AU2001261784A1 - System, method and apparatus for integrated supply chain management - Google Patents

Description

System, Method and Apparatus for Integrated Supply Chain Management

Related Applications

The present invention claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.

filed on May 22, 2000, and entitled Retail Supply Chain Information

Integration System.

Background of the Invention

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to integrated information exchange. More

specifically, the present invention relates to a business community integration tool for

providing to manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and other trading partners integrated, real-

time access to such supply chain data as supply/inventory, demand, delivery status, etc.

Related Art

In recent years, there has been dramatic growth in electronic commerce,

particularly over such public networks as the Internet. With this growth has come

increased competition between entities conducting business over the Internet. Such

competition generates tremendous pressure on these entities to develop an edge over

competing entities. Means for independent entities to achieve such an edge may include

increased exposure, improved efficiency, etc. However, for entities that belong to business

communities, a different dynamic often exists. For example, in business communities where supply chain management is a concern, additional complications may arise, often

related to inter-communication amongst partnering entities. Li these communities, the

streamlining of value chain inefficiencies and the breaking down of information barriers

become a must.

Attempts have been made to address such issues. However, proposed solutions

tend to be company-centric, and thus are more applicable to individual entities. As applied

to cross-entity environments, which depend on business process synchronization among trading partners, these solutions are limited. The attempted application of company-

centric solutions to more complex problems that arise in attempting to integrate business

communities often leads to disparate procedures and processes that are inflexible and

costly to support. And current business processes tend to leave significant information

gaps between trading partners. For example, a retailer may place an order with a supplier

and get no information, such as allocation status and expected ship date, until the product

has been or will shortly be shipped. This may occur days or even weeks after the order has

been placed. As another example, retail buyers typically do not have access to information

relating to inventory, such as time-phased availability to promise (ATP) information, often

rendering decisions on merchandise rollout plans and others difficult to make.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) has been proposed as an external integration

method. However, EDI tends to be more effective in certain limited environments, such as

those involving primarily automated transactions, and less effective in the broader class of

more diverse business community environments.

In addition, industry portals and independent trading exchanges are l nown. These

entities typically focus on content management, presentation and transactions for a broad

range of industry group requirements. These collaborations fail to address the problem of synchronizing and improving an efficiency of trading partners' business processes and systems. These collaborations also tend to experience heavy competition themselves.

What is needed is a system that provides integrated data access to supply chain

partners, such as factories, wholesalers, retailers and retail customers, transportation

companies, etc. Preferably, such a system would not compete with such entities as UEs

and others in the field, but would integrate them, providing the "plumbing" for integrated

exchange of information, vastly improving collaboration in areas such as order tracking,

item master information and inventory visibility. Furthermore, such a system should not only integrate data exchange between partners, but should preferably do so in real time

such that the data exchange is timely and meaningful. Thus, trading partners could make more informed business decisions, and could make them earlier than is possible with

known systems.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention includes a business community integration tool for

improving operations and increasing Internet capabilities of trading partners by

streamlining their inefficiencies and breaking down information barriers between them.

The invention may be especially useful in retail supply chains, which typically include

such trading partners as manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, retail customers,

transportation companies and trading exchanges. Associated retail products may include

hard goods, soft goods, home furnishings, appliances, office products, apparel and

footwear, grocery products and others. Integrated information may include remotely

accessible corporate information, electronic product catalog contents, order and inventory-

status, etc. The network of trading entities currently in existence is complicated and

sometimes relatively unsophisticated. Particularly among manufacturers, which often do

not have standardization and/or compliance pressures from their customers. Moreover,

systems vary widely. Nonetheless, the present invention preferably provides the plumbing,

technology enablement, communication means, etc., for many data integration initiatives,

such as the business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange (EDI) initiative,

amongst these widely varying entities. Because trading entities vary by such factors as size, geography, information technology (IT) experience, education and business

arrangement, the invention is preferably adaptable to trading entities having systems of

multiple qualities.

In one aspect, the present invention provides an interface with a less advanced

system. Such a system may be a browser-based system-to-user interface, as may be

required for integration with certain retailers. In one embodiment, the interface is

employed as an extranet application for business partners, for example. The present

invention may thus provide visibility into product production status, shipment information

(ASN), carton labels for a streamlined receiving process, etc., which will often lead to

improved warehouse management and in increase in inventory throughput. Further

benefits may include increased inventory accuracy, reduced manual paperwork and data

entry, forward visibility into supply chain, faster/more accurate receiving processes, fewer

over-shipments, ability to measure shipper/carrier performance, reduced safety stock,

provision of a basis for business process re-engineering and overall improved internal

efficiency and customer service.

Suppliers or wholesalers, on the other hand, often feel pressure from their

customers to provide greater accessibility to inventory, order status, etc. In another aspect, the present invention acts as a system-to-system interface. For example, the present invention may provide an interface between a manufacturer and a wholesaler that have

technologically advanced systems.

