Methods, computer programs, and systems for planning the flow of materials.

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, system, and computer program for planning the flow of materials. The method comprises the steps of: determining a shortage of resources; determining an identifier assigned to the shortage of resources; searching a database using the identifier assigned to the shortage of resources; determining an alternative resource from the database using the identifier assigned to the shortage of resources, wherein the determined alternative resource substitutes for the shortage of resources; and using the determined alternative resource in the flow of materials.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method, a computer program, and a system for planning the flow of materials. In particular, the present invention relates to a computer-implemented method for planning the flow of materials, the computer-implemented method comprising the steps of determining a shortage resource, determining an identifier assigned to the shortage resource, searching a database using the identifier assigned to the shortage resource, determining an alternative resource from the database using the identifier assigned to the shortage resource, the step of determining the alternative resource substituting the shortage resource, and using the determined alternative resource in the flow of materials. Further, the present invention relates to a computer program for planning the flow of materials according to the aforementioned method. Further, the present invention relates to a system for planning the flow of materials according to the aforementioned method.

Background Art

[0002] Supply chain management (SCM) is a term that refers to the tactical coordination within a company and across the supply chain, including the inter-company coordination between conventional business functions, as well as the strategic coordination between these business functions, in a company, and aims at improving the long-term performance of individual companies and the entire supply chain.

[0003] The trend towards focusing on core competencies (i.e., through outsourcing) and reducing vertically integrated manufacturing has led to the development of more collaborative supply chains. Competition in the global market, shortening of product development periods, shortening of product life cycles, and increasing customer needs have positioned the supply chain at the center of decision-making.

[0004] As a result, competition in each target market is no longer between vertically integrated individual manufacturers, but rather between complex supply chains consisting of networked, independent companies. Such decentralized systems gain a competitive advantage through market-appropriate configurations of their structures and through the coordination and integration of autonomously controlled activities within the supply chain.

[0005] The present invention is particularly aimed at planning the flow of materials in supply chains and SCM systems. A scenario relating to a supply chain in the automotive industry is given below as an example for illustrative purposes, though not limiting. However, similar applications are expressly encompassed in this disclosure. Similar applications include, for example, supply chains for individual automotive parts. Furthermore, such similar use cases may also apply to other industrial products such as aircraft, ships, and motorcycles.

[0006] Due to a shortage of available resources such as semiconductors (hereinafter referred to as "resource shortages"), the number of cars manufactured in the automotive industry has decreased by approximately 20% annually in recent years. In the German automotive industry alone, this corresponds to a production reduction of approximately 2.5 million vehicles per year. As a result, the production facilities of automotive manufacturers and suppliers at every stage of the supply chain or material flow are not being utilized to their full potential.

[0007] To maximize the utilization of their production facilities, automakers and suppliers are responding with excessive procurement campaigns. However, these do not solve the problem of underutilized production facilities; they merely move materials or deficient resources within the supply chain.

[0008] The aforementioned problems with the flow of materials or the movement of depleted resources within a supply chain do not only occur at the vertical level, i.e., at different hierarchical levels referred to below as hierarchies, between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers. In contrast, the aforementioned problems also occur horizontally, i.e., between suppliers at the same hierarchical level, for example, hierarchical level 1, hierarchical level 2, ..., hierarchical level n.

[0009] U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020 / 006 5759 A1 discloses a platform for managing engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics operations that efficiently and effectively configure elements of product development, production, supply chain, and logistics operations, and dynamically control these elements, supply chain, and logistics to optimize performance. The platform also provides the ability to selectively and securely display data related to production elements, logistics, and supply chain, enabling real-time monitoring to support sales, financial management, or after-sales processes.

[0010] U.S. Patent Application Publication 2018 / 008 9604 A1 discloses embodiments of a system, method, and computer program product for performing real-time supply chain response planning. The described embodiments operate by receiving a request from a client device specifying the quantity of a product to be requested within a time period. A list of constraints associated with the product is then identified from a constraints table. Each constraint variation in the list is associated with a net availability table stored in an in-memory database with column-oriented storage. Based on the constraints variation table, the capacity required to satisfy the request is determined for each constraint variation in the list. The request is simulated within the current supply chain plan by aggregating the available capacity for each constraint variation using one or more columns of the associated net availability table to determine whether the required capacity for each constraint variation is met. Based on the simulated request, the results are sent to the customer device.

