U.S. patent application number 14/579843 was filed with the patent office on 2016-02-18 for method for determining and analyzing impact severity of event on a network.
The applicant listed for this patent is ELEMENTUM SCM (CAYMAN) LTD.. Invention is credited to Robert Glenn Jones, Xiao Ying Lin, Dana Burrows Martin.
Application Number | 20160048938 14/579843 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 55302437 |
Filed Date | 2016-02-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160048938 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Jones; Robert Glenn ; et
al. |
February 18, 2016 |
METHOD FOR DETERMINING AND ANALYZING IMPACT SEVERITY OF EVENT ON A
NETWORK
Abstract
The present disclosure discloses a server having a
microprocessor, a memory, a network interface to receive incoming
and send outgoing messages, a buffer for temporary storage of
incoming and send outgoing messages, and an interface driver to
provide the control signals to effect operation of the network
interface and buffer. The memory can include a microprocessor
executable impact assessment analyzer to determine and provide, via
the network interface, buffer, and interface driver and for an
event impacting a selected supply and/or logistics chain, a
significance of an impact of the event on a selected object in the
selected supply and/or logistics chain.
Inventors: |
Jones; Robert Glenn;
(Pleasanton, CA) ; Martin; Dana Burrows;
(Sunnyvale, CA) ; Lin; Xiao Ying; (Fremont,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
ELEMENTUM SCM (CAYMAN) LTD. |
Grand Cayman |
|
KY |
|
|
Family ID: |
55302437 |
Appl. No.: |
14/579843 |
Filed: |
December 22, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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62038074 |
Aug 15, 2014 |
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62039202 |
Aug 19, 2014 |
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62045722 |
Sep 4, 2014 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.28 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y04S 40/166 20130101;
H04L 41/065 20130101; G06Q 10/08 20130101; Y04S 40/00 20130101;
H04L 41/12 20130101; G06Q 50/28 20130101; G06Q 10/0635 20130101;
H04L 43/0811 20130101; H04L 67/10 20130101; G06Q 10/06315 20130101;
Y04S 40/164 20130101; H04L 67/42 20130101; H04L 67/12 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 50/28 20060101
G06Q050/28; G06Q 10/06 20060101 G06Q010/06; H04L 29/06 20060101
H04L029/06 |
Claims
1. A server, comprising: a microprocessor; a memory; a network
interface to receive incoming and send outgoing messages; a buffer
for temporary storage of incoming and send outgoing messages; an
interface driver to provide the control signals to effect operation
of the network interface and buffer, wherein the memory comprises:
a microprocessor executable impact assessment analyzer to determine
and provide, via the network interface, buffer, and interface
driver and for an event impacting a selected supply and/or
logistics chain, a significance of an impact of the event on a
selected object in the selected supply and/or logistics chain.
2. The server of claim 1, wherein the event is one or more of a
natural disaster, weather pattern, political disruption, criminal
action, act of violence, freight disruption, energy shortage,
energy disruption, energy blackout, business disruption, and/or a
human and/or animal health event, wherein the selected object is at
least one of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and
enterprise, wherein a display selector, based on input of the
impact assessment analyzer, provides, via the network interface,
buffer, and interface driver and to a user's communication device,
a display containing a plurality of tiles, each tile corresponding
to at least one of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and
enterprise in a selected supply and/or logistics chain, wherein one
or more of an appearance, shape, location, and size of each tile
indicates the significance of an impact of the event on the
corresponding at least one of a site, part, component, product,
shipment, and enterprise, and wherein a degree of impact is based
on one or more of an event associated risk assigned to the
respective tile and a relative degree of impact of the event on the
corresponding at least one of a site, part, component, product,
shipment, and enterprise compared to a degree of impact of the
event on another of the corresponding at least one of a site, part,
component, product, shipment, and enterprise.
3. The server of claim 1, wherein the impact assessment analyzer
maps a geographic location associated with impact of the event
against a geographic location associated with the object and
wherein the selected object is one or more of a part, component,
product, manufacturing site, distribution site, shipment, and
enterprise.
4. The server of claim 3, wherein the impact assessment analyzer
determines for the object what further objects are impacted by the
impact on the selected object.
5. The server of claim 4, wherein the selected object is a part or
component and the further objects comprise one or more of a part,
component, and product of which the selected object is a part or
component.
6. The server of claim 5, wherein the impact assessment analyzer
determines whether the selected object is a sole source or
alternate part or component in a further object.
7. The server of claim 2, wherein the corresponding at least one of
a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise is a
site and wherein each tile provides a name and a number and/or
identity of event impacted parts and/or products associated with
the corresponding site.
8. The server of claim 2, wherein the selected object has a
corresponding tile on the display, wherein the one or more of an
appearance, shape, location, and size of each tile is one or more
of tile appearance, location and size, and wherein at least one of
the following is true: (d) a tile location on the display depends
on a number of products at risk per site based on the parts and
sole sourced parts produced by a corresponding site impacted by the
event, wherein a location on the display is determined by
normalizing the corresponding site's products at risk count and
determining a relative count; (e) a size of the tile on the display
depends on a profit and/or revenue generated from the products at
risk for a corresponding site, the profit and/or revenue being
generated from the products manufactured from the parts supplied by
the corresponding impacted site, wherein the profit and/or revenue
is aggregated and normalized across all at risk sites impacted by
the event; and (f) a color of the tile on the display depends an
aggregate component lead time determined by the equation;
[(inventory on-hand+inventory in-transit)/daily component
consumption]=Adjusted lead time.
9. The server of claim 2, wherein the corresponding at least one of
a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise is a
part, component, and/or product and wherein each tile provides a
name of an enterprise supplying the corresponding part, component,
and/or product and an identity and/or number of parts, components,
and/or products impacted by the event.
10. The server of claim 2, wherein the corresponding at least one
of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise is a
shipment and wherein each tile provides a name and a number and/or
identity of event impacted parts and/or products associated with
the corresponding shipment.
11. The server of claim 2, wherein the display is updated as the
impact of the event is mitigated by a recalculation of the impact
significance on each remaining at least one of a site, part,
component, product, shipment, and enterprise.
12. The server of claim 2, wherein, by interacting with a tile, a
user receives additional information on the corresponding at least
one of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise,
wherein the additional information comprises one or more of an
emergency contact for the corresponding at least one of a site,
part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise, a comment area
for entering comments regarding the corresponding at least one of a
site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise, and an
update button, the update button allowing the user to add one or
more additional tags representing any new information or status,
and wherein, when the impact of the event on the corresponding at
least one of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and
enterprise is resolved, the display is updated by removing the
resolved tile from the display and recalculating a relative
significance of the impact assigned to the remaining tiles.
13. A method of operation of the server of claim 1.
14. A communication device, comprising: a microprocessor; a
display; a memory comprising: a microprocessor executable
instructions to provide a display containing a plurality of tiles,
each tile corresponding to an object in a selected supply and/or
logistics chain, and wherein the display is based on input from a
microprocessor executable impact assessment analyzer, the impact
assessment analyzer determining and providing, for an event
impacting the selected supply and/or logistics chain, a
significance of an impact of the event on a selected object in the
selected supply and/or logistics chain.
15. The device of claim 14, wherein one or more of an appearance,
shape, location, and size of each tile indicates a significance of
an impact of an event on the corresponding object.
16. The device of claim 15, wherein the selected object is one or
more of a part, component, product, manufacturing site,
distribution site, shipment, and enterprise, wherein the event is
one or more of a natural disaster, weather pattern, political
disruption, criminal action, act of violence, freight disruption,
energy shortage, energy disruption, energy blackout, business
disruption, and/or a human and/or animal health event, wherein the
selected object is at least one of a site, part, component,
product, shipment, and enterprise, and wherein a degree of impact
is based on one or more of an event associated risk assigned to the
respective tile and a relative degree of impact of the event on the
corresponding at least one of a site, part, component, product,
shipment, and enterprise compared to a degree of impact of the
event on another of the corresponding at least one of a site, part,
component, product, shipment, and enterprise.
17. The device of claim 15, wherein the impact assessment analyzer
maps a geographic location associated with impact of the event
against a geographic location associated with the object and
wherein the selected object is one or more of a part, component,
product, manufacturing site, distribution site, shipment, and
enterprise.
18. The device of claim 17, wherein the impact assessment analyzer
determines for the object what further objects are impacted by the
impact on the selected object.
19. The device of claim 18, wherein the selected object is a part
or component and the further objects comprise one or more of a
part, component, and product of which the selected object is a part
or component.
20. The device of claim 19, wherein the impact assessment analyzer
determines whether the selected object is a sole source or
alternate part or component in a further object.
21. The device of claim 16, wherein the corresponding at least one
of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise is a
site and wherein each tile provides a name and a number and/or
identity of event impacted parts and/or products associated with
the corresponding site.
22. The device of claim 16, wherein the selected object has a
corresponding tile on the display, wherein the one or more of an
appearance, shape, location, and size of each tile is one or more
of tile appearance, location and size, and wherein at least one of
the following is true: (g) a tile location on the display depends
on a number of products at risk per site based on the parts and
sole sourced parts produced by a corresponding site impacted by the
event, wherein a location on the display is determined by
normalizing the corresponding site's products at risk count and
determining a relative count; (h) a size of the tile on the display
depends on a profit and/or revenue generated from the products at
risk for a corresponding site, the profit and/or revenue being
generated from the products manufactured from the parts supplied by
the corresponding impacted site, wherein the profit and/or revenue
is aggregated and normalized across all at risk sites impacted by
the event; and (i) a color of the tile on the display depends an
aggregate component lead time determined by the equation;
[(inventory on-hand+inventory in-transit)/daily component
consumption]=Adjusted lead time.
23. The device of claim 15, wherein the corresponding at least one
of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise is a
part, component, and/or product and wherein each tile provides a
name of an enterprise supplying the corresponding part, component,
and/or product and an identity and/or number of parts, components,
and/or products impacted by the event.
24. The device of claim 14, wherein the corresponding at least one
of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise is a
shipment and wherein each tile provides a name and a number and/or
identity of event impacted parts and/or products associated with
the corresponding shipment.
25. The device of claim 15, wherein the display is updated as the
impact of the event is mitigated by a recalculation of the impact
significance on each remaining at least one of a site, part,
component, product, shipment, and enterprise.
26. The device of claim 15, wherein, by interacting with a tile, a
user receives additional information on the corresponding at least
one of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise,
wherein the additional information comprises one or more of an
emergency contact for the corresponding at least one of a site,
part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise, a comment area
for entering comments regarding the corresponding at least one of a
site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise, and an
update button, the update button allowing the user to add one or
more additional tags representing any new information or status,
and wherein, when the impact of the event on the corresponding at
least one of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and
enterprise is resolved, the display is updated by removing the
resolved tile from the display and recalculating a relative
significance of the impact assigned to the remaining tiles.
27. A method of operation of the device of claim 14.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims the benefits of U.S.
Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/038,074, filed Aug. 15, 2014;
62/039,202, filed Aug. 19, 2014, and Ser. No. 62/045,722, filed
Sep. 4, 2014, all entitled "Method and System for Identifying
Events Adversely Impacting Supply Chain Performance", each of which
is incorporated herein by this reference in its entirety.
FIELD
[0002] The disclosure relates generally to automated systems for
analyzing the impact of an event on a network.
BACKGROUND
[0003] The traditional structure of the business supply and/or
logistics chain, which viewed supply and/or logistics chain
management as a chain of events, is evolving, in response to the
ever-complicated logistics of modern trade, commerce and
communications, towards viewing supply and/or logistics chain
management as a three-dimensional model. In other words,
organizations no longer view supply networks as a linear
relationship between raw materials and distributors. Rather,
today's supply web resembles a three-dimensional construct,
complete with a variety of suppliers, tiers and intermediaries that
serve to fill in for one another in the event of a disruption.
[0004] Increasingly, how well a supply web creates and shares
information not only defines how well the web holds together, how
efficiently it operates, and how much value it adds but also
determines the success or failure--as a group--of the manufacturing
venture. Companies need to share supply metrics, timelines, demand
and capacity data to enable the supply network to develop a common
and aligned set of objectives, which can protect it against
commodity pressures, volatility and individual failures. Sharing
information can speed up supply and/or logistics chains while
mitigating the inherent risks in doing so. This new model, with
cost management at its core, can capture decades of best practices
in a unified strategy for a new generation of companies and
managers.
[0005] Although significant advances have been made towards
establishing a three-dimensional supply chain by companies such as
E2open.TM., GT Nexus.TM., and Resilinc.TM., problems remain. Many
three-dimensional supply and/or logistics chains are fairly rigid
and unable to respond dynamically to, let alone anticipate, adverse
events. This can cause disruption in the supply and/or logistics
chain and concomitant interruptions in the product distribution
chain. They also fail to provide users with the supply and/or
logistics chain information necessary to mitigate the impact of
events quickly, efficiently, and effectively.
SUMMARY
[0006] These and other needs are addressed by the various aspects,
embodiments, and/or configurations of the present disclosure. The
present disclosure generally discloses a network management system
that can display, to a user communication device, information
representing risk and/or impact associated with an event disrupting
the network.
[0007] A server can include:
[0008] a microprocessor;
[0009] a memory;
[0010] a network interface to receive incoming and send outgoing
messages;
[0011] a buffer for temporary storage of incoming and send outgoing
messages; and
[0012] an interface driver to provide the control signals to effect
operation of the network interface and buffer.
[0013] The memory can include a microprocessor executable impact
assessment analyzer to determine and provide, via the network
interface, buffer, and interface driver and for an event impacting
a selected supply and/or logistics chain, a significance of an
impact of the event on a selected object in the selected supply
and/or logistics chain.
[0014] A communication device can include:
[0015] a microprocessor;
[0016] a display; and
[0017] a memory comprising a microprocessor executable instructions
to provide a display containing a plurality of tiles, each tile
corresponding to an object in a selected supply and/or logistics
chain, and wherein the display is based on input from a
microprocessor executable impact assessment analyzer, the impact
assessment analyzer determining and providing, for an event
impacting the selected supply and/or logistics chain, a
significance of an impact of the event on a selected object in the
selected supply and/or logistics chain.
[0018] The event can be one or more of a natural disaster, weather
pattern, political disruption, criminal action, act of violence,
freight disruption, energy shortage, energy disruption, energy
blackout, business disruption, and/or a human and/or animal health
event.