In yet another aspect, the present invention provides an interface to peripheral

trading partners, such as industry vertical portals, ITEs and consolidation portals. This

interface is preferably implemented as a system-to-system interface, and preferably is

further accessible to individual customers via the trading partners, such as through their

web sites.

Brief Description of the Figures

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this

specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description,

serve to explain the features, advantages, and principles of the invention. L the figures,

like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

Figure 1 shows block diagram of a data integration system of the present

invention;

Figure 2 shows a block diagram of a data integration system of the present

invention;

Figure 3 shows a block diagram of a system of the present invention having a data

extraction layer; and

Figure 4 shows a flow chart of a method of the present invention. Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Referring to Figure 1, an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated as a

system 100. The system 100 includes a factory or wholesaler location 120, a supplier or

manufacturer location 140 and a retailer location 160. The present invention, however,

encompasses systems having more, fewer and differing entities. For example, the system

may include only a manufacturer and a retailer. Alternatively, the system may include a wholesaler, and an entity acting both as a supplier and a retailer. The system may also

include entities dealing in raw materials, such as fabrics and accessories, and others.

L one embodiment, the system 100 of the present invention is designed as a

wholesaler-centric system. That is, the wholesaler location 120 includes means for bulk

data storage, server capability, etc., and controls access by any participating manufacturer

locations 140 and/or retailer locations 160, and any other participating entities, to supply

chain and related information. Thus, the exemplary wholesaler location 120 of Figure 1 is

illustrated as including a processor 122, a database 124 and a server 126. And although

the system has been illustrated for a wholesaler-centric solution, the system 100 may be

implemented and supported by any trading partner, or even an independent entity.

The exemplary manufacturer location 140 is illustrated as including a workstation

142 and/or a personal computer 142, such as, but not limited to, an IBM compatible,

Macintosh, etc. Likewise, the exemplary retailer location 160 is illustrated as including a

workstation 162 and/or a personal computer (PC) 164. Li this embodiment, the

manufacturer location 140 and retailer location 160 may only be enabled for

accessing/providing data over a network.

While the trading partner locations have been illustrated as having particular

technological features, it should be noted that any participating location might include any or all of the illustrated features and/or others lcnown in the art. Of course, the illustrated

system 100 is merely exemplary as well, and thus, the system 100 need not include all of

the entities illustrated. Furthermore, the system 100 may include multiple instances of any

or all of the entities illustrated and may include additional related or unrelated entities as

desired.

As is further illustrated by Figure 1, the wholesaler location 120, the manufacturer

location 140 and the retailer location 160 are coupled via a network 110. In one

embodiment, any or all of the wholesaler location 120, the manufacturer location 140 and

the retailer location 160 include a portion configured as an industry portal (a.k.a. vertical

portal or vortal) accessible over the network 110. This network 110 may be any means for

intercommunication, including a hardwired or wireless network, or a combination thereof,

such as the worldwide network broadly defined as the Internet. Furthermore, the present

invention may be implemented on a network that is accessible by the public, or on a

private network, such as a private intranet or extranet, local area network (LAN) or wide

area network (WAN), for example. Li a preferred embodiment, the present invention is

implemented on a public network such as Internet, while utilizing a security model or

other interface that limits access to particular information to intended parties only. For

example, login and password information may be required to access the system. Li

addition, a secure communications protocol, such as secure hypertext transfer protocol

(HTTPS), may be employed if desired. As used herein, the terms 'network' and 'Internet'

are intended to encompass not only the hardwired network, but also any means of

interfacing therewith (e.g., cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite, and

others)

In general, the present invention preferably enables a real-time collaborative

communication between various entities via various means of communication. Preferably, in interfacing systems of trading partners, intersystem communication is based on a standard communications format, such that multiple parties, particularly sophisticated

parties, may be readily integrated into the system. However, in interfacing a business

partner or typical individual customer having a less sophisticated system (having only a

network connection and a browser, for example), a system of the present invention is

preferably configured such that an interface may be alternatively employed, such as via an

extranet application.

The flexibility provided by such an arrangement preferably allows a system of the

present invention to extract data from underlying, pre-existing partner systems that may be

widely variable. These underlying systems may include enterprise resource planning

(ERP) systems, warehouse management systems (WMS), trading management systems

(TMS) and others. This data may then be integrated without a need for such traditional

measures as telephone calls and document facsimile, thus allowing the information to be

tracked and shared by partnering systems with minimal manual effort. Once integrated,

access may be provided not only to the trading partner systems, but also to portals and

exchanges. L doing so, the present invention is able to not only provide this information, but also to further provide an industry-specific infrastructure to these entities.

Li one embodiment, the present invention acts as a system-to-system interface. For

example, the present invention may provide an interface between a wholesaler location

120 and a retailer location 140. As discussed above, where trading partners are

sufficiently technologically sophisticated in their information systems, a standard

communication format may be utilized. In one embodiment, for example, the generalized

markup language (SGML), specifically the extensible markup language (XML), is used.

