Patent ID: 7765105

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of graphically representing management of goods in a supply chain, the method comprising: receiving goods management data in a computer system through a network from computer systems of participants in a supply chain, the goods management data being sent by the computer systems upon the participants managing individual goods at multiple points in time, the cumulative number being added up to and including each of the points in time; storing the received goods management data in a database; adding the stored goods management data together to determine a cumulative number of the individual goods for each of the participants at each of the points in time; generating a graph in the computer system using the cumulative numbers of the individual goods, the graph including multiple curves, each of the curves showing the management of the individual goods over time by one of the participants and each of the curves including multiple data points, each of the data points representing one of the cumulative numbers of the individual goods at one of the points in time; while displaying the generated graph to a user, receiving a selection from the user of a data point among the data points in the generated graph; and in response to receiving the selection, shifting a first curve of the graph relative to a second curve of the graph to determine a distance between the first curve and the second curve, the shifting ceasing upon a point of the first curve intersecting a point of the second curve, the distance corresponding to the delay time that is attributable to a participant, and the delay time usable to improve an efficiency of the supply chain.