Patent ID: 7881985

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodied with software providing service parts inventory planning and management for one or more entities in a supply chain, the software when executed by a computer is configured to: receive set-up data for the one or more entities; validate one or more aspects of the set-up data and if one or more errors exist, create an error log that is accessible by the one or more entities; receive status data reflecting substantially current service parts inventory levels at one or more stocking locations in a supply chain, the inventory levels indicating service parts excesses or needs at one or more of the stocking locations; access a service parts demand forecast for the supply chain; access a model of the supply chain; access reverse logistics data comprising a forecast of service parts returns flow into a returns supply chain within the supply chain, an estimate of repairable service parts returns as a percentage of all service parts returns, an estimate of repair times for the repairable service parts returns, and a model of the returns supply chain; generate a substantially current service parts inventory plan according to the status data, the demand forecast, and the model, the service parts inventory plan comprising target stocking levels for service parts at one or more stocking locations in the supply chain; generate an updated service parts inventory plan based on the reinsertion of one or more repaired service parts reinserted back into the supply chain; and according to the service parts inventory plan, automatically and independent of human interaction in response to receiving the service parts inventory plan, executing a broker function to resolve the service parts excesses or needs at one or more of the stocking locations through interaction with one or more other entities in the supply chain.