Patent ID: 7840441

Claim:
A computer implemented method for managing customer order alterations in a manufacturing environment, the computer implemented method comprising: receiving a new order that comprises a new product configuration, wherein the new product configuration is a modified version of an original product configuration in an existing order; determining whether production of the original product configuration for the existing order has started; responsive to determining that production of the original product configuration for the existing order has started, determining a number of parts that would need to be added to a current build of the original product configuration and a number of parts that would need to be removed from the current build of the original product configuration to produce the new product configuration; determining a first score for a first option for building the new product configuration from scratch, wherein the first score includes a weight for each part in the new product configuration to be added to build the new product configuration from scratch; determining a second score for a second option for modifying the original product configuration to satisfy the new product configuration, wherein the second score includes a weight for each part in the number of parts that would need to be added to the current build of the original product configuration and a weight for each part in the number of parts that would need to be removed from the current build of the original product configuration; determining, by a processing unit, a best option by comparing the first and second scores and selecting an option with a lower score; and presenting the best option to a user.