More specifically, the usage of such a format as XML may conform to a further standard

or framework as XML BizTalk or another known to one skilled in the art. Li another embodiment, the present invention provides an interface between a

wholesaler and retailer. Such an interface may also be system-to-system, or may be a

system-to-user interface. L one embodiment, the interface is employed as an extranet

application for business partners having only a browser-based system, for example. These

partners may thereby be granted access to an item catalog and to such information as order

status, etc. As will be further discussed below, the wholesaler in this example may control

visibility to certain or all retailers and/or others having access to such information as

inventory and/or allocation or available to promise (ATP) items. Li addition, retailers may set alerts regarding a status of any of the above parameters or others.

Li yet another aspect, the present invention provides an interface to peripheral

partners, such as industry vertical portals, ITEs and consolidation portals. This interface is

preferably implemented as a system-to-system interface, but is preferably further

accessible to users via the trading partners.

Regardless of a communication means provided, information such as, but not

limited to, capacity, demand, price, substitute availability, production status, order status,

delivery status, catalog items, inventory visibility, container advance shipping notices

(ASNs), etc., may preferably be accessed and shared among trading partners. Information

may also be provided, if desired, via infomediaries, ITEs, various portals such as industry

vertical portals and consolidation portals, and others. Methods of the present invention for

information access and exchange will be further discussed below.

Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of a system of the present invention in greater

detail as a system 200. Like the system 100 of Figure 1, the system 200 may include a

manufacturer location 220, a wholesaler location 240 and a retailer location 260 enabled

for communication over a network 210. The system 200 is preferably further accessible to

entities including a delivery or transportation location 280 and a trading partner location 290 coupled to the network 210. As illustrated, the trading partner location 290 may

include such entities as a corporate portal 292, an independent trading exchange (ITE) 294,

an industry portal 296, as well as other industry trading partners as desired. Note that

illustrated supply chain trading partners, such as the manufacturer location 220, the

wholesaler location 240 and the retailer location 260, may be independent, or may

themselves, in whole or in part, be party to their own trading exchanges. Thus, the system

200 may include independent entities, may include entities that are a part of a single

trading exchange, may include multiple trading exchanges themselves, etc. The system

200 may further be accessible to the general public, either through independent means or

through one or more of the illustrated entities. Preferably, partners of the system 200 limit

the data to which members of the public, as well as other partners and other participating

entities, have access.

Li a preferred embodiment, the system 200 is implemented as a software-based

package or comparable system integration tool. The system 200 may be supported at any

or all of the manufacturer location 220, the wholesaler location 240, the retailer location

260, the transportation location 280, the trading partner location 290 and at locations of

any other entities that are a part of the system 200.

Alternatively, the system 200 may be implemented as a hosted application, such as by an application service provider (ASP), for example. Through the use of a wide-area-

network such as the Internet, the present invention may be implemented without incurring

the overhead, functional limitations and expenses of traditional data integration systems.

And through the combined use of a standardized protocol, such as XML, and browser-

based technology, a more universal system is made possible that could allow independent

trading partners of varying sizes and technological abilities to be integrated more easily and efficiently. Further details of potential architectures and associated functionality of systems of the present invention are hereinafter described.

Implementation of one embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in greater

detail in Figure 3, which shows a system 300. The system 300 has a browser location 320;

a supply chain location 330, which may be, for example, a manufacturer location, a

wholesaler location, a retailer location, etc.; and a trading partner location 340. Each of

these locations is preferably coupled to the others by a network 310. Again, a typical

system 300 of the present invention will include multiple supply chain locations 330.

The illustrated exemplary system 300 of Figure 3 includes a highly configurable,

real-time, data extraction layer 350. The data extraction layer 350 preferably allows the

system 300 to provide great flexibility, in that entities that have systems supported by

widely varying technologies may nonetheless be integrated for data exchange by the

system 300. For example, the data extraction layer 350 is preferably capable of pulling

data from entity back-end systems using standard methodologies, sequential queried logic

(SQL) statements, open data base connectivity (ODBC) connections and standard linkages

to such back-end systems (BES) as systems, applications and products (SAP), Java

development environment (JDE), pick management systems (PkMS), Internet protocol (IP)

based systems, etc.

A data extraction layer 350 is provided for facilitating communication between the

respective portion and remaining portions of the system. The data extraction layer 350 is

preferably coupled to at least one supply chain location 330, such as the manufacturer

location 220, the wholesaler portion 240 or the retailer portion 260 of Figure 2, etc. In one

embodiment, for example, the data extraction layer 350 comprises a back-end interface for

extracting raw data from the portion to which the data extraction layer 350 is coupled. The extracted raw data can then be converted, in real time, to a format readable by remaining

portions of the system 300.

Li one specific embodiment, the data extraction layer 350 includes a pull system

for translating data from a format of a legacy system to a more standardized format, such

as the Extensible Mark-Up Language (XML) format. The format of the legacy system may

be very basic, such as a browser-based system of the browser location 320, which may be

adapted only for entry of plain text data, for example. The translation may occur automatically, or at a command of a user.