[0019] The selected object can be one or more of a site, part,
component, product, shipment, and enterprise.
[0020] A display selector, based on input of the impact assessment
analyzer, can provide, via the network interface, buffer, and
interface driver and to a user's communication device, a display
containing a plurality of tiles, each tile corresponding to one or
more of a site, part, component, product, shipment, and enterprise
in a selected supply and/or logistics chain.
[0021] One or more of an appearance, shape, location, and size of
each tile can indicate the significance of an impact of the event
on the corresponding object.
[0022] A degree of impact can be based on one or more of an event
associated risk assigned to the respective tile and a relative
degree of impact of the event on the corresponding object compared
to a degree of impact of the event on another of the corresponding
objects.
[0023] The impact assessment analyzer can map a geographic location
associated with impact of the event against a geographic location
associated with the object.
[0024] The impact assessment analyzer can determine for the object
what further objects are impacted by the impact on the selected
object.
[0025] The impact assessment analyzer can determine whether the
selected object is a sole source or alternate part or component in
a further object.
[0026] When the selected object is a part or component, the further
objects can include one or more of a part, component, and product
of which the selected object is a part or component.
[0027] When the selected object is a site, each tile can provide a
name and a number and/or identity of event impacted parts and/or
products associated with the corresponding site.
[0028] When the corresponding object is a part, component, and/or
product, each tile can provide a name of an enterprise supplying
the corresponding part, component, and/or product and an identity
and/or number of parts, components, and/or products impacted by the
event.
[0029] When the corresponding object is a shipment, each tile can
provide a name and a number and/or identity of event impacted parts
and/or products associated with the corresponding shipment
[0030] When a selected object has a corresponding tile on the
display and the tile appearance, location and size indicates the
significance of an impact of the event on the corresponding
selected object, one or more of the following can be true:
[0031] (a) a tile location on the display depends on a number of
products at risk per site based on the parts and sole sourced parts
produced by a corresponding site impacted by the event, wherein a
location on the display is determined by normalizing the
corresponding site's products at risk count and determining a
relative count;
[0032] (b) a size of the tile on the display depends on a profit
and/or revenue generated from the products at risk for a
corresponding site, the profit and/or revenue being generated from
the products manufactured from the parts supplied by the
corresponding impacted site, wherein the profit and/or revenue is
aggregated and normalized across all at risk sites impacted by the
event; and
[0033] (c) a color of the tile on the display depends an aggregate
component lead time determined by the equation; [(inventory
on-hand+inventory in-transit)/daily component consumption]=Adjusted
lead time.
[0034] The display can be updated as the impact of the event is
mitigated by a recalculation of the impact significance on each
remaining object.
[0035] By interacting with a tile, a user can receive additional
information on the corresponding object. The additional information
can include one or more of an emergency contact for the
corresponding at least one of a site, part, component, product,
shipment, and enterprise, a comment area for entering comments
regarding the corresponding at least one of a site, part,
component, product, shipment, and enterprise, and an update button,
the update button allowing the user to add one or more additional
tags representing any new information or status.
[0036] When the impact of the event on the corresponding object is
resolved, the display can be updated by removing the resolved tile
from the display and recalculating a relative significance of the
impact assigned to the remaining tiles.
[0037] This disclosure is intended to encompass the method of
operation and tangible and non-transient computer readable medium
containing microprocessor executable instructions to perform the
operations of each of the communication device, server, and
system.
[0038] The present disclosure can provide a number of advantages
depending on the particular aspect, embodiment, and/or
configuration. The supply and/or logistics chain management system
can, particularly for vertically integrated supply and/or logistics
chains, more effectively and efficiently control suppliers, prices,
product supply, and other terms, generate faster material turns or
velocities, increase profit, enable leaner manufacturing and
logistics operations, and reduce waste when compared to a supply
and/or logistics chain without the supply and/or logistics chain
management system. It can more effectively consider the impact of
unanticipated or "black swan" events, including natural and manmade
disasters, by monitoring news sources, law enforcement and military
authorities, among others, and precisely map tier 1, 2, 3, and 4
facilities. It can effectively assess the sensitivity of the supply
and/or logistics chain to various internal and external events. It
can assess the risk of having a particular product or product
component available at a selected location at a selected price or
cost. It can enable greater levels of collaboration not only among
the various tiers but also within tiers. It can enable more
effective management of multiple sources, within a given tier, even
for legally distinct, competitive entities. The system's
combination of cloud tools, operating models, and risk management
logic can create new, more profitable and effective business
practices in three-dimensional supply and/or logistics chains.
[0039] These and other advantages will be apparent from the
disclosure.
[0040] The phrases "at least one", "one or more", and "and/or" are
open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in
operation. For example, each of the expressions "at least one of A,
B and C", "at least one of A, B, or C", "one or more of A, B, and
C", "one or more of A, B, or C" and "A, B, and/or C" means A alone,
B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C
together, or A, B and C together.
[0041] The term "a" or "an" entity refers to one or more of that
entity. As such, the terms "a" (or "an"), "one or more" and "at
least one" can be used interchangeably herein. It is also to be
noted that the terms "comprising", "including", and "having" can be
used interchangeably.
[0042] "Automatic" and variations thereof, as used herein, refers
to any process or operation done without material human input when
the process or operation is performed. However, a process or
operation can be automatic, even though performance of the process
or operation uses material or immaterial human input, if the input
is received before performance of the process or operation. Human
input is deemed to be material if such input influences how the
process or operation will be performed. Human input that consents
to the performance of the process or operation is not deemed to be
"material".
[0043] "Computer-readable medium" as used herein refers to any
tangible and non-transient storage and/or transmission medium that
participate in providing instructions to a processor for execution.
Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to,
non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media and
includes without limitation random access memory ("RAM"), read only
memory ("ROM"), and the like. Non-volatile media includes, for
example, NVRAM, or magnetic or optical disks. Volatile media
includes dynamic memory, such as main memory. Common forms of
computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk
(including without limitation a Bernoulli cartridge, ZIP drive, and
JAZ drive), a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape or cassettes,
or any other magnetic medium, magneto-optical medium, a digital
video disk (such as CD-ROM), any other optical medium, punch cards,
paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a
RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, a solid state medium like a
memory card, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as
described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer
can read. A digital file attachment to e-mail or other
self-contained information archive or set of archives is considered
a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storage medium. When
the computer-readable media is configured as a database, it is to
be understood that the database may be any type of database, such
as relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like.
Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include a tangible
storage medium or distribution medium and prior art-recognized
equivalents and successor media, in which the software
implementations of the present disclosure are stored.
Computer-readable storage medium excludes transient storage media,
particularly electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, optical,
magneto-optical signals.
[0044] A "database" is an organized collection of data held in a
computer. The data is typically organized to model relevant aspects
of reality (for example, the availability of specific types of
inventory), in a way that supports processes requiring this
information (for example, finding a specified type of inventory).
The organization schema or model for the data can, for example, be
hierarchical, network, relational, entity-relationship, object,
document, XML, entity-attribute-value model, star schema,
object-relational, associative, multidimensional, multivalue,
semantic, and other database designs. Database types include, for
example, active, cloud, data warehouse, deductive, distributed,
document-oriented, embedded, end-user, federated, graph, hypertext,
hypermedia, in-memory, knowledge base, mobile, operational,
parallel, probabilistic, real-time, spatial, temporal,
terminology-oriented, and unstructured databases.
[0045] "Database management systems" (DBMSs) are specially designed
applications that interact with the user, other applications, and
the database itself to capture and analyze data. A general-purpose
database management system (DBMS) is a software system designed to
allow the definition, creation, querying, update, and
administration of databases. Well-known DBMSs include MySQL.TM.,
PostgreSQL.TM., SQLite.TM., Microsoft SQL Server.TM., Microsoft
Access.TM., Oracle.TM., SAP.TM., dBASE.TM., FoxPro.TM., and IBM
DB2.TM.. A database is not generally portable across different
DBMS, but different DBMSs can inter-operate by using standards such
as SQL and ODBC or JDBC to allow a single application to work with
more than one database.
[0046] "Determine", "calculate" and "compute," and variations
thereof, as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any
type of methodology, process, mathematical operation or
technique.
[0047] A "Display" refers to a computer output providing one or
more computer generated image(s) to a user. The output is typically
a liquid crystal display ("LCD") or cathode ray tube ("CRT").
Liquid crystal display technology works by blocking light.
Specifically, an LCD is made of two pieces of polarized glass (also
called substrate) that contain a liquid crystal material between
them. A backlight creates light that passes through the first
substrate. At the same time, electrical currents cause the liquid
crystal molecules to align to allow varying levels of light to pass
through to the second substrate and create colors and images for
the outputted image. Most LCD displays use active matrix
technology. A thin film transistor (TFT) arranges tiny transistors
and capacitors in a matrix on the glass of the display. To address
a particular pixel, the proper row is switched on, and then a
charge is sent down the correct column. Since all of the other rows
that the column intersects are turned off, only the capacitor at
the designated pixel receives a charge. The capacitor is able to
hold the charge until the next refresh cycle. The other type of LCD
technology is passive matrix. This type of LCD display uses a grid
of conductive metal to charge each pixel. A CRT monitor contains
millions of tiny red, green, and blue phosphor dots that glow when
struck by an electron beam that travels across the screen to create
a visible image. In a cathode ray tube, the "cathode" is a heated
filament. The heated filament is in a vacuum created inside a glass
"tube." The "ray" is a stream of electrons generated by an electron
gun that naturally pour off a heated cathode into the vacuum.
Electrons are negative. The anode is positive, so it attracts the
electrons pouring off the cathode. This screen is coated with
phosphor, an organic material that glows when struck by the
electron beam. Filtration of the electron beam to produce the
outputted image can be done by one or more of shadow maks, aperture
grill, and slot mask.
[0048] An "Electronic Product Code" (EPC) is designed as a
universal identifier that provides a unique identity for every
physical object anywhere in the world, for all time. Its structure
is defined in the EPCglobal Tag Data Standard, which is an open
standard freely available for download from the website of
EPCglobal, Inc. The canonical representation of an EPC is a URI,
namely the "pure-identity URI" representation that is intended for
use when referring to a specific physical object in communications
about EPCs among information systems and business application
software. The EPCglobal Tag Data Standard also defines additional
representations of an EPC identifier, such as the tag-encoding URI
format and a compact binary format suitable for storing an EPC
identifier efficiently within RFID tags (for which the low-cost
passive RFID tags typically have limited memory capacity available
for the EPC/UII memory bank). The EPCglobal Tag Data Standard
defines the structure of the URI syntax and binary format, as well
as the encoding and decoding rules to allow conversion between
these representations. The EPC is designed as a flexible framework
that can support many existing coding schemes, including many
coding schemes currently in use with barcode technology. EPCs are
not designed exclusively for use with RFID data carriers. They can
be constructed based on reading of optical data carriers, such as
linear bar codes and two-dimensional bar codes, such as Data Matrix
symbols.
[0049] An "enterprise" refers to a business and/or governmental
organization, such as a corporation, partnership, joint venture,
agency, military branch, company, and the like.
[0050] "Enterprise resource planning" or ERP systems integrate
internal and external management information across an entire
organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales
and service, customer relationship management, and the like. ERP
systems automate this activity with an integrated software
application. The purpose of ERP is to facilitate the flow of
information between all business functions inside the boundaries of
the organization and manage the connections to outside
stakeholders.
[0051] "Means" as used herein shall be given its broadest possible
interpretation in accordance with 35 U.S.C., Section 112, Paragraph
6. Accordingly, a claim incorporating the term "means" shall cover
all structures, materials, or acts set forth herein, and all of the
equivalents thereof. Further, the structures, materials or acts and
the equivalents thereof shall include all those described in the
summary of the invention, brief description of the drawings,
detailed description, abstract, and claims themselves.
[0052] "Module" as used herein refers to any known or later
developed hardware, software, firmware, artificial intelligence,
fuzzy logic, or combination of hardware and software that is
capable of performing the functionality associated with that
element. Also, while the disclosure is presented in terms of
exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciated that individual
aspects of the disclosure can be separately claimed.
[0053] An "original equipment manufacturer", or OEM, manufactures
product or components that it sells to end users or another
enterprise and retailed to end users under that purchasing
enterprise's brand name. OEM generally refers to an enterprise that
originally manufactured the final product for a purchaser, such as
a consumer. For example, Ford.TM. and General Motors.TM. are OEM
companies that manufacture cars, and Apple.TM. is a computer OEM.
The brand owner may or may not be the OEM.
[0054] A "performance indicator" or "key performance indicator"
("KPI") is a type of performance measurement. An organization may
use KPIs to evaluate its success, or to evaluate the success of a
particular activity in which it is engaged.
[0055] "Real-time locating systems" or RTLS are used to
automatically identify and track the location of objects or people
in real time, usually within a building or other contained area.
Wireless RTLS tags are attached to objects or worn by people, and
in most RTLS, fixed reference points receive wireless signals from
tags to determine their location. Examples of real-time locating
systems include tracking automobiles through an assembly line,
locating pallets of merchandise in a warehouse, or finding medical
equipment in a hospital. The physical layer of RTLS technology is
usually some form of radio frequency (RF) communication, but some
systems use optical (usually infrared) or acoustic (usually
ultrasound) technology instead of or in addition to RF. Tags and
fixed reference points can be transmitters, receivers, or both,
resulting in numerous possible technology combinations. RF
trilateration can use estimated ranges from multiple receivers to
estimate the location of a tag. RF triangulation uses the angles at
which the RF signals arrive at multiple receivers to estimate the
location of a tag.
[0056] A "server" is a computational system (e.g., having both
software and suitable computer hardware) to respond to requests
across a computer network to provide, or assist in providing, a
network service. Servers can be run on a dedicated computer, which
is also often referred to as "the server", but many networked
computers are capable of hosting servers. In many cases, a computer
can provide several services and have several servers running.
Servers typically include a network interface to receive incoming
and and send outgoing messages, a buffer for temporary storage of
incoming and send outgoing messages, and an interface driver to
provide the control signals to effect operation of the network
interface and buffer.
[0057] A "supply and/or logistics chain" refers typically to a
tiered supply chain. The chain commonly links business functions
and processes in the chain into an integrated business model. Each
enterprise in a tier supplies an enterprise in the next highest
tier and is in turn supplied by an enterprise in the next lowest
tier. For example, a tier two company supplies a tier one company,
a tier three company supplies a tier two company, and so on.
