Patent ID: 7454374

Claim:
A method for evaluating a forward-buy opportunity relating to a product set, comprising: initializing a user defined incremental forward buy quantity for each product in the product set; inputting a financial parameter relating to at least one of an inventory carrying cost or a discount rate; inputting a product parameter relating to at least one of a product demand, a product quantity, or a product price; calculating a return on investment for each product in the product set in response to the financial and product parameters; determining whether the calculated return on investment is equal to or greater than a defined value; in response to the calculated return on investment being equal to or greater than a defined value, identifying the product having the highest return on investment and recording a recommended buy quantity relating to that product; and incrementing the recommended buy quantity of the identified product and recalculating the return on investment for each product in the product set until each return on investment calculation is no longer equal to or greater than the defined value.