The following is an illustrative example of a real-time, collaborative exchange of

information that may occur between entities practicing the present invention. This

example illustrates the use of the invention to improve collaboration in the retail supply

chain. Exemplary participants here include Tommy Hilfiger (a supplier to retailers),

Federated Department Stores (a retailer), an apparel manufacturer (in Mexico), and a

domestic transportation carrier. Additional participants may include a freight forwarder, a

freight consolidator, a customs broker, a customs agency, a freight de-consolidator, retail

customers, etc.

As a supplier to major retailers throughout the United States and the rest of the

world, providing branded apparel and footwear products, Tommy Hilfiger may wish to

obtain some of its sports apparel merchandise from the manufacturer in Mexico.

Federated Department Stores (EDS), which includes Macy's, for example, is a national

retailer that owns several chains of department stores throughout the United States. For

this example, it is assumed that FDS retailers sell a multitude of products including

apparel, footwear, fashion accessories, and furniture. It is further assumed that FDS

wishes to acquire from Hilfiger at least some of the Hilfiger brand sports apparel. Li preparation for the winter season, buyers for the various divisions within Federated Department Stores (FDS) may begin developing a product plan months in

advance. In this example, further assume that, based upon an analysis of fall sales figures,

market research, and an unseasonably warm beginning to the winter, for example, Macy's

buyers have determined that the Tommy Hilfiger line of men's sports apparel will continue

to be very popular in the southeastern U.S. for at least the first month or two of winter.

For simplicity, it is assumed that there is one main buyer at Macy's that is responsible for

ordering all of the men's sports apparel for all of the Macy's stores in the southeastern

U.S. Traditionally, buyers have not had the ability to react quickly to changes in market

demand or rapidly developing fashion trends. Such ability may be advantageous, as the

buyer could act on this information quickly in order to take advantage of the developing

trends and conditions. The present invention may provide this opportunity.

In this embodiment, we will assume that a system 100 of the present invention is

supported by the wholesaler Tommy Hilfiger. As noted above, in our example, the buyer

already has a sense for which products will continue to sell well into winter. With this

information the buyer may log into the system 100 supported by Hilfiger to obtain

information about the specific products needed. The buyer may be located, for example, in

the Macy's office in New York City and can use his personal computer (PC) to access an

Internet web site affiliated with the system 100, enabling retail supply chain collaboration

with the supplier Tommy Hilfiger.

Based upon identifying information (i.e. credentials such as organization, role,

department, personal ID combination, etc.) entered by the Macy's buyer, the buyer may be

given immediate access to all of the products in his area of interest (men's sports apparel).

In accordance with wishes of a Hilfiger administrator, the buyer may be prevented from

viewing information related to products outside his or her particular area (e.g. products for other departments and products offered to other Tommy Hilfiger customers). The system

100 may also ensure that other departments and other competitors do not have access to

product information such as product pricing and inventory information intended

specifically for the Macy's buyer. In this manner, participating entities may strategically

tailor buying and selling prices, preferences, etc., depending on a particular entity or

transaction, for example. Li one embodiment, an entity may control not only absolute

access (that is, access versus non-access), but also a quality or quantity of information as

viewed by other entities. For example, a supplier may control inventory visibility such that a first entity sees inventory as zero, while a second entity (that the supplier prefers, perhaps

due to a known willingness to pay a higher price, for example) sees inventory availability.

Li a similar manner, a buyer may manifest its own willingness to pay a higher price to

certain sellers (for quality reasons, for example) by displaying a greater demand or buy

price to those preferred sellers.

The information provided to the buyer is preferably in real time, based upon the

actual information in various systems and locations within the Tommy Hilifiger (supplier)

organization. Product offering and product pricing information, for example, may be obtained through real-time access to Hilfiger' s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

system (see e.g., Figure 3). Product availability information may be obtained through real¬

time access to Tommy Hilfiger's existing Warehouse Management System (WMS). Upon

extracting the information from these various systems in real time, the information is

preferably displayed. Li one embodiment, the information is assembled into the Extensible

Markup Language (XML) format and then displayed to the buyer. The buyer may then

view the final presentation of the information in any desired manner, such as by accessing

the information as an XML web page using an Internet browser on the buyer's computer

system. Li this embodiment of the system 100, the buyer is able to access the system 100

and view the desired products and the associated pricing and inventory information.

Assume the buyer learns that the desired products are currently 'in stock' and submits a

request for 10000 units of a particular style of Tommy Hilfiger men's exercise outfit. The

viewed 'in stock' inventory information in this case may be based upon data extracted in

real time from the supplier's WMS system. More specifically, the buyer may use the

present invention to specify the desired size breakdown (1000 small, 3000 medium, 3000

large, 2000 extra large, and 1000 extra-extra large) of the exercise outfits. The buyer may

also specify that Tommy Hilfiger must ship the product by December 15^th in order to ensure that the shipment reaches the stores in sufficient time. L addition, the buyer may

specify the particular store locations that are to receive the product, as well as the quantity

for each store.

