that the short sleeve shirt may not become a high priority product until the summer months (e.g., June 22ndthough September 22nd). Thus, rather than moving the at least one second remaining product with the low priority level to the transportation vehicle, the inventory transfer program150may recommend selling the low priority product at a discounted price to move (and therefore clear space in the storage facility) the low priority product.

According to at least one embodiment, the assignment of the level of priority may be performed by conducting a cost-benefit analysis between selling the remaining product at a discounted price and temporarily storing the remining product in the transportation vehicle. The inventory transfer program150may consider certain transportation vehicle parameters, including but not limited to, the cost of loading and unloading the transportation vehicle, the cost of parking and renting the transportation vehicle, and the cost of deploying the transportation vehicle (e.g., fuel cost) in the cost-benefit analysis. When the cost-benefit analysis indicates that selling the remaining product at the discounted price would be more profitable than temporarily storing the remaining product in the transportation vehicle, the inventory transfer program150may assign that remaining product with a low priority level.

According to at least one other embodiment, the assignment of the level of priority may be performed by considering the location of the storage facility and the location where each of the remaining products are to be stored. For example, when the storage facility and transportation vehicle are located in a perpetually hot geographical area, and where the remaining product is a perishable item, that remaining product may be assigned a low priority level. Similarly, when the storage facility is located in a geographical area with bumpy roadways, then when the remaining product is a fragile item, that remaining product may be assigned a low priority level. In this embodiment, the location of the storage facility along with the location where each of the remaining products are to be stored, the cost-benefit analysis data, and the estimated rate of sale data may be represented in accordance with a particular data structure, such as a 3-dimensional matrix.

Then, at212, the inventory transfer program150identifies the transportation vehicle and the transit location of the transportation vehicle to temporarily store the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level. The transportation vehicle may be identified based on the size of the at least one first remaining product and the cost of booking the transportation vehicle. For example, a transportation vehicle required for a washing machine and/or a refrigerator may be larger than a transportation vehicle for articles of clothing. In another example, when the size of the at least one first remaining product permits, a van may be cheaper to book than a truck. According to at least one embodiment, the transportation vehicle may be an autonomous vehicle, described in further detail below with respect to step218. According to at least one other embodiment, the transportation vehicle may be a manually driven vehicle.

The transit location may be identified in accordance with the local parking regulations in the geographical area and the cost of parking. Examples of the transit location include, but are not limited to, a parking lot, a parking garage, and a curbside parking space on a roadway (i.e., street parking). For example, trucks of a certain size may be prohibited from parking on certain roadways and/or in certain parking lots and garages. In another example, when the size of the at least one first remaining product permits, a van may be cheaper to park at the transit location than a truck. According to at least one embodiment, the transit location may be identified based on the return-back timeframe, described in further detail below with respect to step216.

Next, at214, the inventory transfer program150autonomously loads the transportation vehicle with the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level. Once the appropriate transportation vehicle is identified, the inventory transfer program150may automatically book the transportation vehicle. For example, the transportation vehicle may be booked online with the organization renting the transportation vehicle. According to at least one embodiment, a robotic device may autonomously load the transportation vehicle with the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level. According to at least one other embodiment, a drone may autonomously load the transportation vehicle with the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level. For example, the robotic device may be used to autonomously load the transportation vehicle when the at least one first remaining product is too heavy to be transported by the drone. Continuing the example, the robotic device may be used to load a refrigerator, and the drone may be used to load an article of clothing, such as a winter jacket. In either embodiment, the autonomous loading of the transportation vehicle may create the required amount of space in the storage facility, described above with respect to step206.

Then, at216, the inventory transfer program150estimates the return-back timeframe for the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level to be returned to the storage facility. The return-back timeframe may be a period of time immediately after the selected timeframe when the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level is expected to earn high priority status. For example, a windbreaker may not be a high priority product during the selected timeframe (e.g., December 21stthrough March 21st), but the historical data may indicate that the windbreaker may become a high priority product in the spring months (e.g., March 22ndthrough June 22nd). In this example, the return-back timeframe may be the period beginning March 22nd.

According to at least one embodiment, the transit location may be identified based on the return-back timeframe. In particular, a distance between the transit location of the transportation vehicle and the storage facility may be directly proportional to the length of the return-back timeframe. A longer return-back timeframe may result in a greater distance between the transit location of the transportation vehicle and the storage facility. For example, when the return-back timeframe for a short sleeve shirt is two months from the present date, and when the return-back timeframe for a refrigerator is four months from the present date, multiple transportation vehicles may be used, where the transportation vehicle containing the refrigerator is parked at a transit location farther from the storage facility than the transportation vehicle containing the short sleeve shirt.

Next, at218, the inventory transfer program150automatically deploys the transportation vehicle to the identified transit location. The transportation vehicle is automatically deployed based on the return-back timeframe, as described above with respect to step216.

As described above with respect to step212, the transportation vehicle may be an autonomous vehicle. In such instance, the inventory transfer program150may send a signal to the autonomous vehicle to cause the autonomous vehicle to drive to the identified transit location. For example, where the identified transit location is a parking lot four miles away from the storage facility, the autonomous vehicle may drive to the parking lot four miles away from the storage facility.

According to at least one embodiment, while the transportation vehicle containing the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level is parked at the identified transit location, the at least one first remaining product may be sold as inventory (i.e., the transportation vehicle may be used as a mobile marketplace). The at least one first remaining product may be sold as inventory in the mobile marketplace in response to determining there is consumer demand at the identified transit location based on the real-time and the historical data. For example, the real-time data may indicate that there is a fair taking place in a park adjacent to the identified transit location, and the historical data may indicate that a prior mobile marketplace sale near the fair was successful in the past. In this example, the inventory transfer program150may determine that there is consumer demand at the identified transit location.

Then, at220, the inventory transfer program150autonomously unloads the transportation vehicle and moves the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level back to the storage facility after the selected timeframe ends. Once the one or more high priority products are sold and the selected timeframe ends, inventory transfer program150may send a signal to the autonomous vehicle to cause the autonomous vehicle to drive back to the storage facility. Similar to the autonomous loading of the transportation vehicle described above with respect to step214, the robotic device or the drone may autonomously unload the at least one first remaining product from the transportation vehicle and move the at least one first remaining product back into the storage facility.

Referring now toFIG.3, a diagram300depicting an interaction between solution components of the process inFIGS.2A and2Bis shown according to at least one embodiment. In the diagram300, the storage facility302is used to store the one or more high priority products during the selected timeframe and the transportation vehicle304is used to store the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level. A prediction module306may predict the one or more high priority products and may comprise a timeframe module308. The timeframe module308may estimate the timeframe of the one or more high priority products. For example, the timeframe module308may estimate the timeframe to be from September 22ndthrough December 22nd. The prediction module306may also comprise a priority module310, which may predict the at least one first remaining product with the medium priority level and the at least one second remaining product with the low priority level. A space identification module312may predict the required amount of space in the storage facility302to store the one or more high priority products. For example, the space identification module312may estimate the storage facility302should have enough space for 100 high priority products. Finally, an inventory transfer module314may be used to autonomously transfer the at least one first remaining product between the storage facility302and the transportation vehicle304.

It may be appreciated thatFIGS.2A,2B, and3provide only an illustration of one implementation and do not imply any limitations with regard to how different embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made based on design and implementation requirements.