Patent ID: 7313549

Claim:
A method of controlling a materials management flow including at least one inventoried item moving through at least two distinct geographic locations, comprising: scanning the at least one inventoried item upon entry into the materials management flow at a first local receiving station and scanning an identification of the first local receiving station, said first local receiving station located at a first of the distinct geographic locations; scanning the at least one inventoried item upon exit from the first local receiving station; scanning the at least one inventoried item at at least one secondary receiving station upon delivery of the item to the at least one secondary receiving station, and scanning the identification of the at least one secondary receiving station, said at least one secondary receiving station located at a second geographic location distinct from the first geographic location; scanning the at least one inventory item upon exit from the at least one secondary receiving station; scanning the at least one inventoried item at at least one tertiary receiving station upon final delivery of the item to the at least one tertiary receiving station, said at least one tertiary receiving station located at a third geographic location distinct from the first and the second geographic locations; scanning the identification of the at least one tertiary receiving station upon said final delivery of the item; and transmitting, entering, checking, and verifying the item's placement at at least one of the at least one secondary receiving station, and the at least one tertiary receiving station, by reconciling the identifications of each of the first local, the at least one secondary, and the at least one tertiary receiving stations and the at least one inventoried item with the materials management flow of record at a remote operation center externally connected to the first local receiving station, the at least one secondary receiving station, and the at least one tertiary receiving station.