System and method for assessing and visualizing excess and obsolescence in a supply chain management system

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method for excess and obsolete applications and engines residing in a supply chain management system. Includes at least one rule set; at least one database of different customers, wherein the at least one database is relationally accessible according to some of different customer entries in the at least one database of: the manufactured products for the different customers; a full parts and materials list corresponding to the manufacture of the manufactured products; definitions of when some of the parts and the materials become excess or obsolete according to the contracts for each of the manufactured products and each of the different customers; and a graphical user interface (GUI) adapted to provide access to details of at least manufactured products, the full parts and materials list, and the definitions, such that a claim for excess or obsolete can be made through the GUI.

Description

[0001] Related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Application No. 16 / 790,473, filed February 13, 2020, entitled “System and method for assessing and visualizing excess and obsolescence in a supply chain management system,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Background Technology Technical Field

[0004] This disclosure relates to supply chain management (SCM) system processing. More specifically, this disclosure relates to processing SCM data to reduce costs, optimize data processing and networking communications, improve flexibility, and identify and mitigate excess and obsolete components in the supply chain. Background Technology

[0006] Supply chains have become increasingly complex, and product companies face numerous challenges such as globalization, shorter product lifecycles, highly mixed product supply, and countless supply chain sourcing models. Furthermore, challenging economic conditions place additional pressure on cost reduction to maximize profits, particularly for contract manufacturers.

[0007] Instead of the data- and algorithm-centric supply chain analytics discussed above, excess and expiration of the supply chain and the components used within it are typically exclusive or primarily manual processes. Therefore, traditional systems are unnecessarily complex and somewhat chaotic due to the use of multiple layers of classification, and such systems are often simply reactive and never proactive. Furthermore, these traditional systems fail to provide tools to help assess various aspects of the supply chain, including excess and expiration.

[0008] More specifically, as discussed throughout the text, in contract manufacturing, the typical scenario is that the contract manufacturer purchases parts and materials for the contract manufacturing process. Therefore, subject manufacturing contracts often include forecasts from the (contract manufacturer's) client, which can indicate the number of items to be manufactured under the contract and / or the timeframe for manufacturing those items, and thus can directly or indirectly indicate the number of parts and materials necessary to manufacture the required number of items within a given timeframe.

[0009] However, ordered parts and materials do not simply appear instantaneously at the contract manufacturer's location; rather, they are subject to varying lead times, delivery times, reordering times, and so on. Furthermore, customer forecasts often change during the manufacturing process, and these changes can occur at both predefined and non-predefined timeframes within each contract. Therefore, it is common for the contract manufacturer to no longer require the quantity of parts or materials ordered to meet the changed needs of the customer by the time the parts or materials order arrives. Additionally, it is typical that parts or materials ordered from a supplier cannot be returned by the contract manufacturer, nor can the contract manufacturer receive credit, if the order has not been modified within the specified timeframe stipulated in the order. A contract manufacturer receiving and counting more parts or materials than required within a given timeframe is referred to as having an "excess."

[0010] In the extreme case described above, when a contract manufacturer possesses parts or materials that are completely unnecessary given the customer's forecast within a given timeframe, this is referred to as "obsolete." In other words, as the terminology used throughout this document suggests, in the prior art, an excess is defined as a contract manufacturer possessing too many parts or materials to meet forecasted demand or changes in needs, and an excess is defined as a contract manufacturer possessing parts or materials with zero demand.

[0011] As for the foregoing, in each of the aforementioned manufacturing contracts, excess and expired parts and materials are typically defined on a contractual basis between the individual customers and the contract manufacturer. Therefore, from the contract manufacturer's perspective, the definition of excess and expired is usually subject to change by the individual customers.

[0012] Furthermore, whether it's the contract manufacturer or the customer, who is responsible for excess and expired parts and materials as defined in a given contract, and / or the extent of each party's responsibility for the aforementioned, typically varies from contract to contract. While it's generally true that expiration is the customer's responsibility, and excess is the contract manufacturer's shared responsibility or liability, even this allocation of responsibility can vary on a contract-by-contract basis. Moreover, it's essential that contract manufacturers provide excellent customer service to their clients; therefore, it's possible that even excess and expired parts and materials as defined in the contract might demonstrate that the contract manufacturer is less inclined to accept claims for excess or expiration under the contract. Summary of the Invention

