Patent ID: 7769643

Claim:
A method for managing an inventory of at least one product of a supplier that is provided to at least one customer, wherein the at least one customer is capable of receiving and shipping out the at least one product, said method comprising a plurality of steps one or more of which are performed by at least one processing unit configured to perform the respective one or more steps, said plurality of steps comprising: creating an open purchase order comprising an acceptable inventory range bounded by a lower limit and an upper limit for each product that the supplier provides to the at least one customer; storing a supply amount of the at least one product in a storage unit that is remote from the supplier and proximate to the customer; maintaining, using the at least one processing unit, a product inventory count for each product representative of the amount of the product that is maintained in inventory by the at least one customer, said maintaining comprising: decreasing the product inventory count as the at least one customer ships out the respective product; and increasing the product inventory count as the at least one customer receives additional amounts of the respective product, wherein the at least one customer receives the additional amounts from the supply amount stored in the storage unit; and monitoring, using the at least one processing unit, the product inventory count at a supplier location such that the supplier is capable of detecting when product inventory counts approach the respective lower limits, wherein the product inventory count approaches the respective lower limit when the product inventory count falls below a notification level greater than the lower limit and between the lower limit and the upper limit, and wherein the supplier location is remote from the customer location.