Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7856371?dq=3657699
Timestamp: 2016-07-30 19:33:38
Document Index: 772998490

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'art 28', 'arts 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'arts 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'art 28', 'arts 28']

Patent US7856371 - Pull planning for unserviceable parts in connection with on-demand repair ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsIn one embodiment, planning repairs in response to demand in a multi-level repair network includes accessing a forecasted demand for serviceable parts at a repair location and, for each inspected unserviceable part at the location that is not repairable at the location: (1) planning a move of the part...http://www.google.com/patents/US7856371?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7856371 - Pull planning for unserviceable parts in connection with on-demand repair planningAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7856371 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 12/186,904Publication dateDec 21, 2010Filing dateAug 6, 2008Priority dateOct 22, 2003Fee statusPaidAlso published asDE102004051589A1, US7711593, US20050091070, US20080294381Publication number12186904, 186904, US 7856371 B2, US 7856371B2, US-B2-7856371, US7856371 B2, US7856371B2InventorsAmol B. Adgaonkar, Deepak Rammohan, Thomas Burkhardt, Nikhil T. JainOriginal AssigneeI2 Technologies Us, Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (19), Non-Patent Citations (21), Classifications (12), Legal Events (9) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetPull planning for unserviceable parts in connection with on-demand repair planning
US 7856371 B2Abstract
In one embodiment, planning repairs in response to demand in a multi-level repair network includes accessing a forecasted demand for serviceable parts at a repair location and, for each inspected unserviceable part at the location that is not repairable at the location: (1) planning a move of the part to an upstream repair location such that the part can be available for repair at the upstream location at an estimated earliest time; (2) estimating a latest time at which a repair of the part can begin at the upstream location to help satisfy the forecasted demand, according to the forecasted demand and the estimated earliest time, and planning a repair at the upstream location at the estimated latest time; and (3) re-planning the move, according to the start time of the repair, by modifying a move delivery time according to a repair start time and modifying a move start time according to the modified delivery time. The re-planned move start time is an estimated latest time at which the part can be moved to the upstream location for repair to help satisfy the forecasted demand.
1. A computer-implemented method for planning repairs in response to demand in a multi-level repair network, each level within the repair network comprising one or more repair locations for repairing unserviceable parts, the method comprising:
accessing, by a computer, a forecasted demand for a specified quantity of serviceable parts at a specified future time at a repair location;
estimating, by the computer, an earliest time that a repair operation is available to begin for the part at an upstream repair location; and
planning, by the computer, a move order for moving the part between the repair location and the upstream repair location such that the part is available for repair at the upstream repair location at the estimated earliest time, the move order having a start time and a delivery time;
according to the forecasted demand and the earliest time estimated in the first phase, estimating, by the computer, a latest time that a repair operation is available to begin with respect to the part at the upstream repair location in order to help satisfy the forecasted demand at the repair location; and
planning, by the computer, a repair order for the part at the upstream repair location at the estimated latest time, the repair order having a start time;
according to the start time of the repair order planned in the second phase, re-planning, by the computer, the move order by modifying the delivery time of the move order according to the start time of the repair order and modifying the start time of the move order according to the modified delivery time of the move order;
the start time of the re-planned move order being an estimated latest time that the part is available to be moved from the repair location to the upstream repair location for repair in order to help satisfy the forecasted demand at the repair location.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein a repair lead time associated with a repair operation is specified for each part for each repair location and comprises one or more full days.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein a part is available to help satisfy the forecasted demand when the part is at the repair location in a serviceable state at the specified time of the forecasted demand or earlier.
in the first phase, for any of the one or more inspected unserviceable parts at the repair location that are not repairable at the repair location and that are not repairable at the upstream repair location in the second level:
estimating the earliest time that a repair operation is available to begin for the part at an upstream repair location in a third level of the repair network; and
planning a second move order for moving the part between the upstream repair location in the second level and the upstream repair location in the third level such that the part is available for repair at the upstream repair location in the third level at the estimated earliest time, the second move order having a start time and a delivery time;
according to the forecasted demand and the earliest time estimated in the first phase for the upstream repair location in the third level, estimating a latest time that a repair operation is available to begin with respect to the part at the upstream repair location in the third level in order to help satisfy the forecasted demand at the repair location; and
the start time of the re-planned second move order being an estimated latest time that the part is available to be moved from the upstream repair location in the second level to the upstream repair location in the third level for repair in order to help satisfy the forecasted demand at the repair location.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first, second, and third phases are performed for each repair location in each level of the repair network, the first, second, and third phases being performed for each inspected unserviceable part at each such repair location that is not repairable at that repair location.