[0013] An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for an application and engine residing in a supply chain management system. The apparatus, system, and method may include at least one set of rules; at least one database of different customers contracted to receive manufactured products from the supply chain, wherein the at least one database is relationally accessed based on some of the different customer entries in the at least one database for at least the following: a pair of manufactured products for the different customer corresponding to a selected one of the different customer database entries; a complete list of all components and materials corresponding to the manufactured products; definitions regarding when some of the components and materials become excessive and when some of the components and materials become expired, based on the contracts for each of the manufactured products and for each of the different customers; and a graphical user interface (GUI) adapted to provide access to at least the manufactured products, the complete list of components and materials, and details of the definitions, such that claims for excess or expired items can be made via the GUI for at least one of the components or at least one of the materials, according to the application defined by the at least one set of rules. Attached Figure Description

[0014] The present invention is illustrated by way of example and is not limited to the figures in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference numerals denote similar elements, and wherein:

[0015] Figure 1 A computer system for transmitting and processing data (particularly supply chain management (SCM) data) according to an exemplary embodiment is shown;

[0016] Figure 2 It shows the applicable Figure 1 An exemplary processing device in the embodiments is used for processing and presenting SCM data;

[0017] Figure 3 A block diagram showing excessive and outdated engines / applications is provided.

[0018] Figure 4 An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0019] Figure 5A An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0020] Figure 5B An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0021] Figure 6A An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0022] Figure 6B An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0023] Figure 7 An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0024] Figure 8A An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0025] Figure 8B An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0026] Figure 9A An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0027] Figure 9B An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0028] Figure 10A An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0029] Figure 10B An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0030] Figure 10C An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0031] Figure 11A An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0032] Figure 11B An exemplary GUI is shown;

[0033] Figure 12 An exemplary GUI is shown; and

[0034] Figure 13 An exemplary GUI is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0035] The accompanying drawings and descriptions provided herein may have been simplified to illustrate aspects relevant to a clear understanding of the apparatuses, systems, and methods described herein, while other aspects that may be found in typical similar apparatuses, systems, and methods have been omitted for clarity. Therefore, those skilled in the art will recognize that other elements and / or operations may be desired and / or necessary for implementing the apparatuses, systems, and methods described herein. However, because such elements and operations are well known in the art, and because they do not contribute to a better understanding of this disclosure, a discussion of such elements and operations is not provided herein. However, this disclosure is intended to inherently include all such elements, variations, and modifications to the described aspects that will be known to those skilled in the art.

[0036] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “containing,” and “having” are inclusive and thus specify the presence of said features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. Unless expressly determined as the order of execution, the method steps, processes, and operations described herein should not be construed as requiring them to be performed in the specific order discussed or shown. It should also be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.

[0037] When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “joined to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, joined to, connected to, or coupled to the other element or layer, or there may be intermediate elements or layers present. Conversely, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly joined to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intermediate elements or layers present. Other terms used to describe relationships between elements should be interpreted in a similar manner (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent to” versus “directly adjacent to,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0038] Although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers, and / or portions, these elements, components, regions, layers, and / or portions should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element, component, region, layer, or portion from another. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms, when used herein, do not imply order or sequence. Therefore, without departing from the teachings of exemplary embodiments, the first element, component, region, layer, or portion discussed below may be referred to as the second element, component, region, layer, or portion.

[0039] This document discloses computer-implemented platforms, engines, systems, and methods of use that provide networked access to various types of digital content and track, deliver, manipulate, transform, and report the accessed content, including but not limited to video, images, text, audio, metadata, algorithms, interactive content, and document content. The embodiments of these platforms, engines, systems, and methods are intended to be exemplary and not restrictive. Therefore, it is contemplated that the systems and methods described herein can be adapted to provide many types of local, server-based, and cloud-based interaction, data exchange, etc., and can be extended to provide enhancements and / or additions to the described exemplary platforms, engines, systems, and methods. Therefore, this disclosure is intended to include all such extensions.

[0040] Furthermore, it will be understood that the terms "module" or "engine" as used herein do not limit functionality to a particular physical module, but may include any number of tangibly embodied software and / or hardware components that have a transformative effect on at least a portion of the system. Typically, a computer program product according to one embodiment includes a tangible computer-usable medium (e.g., standard RAM, optical disc, USB drive, etc.) having computer-readable program code embodied therein, wherein the computer-readable program code is adapted to be executed by a processor (working in conjunction with an operating system) to implement one or more functions and methods as described below. In this respect, the program code can be implemented in any desired language and can be implemented as machine code, assembly code, bytecode, interpreted source code, etc. (e.g., via C, C++, C#, Java, Actionscript, Objective-C, JavaScript, CSS, XML, etc.).

