Inventory management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019347606-A1
Application number	US-201815975604-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 9, 2018
Priority date	May 9, 2018
Publication date	Nov 14, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing inventory items within a supply chain are disclosed. One method includes receiving, at a software tool, inputs related to a plurality of inventory items, the inputs including a cost of holding each of the plurality of inventory items at a location type. The method includes determining, individually for each inventory item of a plurality of inventory items, an optimal inventory balance across a plurality of locations, wherein the optimal inventory balance is a predetermined statistical availability level set based on a desired customer availability of the inventory item. The method further includes automatically generating one or more inventory adjustment requests to achieve the optimal inventory balance across each of the plurality of locations for each of the plurality of inventory items.

First claim

1 . A method of managing inventory items within a supply chain, the method comprising:
receiving, at a software tool implemented on a computing system, inputs related to a plurality of inventory items, the inputs including a cost of holding each of the plurality of inventory items at a location type; determining, individually for each inventory item of a plurality of inventory items, an optimal inventory balance across a plurality of locations, wherein the optimal inventory balance is a predetermined statistical availability level set based on a desired customer availability of the inventory item, and wherein the plurality of locations include a plurality of locations selected from among retail locations, receiving centers, and flow centers; and automatically generating one or more inventory adjustment requests to achieve the optimal inventory balance across each of the plurality of locations for each of the plurality of inventory items, the inventory adjustment requests being selected from among a transfer order or rebalance order to initiate movement of inventory items within the enterprise to move inventory items between locations, or a purchase order to a vendor to order additional inventory items.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically determining an appropriate unit of measurement for each of the plurality of inventory items at each of the plurality of locations.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein an appropriate unit of measurement is selected from a pallet, a case, and an each.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of locations includes a plurality of retail locations associated with a flow center.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined statistical availability level at each of the plurality of retail locations is based on a level of uncertainty regarding consumer demand for the item, and wherein the predetermined statistical availability level at the flow center is based on a second level of uncertainty based on the collective uncertainty across the plurality of retail locations, wherein the second level of uncertainty is lower than the level of uncertainty.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined statistical availability level is at least 98% availability at the retail location.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inputs further include future events comprising promotions, sales plans, inventory item goals, and expected changes in sales patterns.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the inputs further include at least one of costs of moving the inventory item between locations, current inventory item levels at each location, and transit time to transfer the inventory item between locations.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the rebalance order includes the amount of inventory items to be moved, where the inventory items are to be moved, and when the inventory items are needed at the location.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein an optimal inventory balance for a flow center among the plurality of flow centers is based at least in part on optimal inventory balances at each of a plurality of related retail locations, and wherein the optimal inventory balances of each of the plurality of related retail locations is based on the predetermined statistical availability level.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating via the software tool a user interface providing a selectable view of current and optimal inventory balances at one or more of the plurality of locations.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving, via the software tool, an input identifying the predetermined statistical availability level for at least one item across the plurality of locations.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computing system cause the computing system to perform a method of managing inventory items in a supply chain, the method comprising:
receiving, at a software tool implemented on a computing system, inputs related to a plurality of inventory items, the inputs including a cost of holding each of the plurality of inventory items at a location type; determining, individually for each inventory item of a plurality of inventory items, an optimal inventory balance across a plurality of locations, wherein the optimal inventory balance is a predetermined statistical availability level set based on a desired customer availability of the inventory item, and wherein the plurality of locations include a plurality of locations selected from among retail locations, receiving centers, and flow centers; and automatically generating one or more inventory adjustment requests to achieve the optimal inventory balance across each of the plurality of locations for each of the plurality of inventory items, the inventory adjustment requests being selected from among a transfer order or rebalance order to initiate movement of inventory items within the enterprise to move inventory items between locations, or a purchase order to a vendor to order additional inventory items.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the desired customer availability is at least 98% availability at the retail location.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein an appropriate unit of measurement is selected from a pallet, a case, and an each.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the inputs further include future events comprising promotions, sales plans, inventory item goals, and expected changes in sales patterns.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the inputs further include at least one of costs of moving the inventory item between locations, current inventory item levels at each location, and transit time to transfer the inventory item between locations.

18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the rebalance order includes the amount of inventory items to be moved, where the inventory items are to be moved, and when the inventory items are needed at the location.

19 . A system for managing inventory items within a supply chain, the system comprising:
a computing system comprising at least one processor communicatively connected to a memory, the memory storing computer-executable instructions comprising a software tool which, when executed, causes the computing system to: receive inputs related to a plurality of inventory items, the inputs including a cost of holding each of the plurality of inventory items at a location type; determine, individually for each inventory item of a plurality of inventory items, an optimal inventory balance collectively across a plurality of locations based on a predetermined restocking time period, wherein the optimal inventory balance is a predetermined statistical availability level set based on a desired customer availability of the inventory item, and wherein the plurality of locations include a plurality of locations selected from among retail locations, receiving centers, and flow centers; and automatically generate one or more inventory adjustment requests to achieve the optimal inventory balance across each of the plurality of locations for each of the plurality of inventory items, the inventory adjustment requests being selected from among a transfer order or rebalance order to initiate movement of inventory items within the enterprise to move inventory items between locations, or a purchase order to a vendor to order additional inventory items.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the inputs related to at least one item of the plurali

Assignees

• Target Brands Inc

Inventors

• Malecha Gregory
• Neerkaje Abhijith
• Gruzman Aron
• Rao Ashwin
• Tallichetty Chandrashekar
• Eul Jeffrey
• Cox Joseph
• Chen Shaokuan
• Jelvis Tikhon

Classifications

• G06Q20/203

  Inventory monitoring · CPC title

• G06Q30/0223

  based on inventory · CPC title

• G06Q30/0201

  Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data · CPC title

• G06Q10/083 Primary

  Shipping · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title