[0058] A "tier one enterprise" supplies parts or components
directly to an original equipment manufacturer ("OEM"), which
typically sets up the supply and/or logistics chain. A tier one
enterprise commonly has the skills and resources to supply the
parts or components that an OEM needs, including having established
processes for managing suppliers in the tiers below them. In some
applications, tier one enterprises provide a manufacturing service
for the OEM, leaving the OEM to concentrate on final product
assembly and/or marketing.
[0059] A "tier two enterprise" is a supplier to a tier one
enterprise and generally do not supply parts or components directly
to the OEM. A single enterprise, however, may be a tier one
enterprise supplier to one company and a tier two enterprise
supplier to another company or may be a tier one enterprise
supplier for one product and a tier two enterprise supplier for a
different product line. Similar rules apply for enterprises in
other tiers, such as tier three enterprises, tier four enterprises,
and so on. For example, tier three enterprise suppliers supply
directly to tier two enterprises and tier four enterprise suppliers
supply directly to tier three enterprises. In many supply and/or
logistic chains, tier four enterprise suppliers are providers of
basic raw materials, such as steel and glass, to higher-tier
enterprise suppliers.
[0060] A "warehouse management system" (WMS) is a part of the
supply and/or logistics chain and controls the movement and storage
of materials or inventory within a warehouse and processes the
associated transactions, including shipping, receiving, putaway and
picking. The systems can also direct and optimize stock putaway
based on real-time information about the status of bin utilization.
A WMS monitors the progress of products through the warehouse. It
involves the physical warehouse infrastructure, tracking systems,
and communication between product stations. Commonly, warehouse
management involves the receipt, storage and movement of goods,
(normally finished goods), to intermediate storage locations or to
a final customer. In the multi-echelon model for distribution,
there may be multiple levels of warehouses. This includes a central
warehouse, a regional warehouses (serviced by the central
warehouse) and potentially retail warehouses (serviced by the
regional warehouses). Warehouse management systems often utilize
automatic identification and data capture technology, such as
barcode scanners, mobile computers, wireless LANs and potentially
radio-frequency identification (RFID), to efficiently monitor the
flow of products. Once data has been collected, there is either a
batch synchronization with, or a real-time wireless transmission to
a central database. The database can then provide useful reports
about the status of goods in the warehouse.
[0061] The preceding is a simplified summary of the disclosure to
provide an understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This
summary is neither an extensive nor exhaustive overview of the
disclosure and its various aspects, embodiments, and/or
configurations. It is intended neither to identify key or critical
elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of the
disclosure but to present selected concepts of the disclosure in a
simplified form as an introduction to the more detailed description
presented below. As will be appreciated, other aspects,
embodiments, and/or configurations of the disclosure are possible
utilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features set
forth above or described in detail below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0062] The accompanying drawings are incorporated into and form a
part of the specification to illustrate several examples of the
present disclosure. These drawings, together with the description,
explain the principles of the disclosure. The drawings simply
illustrate preferred and alternative examples of how the disclosure
can be made and used and are not to be construed as limiting the
disclosure to only the illustrated and described examples. Further
features and advantages will become apparent from the following,
more detailed, description of the various aspects, embodiments, and
configurations of the disclosure, as illustrated by the drawings
referenced below.
[0063] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary three-dimensional
supply and/or logistics chain;
[0064] FIG. 2 depicts a communications networked architecture
according to an embodiment;
[0065] FIG. 3 depicts an example of a supply and/or logistics chain
monitoring system;
[0066] FIG. 4 depicts a globally distributed supply and/or
logistics chain;
[0067] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary exposure
module;
[0068] FIG. 6 is a screen shot of a relative event impact map
according to an embodiment;
[0069] FIG. 7 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0070] FIG. 8 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0071] FIG. 9 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0072] FIG. 10 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0073] FIGS. 11A-B are screen shots according to an embodiment;
[0074] FIG. 12 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0075] FIG. 13 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0076] FIG. 14 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0077] FIGS. 15A-C are screen shots according to an embodiment;
[0078] FIGS. 16A-B are screen shots according to an embodiment;
[0079] FIG. 17 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0080] FIG. 18 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0081] FIG. 19 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0082] FIG. 20 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0083] FIG. 21 is a screen shot according to an embodiment;
[0084] FIG. 22 is a flow chart of an exemplary impact assessment
analyzer;
[0085] FIG. 23 is a flow chart of an exemplary graph database
analyzer; and
[0086] FIG. 24 is a flow chart of an exemplary graph database
generator.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The Supply and/or Logistics Chain Management System
[0087] The supply and/or logistics chain management system 150 will
be discussed with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates a
simplified supply and/or logistics chain and is not intended to be
limiting for purposes of this disclosure. Generally, parts and
components of products are made from materials and/or other parts
and components, and finished goods or products are made from
materials, parts, and/or components. Materials are generally
considered to be raw materials, or crude or processed materials or
substances.
[0088] A tier 1 enterprise 100, in a brand level, typically
corresponds to an OEM that is also a brand owner, such as a retail
and/or wholesale vendor, supplier, distributor, or other business
that provides its branded products to end users. These businesses
typically invest in research and development, product design,
marketing, and brand development. Examples include Ford.TM.,
General Motors.TM., Toyota.TM., Apple.TM., Amazon.TM., Cisco
Systems, Inc..TM., and Microsoft Corporation.TM.. The tier 1
enterprise 100 monitors (and collects information regarding) the
supply and/or logistics chain, product inventory levels, product
demand, and/or prices of competitive products and, based on the
collected information and product demand and price projections,
dictates to second tier enterprise partners, prices, supply
requirements, and other material terms, and accesses performance
information of such second and third tier enterprise partners to
monitor supply and/or logistics chain performance.
[0089] A tier 2 enterprise supplier 104, in an integration level,
assembles parts and/or components received from tier 3 enterprise
suppliers 108a-n into products, which are shipped, by the tier 2
enterprise supplier 104, to the tier 1 enterprise 100 for
manufacture and sale of finished goods or products. As will be
appreciated, the tier 1 enterprise 100 can be an OEM. Tier 2
enterprise supplier(s) 104 provide, to the supply and/or logistics
chain management system 150, its respective supply and/or logistics
chain performance information and/or supply and/or logistics chain
performance information received from tier 3 part and/or component
enterprise suppliers.
[0090] The first, second, . . . nth tier 3 enterprise suppliers
108a-n, at the device level, manufacture parts and/or components
for assembly by the tier 2 enterprise supplier 104 into products.
The first, second, . . . nth tier 3 part and/or enterprise
suppliers 108a-n provide, to the supply and/or logistics chain
management system 150 or to the tier 2 enterprise supplier 104 for
provision to the supply and/or logistics chain management system
150, its supply and/or logistics chain respective performance
information and supply and/or logistics chain performance
information received from tier 4 enterprise suppliers 112a-m.
[0091] The first, second, third, . . . mth tier 4 enterprise
suppliers 112a-m, at the raw material level, manufacture and supply
to the first, second, . . . nth tier 3 enterprise suppliers 108a-n
materials for use in manufacturing parts and components for supply
to the tier 2 enterprise supplier. The first, second, third, . . .
mth tier 4 material suppliers 112a-m provide, to the supply and/or
logistics chain management system 150 or to the tier 3 enterprise
suppliers for provision to the supply and/or logistics chain
management system 150, its respective supply and/or logistics chain
performance information.
[0092] As shown by the ellipses at the bottom of FIG. 1, additional
tiers of enterprise suppliers can exist depending on the
application and industry.
[0093] The brand, integration, device and raw material levels are
for purposes of illustration only and are not necessarily
associated with the depicted tier. For example, the brand level may
or may not be associated with the tier 1 enterprise(s) 100; the
integration level may or may not be associated with the tier 2
enterprise supplier(s) 104; the device level may or may not be
associated with the tier 3 enterprise supplier(s) 108a-n; and the
raw material level may or may not be associated with the tier 4
enterprise supplier(s) 112a-m.
[0094] Each of the tier 1 enterprise 100, tier 2 enterprise
supplier 104, first, second, third, . . . nth tier 3 enterprise
suppliers 108a-n, and first, second, third, . . . mth tier 4
enterprise suppliers 112a-m correspond to an enterprise, which may
or may not be related to or affiliated with another enterprise in
the supply and/or logistics chain of FIG. 1.
[0095] As shown by the arrows, air, land, and sea logistics
providers link the various tier partners with an integrated network
of air, sea, and ground capabilities to enable effective movement
of materials, components, and products from sources (or points of
origination) to destinations.
[0096] As will be appreciated, each tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 enterprise
can have one or more sites where a supply and/or logistics chain
activity occurs. The sites can, for example, be a manufacturing,
processing, or treatment facility such as a factory or plant,
storage facility such as a warehouse, distribution facility, mine,
farm, ranch, or other agricultural facility, and the like. The
various sites can be co-located or distributed depending on the
application.
[0097] FIG. 4 (which can be a display outputted by the supply
and/or logistics chain management system 150) is an illustration of
a globally distributed supply and/or logistics chain 200. With
reference to FIG. 4, locations of various supply and/or logistics
chain sites, including the tier 2 enterprise supplier 104, first,
second, . . . nth tier 3 enterprise suppliers 108a-n, and first,
second, third, . . . mth tier 4 enterprise suppliers 112a-m.
Material and/or part and/or component and/or product shipment lines
200a-g between the various related nodes can be shown. Different
colors or shades of a common color or line patterns or shading can
be assigned to each shipment line to indicate on-time shipments,
slightly delayed shipments, moderately delayed shipments, and
heavily delayed shipments. Moving a cursor over a node, shipment
line, or event can cause a box or icon, such as shown by boxes 422
and 426, to appear providing relevant information about the
associated one of the node, shipment line, or event. For example,
relevant information about the node can include enterprise and/or
organization name, materials and/or part and/or component and/or
products supplied by the enterprise, and one-hop related
enterprises (e.g., the supplier to the selected node and the
purchaser from the selected node). Relevant information about the
shipment line can include the name of the freight carrier, number,
type, and value of material and/or part and/or component and/or
product currently being shipped, and the current status of the
shipment. The boxes in FIG. 4 show relevant shipment information
including a number and value of products, parts, and/or components
currently en route along the corresponding shipment line.
[0098] With respect to FIG. 1, the supply and/or logistics chain
management system 150, via communication links 154, monitors (and
collects information regarding) first, second, third, fourth, . . .
tier enterprises in the supply and/or logistics chain to determine
supply and/or logistic chain performance information. Exemplary
users of the system 150 include brand owners (e.g., retailers and
wholesalers), and/or contract manufacturer and OEM representatives,
such as a manufacturing representative, enterprise officers, and
managers. Due to the adverse impact on the performance of the
supply and/or logistics chain, the supply and/or logistics chain
management system 150 can monitor for events potentially impacting
adversely, or disrupting, supply and/or logistics chain
performance.
[0099] "Supply and/or logistics chain performance information"
typically includes any information relative to supply and/or
logistics chain configuration and/or performance, including,
without limitation, one or more of manufactured item output
projections over a specified time period, production facility sizes
and/or locations, raw material, work-in-process, and/or
manufactured part, component, and/or product inventory levels,
outstanding orders, order cycle times, days of supply in inventory,
manufacturing resource type, availability, reliability, and/or
productivity (e.g., human and automated resource levels and
resulting output levels), unit operations (e.g., manufacturing
steps, functions, or operations, unloading raw materials, packaging
parts, components, and/or products, loading parts, components,
and/or products, and the like), financial factors (e.g., labor
rates and costs, energy rates and costs, raw materials costs,
freight costs, tax rates, administrative and overhead costs,
contractual and/or current spot market part, component, and/or
product prices (from lower tier components), and the like), number
of on time shipments, number of late shipments, order mismatch
count, service quality (e.g., repair returns, repeat repair, no
fault found, etc.), repair cost per unit (e.g., material cost per
unit, average repair time, pieces consumed per unit, etc.),
inventory value (e.g., spare parts stock, or SWAP stock, inventory
turnover, days of supply of spare parts, days of supply of SWAP,
days sales inventory spare parts, excess spare parts, excess SWAP
stock, return to vendor rate, defective or OHB, and return to
vendor or TAT, etc.), historic, current, and/or projected
compliance with price, supply requirements, and/or other material
terms, historic, current, and/or projected parts, components,
and/or product output levels, mean, median and/or average, mode,
historic, and/or projected freight transportation times, delays, or
requirements, and the like. The performance information can be
associated with a date, month, and/or season-of-year. KPI metrics
can be generated from the performance information, such as on time
shipment rate or percentage, late shipment rate or percentage,
product rejection rate based on nonconformance with one or more
restrictions, specifications, and/or requirements, parts,
components, and/or product acceptance rate based on conformance
with one or more restrictions, specifications, and/or requirements,
and the like.
[0100] While the above example assumes that supply and/or logistics
chain performance information is supplied to the nearest downstream
partner, it is possible that one or more of the tier 2, 3, and 4
partners and/or logistic providers provide supply and/or logistics
chain performance information directly to the supply and/or
logistics chain management system 150. It is further to be
understood that any number of entities, factories, plants, or other
facilities may exist at each of the brand, integration, device, and
raw material levels.
[0101] Inventory, whether a product or part or component of the
product, can be tracked by the supply and/or logistics chain
management system 150 manually or automatically or a combination
thereof. A manual system, for example, is a system known as the
card system or cardex. Other manual systems use a type of manual
entry system to record inventory transactions and record the
entries in a spreadsheet program rather than on a paper card. In
automated systems, whenever a movement of inventory occurs, an
inventory management system receives an automatic update of the
transaction. Various tracking methods exist to track inventory. The
barcode, also known as the universal product code (UPC), remains
one of the most common inventory tracking methods. Barcodes can
track the movement of inventory throughout the supply and/or
logistics chain. The barcode contains data on the item's
description, the item's price and the item's unit of measure. Radio
frequency identification (RFID) is another method used to track
inventory. RFID technology comes in two forms: active RFID and
passive RFID. Active RFID works best in environments where security
issues exist and ones that require real-time tracking information.