[0041] Turn Figure 1 An exemplary computer system is disclosed in the embodiments. In this example, computer system 100 is configured as an SCM processing system, wherein a master processing node 101 is configured to include an SCM platform for processing data from other nodes (104, 107), which will be described in further detail below. In one embodiment, master node 101 includes one or more servers 102 operatively coupled to one or more terminals 103. Master node 101 is communicatively coupled to network 112, which in turn is operatively coupled to supply chain nodes or sites 104, 107. Nodes 104, 107 may be configured as standalone nodes, or preferably as network nodes, wherein each node 104, 107 includes network servers 105, 108 and terminals 106, 109, respectively.

[0042] As will be explained in the embodiments discussed below, nodes 104, 107 can be configured as component nodes, supplier nodes, ordering nodes, inventory nodes, manufacturer nodes, and / or any other suitable supply chain nodes. Each of these nodes can be configured to collect, store, and process relevant supply chain-related data and transmit SCM data to master node 101 via network 112. Master node 101 can also be communicatively coupled to one or more data services 110, 111, which may be associated with government, monetary, economic, or other data services. Services 110, 111 can be third-party services configured to provide general SCM-related data, such as shipping service data and shipping tracking, interest rate data, tax / tariff data, weather data, transaction data, currency exchange data, etc. Furthermore, the master node 101 can be "spread" across multiple nodes rather than including a single node. The master node 101 can access data at any one or more layers from the multiple layers of nodes 104 and 107, and the master node 101 can apply one or more algorithms, applications, calculations, or reports related to any one or more data layers from nodes 104 and 107, as discussed throughout this document.

[0043] Figure 2 This is an exemplary embodiment of computing device 200, which can be used as a computer terminal (e.g., 103) and can be a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, smartphone, etc. Actual devices may include... Figure 2 As explicitly shown, device 200 may include more or fewer components and / or modules, such as a central processing unit (CPU) 201 (which may include one or more computer-readable storage media), a memory controller 202, one or more processors 203, a peripheral device interface 1204, RF circuitry 205, audio circuitry 206, a speaker 221, a microphone 222, and an input / output (I / O) subsystem 223 having a display controller 218, control circuitry 216 for one or more sensors, and an input device controller 214. These components may communicate via one or more communication buses or signal lines in device 200. It should be understood that device 200 is merely one example of a multifunctional device 200, and device 200 may have more or fewer components than shown, may combine two or more components, or may have different configurations or arrangements of components. Figure 2 The various components shown may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and tangibly embodied non-transitory software, including one or more signal processing and / or application-specific integrated circuits.

[0044] Data communication with device 200 can be conducted via a direct wired link or through a wireless (e.g., RF) interface 205 or any other data interface that allows the reception of data in digital form. Decoder 213 is capable of providing data decoding or code conversion capabilities for received media and can also be enabled to provide encoding capabilities as needed by the designer. Memory 208 may also include high-speed random access memory (RAM) and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memory devices. Access to memory 208 by other components of device 200 (e.g., processor 203, decoder 213, and peripheral interface 204) can be controlled by memory controller 202. Peripheral interface 204 couples the device's input and output peripherals to processor 203 and memory 208. One or more processors 203 run or execute various software programs, algorithms, and / or instruction sets stored in memory 208 to perform various functions of device 200 (e.g., data processing, including SCM data) according to the algorithms discussed throughout this document. In some embodiments, the peripheral interface 204, processor(s) 203, decoder 213, and memory controller 202 may be implemented on a single chip (such as chip 201). In some other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips.

[0045] RF (Radio Frequency) circuit 205 receives and transmits RF signals, also known as electromagnetic signals. RF circuit 205 converts electrical signals into electromagnetic signals / reverses electromagnetic signals into electrical signals, and communicates with communication networks and other communication devices via electromagnetic signals. RF circuit 205 may include known circuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited to antenna systems, RF transceivers, one or more amplifiers, tuners, one or more oscillators, digital signal processors, CODEC chipsets, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, memory, etc. RF circuit 205 can communicate wirelessly with networks such as the Internet (also known as the World Wide Web (WWW)), intranets and / or wireless networks (e.g., cellular telephone networks, wireless local area networks (LANs) and / or metropolitan area networks (MANs)), and other devices. Wireless communication may use any of the following: a variety of communication standards, protocols and technologies, including but not limited to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), High-Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), BLE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g and / or IEEE 802.11n), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, email protocols (e.g., Internet Messaging Access Protocol (IMAP) and / or Post Office Protocol (POP)), instant messaging (e.g., Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), Instant Messaging and Presence Extended Session Initiation Protocol (SIMPLE), and / or Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS)), and / or Short Message Service (XMS)) or any other suitable communication protocol, including communication protocols not yet developed at the date of this application.

