Inventory management system

Abstract

Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain aspects related to the present invention collect item information from RFID tags attached to items in an inventory, and uses the collected item information to perform various inventory management processes. In one aspect, the inventory management processes may include determining, reporting, and / or providing corrective actions for one or more events associated with at least one of depletions of items in the inventory, changes in the design of items in the inventory, defects with one or more items, misplaced items, the movement of an unusual number of items within a short period of time (i.e., shrinkage), and malfunctions of one or more components included in the environment.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a divisional of pending U.S. Non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 10 / 348,941, which is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 350,023, filed Jan. 23, 2002, the entirety of which applications is expressly incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to inventory management systems and, more particularly, to methods and systems for performing an inventory management process that uses an intelligent station to track and / or inventory items that are tagged with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Inventory management is becoming increasingly important in today's growing economy. New products are continuously being developed and placed in the market for consumer purchase. Although this growth provides consumers with more choices for selecting various goods and services, businesses (e.g., retailers, wholesalers, etc.) are tasked...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Although perpetual inventory management systems alleviate some of the burden in managing large inventories, they employ a management that injects inaccuracies in cycle counts, POS scanning data, redundant re-ordering, misdirected shipments, and / or unusual sales velocity (i.e., the sale of products that take place either too fast or too slow).

For example, shrinkage may occur at any point in a supply chain, stemming from invoice errors, vendor fraud, misdirected shipments, retail employee theft and customer theft.

If inventory is computed as described above (i.e., using perpetual inventory management techniques), shrinkage rates (amounting to several percent of sales) can cause divergence of theoretical (i.e., inventory that is proposed or planned) and physical inventory.

Another problem with perpetual inventory management systems is the uncertainty associated with the effectiveness of product promotions.

For instance, if the relationship between price and inventory velocity, known as price elasticity, is not well understood, promotions can cause an out-of-stock condition that negatively impacts customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Alternatively, promotions can fail to achieve a desired reduction of inventory when too much inventory is ordered and the price elasticity is poorly estimated or measured.

Further, another related problem with conventional inventory management systems is associated with misplaced inventory on a retail shelf or similar support unit.

Product manufacturers devote large sums of money to market certain products to consumers.

Because retailers generally desire to present as much inventory as possible for sale to the customer, some employees may fill a void on a shelf dedicated for an out of stock product with related products.

This may result in lost sales for the manufacturer and, in some cases, reduction in customer satisfaction.

This may also violate agreements between retailers and manufacturers or their distributors.

Although the above mentioned RFID tag developments help overcome some of the shortcomings of conventional perpetual inventory management systems, these developments lack the capabilities to provide real, or near real, time comprehensive inventory management in almost any point of a supply chain.

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