Passive RFID works best when used with handheld scanners and where
security issues do not exist. Electronic Product Codes may also be
employed. Code or identifier sensors or readers are positioned
throughout the supply and/or logistics chain, typically at entrance
and exit points to a facility, such as a warehouse, to detect
inventory movement and identify what inventory items have moved.
The readers at each ingress or egress (or choke) point can be
meshed auto-ID or hand-held ID applications. Tracking can also be
capable of providing monitoring data without binding to fixed
location by using a cooperative tracking capability, e.g. a
real-time locating system or RTLS. In this way, the inventory
tracking system can track the addition of items to an inventory and
any disbursements from inventory.
[0102] The detected codes or identifiers can be fed into Work in
Progress models (WIP) or Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) or ERP
software. These models or modules can then provide the inventory
information to the other supply and/or logistics chain members,
such as the supply and/or logistics chain management system
150.
[0103] There are a number of examples of events impacting the
performance of a selected supply and/or logistics chain. Events can
include, for example, natural disasters (e.g., natural disaster
event and wherein the natural disaster is one or more of an
earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, fire, flood, avalanche, and
landslide), weather patterns (e.g., storm, typhoon, hurricane,
cyclone, tornado, wind, flood, and blizzard), political disruptions
(e.g., coup d'etat, revolutions, changes or upheavals, sabotage,
terrorism, act of war, military action, police action, embargo, and
blockade), criminal actions (e.g., piracy, hijacking, theft, arson,
vandalism, and the like), acts of violence (e.g., terrorism, war,
political upheaval, military action, and the like), freight
disruptions (e.g., train derailment, maritime vessel sinking,
airplane crash, freight embargo, freight vehicle wreck, naval
blockades and the like), energy shortages, disruptions, or
blackouts, business disruptions (e.g., device or system
malfunction, labor disruption (e.g., strikes or threatened
strikes)), lawsuit, financial insolvency, public announcement by a
partner or competitor, scheduled event or holiday (e.g., religious,
political, or other holidays), and bankruptcy), and/or a human
and/or animal health event, such as a health emergency, sickness,
death, species endangerment, and/or species extinction caused by
one or more of a pathogen, disease, virus, nano-virus, biological
weapon, bacteria, parasite, worm, fungus, prion, and/or any other
animal health-related outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, etc.
[0104] FIG. 2 depicts a communications networked architecture 200
according to an embodiment.
[0105] The supply and/or logistics chain management system 150
comprises a server 204 and associated database management system
(not shown) and database 208. As will be appreciated, the supply
and/or logistics chain management system 150 can be maintained by
any one of the tier 1, 2, 3, and/or 4 enterprises or an entity
independent of the foregoing.
[0106] The supply and/or logistics chain management server 204 can
be any computerized process that shares a resource with one or more
client processes. It may run one or more services (typically as a
host), to service the needs of other computers on the network.
Typically, the supply and/or logistics chain management server 204
is a computer program running to serve the requests of other
programs.
[0107] The database 208 can be any organized collection of data and
their supporting data structures. The database can be based on any
data model, including the relational model, entity-relationship
model, object model, object relational model, XML, or other
database model.
[0108] Referring again to FIG. 2, the tier 1 enterprise 100 can
have a corresponding tier 1 enterprise supplier server 254 to
provide supply and/or logistics chain performance and other
information, directly or indirectly, to the supply and/or logistics
chain management server 204.
[0109] The tier 2 enterprise supplier 104 can have a corresponding
enterprise supplier server 212 to provide supply and/or logistics
chain performance and other information, directly or indirectly, to
the supply and/or logistics chain management server 204.
[0110] Each of the first, second, . . . nh tier 3 enterprise
suppliers 108a-n can have a corresponding tier 3 enterprise
supplier server 216a-n to provide supply and/or logistics chain
management performance and other information, directly or
indirectly, to the supply and/or logistics chain management server
204.
[0111] Each of the first, second, third, . . . mth tier 4
enterprise suppliers 112a-m can have a corresponding tier 4
enterprise supplier server 220a-m to provide supply and/or
logistics chain management performance and other information,
directly or indirectly, to the supply and/or logistics chain
management server 204.
[0112] The shipment enterprise server(s) 250 represent(s) the
freight enterprises handling air, land or water borne shipments
between nodes (e.g., sites) of the supply and/or logistics chain.
The freight enterprises can be any entity providing shipping or
freight services. Exemplary freight enterprises include railway
companies, short and long haul trucking companies, freight company
servers (to provide freight tracking information, freight movement
projections between two locations, and the like), shipping lines,
maritime shipping companies, container shipping companies, ro-ro
shipping companies, transoceanic shipping companies, logistics
services or courier companies, air freight companies, and the
like.
[0113] The shipments can be tracked by one or more techniques. The
shipment enterprise server 250 can provide position and status
updates, such as freight tracking information and freight movement
projections between two locations, to the supply and/or logistics
chain management system server 204. The shipments can be tracked
using an active and/or passive satellite positioning system, such
as the Global Positioning System, that includes, in the vehicle, a
receiver of position-based signals received from a satellite. A
typical shipment tracking system, such as a vehicle tracking
system, combines the use of automatic vehicle location in
individual vehicles with software that collects the fleet data for
a comprehensive picture of vehicle locations. Modern vehicle
tracking systems commonly use satellite position information (e.g.,
including information provided from a satellite positioning system
("SPS"), such as GPS, GPRS, GNSS, GLONASS, IRNASS, etc.) technology
for locating the vehicle, but other types of automatic vehicle
location technology can also be used. In another technique,
terrestrial antenna information (such as triangulation) is used to
locate a shipment, whether by air, water, rail or road. The
shipment vehicle, whether ship, barge, train, truck or airplane,
emits an RF signal at periodic intervals enabling position
determination by triangulation based on times of receipt at
spatially dislocated antennas. The vehicle can also periodically
transmit a GPS location signal to a carrier providing current GPS
position. The RTLS system can provide information on how fast the
shipment is moving (based on changes in position as a function of
time) and estimate when the shipment will arrive at its final or
intermediate destination. Another possible source of shipment
information is realtime satellite feeds, such as Google.TM.
Earth.
[0114] The network accessible information source(s) 224 include any
source of information relevant to supply and/or logistics chain
performance, including, without limitation, social networks such as
Twitter.TM. Firehose.TM., news sources and/or aggregators (to
provide news on current events that may impact positively or
negatively the supply and/or logistics chain performance), weather
data sources (e.g., the National Weather Service, national and
local news sources, the Weather Channel.TM., Weather Source.TM.,
worldweatheronline.com, and the like), governmental entities (such
as courts, law enforcement authorities, geological surveys,
disaster relief agencies, and the like to provide legal or
regulatory changes or requirements, lawsuits, bankruptcy filings,
and the like, and other information), and law enforcement or
military authorities.
[0115] Such information sources can be monitored applying word
cloud techniques to one or more information feeds, which
graphically represent word usage frequency. Generally, the more
frequent a word or group of words is used the greater the
likelihood that the fact or event described by the words or group
of words exists. The words or group of words can further be
weighted for reliability by the source, with law enforcement and
military authorities being given a higher or more reliable
weighting than news sources. Other automated techniques can be
employed. For example, a web crawler is an Internet bot can
systematically browse the World Wide Web, typically for the purpose
of Web indexing. Web crawlers can copy all the pages or other
information they access for later processing by a search engine
that indexes the downloaded pages so that users can search them
much more quickly. Human agents can also monitor information
sources for event related information.
[0116] The various servers and sources are connected by a circuit
and/or packet switched wide area network ("WAN") that covers a
broad area (e.g., any telecommunications network that links across
metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries) using private
and/or public network transports. An exemplary WAN is the
Internet.
[0117] While the supply and/or logistics chain is described
primarily with reference to manufacturing and distribution of a
product, it can be applied equally to warranty and/or repair or
maintenance services and logistics and procurement operations. The
term "supply and/or logistics chain(s)" and variations thereof are
intended to encompass these other types of operations.
[0118] FIG. 3 depicts an example of a supply and/or logistics chain
monitoring system 300. The system 300 comprises the supply and/or
logistics chain management system 150, search engine(s) 304,
accessible third party information source(s) 224, customer
server(s) 308 (which, for example, is a server maintained by a
brand owner other than an OEM), client communication device(s) 312
(which include any portable or non-portable communication device
such as tablet computer, laptop, personal computer, cellular phone,
and the like), and supply chain member server(s) 316 (which include
tier 1 enterprise server 254, tier 2 enterprise supplier server
212, first, second, . . . nth tier 3 enterprise supplier server
216a-n, and first, second, third, . . . mth tier 4 enterprise
supplier server 220a-m), all interconnected by network 228. The
supply and/or logistics chain monitoring system 300 can determine,
based on past supply and/or logistic chain performance information,
a performance rating for a selected object in the supply and/or
logistics chain. The performance rating can be based on a scale
from lowest performance level to highest performance level. The
supply and/or logistics chain management system 150 includes a
perspective module 320, an exposure module 324, a transport module
328, a security module 332, and the database 208 connected by a
local area network or bus 322.
The Perspective Module 320
[0119] The perspective module 320 can monitor the health and
operation of a selected supply and/or logistic chain using defined
parameters. The user can select one or more KPIs of interest and
the module 320 will monitor temporally changes in the values of the
KPIs. Examples of KPI metrics include DIFOT (delivery in full and
on time), on time shipping/delivery (e.g., on time customer
shipment, on-time supplier delivery, on-time arrivals, etc.), LIFR
(line item fill rate, perfect or error free measurement, customer
order to commit cycle time, order cycle time of finished goods, on
time supplier orders, days of supply: finished goods, work in
process (e.g., parts or components), or raw materials, inventory:
finished goods, work in process (e.g., parts or components), or raw
materials (e.g., "RAW/WIP/FG" inventories), perfect order
fulfillment, total supply cost, supply and/or logistics chain costs
as percentage of sales, total supply and/or logistics chain cost
per unit sold, warehousing cost, transport cost per unit, labor
productivity rates, delivery performance, fill rate, supplier fill
rate, order fulfillment lead times, supply and/or logistics chain
response time, production flexibility, cycle time, defects per
million opportunities or DPMO, shipping accuracy, % orders with
products on back order, order compliance, supplier lead-time
variability, units of a selected component, part or product
produced today, days of supply of such units, component, part or
product yields, phase in and/or out of a unit, last time buy of a
type of unit, and the like. When a KPI metric rises above or falls
below a selected threshold, a warning or other notification can be
sent to the user. The perspective module 320 can obviate the needs
to send the user spreadsheets or manually copy data between
systems. The perspective module 320 can provide a common source of
supply chain and/or logistics information across a selected
multi-enterprise supply and/or logistics chain, e.g., from
suppliers, to manufacturers, to distributors, and to carriers. When
a selected KPI metric exceeds configured thresholds, for example,
dashboard alerts can be provided to specified users.
[0120] Dashboard displays can provide users with real-time tracking
of selected KPI metrics in a selected supply and/or logistics
chain. The displays can be user configurable and include a number
of different dashboard elements including: gauges (e.g.,
at-a-glance tracking of high level health indicators), trend lines
(with optional thresholds) to view how a selected KPI metric or set
of KPI metrics changes over time to get early warning into
potential problems, scorecards (with optional breakdowns and
thresholds) to track important numerical values or KPI metrics,
such as dollars of global inventory, and pie and/or bar charts. The
dashboard element can show the KPI metric on an absolute (e.g.,
numerical) or relative (e.g., percentage) basis.
The Exposure Module 324
[0121] The exposure module 324 can identify and respond to risks in
a selected supply and/or logistics chain. It can show a user where
and by whom each and every component of a selected product is
manufactured, supplied, and distributed. The exposure module 324
enables event risk and operations management throughout the supply
and/or logistics chain by constantly tracking selected news sources
of global events, such as by social networks, news feeds,
governmental statements, and the like. Each news source can have an
assigned degree of reliability or reliability ranking for use in
determining whether or not to notify designated recipients for a
selected supply and/or logistics chain of an event potentially
impacting the selected supply and/or logistics chain and, if so,
provide designated recipients with an indication of the reliability
of the event information. The exposure module 324 can receive a
live news feed from selected news sources on what is happening in
the world that might impact a selected supply and/or logistics
chain. The news feed can bridge over to events.
[0122] The exposure module 324 can enable a user to identify and
respond to event-related risks in a selected supply and/or
logistics chain by knowing immediately what sites, parts, and
products may be impacted. The exposure module 324 can enable the
user to ping part and component suppliers directly to verify impact
and kick-start disruption event mitigation. The exposure module 324
can monitor the selected supply and/or logistics chain with
substantial real-time 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, and/or 365
days/year "24/7/365" global event feeds. When a disruption event
occurs, the exposure module 324 can geo-locate the failure path
against plural points in the selected supply and/or logistics chain
and assess a likelihood of impact toward the delivery of products
to customers, and, when the likelihood and/or severity of impact is
sufficiently high, generate and send to a client communication
device 312 an auto-notification containing event information. The
exposure module 324 can determine, by applying risk analysis,
whether the event is likely to impact the selected supply and/or
logistics chain and provide a warning to the user. The exposure
module 324 can provide a live view, which is a focused, real-time
view of the disruptions and/or other events impacting
manufacturers, suppliers, and/or distribution sites in a selected
supply and/or logistics chain. When events occur, the exposure
module 324 can display an event perimeter ring, or range of
disruption, on the live view map with details showing supply and/or
logistics chain failure paths and tier 1-4 enterprise
interconnections. For example, as shown in FIG. 4 a disruption
event, depicted as an earthquake, can be shown on the map display
at a location 408 impacted by the event. The range of disruption
412 is assigned to the disruption event indicating a likely spatial
range impacted by the event. As will be appreciated, different
event types and events for a given event type can have differing
assigned spatial ranges of disruption. For example, an earthquake
may have a larger spatial range of disruption than a storm, and an
8.0 earthquake on the Richter scale would have a larger spatial
range of disruption than a 5.5 earthquake on the Richter scale. A
range can be modeled by many techniques, such as by using a shape
file. The exposure module 324 can enable the user to drill down by
site to view indirect impact of upstream failures or disruptions on
products and customers. The exposure module 324 can enable a user
to work through a part or component list for a selected product,
starting with single-sourced parts or components for each event
that occurs. As the user works through the list, he or she can mark
the event severity as none, low, medium, or high, thereby enabling
the list to focus on resolving high impact products first. The
exposure module 324 can notify not only the user of an event but
also the tier 1 enterprise or tier 2-4 enterprise suppliers (e.g.,
manufacturers and/or suppliers and/or sites) in the event impact
zone. In this manner, each tier 1-4 enterprise or impacted site can
proactively indicate whether they are impacted (and, if impacted, a
degree of impact severity) or in the clear, thereby enabling the
user to focus more quickly and effectively on mitigation.