Preferably, the system 100 of the present invention carries out such functions as

logging the buyer's detailed request into a database for future viewing, automatically

transmitting the information about the request to the appropriate personnel within the

Hilfiger organization, and sending the request in the form of an XML document to Tommy

Hilfiger's ERP system for creation of a purchase order (PO). In one embodiment,

notifying personnel within the Hilfiger organization includes capturing the data in an XML

format, converting it to an e-mail format, and routing it to the appropriate sales manager in

the Tommy Hilfiger organization (in this example, the manager who handles the Macy's

account).

Once the ERP system receives the order and performs certain validations, it then

preferably sends a document, perhaps in a 'flat file' format (i.e., having a single line for

each entry, for example) or other simple format, back to the tool indicating the

acknowledgement of the PO. hi one embodiment, the format consists of single lines with fields having comma-separated values (CSV). The system 100 may then accept this

acknowledgement, log it for users to view, convert it to an XML document, route the XML

document to the retailer's merchandising system and/or perform other desired functions.

On the supplier side, an administrator (e.g., sales manager) at the supplier location

preferably receives notification, such as by e-mail, that an order has been placed. The

sales manager may then log into the system 100 (e.g., using a PC with an Internet browser)

in order to investigate the availability of the specified products. Upon logging in, the

system 100 preferably identifies that there is an open request for the sales manager and

visually alerts him to this condition by displaying an exception message/condition.

Just as the Tommy Hilfiger customers (i.e. retailers and or others) are preferably

controlled in their access to information, the sales manager preferably can only view

incoming requests from Macy's, assuming for purposes of this example that Macy's is the

only client the manager supports. In examining the request, the sales manager may view

the actual inventory for the specified products and can confirm that 10,000 pieces are

indeed available to promise (ATP) to Macy's within the specified timeframe.

The sales manager may also use the browser interface to the system 100 to indicate

that he or she has reviewed the request and approved it. Li this process the system 100 preferably updates the request in the database, and generates an XML document, for

example, for the supplier's ERP system indicating that the sales manager has reviewed and

approved the order. When the Macy's buyer next logs into the system 100 to check on a

status of the order, the buyer is preferably presented with data indicating that the order was

acknowledged and subsequently approved.

So far, a series of relatively straightforward business transactions/decisions have

been described. Next, the example continues as an illustration of a manner in which the

present invention enables trading entities to adapt to changed conditions. Assume that, within the next week, the Macy's buyer receives further sales data indicating that certain

stores in Florida will actually need a total of 1000 more units. Li addition, the buyer learns

that the order must begin shipping to Macy's a week earlier than was originally indicated.

To convey this information, the buyer may log into the system 100 and access the

original order. The buyer can also check availability of the additional product. It is

assumed for purposes of illustration that the system 100 indicates that there are currently

not enough products in stock to fulfill the additional demand. Regardless, the buyer inputs

the additional quantities, specifies which stores should receive the additional product, and

indicates the new date the product is needed. As discussed above, the buyer has authority

(controlled using the tool's security model) to make the changes to this order based upon

the buyer's credentials. The system 100 preferably captures the updates in a database and

immediately transmits the updated information, such as by an XML document, to Tommy

Hilfiger's ERP system. The system 100 may also send an e-mail document or other

notification to the sales manager (as described previously).

On the supplier side, upon receiving the change notification, the sales manager

preferably again logs into the system 100 to view the updated order. Of course, the

manager, and any other party in this example, may alternatively be continually logged in. Regardless, the manager is preferably able to see that, in this example, there is not enough

inventory currently in stock to fulfill the additional 1000 units. However, the manager,

using the present invention, can access current manufacturing information for the primary

manufacturer of these particular products, which has several factories located primarily in

Mexico.

Preferably, the system 100 obtains information about the current manufacturing orders and the capacities in real time. In one embodiment, the information is based upon a

combination of information in the manufacturing system and in the ERP system. Again, the system 100 can preferably extract information from both of these systems, which may

be running on different platforms with different databases. The system 100 can preferably

format the information into an XML or other acceptable format, and present it to the sales

manager, such as through an Internet browser or other communications interface on the

manager's system. In this manner, the sales manager is able to check on a status of the

product for Macy's. Assuming that the order has not yet begun manufacturing, the

manager preferably uses the system 100 to initiate a request for a change to the original

manufacturing order. This request may be captured in a database and made available to

the manufacturer via the browser or other communications interface. Preferably, like other

users of the system 100, the sales manager's ability to make a request for a change to the

manufacturing will be dependent on the authority granted to his or her 'profile' through the relevant security model.