15. A non-transitory computer readable medium for planning repairs in response to demand in a multi-level repair network, each level within the repair network comprising one or more repair locations for repairing unserviceable parts, the computer readable medium having instructions stored therein that when executed by a computer are configured to:
estimate, an earliest time that a repair operation is available to begin for the part at an upstream repair location; and
plan a move order for moving the part between the repair location and the upstream repair location such that the part is available for repair at the upstream repair location at the estimated earliest time, the move order having a start time and a delivery time;
according to the forecasted demand and the earliest time estimated in the first phase, estimate a latest time that a repair operation is available to begin with respect to the part at the upstream repair location in order to help satisfy the forecasted demand at the repair location; and
17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein a repair lead time associated with a repair operation is specified for each part for each repair location and comprises one or more full days.
18. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the move order specifies a Bill of Distribution (BOD) and the move lead time associated with the move order comprises one or more full days.
19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the repair order and associated re-planned move order are planned on a just-in-time basis.
20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the repair order and associated re-planned move order are planned on an on-demand basis, the forecasted demand acting as a demand for generating the repair order and the repair order acting as a demand for generating the associated re-planned move order.
21. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein a part is available to help satisfy the forecasted demand when the part is at the repair location in a serviceable state at the specified time of the forecasted demand or earlier.
22. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to automatically approve planned repair orders and move orders satisfying one or more predefined constraints.
23. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first, second, and third phases are performed for each of a plurality of times within a planning horizon for each of the one or more inspected unserviceable parts at the repair location that are not repairable at the repair location.
24. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first, second, and third phases are performed for each of a plurality of repair locations in a level of the repair network, the first, second, and third phases being performed for each inspected unserviceable parts at each such repair location that is not repairable at that repair location.
25. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the repair location is in a first level of the repair network and the upstream repair location is in a second level of the repair network, the instructions are further configured to:
estimate the earliest time that a repair operation is available to begin for the part at an upstream repair location in a third level of the repair network; and
plan a second move order for moving the part between the upstream repair location in the second level and the upstream repair location in the third level such that the part is available for repair at the upstream repair location in the third level at the estimated earliest time, the second move order having a start time and a delivery time;
according to the forecasted demand and the earliest time estimated in the first phase for the upstream repair location in the third level, estimate a latest time that a repair operation is available to begin with respect to the part at the upstream repair location in the third level in order to help satisfy the forecasted demand at the repair location; and
27. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the first, second, and third phases are performed for each repair location in each level of the repair network, the first, second, and third phases being performed for each inspected unserviceable part at each such repair location that is not repairable at that repair location.
28. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising a replenishment planning engine of a service parts planning system.
This is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/691,320 filed on 22 Oct. 2003 entitled “Pull Planning for Unserviceable Parts in Connection with On-Demand Repair Planning,” now U.S. Pat. No. 7,711,593. U.S. Pat. No. 7,711,593 is commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application. The disclosure of related U.S. Pat. No. 7,711,593 is hereby incorporated by reference into the present disclosure as if fully set forth herein.
In particular embodiments, the present invention allows unserviceable parts to be moved and repaired in an “on-demand” or “just-in-time” manner, these decisions being made for each of a number of time periods in a planning horizon, each unserviceable part being moved and repaired only when needed to satisfy a demand and as late in time as is possible to satisfy the demand. In particular embodiments, the generation of planned move and repair orders may help integrate planning with execution. In particular embodiments, the present invention may minimize the undesirable costs associated with broken or otherwise unusable parts, thereby improving the cost-efficiency of the supply chain and increasing overall profitability. For example, in particular embodiments, it may be desirable to move and repair an unserviceable part as late in time as possible in order to delay commitment of scarce capital or other resources to the move and repair processes and to make these capital and other resources available for other business activities. As a more particular example, delaying moves and repairs may help prevent adding value to unserviceable parts through repair only to have the repaired parts “sit on the shelf” due to a lack of demand. As another more particular example, delaying moves and repairs may help minimize losses where the repaired parts are likely to suffer attrition due to shelf-life constraints or obsolescence.