The Transport Module 328
[0123] The transport module 328 can enable a user to manage and
substantially optimize a global transportation network. It can show
a user real-time information for each and every route and shipment
in a selected supply and/or logistics chain, even down to
individual route segments, thereby enabling the user to anticipate
delays and fix them before they impact customers. The module 328
can provide monthly performance reports that compare costs, service
level agreements ("SLAs"), and actual shipping times. The module
328 can provide not only shipment visibility and estimated shipment
arrival times but also early warning of delays. It can enable a
user take an appropriate action for a late shipment, such as
drilling down to identify the root cause and collaborating with the
shipper, manufacturer, distributor, assembler, or other supply
and/or logistics chain member to resolve the issue or mitigate the
impact of the late shipment on the selected supply and/or logistics
chain. It can provide the user with a supply and/or logistics chain
view showing all of the sites in a selected supply and/or logistics
chain and the routes that connect them. The user can easily filter
routes by source or destination site. It can enable a user to
select a route by allowing the user to view all the ports, depots,
or airports and intermediate transfer points along the route and to
review and compare alternate routes. In one shipment tracking
example, a tracking view provides real-time visibility into the
shipments flowing through a selected global supply and/or logistics
chain. Every shipment, including those still being processed at a
site, is visible on an interactive global map. The user can select
(e.g., by clicking, gesture, or other input) on a site to reveal
relevant location and shipment details or select a shipment to
reveal details on contents, status, and estimated delivery. The
transport module 328 can access historical transit times for
intermediate segments and warn a user when a shipment will arrive
late--even if the shipment is still en route. It can help the user
to optimize a selected supply and/or logistics chain transportation
network by providing historical analysis of carrier performance. It
can use monthly reports that compare costs and actual shipping
times to contracted SLAs to manage carriers more effectively.
[0124] The transport module 328 can use one or more independent
sources, in addition to the freight carrier or shipping company, to
determine status and/or location of a selected shipment. One
independent source is an RTLS system using a combination of
satellite position information (such as a satellite positioning
system ("SPS"), e.g., GPS and GLONASS) and terrestrial antenna
information (such as triangulation) to locate a shipment, whether
by air, water, rail or road. The dual use of an SPS and terrestrial
antenna information is synergistic. For example, in densely
populated, forested, or mountainous areas an SPS can lose accuracy
due to signal interference or loss.
[0125] The transport module 328 can provide scheduling information,
including projected shipment arrival dates for parts, components,
and/or products from a first, second, third, or fourth tier
enterprise 100, 104, 108, and 112 and required shipment departure
dates for parts, components, and/or products. Each of the shipment
arrival and departure dates can be linked to a set of data
structures describing the shipment, including shipment source and
destination, freight carrier, freight tracking information, current
shipment status and/or location, shipment contents (by product type
and number), date of shipment, and the like). The projected
shipment arrival dates can be received from the transport module
328. The shipment departure dates can be determined from the
enterprise sourcing the part, component, and/or product.
[0126] The supply and/or logistics chain monitoring system 300 can
track past performance for a selected object (e.g., a tier 1-4
enterprise and/or enterprise site and/or freight carrier and/or
shipping route), such as by comparing the actual part, component,
and/or product shipment arrival or departure date against a
selected date (received from the carrier, required by contract or
order or SLA, and/or projected by the supply and/or logistics chain
monitoring system 300), to evaluate performance of the object,
identify seasonal trends, and the like. The past performance for an
object (e.g., whether tier 1-4 enterprise, tier 1-4 enterprise
site, freight carrier, hub, intermediate transfer point, or
shipping route) can be used to determine and assign a level of
confidence in part, component, and/or product deliveries being
received by the selected date. The level of confidence, when low,
may provide a basis to order additional part, component, and/or
product from a more reliable source. The level of confidence can
also be based on past performance of each tier 1-4 enterprise or
each different facility of a common tier enterprise.
[0127] The estimated or projected delivery date for an order can
include an associated probability or likelihood and, optionally, an
associated range of arrival dates that the parts, components,
and/or products in the order will be timely received by the
selected arrival date or within the range of arrival dates. The
range of arrival dates can be selected using a standard deviation
of arrival times based on current and/or historic performance
information and/or other relevant information. For example, a
historic reliability or probability of timely receipt at a
destination facility from the selected lower tier enterprise
supplier site, and optionally associated standard deviation of
historic receipt dates for the parts, components, and/or products
relative to a target date, can be used to provide the probability
and optionally standard deviation of the destination facility
receiving a current shipment from the selected lower tier
enterprise supplier site.
The Security Module 332
[0128] Security over the wide area network 228 is managed by the
security module 332 to protect transmitted information. As set
forth in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 13/935,209, which is
incorporated herein by this reference, the security module 228
routes every data query through a single "Platform Query" entry
point that enforces appropriate security constraints. Access to
objects and records can be controlled at the user, role,
organization, and enterprise level. A user can specify access based
on the relationship among multiple enterprises. For example, if
companies A and B are two OEMs that outsource manufacturing to a
selected company C and if company A wants to share order
information with a selected carrier company, company A can share
the information even if company B has a different agreement with
company C that does not allow the selected carrier company to see
company B's orders. The security module 332 can enable the
collected information to be maintained in one data location (and
common database) without the use of a partitioned database. This
can enable the use of a simpler data model that enables ease of
constructing relationships between enterprises, provides stability,
and provides scalability. Each data row of the model can have a
different schema. The data model can also enable sharing of
information across and among different supply and/or logistics
chains.
[0129] The security module 332 can further provide cloud security,
such as secure client connectivity with extended validation ("EV")
certificates, OpenID challenge/response client authentication,
user-specific authorization tokens, database/application
separation, support for secured socket layer ("SSL") encryption of
API calls, separation of credential storage with no credential
access from interface zones, and mechanisms to prevent data
spoofing and query injection.
The Database 208 and Database Management System
[0130] The database contains supply and/or logistics chain
performance information collected from tier 1, 2, 3, and/or 4
enterprises and freight companies in the supply and/or logistics
chain and from accessible information source(s) 224. A database
management function can store, update and otherwise manage the data
in the database 208 in accordance with a selected data model. The
data structures are typically associated with one or more
enterprises (e.g., material supplier, part/component manufacturer,
product assembler, freight or shipping company, distributor, brand
owner, wholesaler, and/or retailer) in the supply and/or logistics
chain. Transactional documents, such as purchase orders, material
safety data sheets, and bills of material, and agreements, such as
supply and/or manufacturing agreements, or RMAs, and SLA's, contain
references to all owners down the organization level, have
corresponding role types and functions specified (e.g., only a
buyerRole can change requestQuantity field), and include
preferences and settings referenced to an appropriate level (e.g.,
enterprise (or the part of the enterprise involved in the supply
and/or logistics chain transaction), user, etc.).
[0131] The database 208 can include, for each selected enterprise
in the supply and/or logistics chain (e.g., each tier 1, 2, 3 or 4
enterprise), name, geographical location of corresponding sites,
geopolitical location of corresponding sites, material, part,
component, and/or product type and/or identity supplied by the
enterprise and by each corresponding site, current spot market
and/or contractual sales price of the material, part, component,
and/or product type supplied by the enterprise, respective supply
and/or logistics chain performance metrics of the enterprise and/or
each site of the enterprise, material, part, component, and/or
product supply and/or purchase commitment with another enterprise
in the supply and/or logistics chain, specifications and
requirements for material(s), part(s), component(s), and/or
product(s) supplied and/or purchased by the enterprise, bills of
materials for materials, parts, components, and/or products,
material, part, component, and/or product quantity and shipment
dates and expected arrival dates at the next enterprise in the
supply and/or logistics chain, order cycle and/or turnaround times,
shipment and/or order volume, total number of shipments, number of
on time shipments, number of late shipments, order mismatch count,
repair details, and an association of the selected enterprise with
one or more other enterprise(s) in the supply and/or logistics
chain, such as by a contractual or other supply relationship.
[0132] Relevant data types for the event can include not only the
event category, type, subtype, and severity but also objects
impacted by the event, such as number of materials and/or parts
and/or components and/or products impacted, number of downstream
parts and/or components and/or products impacted (such as the parts
and/or products supplied to the tier 1 enterprise 104), potential
financial impact on all or part of the supply and/or logistics
chain, and a number of supply and/or logistics chain sites
affected.
[0133] While any data model and database management system can be
employed, the database 208 management system typically uses a NoSQL
database. As will be appreciated, a NoSQL database provides a
mechanism for storage and retrieval of data that is modeled in
means other than the tabular relations used in relational
databases.
The Microprocessor Executable Components of the Exposure Module
324
[0134] With reference to FIG. 5, the exposure module 324 includes
an impact assessment analyzer 500 that, for an event, determines a
degree of impact of the event on a selected supply and/or logistics
chain. The analyzer 500 creates, for the event, an event card 504,
which is a set of data structures containing the event related
information associated with event. The impact assessment analyzer
500, based on a traversal of a set of graph data structures 508
defining the selected supply and/or logistics chain by a graph
database analyzer 528, evaluates the impact of the event on the
selected supply and/or logistics chain and determines a concomitant
risk associated with the event and outputs a relative event impact
map 512 visually depicting the impact and risk, thereby enabling a
user to determine whether the workflow associated with the event
should be escalated. The set of graph data structures 508 can be
generated manually or by a graph database generator 524. When the
event is escalated to a disruption, the exposure module 324
instantiates a disruption work flow 516 to mitigate the impact of
the event on the supply and/or logistics chain. A display selector
520 controls the display and the display configuration and selects
the information displayed to the user.
The Event Relative Impact Map 512
[0135] The relative event impact map or "RIM" 512 shows the supply
and/or logistics chain risk analysis of an event or issue's impact
severity on a selected object relative to a set of objects (e.g.,
part, site, purchase order, transport lane, etc.). As discussed
below in connection with various displayed views, these objects are
represented as tasks to be completed to resolve the issue. The RIM
512 evaluates, substantially in real time, existing issues and, as
tasks are resolved, recalculates by the impact assessment analyzer
500, the relative importance of each remaining object (e.g., if an
event is impacting 15 sites but 5 have been mitigated, the RIM 512
will be recalculated to evaluate the relative impact of the
remaining 10 sites). The RIM 512 can be accessed through the
event/issue card detail pages, including those discussed herein. As
shown and discussed below, the map feature can enable a user to
quickly diagnose and prioritize the sites most impacted by an event
and to take steps to respond to a supply and/or logistics chain
disruption event and/or mitigate the effects of the disruption
event on the supply and/or logistics chain, thereby conserving
computational resources and bandwidth and enabling less capable
communication devices, such as tablet computers and cellular
phones, to provide the RIM 512 to the user.
[0136] With reference to FIG. 6, an exemplary relative event impact
map 600 displayed, by a client communication device 312, for an
event, as outputted by the impact assessment analyzer 500, is
depicted. The relevant event impact map 600 can use different
colored shading and/or different cross thatching and/or different
boundary markers and/or dimensions (e.g., size) and/or position
and/or other visual indicator for each site tile or tile (each of
which corresponds to a different site) to indicate which sites
(such as site tiles 604 in green and smaller size and in lower left
corner) are currently on time and/or out of the event disruption
zone or area and operating correctly, which sites (such as site
tiles 608 in yellow and more largely sized and centrally located)
are partially impacted by the event, and which sites (such as site
tiles 612 in orange or pink (less severe) or site tiles 616 in red
(most severe) and even more largely sized and in upper right
corner) are impacted by the event. The size and/or color and/or
position and/or appearance of the site tiles 604, 608, 612, and 616
therefore indicate visually to the user the relative severity of
impact (and risk) of a selected event on the corresponding site
and/or therefore on the selected supply and/or logistics chain.
Generally, higher risk values will be larger tiles, have red
coloring, and be positioned the map's upper right corner. The data
representing each variable is configurable by enterprise and
organization. The rectangular RIM 600 can fit as many tiles as
needed to represent the issue's impact--the tiles get smaller as
needed to fit the required number of objects.
[0137] As shown in the views discussed below, each map tile can
refer not to sites but to other objects, including a customer, raw
material, customer part, component, product, enterprise and/or
enterprise business unit, or shipment depending on how the
algorithm is configured. There are thus different ways to sort or
filter supply and/or logistics chain information, such as by date,
customer, event impact severity, raw materials, parts, or
components (impacted or provided), products impacted, shipments
impacted, customer (or brand owner) and the like. In other words,
where a product is at risk from an event, a user can sort or filter
by parts, components, active shipments, or sites involved in
manufacture of the product, where a site is at risk from an event,
a user can sort or filter by parts, components, active shipments,
or products potentially impacted by the site risk, where a part or
component is at risk from an event, a user can sort or filter by
active shipments, sites, or products involving the part or
component, and so on.
[0138] Regardless of the object used, the color, position, size,
and appearance of each tile can indicate a degree of impact of the
event on a selected object (e.g., the operation of a selected site)
and/or a number of objects potentially impacted (e.g., a number of
sites potentially impacted, a number of components, parts, or
products potentially impacted, and/or a number of shipments
potentially impacted).
[0139] The information displayed on the tiles or tiles depends on
the data being analyzed and is configurable by the enterprise
organization user. By way of example, summary information can
include: (1) for site RIM: site name, impacted parts, and/or
products; (2) for parts RIM: manufacturer part number, supplier
name, and/or number of products impacted; (3) for products RIM:
product name, supplier sites at risk, and/or percentage of parts at
risk; (4) for business unit RIM: issue, products at risk, and/or
parts impacted; and (5) for kill shot analysis RIM: site name, site
interconnectivity risk, and/or static risk index. Other criteria
may be employed in assessing risk depending on the requirements of
the user.