At the manufacturer's organization, it is assumed that a manufacturing manager is

in charge of handling new requests. Typically, depending on a particular security model

used, this manager will be the one of few people or the only individual in that organization

with authority to view these requests from buyers. The manager may even have complete

access to manufacturing information across all of the factories. Alternatively, the manufacturing manager's function, like most functions herein disclosed, may be

automated. For example, where manufacturing is processor controlled or otherwise

automated, additional manufacturing may automatically occur in response to the received

request.

To illustrate a flexibility of the present invention, it is assumed that, due to

technological constraints, the factories have no independent systems (e.g. ERP, WMS,

etc). Nonetheless, through use of the highly configurable, real-time, data extraction layer

of the system 100, manufacturing personnel at the factories can still share information with their customer (Tommy Hilfiger). L one embodiment, they may use even a basic PC with

an Internet browser (and an Internet connection).

Preferably, the manufacturing manager accesses the system 100 and immediately

receives visual notification of a new request. The manufacturing manager can then access

the request and the related order. Upon analyzing the request and obtaining the necessary

information from the factory production managers, the manager is able to determine

whether the factory will be able to provide the additional product within the timeframe

indicated. The manager can then use the browser or other acceptable interface to input this

information into the system 100 and immediately respond to the request. Upon responding

to the request, the system 100 preferably sends notification, such as through an XML

transaction, preferably to Tommy Hilfiger's ERP system notifying it of the event. The

system 100 preferably also updates the additional request in its own database to indicate

that it has been 'accepted.'

At the retailer, the sales manager can use the present invention to monitor the status of the modified request. As soon as it appears as 'accepted' by the manufacturer, the

manager can use the system 100 to approve the request. The system 100 then preferably

records the approval by the sales manager (which the retail buyer can also view

immediately through the system 100), and submits an XML document or other acceptable

notification, preferably to the Hilfiger ERP system, for acknowledgement of the updated

order.

Once the updated order is acknowledged by the supplier's ERP system, this

acknowledgement information (for the updated order) can be sent through the system 100

to the retailer's merchandising system. This information is preferably in the form of an

XML document created by the system 100, but can be in any desired format. Li addition,

the system 100 preferably processes the order aclαiowledgement, generates a corresponding notification, such as an e-mail document, and routes the notification to the

retail buyer. The retail buyer is thereby able to receive visual notification of the

acknowledgement of the revised order through the system 100. This on-line, real-time

notification may be the only notification, or may be in addition to receiving a

corresponding notification by e-mail or other suitable means.

Returning again to the factory side, the factory can use the system 100 of the

present invention to continuously report quantities of product produced and provide status

updates to the order. These updates may occur periodically, such as daily, or at any

desired times. The updates may even be automated, as part of the manufacturing process,

for example. Where orders are of a time sensitive nature, as may often be the case, the

sales manager, or any other user of the present invention for that matter, has the ability to

place an alert on the order. That is, the system 100 may monitor order quantities input by

the factories, and may be programmed to notify the manager upon an occurrence of any

selected condition or conditions. For example, the manager may seek notification that the

order is 80% complete but there are only 3 days remaining to complete the remaining 20%. The alerts may be visual (e.g., presented to the sales manager upon logging into the tool)

and/or electronic, such as by e-mail. Other potential notification means here and

throughout the system 100 include a public address (PA) announcement throughout the

facility, pop-up message, paging to a cell phone, pager or personal digital assistant (PDA),

etc.

Made possible in this example by the real-time nature of the information available,

the sales manager may make last minute changes to the order. For example, so as to

compensate for some of the delay in the manufacturing process, the sales manager may

decide to ship the product from the supplier's distribution center (DC) via an express transportation carrier instead of the normal carrier. Preferably, these carriers are also interfaced with the system 100 of the present invention. This change could compensate for

the delay and allow the product to arrive on time at the retailer's DC. The manager is able

to make this change by using the system 100 to specify the new shipping information. The

system 100 can in turn notify the new express transportation carrier (again, such as via an

XML transaction sent to the carrier's system) of the need for its services.

Upon receiving the request for its services, the transportation provider is able

respond back through the system 100 with an acknowledgement, which the system 100

preferably processes and makes visible to the supplier. As soon as the sales manager

views that the express carrier has agreed to deliver the product, the sales manager can

notify the operations department so that they can, for example, adjust the manpower in the

receiving area at the distribution center based upon the new 2-day delay.

While the order is en route from the manufacturer to the supplier's DC, the system

100 allows multiple parties to provide and receive additional order information. This may

occur, for example, by accessing the system 100 and viewing or inputting information (if

the supplier or other relevant party has given these accessing parties authority to do so).

Input information may be in a form of a systemic transaction (e.g. flat file, XML), or by

posting an update on a web site. Li one embodiment, such web site postings are

automatically extracted and converted to an acceptable format by the system 100.

Exemplary additional parties that may provide or be allowed access to this information

include a freight forwarder, a freight consolidator, a customs brokers, a customs agency, a

freight de-consolidator, retail customers, etc.