[0046] Audio circuitry 206, speaker 221, and microphone 222 provide an audio interface between the user and device 200. Audio circuitry 206 can receive audio data from peripheral interface 204, convert the audio data into electrical signals, and send the electrical signals to speaker 221. Speaker 221 converts the electrical signals into sound waves that are audible to humans. Audio circuitry 206 also receives electrical signals converted from sound waves by microphone 221, which may include audio. Audio circuitry 206 converts the electrical signals into audio data and sends the audio data to peripheral interface 204 for processing. Audio data can be retrieved from and / or sent to memory 208 and / or RF circuitry 205 via peripheral interface 204. In some embodiments, audio circuitry 206 further includes a headphone jack for providing an interface between audio circuitry 206 and a removable audio input / output peripheral device, such as an output-only headphone or a headphone having both an output (e.g., headphones for one or both ears) and an input (e.g., a microphone).

[0047] I / O subsystem 223 couples input / output peripherals (e.g., touchscreen 215 and other input / control devices 217) on device 200 to peripheral interface 204. I / O subsystem 223 may include display controller 218 and one or more input controllers 220 for other input or control devices. One or more input controllers 220 receive / send electrical signals to / from other input or control devices 217. Other input / control devices 217 may include physical buttons (e.g., push-buttons, joysticks, etc.), dial pads, slide switches, joysticks, click dials, etc. In some alternative embodiments, input controllers (one or more) 220 may be coupled to (or not coupled to) any of the following: a keyboard, an infrared port, a USB port, and pointing devices such as a mouse, up / down buttons for volume control of speaker 221 and / or microphone 222. Touchscreen 215 may also be used to implement virtual or soft buttons and one or more soft keyboards.

[0048] Touchscreen 215 provides an input and output interface between the device and the user. Display controller 218 receives and / or sends electrical signals to / from touchscreen 215. Touchscreen 215 displays visual output to the user. Visual output may include graphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof (collectively, "graphics"). In some embodiments, some or all of the visual output may correspond to user interface objects. Touchscreen 215 has a touch-sensitive surface, a sensor, or a group of sensors that accepts input from the user based on tactile and / or tactile contact. Touchscreen 215 and display controller 218 (together with any associated modules and / or instruction set in memory 208) detect contact on touchscreen 215 (and any movement or interruption of contact) and translate the detected contact into interaction with user interface objects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, web pages, or images) displayed on the touchscreen. In an exemplary embodiment, the contact point between touchscreen 215 and the user corresponds to the user's finger. Touchscreen 215 may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology or LPD (light-emitting polymer display) technology, although other display technologies may be used in other embodiments. The touchscreen 215 and the display controller 218 may use any of a variety of touch sensing technologies now known or developed in the future to detect contact and any movement or interruption thereof, including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared and surface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contact with the touchscreen 215.

[0049] Device 200 may also include one or more sensors 216, such as optical sensors including charge-coupled devices (CCDs) or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) phototransistors. The optical sensors can capture still images or video, wherein the sensors operate in conjunction with a touchscreen display 215. Device 200 may also include one or more accelerometers 207, which can be operatively coupled to the peripheral device interface 1204. Alternatively, the accelerometers 207 may be coupled to an input controller 214 in the I / O subsystem 211. The accelerometers are preferably configured to output accelerometer data on the x, y, and z axes.

[0050] In one embodiment, the software components stored in memory 208 may include an operating system 209, a communication module 210, a text / graphics module 211, a geolocation module 212, an audio decoder 1213, and applications 214. The operating system 209 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, Windows, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) contains various software components and / or drivers for controlling and managing general system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, power management, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardware and software components. The SCM processing platform may be integrated as part of the operating system 209, or all or some of the disclosed portions of the SCM processing may occur within one or more applications 214. The communication module 210 facilitates communication with other devices via one or more external ports and also includes various software components for processing data received by RF circuitry 205. External ports (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB), FireWire, etc.) may be provided, and these external ports are adapted to be directly coupled to other devices or indirectly coupled to other devices via a network (e.g., the Internet, wireless LAN, etc.).

[0051] Text / Graphics module 211 includes various known software components for rendering and displaying graphics on the screen and / or touchscreen 215, including components for changing the intensity of the displayed graphics. As used herein, the term "graphics" includes any object that can be displayed to a user, including but not limited to text, web pages, icons (such as user interface objects including soft keys), digital images, videos, animations, etc. Additionally, a soft keyboard may be provided for entering text in various applications requiring text input. Geolocation module 212 determines the location of the device, including its relationship to other devices or nodes, and provides this information for use in various applications. Application 214 may include various modules, such as an E&O engine and applications discussed throughout the document.