[0011] U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011 / 032 0805 A1 discloses an implementation of a method for sharing data in a supply chain, the data comprising: a label corresponding to an item to which a label is assigned; generating data corresponding to an item; generating a data reference; encrypting the data using an encryption key to generate encrypted data; transmitting the encrypted data over a network for storage in a database based on the data reference; writing the data reference and encryption key to a label; and transferring the item to a successor in the supply chain. The implementation includes retrieving information electronically stored on a label, the information including a data reference and an encryption key; transmitting a data request over a network to retrieve encrypted data from a database, the data request including a data reference; receiving the encrypted data from the database; and decrypting the encrypted data using the encryption key to provide the decrypted data.

[0012] U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006 / 015 5593 A1 discloses a method, system, and computer implementation architecture for performing supply chain planning. In one implementation, a system is provided comprising a database configured to store master data describing elements of a supply chain; a model generator coupled to the database and configured to derive a core model of the master database representing a supply chain planning problem; and a solver configured to convert the core model into a mathematical model and determine a solution to the mathematical model. The system may further include a preprocessing unit configured to preprocess the core model by applying a set of rules to the core model to derive a preprocessed core model, from which the solver creates a mathematical model. By applying a set of preprocessing rules to the core model in which the business logic of the supply chain planning problem still resides, the process of solving the planning problem may be improved and the solver's performance may be enhanced. Furthermore, meaningful results obtained from preprocessing may be communicated to the customer.

[0013] Catena-X is a collaborative open data ecosystem for the automotive industry. Catena-X connects global players to an end-to-end value chain. Its goal is standardized global data exchange. Data providers retain control and individually determine the participants, methods, timing, location, and conditions of data exchange. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0014] However, all of the above disclosures have the drawback that determining alternative resources is a computationally intensive operation due to the enormous number of resources required for complex products. Therefore, it is computationally impossible to determine alternative resources for specific shortages in a timely manner. [Means for solving the problem]

[0015] The inherent object of the present invention is achieved by the features of the independent claim. Advantageous embodiments of the present invention are defined by the dependent claims.

[0016] In a first embodiment, a method for planning the flow of materials is provided. The computer implementation method relates the steps of: determining a shortage of resources; determining an identifier assigned to the shortage of resources; searching a database using the identifier assigned to the shortage of resources; determining an alternative resource from the database using the identifier assigned to the shortage of resources, wherein the determined alternative resource substitutes for the shortage of resources; and using the determined alternative resource in the flow of materials.

[0017] According to this first embodiment, deficient resources are replaced by alternative resources based on identifiers. By using identifiers to replace deficient resources with alternative resources, a high-performance data format is provided that serves as the basis for the database to efficiently determine alternative resources for deficient resources.

[0018] In a preferred embodiment, the database comprises multiple databases, which are hosted on different computers.

[0019] In a more preferred embodiment, the step of searching a database comprises the step of searching multiple databases on different computers.

[0020] In a more preferred embodiment, multiple databases on different computers are associated with different hierarchies in the computer's hierarchical structure.

[0021] In a more preferred embodiment, each hierarchy has multiple databases. Each hierarchy corresponds to a hierarchy of planned material flows.

[0022] In a further preferred embodiment, each of the databases at the same level is associated with a different computer of the manufacturer of the scarce resources.

[0023] In a further preferred embodiment, the step of determining alternative resources from the database includes the step of replacing the scarce resources within the hierarchy from another manufacturer at the same level.

[0024] In another preferred embodiment, the identifier is constructed from an industry code and a material manufacturer code. In another preferred embodiment, the identifier may be a Supply Chain Transparency (SCT) identifier, hereinafter referred to as SCT TD.

[0025] In another preferred embodiment, the step of determining scarce resources includes the step of determining the required amount of scarce resources, the step of determining the inventory level of scarce resources from the inventory of scarce resources, and the step of determining that the inventory level of scarce resources from the inventory of scarce resources is less than the required amount of scarce resources.

[0026] In another preferred embodiment, the alternative resources are equivalent to the scarce resources.

[0027] In another embodiment, a computer program is provided. When executed by a computer, the computer program has instructions to cause the computer to execute the method according to any of the foregoing embodiments.

[0028] In another embodiment, a system for planning the flow of materials is provided. The system includes means for determining shortage resources, means for determining identifiers assigned to the shortage resources, means for searching a database using the identifiers assigned to the shortage resources, means for determining alternative resources from the database using the identifiers assigned to the shortage resources, where the determined alternative resources replace the shortage resources, and means for using the determined alternative resources in the flow of materials. Further characteristics, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by describing the preferred embodiments of the present invention below with reference to the accompanying exemplary drawings.

