Availability Check Rounding for Supply Chain Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current supply chain management systems use demand-quantity-oriented rounding algorithms that fail to accurately control the rounding process, leading to inefficiencies in availability checks and product delivery, as they round quantities without considering the specific package units and available stock.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method that rounds the required product quantity using predetermined algorithms, checks availability, and adjusts the available quantity by rounding down if necessary, ensuring the delivered quantity is as close as possible to the customer's requirement, optimizing packaging and transportation processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If demand-quantity-oriented rounding algorithms are used to round required quantity, then the rounding process is simplified, but the accuracy of availability check results deteriorates because the rounded result is irrespective of available stock and package units
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing an availability check on the required quantity before rounding. The system checks if the required quantity is available in stock, and only then rounds the quantity according to package units. This ensures that the rounding result is based on actual availability, preventing situations where rounded quantities exceed available stock. The preliminary availability check guarantees that subsequent rounding operations produce accurate and feasible results.
2Productivity
If rounding is performed before availability check, then the check process is streamlined, but the confirmed quantity may exceed available stock leading to delivery failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reverses the conventional sequence by performing availability check before rounding. The system first verifies that the required quantity exists in stock, then applies rounding to determine the final confirmed quantity. This preliminary availability verification ensures that the rounded result will never exceed available stock, eliminating delivery failures while maintaining process efficiency through automated algorithmic operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional rounding-then-check sequence by implementing check-then-rounding. Instead of rounding the required quantity first and then checking availability, the system checks availability of the original required quantity before applying rounding to package units. This inversion ensures that the availability constraint is satisfied before any rounding adjustments are made, guaranteeing that confirmed quantities are always deliverable.
3Quantity of substance
If rounding is performed after availability check, then available quantity is adjusted, but the confirmed quantity may still differ significantly from required quantity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by checking availability of the original required quantity before any rounding operations. This ensures that the base quantity for rounding is already validated against stock availability. Subsequent rounding to package units then produces a confirmed quantity that is both available and as close as possible to the original requirement, maximizing quantity matching accuracy while ensuring deliverability.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provide for optimizing the result of an availability check of a required quantity of products, wherein a plurality of rounding algorithms are provided. In one embodiment, a method is provided that comprises a first step of rounding, according to at least one predetermined rounding algorithm, the required quantity of products. The method may also comprise a second step of checking availability of the rounded quantity of products and a third step of rounding down, according to the at least one predetermined rounding algorithm, the available quantity of products if the available quantity of products is lower than the rounded required quantity of products.