[0140] The relative event impact map 600 can include other
information. The descriptive strip 620 includes summary information
from the screen or display that the user comes from (i.e., tier 2
sites). If the information text is too long, the user can slide the
strip 620 to left and right to view the entire text. The search
field 624 receives a search string from the user to enable the user
to search for items (i.e., sites) that he or she wants to view. The
watch list button 628 (which has the appearance of an eye), if
selected by the user, can reveal any watch list items that are in
the map 600. If there are no watch list items in the map 600, a
message is displayed saying, for example: "There are no
sites/parts/customers from your watch list." As will be
appreciated, a watch list is a list of objects of special interest
to the user and can be the basis for generating warnings or other
messages even if the event impact on the object is not significant.
In other words, watch list items have different and typically lower
thresholds than non-watch list items. An exemplary tile 632 is
associated with a corresponding object, depicted in FIG. 6 as a
site. The object associated with the tile 632 depends on which
relative impact map the user is drilled into (e.g., tier 2 sites,
parts, components, products, etc.). For each object type, the tiles
632 display different information as set forth below.
[0141] The relative event impact map 600 can be manipulated by
gestures of the user on a touch screen of the client communication
device; that is, the user can move his or her fingers apart to
expand and zoom the map in on a selected map object tile or pinch
his or fingers together to shrink the map. As the relative event
impact map 600 is expanded, more event-related information is
provided to the user (or becomes visible to the user).
[0142] In other configurations, the map 600 includes one or more
selectable tabs to show a list of objects (e.g., components, parts,
and/or products) impacted by a selected event and to access
actions, including event escalation and dismissal. By clicking on a
tile, a user can access additional information on the object within
the relative event impact map 600. If the user clicks on an
impacted site, the user will see the emergency contact information
for that specific site, a comment area, and an update button. The
update button can allow users to add additional tags representing
any new information or status. When a site is resolved, the
relative impact map 600 is updated by removing the resolved tile
from the map and recalculating the importance of the remaining
tiles. The impact of a supply-side mitigation will only flow
downstream--if a part is mitigated, every downstream site,
customer, product would reflect that part being mitigated and
reduce any risk related to that part. If an enterprise site, such
as that of a supplier or customer, is mitigated, nothing upstream
would be impacted.
[0143] The display selector 520 renders the RIM 600 by following
certain rules. As the tiles get smaller, the display selector 520
removes the text unless the user zooms in to a tile size to the
point that a font size big enough to read by the user can be used.
If a user tries to click on a tile that is too small for any text
to show up, an animation of fingers moving apart is displayed to
indicate that the user should pinch to zoom in. To limit the
bandwidth needed to load the map, information on the tiles large
enough to have text is pulled from the server.
[0144] With reference to FIG. 7, an exemplary detailed view 700 of
an object (e.g., site) selected from the relative event impact map
600 by the user selecting a tile 632 for more detailed review and
displayed by a client communication device 312 is depicted. The
view 700 is generated in connection with a 7.5 Richter scale
earthquake impacting an enterprise supplier site of 3Y Power
Shenzhen in Guangdong, China. By selecting the tile 632, the
display 700 includes a site name 704 (which includes the site
geographic location), number of parts impacted 708 as a result of
the event impact on the corresponding site, and a number of
products impacted 712 as a result of the event impact on the
corresponding site, details 716 for the site, contact details 720
for a designated person responsible for receiving contacts about
the site (including contact name, enterprise name, job title, and
the like), contact modalities 724 (shown as phone (which if
selected initiates a phone call to the designated person), email
(which if selected opens up an email form for completion and
sending to the designated person), and share (which, if selected,
shares the contact information via a default email application).
These communication modalities enable a user quickly and more
conveniently contact other team members or site representatives to
mitigate the impact of an event. The mitigate button 728, if
selected, initiates a disruption event workflow 516 for the
corresponding event.
[0145] With reference to FIG. 8, an exemplary detailed view 800 of
an object (e.g., parts) selected from the relative event impact map
600 or display 700 by the user selecting a part for more detailed
review and displayed by a client communication device 312 is
depicted. Each map tile 804 refers not to sites but a customer part
or component. The tile 804 includes part name 808 (i.e.,
4WT-ATX-A00) and number of products 812 impacted by the supply
disruption of the named part caused by the event. The descriptive
strip 816 includes summary information from the screen or display
that the user comes from (i.e., parts). The search field 820
receives a search string from the user to enable the user to search
for parts that he or she wants to view. The watch list button 824
(which has the appearance of an eye), if selected by the user, can
reveal any watch list items (or parts) that are in the displayed
map 800. By selecting the tile 804, the display 800 includes a part
name 828, the name and geographic location 832 of the site
supplying the identified part, contact details 720 for a designated
person responsible for receiving contacts about the site, and
contact modalities 724 for that person.
[0146] With reference to FIG. 9, an exemplary detailed view 900 of
an object (e.g., products) selected from the relative event impact
map 600, display 700, or display 800 by the user selecting a
product for more detailed review and displayed by a client
communication device 312 is depicted. Each map tile 904 refers not
to sites but a customer product. The tile 904 includes product name
908 (i.e., PAN-PA-4050) and number of parts 912 impacted by the
supply disruption of the named product caused by the event. The
descriptive strip 916 includes summary information from the screen
or display that the user comes from (i.e., parts). The search field
920 receives a search string from the user to enable the user to
search for products that he or she wants to view. The watch list
button 924 (which has the appearance of an eye), if selected by the
user, can reveal any watch list items (or products) that are in the
map 900. By selecting the tile 904, the display 900 includes a
product name 928, the name and geographic location 932 of the site
supplying the identified product, contact details 936 for a
designated person responsible for receiving contacts about the
site, and contact modalities 940 for that person.
[0147] With reference to FIG. 10, an exemplary detailed view 1000
of an object (e.g., products) selected from the relative event
impact map 600, display 700, display 800, or display 900 by the
user selecting a customer for more detailed review and displayed by
a client communication device 312 is depicted. Each map tile 1004
refers not to sites but a customer. The tile 1004 includes customer
name 1008 (i.e., Google.TM.) and number of products 1012 impacted
by the supply disruption of the named customer caused by the event.
The descriptive strip 1016 includes summary information from the
screen or display that the user comes from (i.e., parts). The
search field 1020 receives a search string from the user to enable
the user to search for products for that customer that he or she
wants to view. The watch list button 1024 (which has the appearance
of an eye), if selected by the user, can reveal any watch list
items (or customers) that are in the map 1000. By selecting the
tile 1004, the display 1000 includes a suppler name 716 and the
name and geographic location supplier's the site affected by the
disruption that is impacting directly the identified customer,
contact details 720 for a designated person responsible for
receiving contacts about the site, and contact modalities 724 for
that person.
[0148] With reference to FIGS. 11A and B, exemplary detailed views
1100a, b displayed on a client communication device 312 of an
object (e.g., sites) selected from the relative event impact map
600 or display 700 by the user tapping on the watch list button
1124 or entering a search term (e.g., "watch list") in the search
field 1120. If there are not matches, a message 1104 will appear
saying "No Matches Found".
[0149] FIG. 12 depicts a further exemplary detailed view 1200
displayed on a client communication device 312 showing a detailed
geographic view of various sites in the selected supply and/or
logistics chain. By hovering over a site within an impact zone 1216
of the event, a message 1204 appears describing the event (e.g.,
"earthquake with severity" and "6.5 Magnitude earthquake epicenter
just outside Shenzhen"), impact of event (e.g., "severe"), number
of products impacted by the event (e.g., "12"), number of parts
impacted by the event (e.g., "11"), and number of sites affected by
the event (e.g., "10"). A "situation room" icon 1220, if selected,
directs the user to the display 1300 of FIG. 13. A further header
message 1208 at the top of the display provides a number of events
(e.g., "13") that may be affecting the selected supply and/or
logistics chain. Site tiles 1212 are geographically positioned on
the display 1200.
[0150] FIG. 13 depicts a further exemplary detailed view 1300
displayed on a client communication device 312 showing situation
room information associated with a selected event. The view 1300
includes at least the following information: event description 1304
(e.g., "Weather: Severe Weather with severity: Moderate) and other
event information 1306 (i.e., event date (e.g., "Aug. 20, 2013")
and event time (e.g., "6:16 pm PDT")), selected site affected 1308
(e.g., "Flextronics International.TM.") and associated site
information 1312 (e.g., selected site geographic location (e.g.,
"Doumen, Zhuhai, China")), parts affected 1316, select impact field
1320 (e.g., "None", "Low", "Medium", and "High"), total parts
selected 1324 (e.g., "1"), and listing of parts, each part listing
including part number 1328, part description 1332, impact 1336
(e.g., "Not Specified", "None", "Low", "Medium", and "High"), from
enterprise site 1340, and to enterprise supplier site 1344.
[0151] With reference to FIG. 14, an exemplary event notification
1400 displayed, by a client communication device 312, for a
selected event is depicted. The notification effectively presents
visually the event card for a selected event. The notification 1400
includes a descriptive strip 1404 that includes summary information
from the screen or display that the user comes from (i.e., event
impacts), other event related information including event impact
1408 (e.g., "extreme impact"), event description 1412 (e.g., "Fire
Wuxi, China"), event timestamp 1416 (e.g., Sep. 4, 2013 05:33
PST"), event card update timestamp 1420 (e.g., "Sep. 4, 2013 22:13
PST"), event impact on selected supply and/or logistics chain 1424
(e.g., "Tier 2 Sites"; one impacted or 4% of Tier 2 Sites in
selected supply and/or logistics chain, "Parts"; 100 impacted or
0.06% of parts in selected supply and/or logistics chain, "Tier 1
Sites"; 25 impacted or 20% of Tier 1 Sites in selected supply
and/or logistics chain, "Products"; 500 impacted or 0.5% of
products in selected supply and/or logistics chain, and
"Customers"; 50 customers impacted or 0.5% of customers selected
supply and/or logistics chain), message forwarding icon 1428,
request further information icon 1432, watch list button 1436
which, if selected, enables the user to follow the corresponding
event and be notified of updates to the event card, and dismiss
event button 1440 which, if selected, dismisses the corresponding
event without instantiating a disruption event workflow 516.
[0152] FIGS. 15A-C and 16A-B depict various impact chain views
displayed on the client communication device 312. The impact chain
view effectively shows the failure path within a supply and/or
logistics chain for an event.
[0153] With reference to FIG. 15A, a first view 1500a includes a
first descriptive strip 1504 identifying the event of interest
(e.g., ice storm), a second descriptive strip 1508 identifying the
view as an impact chain view on a selected object (e.g., sites). A
search field 1512 receives search terms for events and places in
connection with the selected supply and/or logistics chain impacted
by the event. A relative event impact map 1516 is displayed
including site tiles 1520 as described above. Information strip
1520 indicates a number of sites impacted by the event (e.g., 30
sites), each of which is listed below the strip. The depicted site
entry 1524 includes enterprise supplier name 1528 (e.g., "Sava
(Carl Stahl Sava Industries) and supplier geographic location
(e.g., New Jersey, US). The view 1500a further includes tier
identifier 1532 for the enterprise (e.g., tier 1), watch list
button 1536, and transport impact option 1540 (which transports the
impact related information to a specified communication
device).
[0154] With reference to FIG. 15B, the user has tapped on the tile
1520 to obtain more information about the impacted site
corresponding to file 1520 to provide a list of enterprise
suppliers. As can be seen from the list entries 1524, each
enterprise supplier includes not only enterprise supplier name and
geographic location but also tier identifier 1550 (e.g., tier 1)
and a number of products 1554 in which the part or component
supplied by the corresponding enterprise supplier is used. Each
list entry further includes a color bar 1558 indicating a level of
severity associated with the corresponding site tile in the
relative event impact map 1516. As can be seen from display 1500b,
a message 1558 indicates that enterprise supplier "National Tool
and Manufacturing Company" in Illinois, US, has checked in and
indicated the site was impacted by the identified event.
[0155] With reference to FIG. 15C, the user has, by tapping on the
respective list entry, selected enterprise supplier "National Tool
and Manufacturing Company" to access further information, which
produces the view 1500c displayed on the client communication
device 312. The view 1500c includes information strip 1580
indicating that the user has selected the option for site detail,
the selected list entry 1524, a site risk profile 1584 (indicating
5 shipments at risk, the impacted site supplies 10 sole source
parts and 55 items to 7 other sites, which are used in 50 products
and including an icon to view the products if selected), watch list
information 1588 (indicating the user is watching 2 parts and 1
product supplied by the site and including an option to view
further details relating thereto), and contact information 1592 for
the designated person of the site.
[0156] With reference to FIGS. 16A-B, further impact chain views
are depicted. The view 1600a of FIG. 16A includes a number of
products at risk or impacted by the identified event 1604 (e.g.,
15), a number of sites at risk 1608 (e.g., 5 tier 2 sites and 60
parts associated therewith and 1 tier 1 site and 15 parts
associated therewith), a number of shipments at risk 1612 (e.g., 10
shipments carrying 300 items worth $600,000 USD and on 5 routes
going to 2 destinations), and downstream supply chain information
1616 (e.g., 3 tier 1 sites and 25 parts and 4 sites associated with
the user and 8 products associated therewith). The view 1600b of
FIG. 16B is displayed in response to the user selecting the "See
all products at risk" icon 1620 in view 1600a. The view 1600b, in
information strip 1624 indicates where the user has been (e.g.,
impact chain, sites, and finally products). The view 1600b provides
further information 1628 on the number of sites (e.g., 5 suppliers
of 60 parts and one distribution center supplying 15 parts and two
products) and shipments at risk and downstream sites impacted
indirectly by the event due to part or component supply disruptions
(e.g., 2 assembly sites supplying 8 parts and 5 products and 4
distribution centers supplying 6 products).
[0157] Typically, the RIM and impact chain views can be accessed by
the user interacting with a view of the event card for the selected
event. The impact chain view can also be accessed through the
impact chain view.
The Graph Data Structures 508
[0158] The graph data structures 508, which are used in generating
the relative event impact map 512 and impact chain views of FIGS.