[0029] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the following drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0030] [Figure 1] FIG. shows a method for planning the flow of materials according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. shows a system for planning the flow of materials according to a further embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. shows an architecture for constructing a database using identifiers according to a further embodiment of the present invention.

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0031] Preferred embodiments for planning the flow of materials are described below.

[0032] Figure 1 shows an exemplary workflow for a method of planning the flow of materials according to one embodiment of the present invention. The method begins in step 1, in which an OEM, in this case OEM A, defines a bottleneck related to a specific part. In this embodiment, the specific part is a resource shortage. The defined bottleneck is stored in a database. In step 2, a Tier 1 manufacturer, here called Tier 1A, more precisely defines the resource shortage. The resource shortage, thus more precisely defined, is stored in a database. In step 3, a Tier 2 manufacturer, in this case a semiconductor manufacturer, identifies the same resource shortage that the semiconductor manufacturer supplied to a Tier 1 manufacturer, in this case Tier 1B. Step 3 is also performed based on the database. In step 4, Tier 1B, which is a Tier 1 manufacturer, confirms that it has placed the resource shortage in the part. Furthermore, Tier 1 manufacturer confirms to Tier 1B that other OEMs obtained the part containing the resource shortage from Tier 1B, which is a Tier 1 manufacturer. Step 4 is also performed based on the database. In step 5, OEM B verifies the availability of the part containing the resource shortage. This step is also performed based on the database. Furthermore, in step 5, OEM B may define the resource shortage to be obtained by exchange. The definition can be automatically verified in the background by the database and the software based thereon. It is also possible to verify whether the deficient resources acquired by OEM B through the exchange are used by another OEM, such as OEM A, and are available for exchange. As mentioned above, the database is used to verify whether OEM A's deficient resources are compatible with OEM B's deficient resources in the same quantity and for the same period. In step 6, an exchange agreement is concluded between OEM A and OEM B.

[0033] Figure 2 shows an exemplary system for planning material flows according to the present invention. The system is based on individually programmed software (hereinafter referred to as SCT software) partially assisted by artificial intelligence, or AI. At its core are a database (here, a SQL-based SCT database) and computer-assisted assignment of identifiers to shortage resources (here, SCT IDs). The SCT software and SCT database have an interface that allows for the exchange of data related to shortage resources with various OEMs and Tier 1-n manufacturers. The interface is designed as a homepage and / or specific software modules (here, SCT apps). The database and interface are subject to access control. Access control may allow access via a virtual private network (VPN) and / or via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) stick. In the initial deployment phase, individual data records may be manually entered by individual employees of OEMs, Tier 1-n manufacturers, and semiconductor manufacturers via secure access to the homepage. In later stages, if a bottleneck or shortage occurs, data is exchanged digitally, or automatically, from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) IT systems (often SAP or Oracle) of each affected company connected to the network.

[0034] Figure 3 shows an exemplary architecture for setting up a database using an identifier according to a further embodiment of the present invention. The identifier may be a Supply Chain Transparency (SCT) ID. In step 1, the OEM can determine the depleted resource. In step 2, an identifier assigned to the depleted resource may be determined. The determined identifier may be the aforementioned SCT ID. In step 3, the database may be searched using the SCT ID associated with the depleted resource. The database may be an SCT database. In step 4, an alternative resource may be determined using the SCT database based on the SCT ID associated with the depleted resource. The resource thus determined can substitute for the depleted resource and is hereafter referred to as the alternative resource. In step 5, the predetermined alternative resource may be used in the material flow. In step 6, each of steps 1 through 5 described above may be tracked in another database. The other database may be an SCT database or another database.

[0035] The embodiments and examples described above can be considered the first stage in a three-stage overall process. Therefore, stages 2 and 3 will be described in more detail below.

[0036] Stage 2: Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help developers find the right components (e.g., semiconductors) within a supply chain transparency (SCT) build kit. The SCT IDs of scarce resources can be used in conjunction with AI software in the second step to progressively build a standard SCT build kit in collaboration with Tier 1 manufacturers and manufacturers of scarce resources. This standard SCT build kit is used by developers as part of an AI-assisted SCT selection tool to select appropriate scarce resources (e.g., standard semiconductors) to meet OEM specifications or Tier 1 manufacturer suggestions and to reduce the diversity of scarce resources used (depending on specific parameters, e.g., industry, application area temperature, semiconductor functionality, etc.). The goal is to reduce application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and design-in-chips as product development generations advance. This will lead to increased use of more standardized scarce resources (e.g., the aforementioned standard semiconductors) and improved supply chain resilience.

