Patent ID: 7778891

Claim:
A method for inventory management, comprising: generating a time record that is associated with one of a type of resource at one of a plurality of locations, comprising: obtaining, with an inventory management system, at least one time between removal mean value associated with a removal of a resource from an inventory of the resource at the one of the plurality of locations, the inventory management system comprising a node comprising a microprocessor and a memory operably coupled to the microprocessor, the memory containing a plurality of computer-executable instructions, the resource comprising a part consumed in an industry, the time between removal mean value equaling the mean of a plurality of first time values stored in the inventory management system, each first time value in the plurality of first time values equaling the time elapsed between a removal of a part from the inventory and a next removal of another part from the inventory subsequent to the first-mentioned removal; generating a transit time record that is associated with the one of the type of resource at the one of the plurality of locations, comprising: obtaining, with the inventory management system, at least one transit time mean value associated with transferring a part to be included in the inventory, the transit time mean value equaling the mean of a plurality of second time values stored in the inventory system, each second time value in the plurality of second time values equaling the time elapsed during the transfer of a part from a location other than the one of the plurality locations to the inventory at the one of the plurality locations; in response to generating at least the time and the transit time records associated with the one of the type of resource at the one of the plurality of locations, calculating a plurality of risk values with the inventory management system wherein each one of the plurality of risk values is associated with one of each type of resource at each of the plurality of locations, comprising: calculating a first risk value associated with the one of the type of resource at the one of the plurality of locations, comprising: calculating an amount of time until the probability of an outage of all of the parts from the inventory exceeds a desired risk level; and managing the inventory of the parts at the one of the plurality of locations by at least communicating a request that one or more parts at one or more locations other than the one of the plurality of locations be transferred to the inventory at the one of the plurality of locations.