15A-C and 16A-B, is a tree-type structure with nodes and node
connecting branches. Each node represents an object or item,
including without limitation a tier 1-4 enterprise, tier 1-4
enterprise site, part, component, product, person, shipment
enterprise or freight carrier, shipment, customer, route, "BOM" for
requirement or specification of bill of materials, "Event" for an
event associated with an event card 504, "SCE" for a supply chain
event, and "CSMP" for certified supply chain management
professional. Each node is associated with a description of the
corresponding object and can be color coded by associated
enterprise. Each interconnecting branch indicates a type of
relationship between the respective interconnected nodes, including
without limitation, "alternate" for alternate part or component
(e.g., where a manufacturer or supplier has different designations
for the same part or component, different parts or components that
are interchangeable, or multiple dislocated sites manufacturing the
same part or component), "sole source" for sole part or component,
"part" for part or component, "FG" for finished good, "ship to" for
shipment to destination, "works" for or employed by, "emergency
contact", "knows" for business association, "buys from", "sells
to", and "certified" for certification by a standards organization.
The graph data structures can divide the items in the supply chain
so as to generate a set of graph data structures for a specific
part, component, or product, such that the enterprise responsible
for that part, component or product can view selectively the
segments of the upstream and downstream segments of the supply
and/or logistics chain responsible for manufacturing or using that
selected part, component, or product. This is opposed to a
site-centric or site-level view, which shows all parts, components,
and products supplied by each depicted site, which, for sites
handling multiple different parts, components, or products, can
produce a very complex and difficult-to-traverse graph database.
The use of a part, component, or product-centric set of graph data
structures can not only provide a simpler graph database to
traverse by omitting objects in the supply and/or logistics chain
that are not of interest to the user but also enable users to view
how a selected part or component flows through the supply and/or
logistics chain.
[0159] FIG. 17 demonstrates a first example of display 1700 showing
graph data structures 508. In FIG. 17, the rectangular node 1704
refers to a description of the selected part or component (which is
described as "Transistor 5V capacity $0.01 Standard cost") and
rectangular node 1762 refers to the designated contact person for
3M.TM. (i.e., "Joe Miller 3M 555-3028"), which, as shown by node
1764 and branch 1766 entitled "WORKS", is employed by the company
(3M.TM.) manufacturing the selected product "MPN 2". The circular
nodes are identified as follows: node 1708 as "MPN 2" (which
identifies the selected part described by rectangular node 1704),
node 1712 as "3M Taiwan" (which is a site owned by 3M.TM. located
in Taiwan and, as shown by branch 1714 described as "MAKES", makes
part MPN2 at the Taiwan site and, as shown by branch 1784 described
as CERTIFIED" and node described as "ISO 9001" is a certified
facility (ISO 9001 is a family of quality management systems
standards is designed to help organizations ensure that they meet
the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting
statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product), node
1716 as "3M DE" (which is a site owned by 3M.TM. located in Germany
and, as shown by branch 1718 described as "MAKES", makes part MPN2
at the German site), node 1720 as "Item 1" (which, as shown by
branch 1722 described as "ALTERNATE", has part MPN2 as an alternate
part having price=$0.02 and, as shown by branch 1730 described as
"ALTERNATE", is an alternate part for MPN 2 in Item 1), node 1724
as "Flex CA" (which is a site owned by Flextronics
International.TM. in California), node 1726 as "MPN 1" (which
identifies a part, that, as shown by branch 1728 described as
"MAKES", is made by Flextronics International's.TM. site in
California), node 1732 as "Item 5" (which, as shown by branch 1734
described as "SOLE SOURCE", has part MPN 1 as a sole part (meaning
there is no alternate part to replace it), node 1736 as "BOM 3"
(which, as shown by branch 1738 described as "COMPONENT", bill of
materials "BOM 3" requires part Item 5 as a specification in
another part or product (not shown)), node 1740 as "BOM 1" (which,
as shown by branch 1742 described as "COMPONENT" (which means that
a part or component is required as a part or component by a bill of
materials), bill of materials "BOM 1" requires part Item 1 as a
specification in a product "FG 1"), node 1744 as "FG 1" (which, as
noted, is a product, or finished good, and, as shown by branch 1746
described as "FG", has Item 1 as a part as required by BOM 1), node
1748 as Company X DE (which site is in Germany and, as shown by
branch 1750 labeled "MAKES", manufactures product "FG 1"), node
1752 as "Walmart $K" (which is the retailer and/or brand owner
selling product "FG 1" and which product "FG 1", as shown by branch
1754 described as "SHIP TO", is shipped to the retailer "Walmart
$K), node 1756 as "Event 1" (which refers to an event identified as
"Event 1"), node 1758 as "SCE 1" (which refers to a supply chain
event impacting the site associated with node 1748 and which, as
shown by branch 1760, is the same as Event 1 (while an "Event" data
structure contains or is linked to publicly accessible information
about an event an "SCE" data structure contains or is linked to
non-public event information such as collaboration messages,
activities performed, and comments generated during event
mitigation), node 1768 as "Person 2" (which, as shown by branch
1772 described as "WORKS" is employed by Company X and, as shown by
branch 1770 described as "EMERGENCY CONTACT PERSON 2 isn't helpful"
and branch 1774 described as "KNOWS", is associated with "Person 1"
of node 1764 and is not helpful in the event of event mitigation
involving Company X), and node 1776 as "Person 3" (which, as shown
by branch 1778 described as "BUYS FROM", buys Item 1 from 3M.TM.
and, as shown by branch 1780 described as "CERTIFIED" and node 1782
labeled "CSMP", is a Certified Supply Chain Management
Professional). As can be seen from the above, branches and/or nodes
can include embedded comments to describe not only the nature of
the relationship but also describe or comment on one or more of the
interconnected items, such as the level of expertise or helpful of
a person based on previous interactions regarding site performance
or risk mitigation. As will be further appreciated, each of the
nodes and branches can be further linked to data structures
relating to the corresponding branch or node.
[0160] Based on the set of graph data structures, FIGS. 18-19
collectively depict another example of a view 1800 displayable on a
client communication device, with FIG. 18 being the lower portion
of the view and FIG. 19 being the upper portion. The view 1800a
(FIG. 19) includes a descriptive strip 1850 showing that the user
(John Smith) has selected "disruptions" instead of "events". An
event description 1854 indicates that the first event disruption
workflow assigned to the user is for "Weather: fire Wuxi, Jiangsu,
CN Sep. 24, 2013 05:33 PST Direct Site Impacts 15". Icon 1858
indicates that the threat posed by the event is level 1, or extreme
event, and icon 1862 indicates that the event is to be resolved.
Impact chain graph 1866 indicates that the event has impacted 100
sites, with line 1870 indicating a number of sites believed to be
mitigated and line 1874 a number of sites verified as being
mitigated. For sites assigned to the user, graph 1878 indicates
that the event has impacted 50 sites assigned to the user, with
line 1882 indicating a number of sites believed to be mitigated and
line 1886 a number of sites verified as being mitigated. The view
1800a-b indicates, by descriptive field 1804 (FIG. 18), that the
view 1800a-b is customized for the client communication device user
and by descriptive field 1808 that the view shows critical and
moderate sites (with respect to risk caused by the event associated
with the event description 1854) that contain sole source parts.
Descriptive strip 1812 shows the tier (i.e., "T3" for Tier 3, "T2"
for Tier 2, and "T1" for Tier 1) for each site icon depicted in
that column and which tier site icons are associated with the user
(e.g., by "My Enterprise's Sites"). Tier 3 thus has plural sites,
each associated with a respective site icon 1816a-b; Tier 2 thus
has plural sites, each associated with a respective site icon
1820a-k; and Tier 1 thus plural sites, each associated with a
respective site icon 1824a-b. The lines 1828 interconnecting the
various site icons indicate part, component, or product supply
relationships between the various nodes. For example, a first
corresponding to node 1816a supplies a first part to a second site
corresponding to node 1820c, which in turn supplies a second part
to a third site corresponding to node 1820g, which in turn supplies
a third part to a fourth site corresponding to node 1820K, which in
turn provides a fourth part to a fifth site corresponding to node
1824b. The site icons 1816a, 1820b, and 1820 f are bolded relative
to the other site icons indicating that impacted by the event while
the lighter colored site icons 1816b, 1820a, c, d, e, g, h, i, j,
and k and 1824a have not been impacted by the event. The site icons
depicted in view 1800b are an impact map; that is, it represents
only a portion of the supply and/or logistics chain impacted by the
event associated with the event description 1854 to a level of
moderate or critical risk and that supplies sole source parts (via
Nippon Chemical Conglomerate.TM.). The ability to depict filtered
portions of the supply and/or logistics chain can enhance
substantially not only viewer convenience but also consumption of
computational resources, bandwidth and processing power.
[0161] Based on the set of graph data structures, FIG. 20 is yet
another example of an impact chain view 2000 displayable on a
client communication device. The view 2000 indicates, for a
selected enterprise supplier (Nippon Chemical Conglomerate.TM. (or
"Nippon") out of Tokyo, Japan) corresponding to site icon 2004, by
descriptive field 2008, that the selected enterprise supplier is
the sole source for 25 parts and by the event of the prior
paragraph has a potential part impact of 150 parts and a potential
site impact of 60 sites. The images 2012 indicate a percentage of
resolved parts overall and assigned to John Smith for resolution.
Compared to FIG. 18, it can be seen that the text boxes were opened
on top of the impact chain at the request of the user for more
detailed information.
[0162] Based on the set of graph data structures, FIG. 21 is yet
another example of an impact chain view 2100 displayable on a
client communication device. The view 2100, in the impact graph
2012, indicates, for the event identified above in connection with
FIGS. 18-19, that the enterprise supplier associated with
enterprise supplier icon 2004, namely Nippon Chemical
Conglomerate.TM., is the sole source for 25 parts and has a
potential part impact of 150 parts. The remaining site icons
2008a-e indicate the downstream sites impacted as a result of the
upstream disruption at Nippon Chemical Conglomerate.TM.. As shown
by the interconnecting lines, Nippon.TM. supplies items directly to
sites 2008a and e.
[0163] The impact change view or graph can enable a user to filter
and sort convenient on selected object types (e.g., customer,
product, part, component, site, etc.) and thereby reorient and
align the graph in a beneficial manner to mitigate the effect of an
event. The various views enable a user to present customized views,
such as isolating a site for further review (e.g., to view how the
site is connected to the rest of the sites in the supply and/or
logistics chain, isolate the sub-graph for a selected site,
etc.).
The Impact Assessment Analyzer 500
[0164] The impact assessment analyzer 500 that generates the map
and other views discussed above can be user specific; that is, the
user can specify how to weight events depending on the type and/or
location of event relative to sites and/or shipping routes of a
selected supply and/or logistics chain, number and types of news
sources for the event, and the like. In other words, different
supply and/or logistics chains and/or users within a specific
supply and/or logistics chain can have different algorithms to
determine the event impact map. The impact assessment analyzer 500
can weigh multiple factors, such as product and customer impact, to
enable a user to start drilling down on the sites that matter
most.
[0165] FIG. 22 depicts a microprocessor executable method of
operation 2200 of the impact assessment analyzer 500.
[0166] In step 2204, the analyzer 500 receives a notification that
an event has been detected by the supply and/or logistics chain
monitoring system 300.
[0167] In step 2208, the analyzer 500 collects event information
relating to the detected event, including type and subtype of
event, geographic location of the event (including geo-tags (or
latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates), zone of impact of the
event, and the like. The zone of impact of the event can be based
on the type or subtype of event, severity of event impact (e.g.,
based on a measurable parameter independent of the impact on the
selected supply and/or logistics chain, such as the Richter scale
for an earthquake), news reports, and/or reports from sites in the
area of the event impact.
[0168] In step 2212, the analyzer 500 generates an event card 504
for the identified event.
[0169] In step 2216, the analyzer 500 selects a supply and/or
logistics chain from among multiple supply and/or logistics chains
for analysis.
[0170] In step 2220, the analyzer 500 retrieves performance
information and the corresponding graph database for the selected
supply and/or logistics chain.
[0171] In step 2224, the analyzer 500, using the graph database for
the selected supply and/or logistics chain, maps the event
information against the supply chain to determine the sites and/or
shipments impacted by the event. This can be done by comparing
geo-tags for the event against geo-tags for each of the sites and
current shipments in the selected supply and/or logistics
chain.
[0172] In step 2228, the analyzer 500 receives input from the graph
database analyzer 528 (discussed below) regarding its traversal of
the corresponding graph database for the selected supply and/or
logistics chain. The graph database analyzer 528 maps the impacted
sites and shipments against the parts, components, and/or products
produced or supplied by the impacted sites or carried by the
impacted shipments to determine impact information, such as a
degree of impact on each site, shipment, part, component and
product and/or a severity or risk associated with the overall
impact of the event on the selected supply and/or logistics
chain.
[0173] The analyzer 500 normally applies a supply chain risk
analysis in the context of an event or other issue (e.g., object).
For a site supply chain risk analysis, the analyzer 500 can draw on
the following metrics determined for each object: [0174] [Tile
Location] 1. Number of final products or finished goods at risk per
site based on the parts and sole sourced parts produced by each of
the impacted site(s) for the selected enterprise customer's supply
and/or logistics chain. This calculation determines the unique
interconnectivity of the selected site's parts to the end users
products. The location of the site tile for the selected site on
the RIM is determined by the analyzer 500 by normalizing the
selected sites final products-at-risk count and determining a
relative count. Site tiles are "painted" or created starting in the
upper right corner of the map and placed in concentric arcs
expanding from the corner. [0175] [Tile Size] 2. Profit (or
revenue) generated from the products-at-risk per each site (from
metric number 1). The profit generated from the products which the
parts at the impacted supplier site go into is aggregated and
normalized across all at-risk sites within the event. The higher
the value, the more risk from the parts at that site and the larger
the tile. The profit from finished goods made out of parts made at
each site at risk is aggregated. The normalized sites are broken
into quartiles and the tiles are sized. [0176] There are three
sizes for tiles: [0177] 0-25%=Small, [0178] 26-50%=Small, [0179]
51-75%=Medium, and [0180] 76-100%=Large [0181] [Tile Color] 3.
Aggregated Part information per site: The color is determined by
looking at the individual parts within a site and determining the
aggregate component lead time-[(inventory on-hand+inventory
in-transit)/daily component consumption]=Adjusted lead time (ALT).
The higher the ALT values above zero, the longer the expected
shortage in part supply before new orders can fulfill demand.
[0182] The impacted sites can be broken into quartiles based on the
adjusted lead time (highest risk from greatest positive ALT) and
colored by the risk quartile:
[0183] 0-25%=Green,
[0184] 26-50%=Yellow,
[0185] 51-75%=Orange, and
[0186] 76-100%=Red.
