Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090083107 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR STRATEGIC GLOBAL RESOURCE SOURCING - Method and system for strategic global resource sourcing in one aspect incorporates concurrently a plurality of qualitative and quantitative attributes that influence performance of sourcing strategy with respect to one or more quantitative measures, quantifies an impact of said qualitative attributes using said one or more quantitative measures, and optimizes the sourcing strategy with respect to said one or more quantitative measures subject to one or more constraints. | 03-26-2009 |
20090164262 | METHOD AND STRUCTURE FOR RISK-BASED RESOURCE PLANNING FOR CONFIGURABLE PRODUCTS - A method for planning under uncertainty is disclosed. The method includes steps of processing a stochastic programming formulation based on forecast values of at least one of product and service configurations, and determining a resource requirements plan for one or more planning periods in a non-deterministic bill of resources of at least two levels. | 06-25-2009 |
20090299779 | METHOD FOR MANAGING INVENTORY UNDER PRICE PROTECTION - A method and system for managing inventory under price protection plan determine an inventory replenishment plan for one or more goods considering a price protection agreement including at least length of price protection between at least two supply chain partners in a supply chain having decentralized control over a predetermined time period. | 12-03-2009 |
20100023340 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING PRODUCT SUBSTITUTIONS ALONG MULTIPLE CRITERIA IN RESPONSE TO A SALES OPPORTUNITY - A system and method evaluate product substitutions along multiple criteria in response to a sales opportunity, for instance, providing sales recommendations of configurable products in response to a customer request based on propensity functions. A customer propensity is determined to estimate attractiveness of a substitute product to a customer based on one or more attributes. A seller propensity is determined to estimate attractiveness to a seller of selling the substitute product based on one or more attributes. The customer propensity and the seller propensity are combined to find a plurality of substitute products. | 01-28-2010 |
20100121677 | BUSINESS PARTNER COLLABORATION AND BUY ANALYSIS - The present invention provides a method, system and computer program product for implementing an automated inventory replenishment process between a manufacturer and a business partner. In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided comprising the business partner purchasing and maintaining an inventory of goods from the manufacturer, and the manufacturer providing price protection to the business partner for the purchasing of the goods. This embodiment further comprises managing said inventory by using an automated process that takes into account said price protection for the purchasing of the goods. | 05-13-2010 |
20100131316 | CARBON MANAGEMENT FOR SOURCING AND LOGISTICS - Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and computer program product for carbon management for sourcing and logistics. In one embodiment, the method comprises using a computer for quantifying both a cost and a carbon impact of one or more logistics policies relating to a manufacturing process; and minimizing the cost and carbon impact using a defined equation including a first component representing a transportation cost, and a second component representing a carbon cost. In an embodiment of the invention, the quantifying includes using an analytics engine to quantify the cost and carbon impact. The analytics engine may include a shipment analysis module to calculate an optimal transportation policy, a sourcing analysis module for testing alternate sourcing options, a scenario analysis module to find an optimal order frequency, and a sensitivity analysis module to test the impact of various changes. | 05-27-2010 |
20110047021 | Minimum and maximum recommended supply lines for determining price-protection rebate - A minimum recommended supply line (RSL) and a maximum RSL during a time period are determined. The minimum RSL is based on a minimum number of a product that is recommended to be in inventory for the time period. The maximum RSL is based on a maximum number of the product that is recommended to be in inventory for the time period. A number of the product is purchased equal to or greater than the minimum RSL minus a number of the product already in inventory at a beginning of the time period. A price-protected number of the product is determined as a smaller of the maximum RSL and a number of the product in inventory at an end of the time period. A rebate amount is determined as equal to the price-protected number multiplied by a decrease in price of the product from the time period to a next time period. | 02-24-2011 |
20120150682 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING PRODUCT SUBSTITUTIONS ALONG MULTIPLE CRITERIA IN RESPONSE TO A SALES OPPORTUNITY - A system and method evaluate product substitutions along multiple criteria in response to a sales opportunity, for instance, providing sales recommendations of configurable products in response to a customer request based on propensity functions. A customer propensity is determined to estimate attractiveness of a substitute product to a customer based on one or more attributes. A seller propensity is determined to estimate attractiveness to a seller of selling the substitute product based on one or more attributes. The customer propensity and the seller propensity are combined to find a plurality of substitute products. | 06-14-2012 |