[0052] Supply chains (especially in high-tech manufacturing) can be extremely complex and, from a data perspective, may consist of hundreds of thousands of records, data points, manufactured components, systems, subsystems, and sub-subsystems. Therefore, the disclosed E&O application 214 may include software as a service that enables holistic supply chain insights on a node-by-node, system-by-system, and component-by-component basis.

[0053] For example, typically, a supplier, reseller, or manufacturer may have an existing or orderable inventory of parts that exceeds the demand for those parts at least at a given point in time. Suppliers, resellers, or manufacturers may retain these excess and expired (E&O) parts hoping that they will be necessary for the same customer or another customer at a later point in time, including at the same or different points in time. As discussed throughout, the fact that the definition of E&O can differ among suppliers, resellers, manufacturers, and customers, and between different customers, can further exacerbate the problems arising from such E&O inventory and its subsequent use and / or inventory maintenance.

[0054] Therefore, the disclosed application 214 may include, for example, algorithms that can perform pattern recognition across the entire supply chain, or within its various aspects, or for a specific customer, to evaluate patterns that typically lead to E&O and / or solutions to E&O. Once learned, these identified patterns can be applied to product or customer-specific components and parts, such as when inputs from the customer are used at the start of the design for the supply chain; or independently across different parts for a given customer; or different parts for different customers. These identified patterns can also be analytically applied to: new input product designs, for example, to give the probability ratio of one or more parts in the design that may experience E&O; similar products; identical or similar vertical products; and / or any supply chain(s) using identical or similar parts, as non-limiting examples.

[0055] For E&O and other end-to-end aspects of the supply chain, this pattern recognition can be performed by application 214 to include component profiles for various parts, including, in some embodiments, directly competing parts. Such profiles may include manufacturing locations, part production or shipping, component inventory history, etc. Analysis profiles may additionally include, for example, typical and / or comparative responses to changes in demand from a particular component supplier or the supplier of that component.

[0056] Based on the foregoing, in addition to the functions discussed below, the disclosed application 214 can allow for regulation or charging as a direct result of component consumption leading to certain outcomes or probabilities of E&O. For example, in the prior art, a customer may request a given manufacturer to order 10,000 specific components, but only 3,000 of those components may be used in that customer's product. However, also in the prior art, in the case where a manufacturer orders 500,000 of the same components from multiple customers, there is currently no known automated method for allocating E&O responsibility between the manufacturer and those different customers relative to the different customers for those components.

[0057] Based on the foregoing, the embodiment provides an excess and expired (“E&O”) application 214, which can take the form of a software engine to provide a tracking engine and system that allows for the definition, allocation, and tracking of variable input E&O on a customer-by-customer, project-by-project, and part-by-part basis. For example, a first customer can classify any existing parts with demand for these parts exceeding 90 days as excess parts and any parts inventory with no demand within a 120-day range as expired. On the other hand, a second customer can classify any parts with no demand within a 120-day range as excess and any parts with no demand within 270 days as expired.

[0058] In the above example, embodiments of the E&O tracking engine can be implemented, for example, through the disclosed exemplary graphical user interface (GUI), by each customer, by each component, by each material, by each time range, by definition, by time range (day, month, quarter, year, etc.). Thus, the engine can independently track excess and expired items for each customer 1, on a partial basis over 90 days and 120 days; and for customer 2, independently track excess and expired items on a partial basis over 120 days and 270 days. Furthermore, the engine and system 214 can preferably independently track components and materials for each customer using all identification information (i.e., by customer component number, supplier component number, contract manufacturer component number, by searching through complete or partial component descriptions, etc.).

[0059] The embodiments enable the use of all the foregoing information to track component and material inventory using embedded analytics tools (such as comparing demand curves with inventory curves), allowing for the development of claims for excess and expired components on a component-by-component and customer-by-customer basis. Furthermore, the disclosed excess and expired engine and application 214 can allow for the partial or complete exclusion of such claims to achieve improved customer service; this exclusion can require administrative permission from any of a variety of user levels, which can vary depending on the customer and / or user.

[0060] Furthermore, the disclosed E&O engine 214 can also allow mining on a per-provider, per-supplier, per-customer, or similar basis, which can uniquely indicate the characteristics of different providers / suppliers and / or the expected remedial actions of the E&O, such as whether parts and materials can be returned, cannot be returned, can be reused for the same or different customers (e.g., indicating that partial payment credit can be provided to the initial customer) or can be used elsewhere (e.g., alternative parts for the same or different customers at different nodes).

[0061] The disclosed E&O engine 214 can provide contract manufacturers with security in communications, such as by changing visible customers and suppliers on a user-by-user basis, and can provide contract manufacturers with a unique and independent verification tool to provide verified claims regarding E&O claims to individual customers. This avoids the difficulties in the prior art, where contract manufacturers typically do not make claims against customers unless they are 100% certain that the claim is correct, partially avoiding negative customer perceptions of the contract manufacturer.

