Demand Planning Using Primary and Secondary Profile Tables
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional demand planning systems for configurable products in managed supply chains are inefficient due to the need for cumbersome bill of materials (BOM) creation and explosion, lack of flexibility, and inability to model assembled components, leading to inaccurate and time-consuming demand planning processes.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize primary and secondary profile planning tables to generate transactional data for demand planning, allowing for the direct modeling of assembled components and their components, thereby improving the accuracy and speed of demand planning by using characteristic-based forecasting to control the supply chain.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional demand planning systems use bill of materials (BOM) creation and explosion, then demand planning can be performed, but the process becomes time-consuming and cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the BOM explosion process from the demand planning system, separating it into a standalone production planning application. This allows the demand planning component to focus solely on forecasting demand without the computational overhead of BOM processing, significantly reducing planning time while maintaining accuracy through the extracted BOM data structure that is processed separately.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the supply chain planning system into distinct functional components: demand planning, production planning, and BOM management. Each component operates independently with defined interfaces, allowing demand planning to execute quickly without waiting for BOM processing, thereby reducing overall planning time while preserving reliability through coordinated data exchange.
2Productivity
If conventional systems require release and back release between planning components, then demand plans can be generated, but the processing becomes cumbersome and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the BOM explosion functionality from the demand planning component and places it in a separate production planning application. This eliminates the need for repeated release and back release cycles between components, as the demand planning application generates plans independently and transfers only the finalized demand plan data to production planning, significantly improving generation speed and reducing interaction complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of having demand planning wait for BOM data and then release results back through multiple cycles, the patent inverts the workflow: demand planning operates with its own data structures and generates plans directly, then transfers results in a single operation to production planning where BOM explosion occurs. This inversion eliminates the cumbersome back-release mechanism and improves productivity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional demand planning uses characteristics based forecasting, then product demand can be forecasted, but assembled components cannot be modeled directly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts assembled component modeling from conventional characteristics-based forecasting and implements it as a separate data structure within the demand planning application. This allows direct representation of assembled components with their specific characteristics while maintaining the flexibility of CBF for forecasting, preventing loss of assembled component information by giving it dedicated structural support.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal data structure that can represent both simple products and complex assembled components within the same demand planning framework. This multi-functional approach allows the system to handle various product types without losing assembled component information, while maintaining the adaptability of characteristics-based forecasting for different product configurations.
4Productivity
If conventional systems aggregate dependent demand for assembled components, then planning can continue, but the direct relation between components and finished product is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the demand planning data structure to maintain separate records for assembled components and their relationships to finished products. Instead of aggregating all dependent demand into a single plan, the system creates segmented demand plans that preserve the hierarchical relationships, allowing efficient processing while retaining component-product relationship information for analysis and reporting.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary data structure that acts as a mediator between assembled components and finished products in the demand plan. This intermediary layer preserves the direct relationships while enabling efficient planning calculations, preventing loss of component-product relationship information by maintaining it in a structured format that supports both productivity and information retention.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method of generating a demand plan for a configurable product in a managed supply chain using a computer, wherein the product comprises an assembled component. The method comprising: providing a processor device; accessing master data in a primary profile planning table for the configurable product, wherein the table includes data relating to the product, accessing master data in a secondary profile planning table for an assembled component of the configurable product including a header characteristic identifying the configurable product of which the assembled component is a component and data relating to the assembled component, processing the data in the primary profile planning table and the secondary profile planning table to generate transactional data as the demand plan taking into account the assembled component and controlling the supply of the product in accordance with the demand plan.