Systems and methods for determining duty costs associated with a supply chain network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11868950-B2
Application number	US-202117185942-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2021
Priority date	Feb 25, 2021
Publication date	Jan 9, 2024
Grant date	Jan 9, 2024

Abstract

Input data provides an order of a quantity of finished goods to a site. Software is programmed for: accessing data defining an architecture of the supply chain network with sites, and a location of each site; enumerating one or more path solutions along the supply chain network to fulfill the order, each path solution comprising path fragments connecting two sites, a path fragment defining movement of a sub-quantity of the finished goods or raw materials; determining a cost associated with each of the plurality of path fragments, the cost comprising a duty rate, the duty rate associated with a particular path fragment based on the locations of the two sites connected by the particular path fragment and the sub-quantity of the finished goods or finished goods raw materials moved between the two sites; determining one or more optimal path solutions; and outputting the optimal path solutions for display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method executed using one or more processors, the method comprising:
receiving input data comprising an order to provide a quantity of one or more finished goods to a site through a supply chain network, the one or more finished goods each comprising one or more raw materials;
accessing information that defines an architecture of the supply chain network comprising a plurality of sites, wherein the information comprises a location of each of the plurality of sites, the input data and information being stored in working copies of tables in computer memory;
decomposing, by the processors, the supply chain network into one or more sub-networks to reduce a computer memory requirement prior to an enumeration of path solutions, wherein a number of sub-networks is based on a number of common raw materials of the one or more raw materials;
detecting, by the processors, one or more loops in the supply chain network, wherein a loop comprises a plurality of path fragments connecting two or more sites in a circular manner;
prior to enumeration of one or more path solutions, eliminating one or more of the detected loops to reduce model processing deadlocks or errors;
enumerating, by the processors and based on the input data and the architecture, the one or more path solutions along the supply chain network or along the one or more sub-networks to fulfill the order, wherein each enumerated path solution comprises a set of one or more path fragments, wherein each path fragment associated with an enumerated path solution defines a movement of a sub-quantity of the one or more finished goods or the one or more raw materials between two sites of the plurality of sites;
generating, during the enumeration of the path solutions, by the computer-implemented method and based on a heuristic approach, a subset of possible path solutions to fulfill the order;
filtering, during or after the enumeration of the path solutions, one or more invalid path fragments based on one or more site constraints or predetermined criteria, to further decrease a number of possible path solutions to fulfill the order;
dynamically releasing computer memory associated with the one or more invalid path fragments to reduce the computer memory requirement;
determining a cost associated with each path fragment associated with each enumerated path solution based on respective locations of the two sites connected by the respective path fragment and the sub-quantity of the one or more finished goods or one or more finished goods raw materials moved between the two sites;
determining one or more optimal path solutions based on the subset of possible path solutions generated during the enumeration and the determined cost associated with each path fragment associated with each enumerated path solution; and
outputting the one or more optimal path solutions for display on a client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cost associated with each path fragment is determined by a network optimization model, the model comprising one or more linear equation models.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a finished good network for a first site in the plurality of sites, wherein the finished good network is based on the one or more sub-networks.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input data further comprises the one or more predetermined criteria, wherein the outputted one or more optimal path solutions are ranked based on the one or more predetermined criteria.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising prior to outputting the one or more optimal path solutions, removing one or more of the optimal path solutions based on the one or more predetermined criteria.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the eliminating of the one or more loops in the supply chain network further comprises:
assigning an influence value to each of the two or more sites in the supply chain network in a circular manner; and
generating a path from a first site of the two or more sites to a second site of the two or more sites with a highest influence value.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input data further comprises an override duty rate, wherein the cost is further based on the override duty rate.

8. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:
receive input data comprising an order to provide a quantity of one or more finished goods to a site through a supply chain network, the one or more finished goods each comprising one or more raw materials;
access information that defines an architecture of the supply chain network comprising a plurality of sites, wherein the information comprises a location of each of the plurality of sites, the input data and information being stored in working copies of tables in computer memory;
decompose the supply chain network into one or more sub-networks to reduce a computer memory requirement prior to an enumeration of path solutions, wherein a number of sub-networks is based on a number of common raw materials of the one or more raw materials;
detect one or more loops in the supply chain network, wherein a loop comprises a plurality of path fragments connecting two or more sites in a circular manner;
prior to enumeration of one or more path solutions, eliminate one or more of the detected loops to reduce model processing deadlocks or errors;
enumerate, based on the input data and the architecture, the one or more path solutions along the supply chain network or along the one or more sub-networks to fulfill the order, wherein each enumerated path solution comprises a set of one or more path fragments, wherein each path fragment associated with an enumerated path solution defines a movement of a sub-quantity of the one or more finished goods or the one or more raw materials between two sites of the plurality of sites;
generate, during the enumeration of the path solutions, by a computer-implemented method and based on a heuristic approach, a subset of possible path solutions to fulfill the order;
filter, during or after the enumeration of the path solutions, one or more invalid path fragments based on one or more site constraints or predetermined criteria, to further decrease a number of possible path solutions to fulfill the order;
dynamically release computer memory associated with the one or more invalid path fragments to reduce the computer memory requirement;
determine a cost associated with each path fragment associated with each enumerated path solution based on respective locations of the two sites connected by the respective path fragment and the sub-quantity of the one or more finished goods or one or more finished goods raw materials moved between the two sites;
determine one or more optimal path solutions based on the subset of possible path solutions generated during the enumeration and the determined cost associated with each path fragment associated with each enumerated path solution; and
output the one or more optimal path solutions for display on a client device.

9. The media of claim 8 , wherein the cost associated with each path fragment is determined by a network optimization model, the model comprising one or more linear equation models.

10. The media of claim 8 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to generate a finished good network for a first site in the plurality of sites, wherein the finished good network is based on the one or more sub-networks.

11. The media of claim 8 , wherein the input data further comprises the one or more predetermined criteria, wherein the outputted one or more optimal path solutions are ranked based on the one or

Assignees

• Coupa Software Inc

Inventors

• Le Tung Hoang
• Ouyang Zheng
• Taghavi Behbahani Seyed Ali
• Strickler Jr Gary Robert

Classifications

• G06Q10/08345 Primary

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