Patent ID: 7305278

Claim:
A method for a supplier to manage the manufacture of a product using both supplier-owned and non-owned manufacturing asset types associated with different manufacturing facilities, comprising; creating a model for the product build process based on the asset types; using the model to provide routing from a node to instances of the asset types; instantiating a codified framework of rules and services at each instance of the asset types; controlling the product build process from the node according to the rules and services; grouping the asset types into manufacturing stages; segmenting the manufacturing stages by operation; defining a set of attributes for lots to be carried with the lots through the manufacturing stages and transition points; converting the set of attributes for transmission to a vendor's MES; defining a lot label for the product; determining whether the vendor is able to carry the lot label on its MES; and operating in an alias or non-alias mode based on the determination.