Patent ID: 7529686

Claim:
A method for determining chase quantities of at least one component for at least one product where products have a plurality of associated demand types, said method comprising: providing demand statements, wherein each of said demand statements indicates a quantity of a product desired; setting a flag on at least one of said demand types; performing an implosion operation on a highest priority flagged demand type, wherein component supply constraints are ignored for said flagged demand types during said implosion; performing an explosion operation on said highest priority flagged demand type; determining, on a computer processor, a difference between said implosion and said explosion by comparing results of said implosion with results of said explosion, wherein said difference between said implosion and said explosion produces a risk indicator; repeating said implosion operation, said explosion operation and said determining said difference on said next highest priority flagged demand type until there are no more unprocessed flagged demand types; identifying components that need to be chased and a priority order of chasing said identified components when said risk indicator is greater than an available quantity; and showing said identified components that need to be chased and a priority order of chasing said identified components, wherein said implosion on said non-flagged demand types considers component supply constraints for said non-flagged demand types.