System 10 may also include a replenishment planning engine 16 that generates replenishment plans for service parts, based on demand forecasts obtained from forecasting engine 12, regarding the number of parts that must be repaired through an associated repair network, moved from one location to another location in the repair network, or purchased from a vendor in order to meet the forecasted demand. Replenishment plans are generated for each of a number of service parts throughout the replenishment planning horizon. For example, replenishment planning engine 16 may generate a new replenishment plan for a particular part one or more times each day for a specified time period in the future. Each replenishment plan may specify some combination of repair orders that initiate repair processes, move orders that initiate move processes, and purchase orders that initiate purchase processes. According to the present invention, a replenishment plan may be derived according to on-demand repair planning executed at replenishment planning engine 16. As used herein, the phrase “on-demand” may in particular embodiments be, but need not necessarily be, considered to mean “just-in-time” in the sense that repair orders are planned such that parts are repaired at the latest possible time to satisfy demand.
In operation of logic 20, unserviceable parts 28 flow into an Uninspected buffer 30 a of first repair location 22 a. In one embodiment, the buffer profile for an Uninspected buffer 30 may be a determined, for a specified time, according to: (1) incoming inventory including parts 28 within Uninspected buffer 30 (i.e. on hand) at the time, parts 28 in transit or otherwise approved for shipment from one or more downstream repair locations 22 (e.g., reflected in approved move orders) and in an uninspected state at the time, actual demand for parts 28 (e.g., reflected in confirmed repair return requests) at the time, and forecasted demand for parts 28 (e.g., reflected in netted repair return forecasts) at the time; and (2) outgoing inventory including parts 28 approved for inspection at the time. Because parts 28 arrive at first repair location 22 a in an uninspected state, each part 28 in Uninspected buffer 30 a must be inspected according to an Inspection operation and assigned an appropriate condition state. Each Inspection operation may involve one or more received parts 28. In one embodiment, each part 28 may be assigned one of the following condition states: (1) RTS (“Repairable at This Station”), meaning that part 28 is repairable at first repair location 22 a; (2) NRTS (“Not Repairable at This Station”), meaning that part 28 is not repairable at first repair location 22 a; (3) COND (“Condemnable”), meaning that part 28 is not repairable at any repair location 22 and must be discarded; or (4) USE (“Use As Is”), meaning that part 28 was erroneously reported as unserviceable, does not need to be repaired, and may be put to service in its current condition. The RTS, NRTS, COND, and USE terms are used identically throughout the remainder of this document (e.g., USE stands for “Use As Is” in each case). The time required for the Inspection operation may be referred to as the disposition time and may, where appropriate, be represented as a fixed number of days. For example, if incoming inventory arrives at time t=O, then with a one day disposition time that inventory would not be available for any other operation until time t=1.
Where the demand forecasts obtained from forecasting engine 12 represent forecasted returns of unserviceable parts 28, replenishment planning engine 16 may use the forecasted demand directly in its repair planning operations. However, where the demand forecasts obtained from forecasting engine 12 represent forecasted demand for serviceable parts 28, it may not be reasonable in certain cases to equate the received forecasted demand with forecasted demand for unserviceable parts 28. For example, a certain percentage of parts needing replacement may have exploded, may have been lost at the location of failure, or may otherwise be unavailable for repair within the repair network, yet the demand for serviceable replacements for these parts remains present. Accordingly, replenishment planning engine 16 may apply a yield rate to a forecasted demand for serviceable parts 28 obtained from forecasting engine 12 in order to generate a forecasted demand for unserviceable parts 28 that replenishment planning engine 16 may use in its repair planning operations. For example, given a forecasted demand for serviceable parts 28 and a yield rate, a demand for unserviceable parts 28 may be forecasted (e.g., Serviceable_Forecast*Yield_Rate=Unserviceable_Forecast). Unless otherwise specified, reference to a “demand forecast” is meant to include either forecasted returns of unserviceable parts 28 or forecasted demand for serviceable parts 28 according to particular needs.
At step 102, replenishment planning engine 16 performs a pull planning phase for serviceable parts 28. In one embodiment, replenishment planning engine 16 generates on-demand or just-in-time operation plans for RTS operation 34, USE operation 46, and Sourcing operation 56 at each repair location 22 based on demand forecasts for each repair location 22 obtained from forecasting engine 12. In doing this, replenishment planning engine 16 may, for each unserviceable part 28 at each repair location 22, use information determined at step 100—the estimated earliest time at which a Repair operation 48 can begin for part 28 at that or another repair location 22 (which is a constraint on the earliest time at which, after part 28 has been repaired, serviceable part 28 can be available to be put to service to satisfy demand at that repair location 22)—to estimate, based on forecasted demand, the latest time at which to repair part 28 and thus the time at which to generate a repair order for part 28, accomplishing on-demand repair planning. An example pull planning phase for serviceable parts 28 is described more fully below with reference to FIGS. 7A-7B.
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