Method and system for monitoring a supply-chain

Abstract

A method of monitoring supply chain activity throughout a plurality of supply chain sites includes extracting, at each supply chain site, supply-related data to be monitored. The data is maintained in plural formats at the supply chain sites, and translated the data to a common format. The extracted data is then uploaded to and collected, from each supply chain site, to a data collection center or site. Upon a user request, a portion of the collected data is formatted, at the data collection site, into one of a plurality of views, responsive to criteria selected by the user, for presentation to the user, the portion of formatted data being dependent on access rights granted to the user's supply chain site. Finally, the formatted data view is published to the user's supply chain site. The data collection center comprises a data collector in which the uploaded data is stored, and a publisher for publishing data from the data collector upon request. Each supply chain site has a data storage device for maintaining its own supply-chain data, a data transfer engine (DTE), for transferring the supply-chain data to the data collection center, input means for allowing a user to query the data collector, and a display for displaying data published by the publisher in response to a query. The inbound data received from the multiple supply chain sites is monitored at the data collection site. If a problem condition is detected, such as a forecasted or present shortage or surplus, an alert is asserted, for example, by highlighting an Alert indicator, such as an Alert tab, on a user screen. Upon selection of the highlighted Alert indicator by a user, details of the detected problem condition are displayed.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This Application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 546,347, filed Apr. 7, 2000, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 147,670 filed on Aug. 6, 1999, and is related to application Ser. No. 09 / 544,916, filed Apr. 7, 2000; the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] A typical manufacturing supply chain includes an original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”), which designs and sells equipment such as computers or other electronic equipment. To keep costs down, OEMs often contract out the manufacture of at least some of the individual components of the product, such as electronic boards, to contract manufacturers (“CMs”). The CMs must obtain the parts with which to build the boards, such as resistors and integrated circuits, which are manufactured by component manufacturers or vendors. The components are typically not sold directly to the CMs but ra...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a method for monitoring and analyzing the supply chain activity of a complex legacy system without the need for major rewriting or restructuring of the system. The invention involves installing a data transfer engine (DTE) at each site in the supply chain and collecting and analyzing the data that is available. The DTE monitors the local system continuously, cleans up the data, and formats it into a common format acceptable to a data collection site. The data is then transmitted to the collection center, where it is stored in a common format. The invention allows multiple parties to monitor and control the supply chain, providing unprecedented power to manage the supply chain. The data can be translated at the sites and in different formats, such as spreadsheets or databases. The invention also allows for real-time monitoring and analysis of data, and provides various ways for users to display and filter the data. Overall, the invention simplifies the process of managing and analyzing the supply chain, improving efficiency and control."

Problems solved by technology

While these supply chain sites share some data, the data is typically maintained in incompatible formats in legacy databases.

Yet, in practice, how each supply chain site deals with its external environment, i.e., vendors, CMs, customers, has often been archaic and inconsistent.

Supply chain management is difficult because it depends on the axiom that a business has fundamentally correct processes.

Whether these changes are implemented by outside consultants or by in-house staff, lack of clear project goals, effective monitoring and performance review constantly plague the process.

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