Patent ID: 8239294

Claim:
A method for exhausting excess inventory in a manufacturing environment comprising: inputting raw financial data into a scenario engine component of a computer; inputting variable scaling factors comprising a global scaling factor and a local scaling factor into said scenario engine, said variable scaling factors selected by a user to indicate said user's preferences, the global scaling factor indicating said user's willingness to spend additional money for consuming said excess inventory, said global scaling factor comprises a non-negative real number having the ability to scale up, scale down, or combinations thereof, said input raw financial data; inputting a business objective containing logic into said scenario engine; said computer generating modified financial data within said scenario engine by calculating said raw financial data and said variable scaling factors within said logic of said business objective; transmitting said modified financial data from said scenario engine to an optimizer component of said computer; and utilizing said modified financial data, said computer determining multiple portfolios for multiple end products that, if built, would consume excess inventory.