20120290500 | CONFIGURATION PRICING STRATEGIES FOR MULTI-COMMODITY REQUEST-FOR-QUOTES - Win probability estimation model that statistically computes the probability of winning a bid at a given price, and profit optimization models that compute the optimal price for a bid balancing the probability of winning a bid at a price with the profitability of the bid at the given price. In one stage, an expected profit margin of a product may be formulated as a function of its profit margin and win probability to compute its optimal profit margin. In another stage, an expected profit for one or more product accessories may be formulated as a function of the profit margin and their conditional win probability given the server win to compute their optimal profit margins. The conditional win probabilities for the product accessories may be modeled as a function of the utilities of the various purchase options that contain the product and that accessory. | 11-15-2012 |
20120323633 | SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SOLUTION - A method, system and computer program product are disclosed for providing an integrated solution to a set of supply chain optimization problems. In one embodiment, the method comprises defining a distribution network, vehicle routing, inventory positioning, and environmental sustainability for a supply chain; and combining an optimization of the distribution network, the vehicle routing, the inventory positioning, and the environmental sustainability into a single problem. In an embodiment, the optimization of the distribution network, the vehicle routing, the inventory positioning, and the environmental sustainability are combined into a single problem by using analytical engines. In one embodiment, these analytical engines include an inventory positioning engine to identify an inventory policy, a network analysis engine to identify a network structure, a vehicle routing engine to identify routes for delivering products, and a sustainability engine to quantify energy use and carbon emissions of defined actions. | 12-20-2012 |
20130013367 | CARBON MANAGEMENT FOR SOURCING AND LOGISTICS - Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and computer program product for carbon management for sourcing and logistics. In one embodiment, the method comprises using a computer for quantifying both a cost and a carbon impact of one or more logistics policies relating to a manufacturing process; and minimizing the cost and carbon impact using a defined equation including a first component representing a transportation cost, and a second component representing a carbon cost. In an embodiment of the invention, the quantifying includes using an analytics engine to quantify the cost and carbon impact. The analytics engine may include a shipment analysis module to calculate an optimal transportation policy, a sourcing analysis module for testing alternate sourcing options, a scenario analysis module to find an optimal order frequency, and a sensitivity analysis module to test the impact of various changes. | 01-10-2013 |
20130117061 | CARBON MANAGEMENT FOR SOURCING AND LOGISTICS - Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system and computer program product for carbon management for sourcing and logistics. In one embodiment, the method comprises using a computer for quantifying both a cost and a carbon impact of one or more logistics policies relating to a manufacturing process; and minimizing the cost and carbon impact using a defined equation including a first component representing a transportation cost, and a second component representing a carbon cost. In an embodiment of the invention, the quantifying includes using an analytics engine to quantify the cost and carbon impact. The analytics engine may include a shipment analysis module to calculate an optimal transportation policy, a sourcing analysis module for testing alternate sourcing options, a scenario analysis module to find an optimal order frequency, and a sensitivity analysis module to test the impact of various changes. | 05-09-2013 |
20130173493 | OPTIMIZING PROCUREMENT SPEND COMPLIANCE - Managing spend compliance may include receiving a set of spend transaction records containing one or more spend attributes, one or more compliance business rules and one or more investment scenarios that increase spend compliance. The compliance business rules may be applied to the transaction records and segments of transactions with predetermined high savings opportunities may be determined. A prioritized investment plan over one or more time periods that yield optimized return on investment may be generated based on applying the segments of transactions and the investment scenarios. | 07-04-2013 |
20140025422 | BUSINESS PARTNER COLLABORATION AND BUY ANALYSIS - The present invention provides a method, system and computer program product for implementing an automated inventory replenishment process between a manufacturer and a business partner. In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided comprising the business partner purchasing and maintaining an inventory of goods from the manufacturer, and the manufacturer providing price protection to the business partner for the purchasing of the goods. This embodiment further comprises managing said inventory by using an automated process that takes into account said price protection for the purchasing of the goods. | 01-23-2014 |