Patent Document ID: 8069122
Application ID: 12052533
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A cost reduction system comprising: a computer-readable storage medium storing a thermodynamic model that is configured to determine a predictive cost reduction for a process, the predictive cost reduction being derived from thermodynamic principles; a processor configured to: access parameters associated with a process, the parameters comprising: a quantity of units of work-in-process at first and second times, and first and second constants respectively indicative of growth between the first and second times, and of a reduction of the work-in-process to a reduction of cost, apply the thermodynamic model to the accessed parameters, and determine a predictive cost reduction associated with a contemplated improvement of the process, using: Predictive ⁢ ⁢ Cost ⁢ ⁢ Reduction = 1 + R e ⁢ log 2 ⁡ ( α R ⁢ W f W i ) , wherein: R e represents the second constant, W f represents the quantity of units of the work-in-process at the second time, W i represents the quantity of units of the work-in-process at the first time, and α R represents a ratio of the growth at the first time to the value of the growth at the second time; and an output module configured to output the determined predictive cost reduction.