[0062] Figure 3 A block diagram of an E&O engine 214 according to some embodiments is shown. As shown, the E&O engine 214 may include one or more rule sets 302, 304 that have access to and applicability to one or more customer databases 306, 308, 310, which are hierarchically segmented by customer identifiers (and / or by users, administrators, vertical customers, suppliers, etc.) 306a. Exemplary customer identifiers 306a may be numeric, alphanumeric, or alphanumeric, and may or may not be wholly or partially searchable.

[0063] The evaluation of the customer identifier 306a in the gateway customer database 306 provides secure data access 312 to at least two specific customer databases 308, 310 via any one or more known data security methods. The first database 308 contains contractual terms 320 of the agreement between the contract manufacturer and the customer 306a; and the second database 310 contains parts and materials 330 for one or more manufacturing projects contracted with the specific customer 306a, along with all associated identifiers. Of course, based on the discussion herein, those skilled in the art will understand that single or multiple relational or similar data partitioning units may be used in embodiments within the scope of this disclosure, and therefore, the formats of the three databases 306, 308, 310 discussed herein are provided by way of example and for the sake of simplicity in the discussion.

[0064] Access to the aforementioned databases 306, 308, and 310 via the disclosed GUI is subject to the aforementioned rule sets 302 and 304. That is, claims made via the GUI are subject not only to contract terms, component identifiers, and customer identifier restrictions, but also to rule sets common to all or some customers and / or rule sets specific to a particular selected customer 306a. As a non-limiting example, such rule sets 302 and 304 may include: required administrative oversight, such as requiring certain administrative approval in cases where a user requests the waiver / exclusion of an E&O claim from the GUI 340; minimum requirements, such as no item can be considered excessive until 5 business days from the date the order was accepted; maximum requirements, such as no item can be considered anything other than expired if it has been in stock for more than 500 days; and so on.

[0065] Therefore, initially, customer information can be entered into the customer database 308, for example, into the GUI 340. Once customer 306a is entered, the GUI 340 can allow the customer's contract terms to be entered, either manually or by uploading a reviewed manufacturing contract, either manually or using an AI engine 350 associated with or part of the E&O engine 214 (which may, for example, ask the GUI user if the AI ​​interpretation of the contract is correct); and to upload or have a list of parts and materials related to the agreed manufacturing identified by AI. More specifically, as an example, the AI ​​engine 350 can be applied by rule sets 302 and 304.

[0066] GUI 340 may additionally include menus for claim formulation and data interpretation tools provided by the aforementioned rule sets, such as waterfall charts, demand curves, inventory, curves, etc., as discussed and illustrated throughout, and these menus and accessible features may vary based on the current user of GUI 340. For example, GUI 340 may additionally allow input or uploading of typical “account” features known to those skilled in the art. For example, a contract manufacturer user of GUI 350 may provide an account by uploading certain information or answering a series of questions, and a customer account may be created by similarly uploading information or answering a series of questions. Furthermore, rule sets 302, 304 may indicate a series of questions to be asked of the user, such as in the case of anticipated E&O claims, in the case of account creation, or in the case of IT issues, such as: as a non-limiting example, a request to upload information indicating an E&O issue; a request for a general description of the issue; the ability to attach documents; relevant dates and times; password input and verification; etc.

[0067] Figure 4This is a screenshot 400 showing an E&O claims window 402 for a specific customer, presented to a user of the GUI 350, which forms part of the E&O engine 214 detailed above. As shown, in the claims summary window 400 shown, the user can create a claim 404; refer to a claim already in process 406; be provided with instructions on the components that can withstand a claim 408; perform available data analysis, such as to understand the main contributors to the E&O of a given customer 410; and so on.

[0068] Additionally, note that the Claim Summary section 400 can be limited to mining for a specific customer, but it can begin at a higher level, having a list of all claims (such as anticipated and ongoing) for all customers or for a specific subset of customers, such as customers in a specific vertical industry or customers visible based on the current GUI user's account access. For example, the Claim Summary 400 can be provided as a grid containing information about the claim, such as the date the claim was created, the claim's workflow status, the specific customer, the claim's part descriptor, the manufacturer associated with the claim, the inventory location of the claimed part, and all or part of the claimable value, etc.

[0069] Figure 5A and 5B The GUI window 502 used to create E&O claims is shown in particular. Figure 5A Actuation of the “create new claim” actuable element 404 is shown from the initial and / or higher-level access screen of GUI 502. Figure 5B The example shown is customer 502a, which will be used to create the claim. It's worth noting that the available customer hierarchy available for screen 502 can be filtered based on the customers the current user serves or other relevant criteria for the current user, such as based on the user's login.