Once the express carrier takes ownership of the product, it may post updates, at any

desired time or times, to order tracking information accessible from the carrier's web site

and/or via the system 100. The sales manager is further able to user the system 100 to

directly access this information, allowing him or her continuous visibility to the order while it is en route to the retailer's DC. Likewise, the retail buyer may access the system

100 to check on the order, and will preferably see the same information (in our example,

that the order is approximately 2 days from arrival).

As another variation, assume that, during the second day that the product is on its

way to the retailer's DC, the truck containing the Macy's order breaks down. The driver

preferably notifies the carrier of this event. Notification may be direct, or may be through

the system 100, such as via a wireless Internet connection or other means. Upon receipt of

the notification, the carrier preferably dispatches a new truck and posts the relevant

information (new truck number, time of dispatch, etc.) to the system 100, such as through its web site.

i tracking progress of the shipment, the sales manager is preferably informed in

real time of the disruption in the shipping information. By checking the details, the

manager is able to learn that a new truck has already been dispatched. The system 100

preferably obtains this detailed information in real time by extracting information posted

by the express carrier. Ideally, the sales manager learns that the order should arrive at the retailer's DC on time, in spite of the change of trucks.

The retail buyer can continue to use the system 100 to monitor the shipment, based

upon extracting frequent updates made by the express carrier to its own web site, until the

shipment arrives at the DC. In addition, the manager is able to access the system 100 for

any other information that users of the system 100 desire to include. For example, the

manager could log in and view an image of the relevant Bill of Lading, indicating exactly

when the DC personnel signed the document to take ownership of the product and begin

receiving. By enabling the type of collaborative, real-time exchange of supply chain

information described in the above example, the system 100 is able to greatly improve an

efficiency, visibility and adaptability of trading partner transactions. With reference to Figure 4, an embodiment of a method 400 of the present

invention will be described. The method 400 allows integrated information exchange

between trading partners conducting a transaction. Li this embodiment, the transaction is

assumed to be a sale, and may be from a manufacturer to a wholesaler, from a wholesaler

to a retailer, from a manufacturer directly to a retailer, etc. The subject of the sale may be

a product, service, option, etc.

Regardless of the transaction and entities involved, this embodiment of the method

400 includes a step 402, in which a first trading partner communicates to a second trading

partner, preferably over a network, real-time capacity and price information for the subject

of the sale by the first trading partner. Li a step 404, the second trading partner adjusts its

purchasing preferences based on the real-time capacity and price information

communicated by the first trading partner. Li a step 406, the second trading partner

communicates adjusted purchase information corresponding to the adjusted purchasing

preferences of the second trading partner to the first trading partner. Li a step 408, the first

trading partner adjusts at least one of a capacity and a price based on 1) the capacity and

price information of the first trading partner most recently communicated by the first

trading partner, and 2) the purchase information of the second trading partner most

recently communicated to the first trading partner.

Finally, in a step 410 which may be repeated as necessary, the first trading partner

and the second trading partner continue communicating and adjusting in a real-time

collaborative communication over the network to achieve an efficient balance between the

capacity, price, supply, etc., of the first trading partner and the purchase information or

demand of the second trading partner. In this manner, trading entities may make efficient

use of the network, and technology and functionality of the present invention, to more

easily, quickly and accurately reach a price and quantity most suitable to both parties. Of course, numerous variations of the method 400 are contemplated. For example,

the information exchanged between trading partners may often relate to a product, but may

also relate to a service or another item or items, an option to buy or sell, or any

combination thereof or others. The information may concern previously exchanged items,

or items to be exchanged in the future. The information need not be communicated

directly from one trading partner to another, as one or more intermediaries may be

involved. And again, the term 'partners' need not connote any agreement or common

interest between the parties, as the trading partners may be any entities, adverse or

otherwise, desiring to provide information to or receive information from the system 100.

Regarding an adjustment of purchasing preferences, a trading partner may adjust a

price it is willing to pay based on a variety of factors. For example, the trading partner

may adjust price based on a demand and/or real-time capacity and price information

received from another trading partner. Similarly, the adjustment of at least one of a

capacity and a price of an item may be based on a number of factors, and may take place in

a variety of ways. Adjusting the capacity of a product, for example, may include

generating at least one additional unit of the product from available raw materials. And

this adjustment may be based on purchase information most recently received.

Li another embodiment, a first trading partner may further adjust price or capacity

of or purchasing information for an item based not only on information exchanged with a

second trading partner with whom the first trading partner wishes to deal, but also on

information of a third party. For example, a trading partner may adjust price based on a

known market price. The adjustment may also be based on information of another trading

partner, such as where a wholesaler adjusts purchasing preferences based on real-time

capacity and price information communicated by a manufacturer and purchasing

preferences communicated by a retailer, for example. Likewise, a retailer may adjust purchasing preferences based on the real-time capacity and price information

communicated by a manufacturer and purchasing preferences communicated by a

wholesaler to the manufacturer. As discussed below, the wholesaler in such an

embodiment may control a degree to which the third party retailer has access to

information regarding a transaction between the wholesaler and the manufacturer. And as

noted above, this control includes an absolute control to information, as well as control of

a nature and quality of information as viewed by a particular entity.