[0037] The SCT database allows semiconductor manufacturers to classify their standard semiconductors using SCT IDs and provide them to customers with transparency. The SCT selection tool, with AI assistance, is used to select standard shortage resources (e.g., the aforementioned standard semiconductors) for specific customer application purposes. Ideally, multiple manufacturers providing compatible shortage resources (semiconductors) would shift the "single sourcing" strategy, frequently used in the automotive industry before the coronavirus pandemic, to a "dual sourcing" or "multiple sourcing" strategy. The market is becoming less reliant on individually custom-made shortage resources (semiconductors). This will lead to a gradual increase in market transparency.

[0038] Stage 3: The SCT software module is provided. As part of the transaction, each user in Stages 1 and 2 discloses information about their supply chain, which is stored in the SCT database in a structured format in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For example, Stage 1: The parts value chain, from the OEM to the manufacturer and then to its suppliers, may include weekly quantity specifications. Stage 2: SCT IDs link individual supplier parts together.

[0039] All of this information is available as data within the SCT database in a centralized manner compliant with GDPR. In parallel with Phases 1 and 2, SCT is developing software modules that are built upon and interconnected. All modules contribute to the goal of increasing supply chain transparency and resilience. From the outset, the SCT database is designed to provide the foundation for software modules such as the following: • SCT-SM (Short-Term Management) Module • SCT-DC (Demand / Capacity Management) Module • SCT-VCT (Value Chain Transparency) Module • SCT-DP (Demand Forecasting) Module • SCT-SERP (Simulation Enterprise Resource Planning) Module ·SCT-OCC (Operation Control Center)

[0040] The advantage of SCT software is that it can integrate data from the SCT database with future-oriented applications. Therefore, users of SCT stages 1 through 3 receive comprehensive and consistent technical support to enhance the resilience of their supply chains.

[0041] The above description merely illustrates preferred embodiments of the present invention. The description is not intended to limit one or more embodiments of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made without departing from the spirit and principles of one or more embodiments of the present invention are included within the scope of protection of one or more embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A computer implementation method for planning the flow of materials, wherein the computer implementation method is - Steps to determine the shortage of resources, - A step of determining an identifier associated with the insufficient resource, - A step of searching the database using the identifier associated with the missing resource, - A step of determining an alternative resource from the database based on the identifier assigned to the deficient resource, wherein the determined alternative resource replaces the deficient resource. - The step of using the alternative resources determined in the flow of materials mentioned above. A method that includes [a certain feature].

2. The computer implementation method according to claim 1, wherein the database comprises multiple databases, and the multiple databases are hosted on different computers.

3. The computer implementation method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the step of searching the database comprises the step of searching the plurality of databases on different computers.

4. The computer implementation method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of databases on different computers are each associated with different layers in the hierarchical structure of the computer.

5. The computer implementation method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein each hierarchical level has multiple databases, and each hierarchical level corresponds to the hierarchical level of the planned material flow.

6. The computer implementation method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein each of the databases at the same hierarchical level is associated with a different computer of the manufacturer of the deficient resource.

7. The computer implementation method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the step of determining alternative resources from the database comprises the step of having another manufacturer at the same hierarchical level substitute the deficient resources within the hierarchy.

8. The computer implementation method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the identifier is constructed from an industry code and a material manufacturer code.

9. The step of determining the resources that are lacking is, - A step of determining the required amount of the aforementioned insufficient resources, - A step of determining the amount of the insufficient resource in stock from the inventory of the insufficient resource, - A step of determining from the inventory of the insufficient resource that the amount of the inventory of the insufficient resource is less than the required amount of the insufficient resource. A computer implementation method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising:

10. - A step of comparing the planned production plans of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), a Tier 1 supplier, and a supplier of the said shortage resources, wherein the planned production plans have quantities per unit time, particularly per day or per week. The computer implementation method according to claim 9, further comprising:

11. The computer implementation method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the substitute resource is equivalent to the deficient resource.

12. A computer program that, when executed by a computer, comprises instructions causing the computer to perform the method described in any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. It is a system for planning the flow of materials. - Means for determining the shortage of resources, - Means for determining the identifier assigned to the aforementioned deficient resource, - Means for searching the database using the identifier assigned to the missing resource, - A means for determining an alternative resource from the database using the identifier assigned to the deficient resource, wherein the determined alternative resource replaces the deficient resource. - Means for using the alternative resources determined in the flow of materials A system equipped with these features.

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