[0070] Figure 6 further illustrates a window or aspect 602 for selecting the site / node (or multiple sites / nodes) associated with a specific claim 602a and selecting claim type 602b. As a non-limiting example, the selections made in Figures 5 and 6 can be associated with various types and locations of claims, including but not limited to overage, overdue, delivery cost, and shipping cost claims. More specifically, during the GUI mining process through Figures 5 and 6, the E&O engine 214 can additionally generate a list of parts and materials that can be categorized according to the selected definition / type / location / inventory / customer.

[0071] Figure 7The window 620 allows selection of a date or date range. This date window 620 can allow selection of a specific date, for example, such as when applying a contract with that date as a definition of excess or expiration, or the date window 620 can allow selection of a date range 620a from which data or data analysis can be displayed to the user. It is worth noting that regarding... Figure 3 The rule sets 302 and 304 mentioned may additionally include the application of general rules, such as the “standard” definitions of excess and expiration, which may be automatically applied by the E&O engine 214 if the uploaded contract or contract terms do not include or the aforementioned AI cannot recognize such definitions, and may additionally include, for example, data or data analysis options available to the user for a given date range.

[0072] Figure 8A and 8B A claim overview and details grid window 702 is shown, accessible to the user through one or more of the GUI interfaces cited throughout the text, and hyperlinked to various information discussed throughout the text and displayed at the top level of grid 702. The claim details grid 702 can provide summary information about the claim or anticipated claim, and may additionally provide summary data in a hyperlinked format, allowing users to delve deeper into details such as clicking on specific numbers or definitions. Figure 3 In one or more of the databases discussed, and furthermore, before or during mining, anticipated or claimed parts can be filtered or searched, such as by numbers, letters, alphanumeric codes, etc. Figure 9A and 9B As shown in GUI screen 802.

[0073] Figure 10A , 10B Figure 10C illustrates a detailed GUI 902 for claimable parts. These illustrations provide details about each part eligible for or potentially eligible for a claim, such as parameters selectable based on aspects previously discussed in the GUI. Notably, various different indicators may be included for each part, such as the customer part number and the contract manufacturer's part number. Additionally, aging days may be a defined or variable term, for example, regarding... Figure 3 The set of rules mentioned (one or more) can apply the first-in-first-out rule of aging days, although the definition can be modified to fit the scope of the term defined in a particular customer’s contract.

[0074] Note further that GUI 902 in Figure 10 allows for modifications or suggested modifications to the ordering of parts and materials. Failure to implement these modifications or suggested modifications could lead to ongoing or exacerbated inefficiencies in the contract manufacturing process. For example, if existing inventory exceeds the inventory on the order, and the inventory on the order may be returned and refunded, the GUI can suggest to the user that they can return the inventory on the order and instead use the existing inventory. Further information from parts and materials suppliers, such as minimum order increments, lead times, and cancellation lead times, may also be available within the GUI in Figure 10.

[0075] Figure 11A and 11B A window 1002 is shown for generating exemplary data analysis based on a GUI user request, and window 1002 can be included, for example, to support the making of a claim. Figure 11A As shown, various charts can be associated with the data described in Figure 10. For example, such as Figure 11B As shown, a waterfall chart illustrates the relationship between inventory and demand over time. In this chart, some bars represent demand, while the darker bars represent inventory over time during the selected snapshot date (shown along the X-axis). In short, Figure 11B The chart illustrates when demand falls below inventory levels, which, based on customer definitions, may indicate that the parts shown in the grid have become excessive.

[0076] Figure 12 A GUI 1102 providing the aforementioned features is shown, in which a developed claim can be routed to another user, such as for administrative purposes. Furthermore, the history of claims can be tracked through this screen 1102, including, for example, when a claim was forwarded for administrative review, and any preset timeframes required to complete the administrative review.

[0077] Claims history can also include any of the various basic information or options regarding a given claim or anticipated claim. This is in Figure 13 As shown in GUI 1202. Figure 13 The document also shows that the status of a claim can be tracked in the claim history. For example, a draft claim can indicate that the claim has been created for the first time, or that an administrator has sent the claim back to the creator for revisions. A claim ready for approval can indicate that the claim is ready for administrative processing by the contract manufacturer. A claim ready for customer review can indicate that it has been fully reviewed administratively before being offered to the customer, and a claim awaiting approval can indicate that it is awaiting customer approval and payment. Of course, additional statuses can include being returned by the customer for further review, being accepted by the customer for payment, being closed for any reason, or being deleted or withdrawn.

