Patent ID: 8010220

Claim:
A computerized system for managing deliveries of parts from a consolidation center to locations on a manufacturer's production line comprising: (A) a plurality of containers holding parts for use in assembling products on said manufacturer's production line; (B) a plurality of carts for transporting said containers to said manufacturer's production line; (C) a delivery management system computer that: (1) receives from a production control computer production parts and schedule data that identifies parts needed to manufacture products on said manufacturer's production line for a production time period; (2) executes a delivery management system application that: (a) determines when said parts are needed on said manufacturer's production line for said production time period using said production parts and schedule data; (b) generates a delivery schedule for dispatching trains comprising a plurality of carts with containers of parts for delivering parts to said manufacturer's production line, said delivery schedule comprising: (i) an identifier for each train; (ii) a sequence number for each cart's location in each train; (iii) a production line delivery location for each cart in each train; (iv) a dispatch time for each train; and (v) container data identifying containers of parts to be loaded on each cart in each train; and (D) a plurality of trains each comprising a plurality of carts ordered according to said sequence number for each cart's location in each train; (E) a device for communicating from said delivery management system computer to a driver assigned to each of said trains instructions for: (1) loading containers on each cart of a train according to said container data in said delivery schedule; (2) leaving said consolidation center according to said dispatch time for said train; and (3) delivering each container on a cart to a production line delivery location identified in said delivery schedule.