The method 400 described also need not include all steps described, and may

include additional steps. For example, a trading partner may further selectively grant to

third parties access to the purchasing preferences and other information communicated to

entities to whom the trading partner is dealing. For example, a manufacturer, a wholesaler

or a retailer may selectively grant to any or all other manufacturers, wholesalers and

retailers, access to supply chain information of the respective manufacturer, wholesaler or

retailer. Li one embodiment, the selectively granting includes granting graduated access to

multiple levels of the supply chain information based on a status of a requestor of the

information. For example, the requestors may be assigned to any of a number of

predefined classes of manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers or others. The granting of

graduated access may further be based on a condition of a possessor of the information

with regard to any supply chain or other information.

Conclusion

While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible that are within the scope of this invention. The present invention may be practiced between any desired entities. For example, as discussed above, while the phrase trading 'partner' is used, no agreement or other relationship is necessary between entities. The invention may provide a means to carry out a transaction, such as a sale or exchange of any products or services, or may be used merely for information sharing. Furthermore, the present invention is not restricted to use with the Internet or any hardwired system, but may alternatively be practiced on any network, physical, wireless or otherwise. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims (10)

What is claimed:

1. A system for real-time collaboration between a manufacturer, a wholesaler and a retailer over a network characterised in that said system comprises a manufacturer portion and a retailer portion in communication via the network, and wherein said manufacturer portion, said wholesaler portion and said retailer portion are enabled for a real-time exchange of supply chain data.

2. The system of Claim 1 further characterised in that at least one of said manufacturer portion, said wholesaler portion and said retailer portion comprises a browser-based interface between that portion and the network.

3. The system of Claim 1 or Claim 2 characterised in that at least one of said manufacturer portion, said wholesaler portion and said retailer portion is configured as an industry portal.

4. A system according to any one of Claims 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that it comprises a data extraction layer coupled to at least one of said manufacturer portion, said wholesaler portion and said retailer portion for facilitating communication between the respective portion and remaining portions of the system, said data extraction layer preferably comprising one or more of the following:

a) a back-end interface for extracting raw data for the portion to which said data extraction layer is coupled and converting the raw data, in real-time, to a format readable by remaining portions of the system; b) a pull system for translating data from a format of a legacy system of the portion to which said data extraction layer is coupled to an Extensible Mark-Up Language (XML) format;

c) a pull system for translating plain text data entered via a browser-based interface at the portion to which said data extraction layer is coupled to an Extensible Mark-Up Language (XML) format.

5. A system according to any one of Claims 1 - 4, further characterised in that said manufacturer portion, said wholesaler portion and said retailer portion exchange the real-time supply chain data in an Extensible Mark-Up Language (XML).

6. A process for achieving an efficient balance between capacity and price of a product of a manufacturer and a purchase preference for said product of a wholesaler or retailer, said process being characterized in that it comprises the steps of:

a) by the manufacturer communicating to the wholesaler or retailer real-time capacity and price information for said product;

b) by the wholesaler or retailer, adjusting purchase preferences based on the real-time capacity and price information communicated by the manufacturer;

c) by the wholesaler or retailer, communicating said adjusted purchase preferences to the manufacturer;

d) by the manufacturer, adjusting at least one of the capacity and price of the product, based on 1) the capacity and price information most recently communicated by the manufacturer to said wholesaler or retailer; and

2) the purchase preferences of the wholesaler or retailer most recently communicated to the manufacturer; and

e) by the manufacturer and by the wholesaler or retailer, repeating as necessary, steps a) through d) in a real-time, collaborative communication until a balance between the capacity and the price of the manufacturer and the purchase preference of the wholesaler or retailer is obtained.

7. The process of Claim 6 wherein said real-time collaborative communication comprises one of more of the following:

a) by the wholesaler or retailer, adjusting a price said wholesaler or retailer is willing to pay, based on a demand of the wholesaler or retailer and the realtime capacity and price information received from the manufacturer;

b) by the manufacturer, adjusting the capacity of the product by generating at least one additional unit of the product from available raw materials based on the purchase preference information of the wholesaler or retailer most recently communicated to the manufacturer;

8. A process according to Claim 6 or 7, wherein the real-time collaborative communication further comprises:

by one of the manufacturer, the wholesaler and the retailer, adjusting price or capacity of, or purchase preference information communicated between the other two of the manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retailer.

9. A process according to any one of Claims 6-8 wherein the wholesaler adjusts its purchasing preferences based on the real-time capacity and price information communicated by the manufacturer and purchasing preferences communicated by the retailer.

10. A process according to any one of Claims 6-9 further characterised in that any of the manufacturer, the wholesaler and the retailer selectively grant access to its communications to any or all others of the manufacturer, the wholesaler and the retailer, preferably comprising graduated access to multiple levels of its communications based upon a status of a requestor of this information.