[0078] As discussed throughout this document, the algorithms within engine 214 can also perform and / or allow simulations, such as those provided to comparators within the analysis engine 214, which can simulate the results of recommended modifications to the supply chain compared to an unmodified supply chain (e.g., one that can be input by the user). Such simulation results on the supply chain can be provided to the user as a snapshot of a one-time modification, or can be provided to the user within a given scope, such as the effect of recommended modifications to the supply chain over a six-month period.

[0079] Needless to say, in a given manually requested simulation, the user has access to numerous variables that they can change (the simulation can also be automated by the analysis engine), and the user can switch those variables in real time and receive the modified simulation output. As a non-limiting example, variables could include service level (whether the target delivery date for the part has been met), inventory level, supply date, end-of-life proximity (as can be estimated across many datasets of similar parts), contract overdue range, expired contract range, etc. The user can then modify any of these variables and be provided with the simulation results for that modification, or the user can modify different part metrics and be able to see the impact of that modification on one or more of the aforementioned variables. Such simulations can further include predictive modeling.

[0080] The exemplary embodiments discussed herein, leveraging the processing and networking nature of the disclosed platform and associated applications, can be combined with the specific features discussed herein to provide typical data services. As a non-limiting example, reports may be available (e.g., for download) and may be output in various formats / file types, and various visualizations may be used. Furthermore, some aspects discussed herein may be modified in mobile device-based embodiments, for example, to reduce processing requirements and / or accommodate modified displays.

[0081] As can be seen from the detailed description above, various features are grouped together in a single embodiment to make this disclosure flow smoothly. This method of disclosure should not be construed as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as reflected in the appended claims, the subject matter of the invention lies in all features of fewer than a single disclosed embodiment. Therefore, the following claims are thus incorporated into the detailed description, wherein each claim is an independent embodiment.

Claims

1. An application residing in a supply chain management system, comprising: At least one set of rules; At least one database of different customers who have entered into contracts to receive manufactured products from the supply chain, wherein the at least one database performs relational access based on some of the different customer entries in the at least one database, including at least the following: The manufactured products for the different customers corresponding to one of the selected entries in the different customer database; A complete list of all components and materials used in the manufacture of the product described herein; Definitions regarding when some of the components and materials become excessive and when some of the components and materials become expired, for one of the manufactured products and for one of the different customers, based on the contracts for each of the manufactured products and for each of the different customers; as well as A graphical user interface (GUI) is adapted to provide access to at least the manufactured product, the complete list of components and materials, and details of the definition, such that claims for excess or expiration can be made via the GUI for at least one of the components or at least one of the materials, based on an application defined by the at least one set of rules. The GUI also provides an embedded analytics tool that can at least track the demand and inventory of the components and materials, allowing for the development of claims for excess and expired components on a component-by-component and customer-by-customer basis. The embedded analysis tool includes at least pattern recognition to evaluate patterns that lead to over-expiration and / or solutions that lead to over-expiration and expiration.

2. The application according to claim 1, wherein, in addition to claims, the GUI further implements curative measures for either the overdose or the expired substance.

3. The application according to claim 2, wherein the cure includes using excess expired parts representing the different customers in different manufactured products within the manufactured product.

4. The application according to claim 2, wherein the cure includes using excess expired parts representing different customers among the different manufactured products in the manufactured products.

5. The application of claim 1, wherein some of the different customers visible in the GUI are changed based on the current user through the at least one set of rules.

6. The application of claim 1, wherein some of the manufactured products visible in the GUI are changed based on the current user through the at least one set of rules.

7. The application of claim 1, wherein the at least one set of rules allows for the exclusion of the claim, in whole or in part, based on the current user.

8. The application of claim 1, wherein access to the GUI is account-based.

9. The application of claim 1 further includes a link to at least one inventory management system, wherein the link provides an automatic evaluation of the satisfaction of the definition.

10. The application of claim 1 further includes a link to a component and material ordering system, wherein the component and material ordering system is capable of providing data regarding the fulfillment of the definition.

11. The application of claim 10, wherein the data includes at least the order date.

12. The application of claim 10, wherein the data includes at least return and refund terms.

13. The application of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule set comprises rules common to all the different customers.

14. The application of claim 1, wherein the at least one set of rules comprises rules common to all said manufactured products.

15. The application of claim 1, wherein the at least one set of rules includes administrative permissions.

16. The application of claim 1, wherein the definition is manually entered into the GUI.

17. The application of claim 1, wherein the definition is automatically entered into the GUI.

18. The application of claim 17, wherein the automatic input includes artificial intelligence.

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