[0187] In step 2232, the analyzer 500 generates a RIM and updates
the event card based on the impact information. The size of each
tile is based on the risk associated with the object associated
with the tile.
[0188] In decision diamond 2236, the analyzer 500 selects a next
supply and/or logistics chain for analysis and returns to step
2220. If there is no supply and/or logistics chain remaining for
analysis, the analyzer 500, in step 2240, terminates execution.
The Graph Database Analyzer 528
[0189] The graph database analyzer 528 can traverse the graph
database for a selected supply and/or logistics chain based on user
selected parameters and a selected event. By traversing the graph
database, the analyzer 528 can determine not only what sites are
impacted directly by an event and what parts, components, or
products from that site are impacted but also what downstream sites
and parts, components, and products are indirectly impacted by the
upstream disruption.
[0190] FIG. 23 depicts a microprocessor executable method of
operation 2300 of the graph database analyzer 528. The method of
operation 2300 effectively starts at the directly impacted site and
follows the impacted raw material, part, or component flow
downstream through the supply chain to assess what other parts,
components, or products, for each site and associated enterprise,
are directly and indirectly impacted by the event and whether the
impacted parts or components are sole source and/or alternate parts
or components. A product or component is a sole source part or
component when all of the following are true: (1) A manufacturer or
supplier does not assign a different designation for the same part
or component; (2) The manufacturer or another entity does not make
different parts or components that are interchangeable; and (3) The
manufacturer does not have another site outside of the event impact
zone manufacturing the same part or component. If any of the above
is true, the part or component has an alternate source. While the
existence of alternate parts or components and absence of sole
source parts or components lowers the risk profile of an event on a
site and downstream product, it does not change the fact that a
site or downstream product has been impacted by an event.
[0191] In step 2304, the analyzer 528 selects a site in the
selected supply and/or logistics chain impacted by an event.
[0192] In step 2308, the analyzer 528 determines the item(s) (e.g.,
raw materials, parts, components, and/or products) made by the
selected site.
[0193] In step 2312, the analyzer 528 determines, such as from the
bill of materials of a downstream part, component or product, what
other item(s) the selected item is a component of.
[0194] In step 2316, the analyzer 528 determines the site(s) making
each other item identified in step 2312.
[0195] In step 2320, the analyzer 528 determines, such as from a
bill of materials, what further item(s) the selected other item is
a component of and the site making the further item(s).
[0196] As shown in box 2324, the analyzer 528, repeats steps 2308
through 2320 until a finished good or product is identified.
[0197] When the finished good or product is identified, the
analyzer 528, in step 2328, determines the end customer for the
finished good or product to complete the impacted branch of the
selected supply and/or logistics chain.
[0198] In decision diamond 2332, the analyzer 528 determines
whether there is a next impacted site in the selected supply and/or
logistics chain and, if so, returns to and repeats steps 2308
through 2328. When there is no next impacted site remaining to be
analyzed, the analyzer 528 proceeds to step 2336.
[0199] In step 2336, the analyzer 528 determines, for each impacted
item and site, whether it is a sole source or alternate part and
other factors impacting the risk to be assigned to each of the
impacted sites. Examples of other factors considered include demand
of impacted parts, components, or products, inventory levels of
impacted parts, components, or products, outstanding orders for the
impacted part, component or product, and other enterprise selected
criteria relevant to how the enterprise evaluates and quantifies
risk and potential loss from a certain site. These other factors
can also be used in developing a strategy for mitigating the impact
of an event.
[0200] In step 2340, the analyzer 528 assigns a risk value or
quantifies the impact on each impacted site and/or of each impacted
site on the supply and/or logistics chain and/or ranks the various
impacted and non-impacted sites based on the assigned risk value or
quantified impact.
The Graph Database Generator 524
[0201] The graph database generator 524 can generate the graph
database for a selected supply and/or logistics chain based on user
selected parameters. The generator 524 can generate the database by
selecting an arbitrary site, whether Tier 1, 2, 3, or 4, and
navigating from the selected site through the various sites of the
selected supply and/or logistics chain. The generator 524 can
develop the graph database by accessing relevant data in a database
containing data structures describing the supply and/or logistics
chain. The method 2400 of FIG. 24 does not generate the upper
portion of the graph database of FIG. 17 showing human actors;
however, the method 2400 can be modified by one of ordinary skill
in the art to collect and populate this portion of the
database.
[0202] The generator 524, in step 2404, selects a supply and/or
logistics chain for creating a set of data structures describing
the chain's topology.
[0203] In step 2408, the generator 524 selects an arbitrary site in
the selected supply and/or logistics chain.
[0204] In step 2412, the generator 524 determines the item(s) made
and/or received by the selected site and the site information for
each such site. Site information includes, for example,
geo-location, owner, operator, designated contact person, type of
facility (e.g., warehouse, factory, etc.), capacity of facility,
and the like.
[0205] In step 2416, the generator 524 determines what other
item(s) each manufactured item is a component of, sites making each
other item identified, and information for such site(s).
[0206] In step 2420, the generator 524 determines, for each
received item, the sites making each received item, and information
for such site(s).
[0207] In step 2424, the generator 524 repeats steps 2408 through
2420 for each site in the selected supply and/or logistics
chain.
[0208] In step 2428, the generator 524 determines the customer for
the selected supply and/or logistics chain.
[0209] In decision diamond 2432, the generator 524 determines,
whether there is a next supply and/or logistics chain. If so, the
generator returns to and repeats steps 2404 through 2428 for the
next supply and/or logistics chain. When there are no further
supply and/or logistics chains to be analyzed, the generator 524,
in step 2436, creates a linked set of graph data structures for
each selected supply and/or logistics chain.
[0210] Examples of the processors as described herein may include,
but are not limited to, at least one of Qualcomm.RTM.
Snapdragon.RTM. 800 and 801, Qualcomm.RTM. Snapdragon.RTM. 610 and
615 with 4G LTE Integration and 64-bit computing, Apple.RTM. A7
processor with 64-bit architecture, Apple.RTM. M7 motion
coprocessors, Samsung.RTM. Exynos.RTM. series, the Intel.RTM.
Core.TM. family of processors, the Intel.RTM. Xeon.RTM. family of
processors, the Intel.RTM. Atom.TM. family of processors, the Intel
Itanium.RTM. family of processors, Intel.RTM. Core.RTM. i5-4670K
and i7-4770K 22 nm Haswell, Intel.RTM. Core.RTM. i5-3570K 22 nm Ivy
Bridge, the AMD.RTM., FX.TM. family of processors, AMD.RTM.,
FX-4300, FX-6300, and FX-8350 32 nm Vishera, AMD.RTM., Kaveri
processors, Texas Instruments.RTM. Jacinto C6000.TM. automotive
infotainment processors, Texas Instruments.RTM. OMAP.TM.
automotive-grade mobile processors, ARM.RTM. Cortex.TM.-M
processors, ARM.RTM. Cortex-A and ARM926EJ-S.TM. processors, other
industry-equivalent processors, and may perform computational
functions using any known or future-developed standard, instruction
set, libraries, and/or architecture.
[0211] The exemplary systems and methods of this disclosure have
been described in relation to a computer network. However, to avoid
unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure, the preceding
description omits a number of known structures and devices. This
omission is not to be construed as a limitation of the scopes of
the claims. Specific details are set forth to provide an
understanding of the present disclosure. It should however be
appreciated that the present disclosure may be practiced in a
variety of ways beyond the specific detail set forth herein.
[0212] Furthermore, while the exemplary aspects, embodiments,
and/or configurations illustrated herein show the various
components of the system collocated, certain components of the
system can be located remotely, at distant portions of a
distributed network, such as a LAN and/or the Internet, or within a
dedicated system. Thus, it should be appreciated, that the
components of the system can be combined in to one or more devices,
such as a server, or collocated on a particular node of a
distributed network, such as an analog and/or digital
telecommunications network, a packet-switch network, or a
circuit-switched network. It will be appreciated from the preceding
description, and for reasons of computational efficiency, that the
components of the system can be arranged at any location within a
distributed network of components without affecting the operation
of the system. For example, the various components can be located
in a switch such as a PBX and media server, gateway, in one or more
communications devices, at one or more users' premises, or some
combination thereof. Similarly, one or more functional portions of
the system could be distributed between a telecommunications
device(s) and an associated computing device.
[0213] Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links
connecting the elements can be wired or wireless links, or any
combination thereof, or any other known or later developed
element(s) that is capable of supplying and/or communicating data
to and from the connected elements. These wired or wireless links
can also be secure links and may be capable of communicating
encrypted information. Transmission media used as links, for
example, can be any suitable carrier for electrical signals,
including coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, and may
take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated
during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.
[0214] Also, while the flowcharts have been discussed and
illustrated in relation to a particular sequence of events, it
should be appreciated that changes, additions, and omissions to
this sequence can occur without materially affecting the operation
of the disclosed embodiments, configuration, and aspects.
[0215] A number of variations and modifications of the disclosure
can be used. It would be possible to provide for some features of
the disclosure without providing others.
[0216] For example in one alternative embodiment, the concepts of
this disclosure can be applied to analyze and represent the effect
of an event impacting a network generally, such as a computer
network (e.g., the nodes are logical or physical function
components, the branches are communication pathways between the
components, the event is a malfunction or virus infestation,
malware infestation, denial of service attack, and the like, and
the impact is an improper operation, malfunction, decreased
bandwidth or processing resource constriction), telecommunications
network (e.g., the nodes are logical or physical function
components, the branches are communication pathways between the
components, the event is a malfunction or virus infestation,
malware infestation, denial of service attack, and the like, and
the impact is an improper operation, malfunction, decreased
bandwidth or processing resource constriction), transportation
network (such as railway network, road network, air carrier
network, and the like, where the node is a depot, bus station,
intersection, and the like, the branch is a rail, road, or air
segment, the event is heavy traffic, branch damage such as from a
weather event, and the impact is traffic constrictions or choke
points at other parts of the network), power grid (where the node
is a utility station or sub-station, the branch is an electrically
conductive pathway, the event is malfunction, conductive pathway
damage such as from a weather event or abnormal energy demands, and
the impact is power outages), and the like. Each of these
applications has nodes and branches similar to the graph database
discussed above.
[0217] In another embodiment, any of the steps described in
connection with FIGS. 22-24 can be performed manually, including
input, such as inputting event information, information describing
the supply and/or logistics chain, and the like.
[0218] In another embodiment, the systems and methods of this
disclosure can be implemented in conjunction with a special purpose
computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and
peripheral integrated circuit element(s), an ASIC or other
integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hard-wired
electronic or logic circuit such as discrete element circuit, a
programmable logic device or gate array such as PLD, PLA, FPGA,
PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means, or the like.
In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementing the
methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the various
aspects of this disclosure. Exemplary hardware that can be used for
the disclosed embodiments, configurations and aspects includes
computers, handheld devices, telephones (e.g., cellular, Internet
enabled, digital, analog, hybrids, and others), and other hardware
known in the art. Some of these devices include processors (e.g., a
single or multiple microprocessors), memory, nonvolatile storage,
input devices, and output devices. Furthermore, alternative
software implementations including, but not limited to, distributed
processing or component/object distributed processing, parallel
processing, or virtual machine processing can also be constructed
to implement the methods described herein.
[0219] In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be
readily implemented in conjunction with software using object or
object-oriented software development environments that provide
portable source code that can be used on a variety of computer or
workstation platforms. Alternatively, the disclosed system may be
implemented partially or fully in hardware using standard logic
circuits or VLSI design. Whether software or hardware is used to
implement the systems in accordance with this disclosure is
dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirements of the
system, the particular function, and the particular software or
hardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems being
utilized.
[0220] In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be
partially implemented in software that can be stored on a storage
medium, executed on programmed general-purpose computer with the
cooperation of a controller and memory, a special purpose computer,
a microprocessor, or the like. In these instances, the systems and
methods of this disclosure can be implemented as program embedded
on personal computer such as an applet, JAVA.RTM. or CGI script, as
a resource residing on a server or computer workstation, as a
routine embedded in a dedicated measurement system, system
component, or the like. The system can also be implemented by
physically incorporating the system and/or method into a software
and/or hardware system.
[0221] Although the present disclosure describes components and
functions implemented in the aspects, embodiments, and/or
configurations with reference to particular standards and
protocols, the aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations are not
limited to such standards and protocols. Other similar standards
and protocols not mentioned herein are in existence and are
considered to be included in the present disclosure. Moreover, the
standards and protocols mentioned herein and other similar
standards and protocols not mentioned herein are periodically
superseded by faster or more effective equivalents having
essentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and
protocols having the same functions are considered equivalents
included in the present disclosure.
[0222] The present disclosure, in various aspects, embodiments,
and/or configurations, includes components, methods, processes,
systems and/or apparatus substantially as depicted and described
herein, including various aspects, embodiments, configurations
embodiments, subcombinations, and/or subsets thereof. Those of
skill in the art will understand how to make and use the disclosed
aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations after understanding the
present disclosure. The present disclosure, in various aspects,
embodiments, and/or configurations, includes providing devices and
processes in the absence of items not depicted and/or described
herein or in various aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations
hereof, including in the absence of such items as may have been
used in previous devices or processes, e.g., for improving
performance, achieving ease and\or reducing cost of
implementation.
[0223] The foregoing discussion has been presented for purposes of
illustration and description. The foregoing is not intended to
limit the disclosure to the form or forms disclosed herein. In the
foregoing Detailed Description for example, various features of the
disclosure are grouped together in one or more aspects,
embodiments, and/or configurations for the purpose of streamlining
the disclosure. The features of the aspects, embodiments, and/or
configurations of the disclosure may be combined in alternate
aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations other than those
discussed above. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted
as reflecting an intention that the claims require more features
than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following
claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of
a single foregoing disclosed aspect, embodiment, and/or
configuration. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated
into this Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own
as a separate preferred embodiment of the disclosure.
[0224] Moreover, though the description has included description of
one or more aspects, embodiments, and/or configurations and certain
variations and modifications, other variations, combinations, and
modifications are within the scope of the disclosure, e.g., as may
be within the skill and knowledge of those in the art, after
understanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtain
rights which include alternative aspects, embodiments, and/or
configurations to the extent permitted, including alternate,
interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or
steps to those claimed, whether or not such alternate,
interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or
steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publicly
dedicate any patentable subject matter.
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