JP2008114960A - Transportation planning system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system supplementing the restraint of acceptance of a destination such as the restraint of the expiration date of a product to be transported and supporting a transportation planning requiring the minimum transportation cost. <P>SOLUTION: An object to be planned, restraining conditions, and objective functions are specified by an input part 1. Model element information 51 and various master information 52 are read from a data storage part 5. A transportation planning model is constructed by a model constructing part 3. The constructed transportation planning model is input into a planning treatment part 4, parameter information 53, actual information 54 are read from the data storage part 5, and a transportation planning for supplementing shipping request information 55 is established. The planned results are written on the output results 56, and displayed by an output part 2. If a problem occurs in the planning, an alarm is displayed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transportation planning system that supports a task of creating a transportation plan.

  In order to formulate a transportation plan that determines the route, transportation timing, and transportation quantity of products manufactured at multiple manufacturing bases to multiple destination warehouses, transportation optimization technology that takes transportation cost minimization into consideration is used. Necessary. For example, Patent Document 1 is known as a transport optimization technique.

  This patent document describes a system for planning a transportation plan for minimizing transportation costs and minimizing shortage at a transportation destination base, and an objective function for shortening the interval between the production date and the transportation date as much as possible. The first-in first-out of the product is realized by setting.

JP-A-2005-22829

  For products that require freshness management, such as food and medicine, products with the same manufacturing date are managed as the same lot. When such products are repeatedly transported from the manufacturing factory to the wholesale warehouse, there are many cases where the acceptance condition that the newly received lot must always be newer than the lot received by the previous day in the wholesale warehouse. In general, products are transported through routes that provide the lowest transportation costs. However, when such acceptance conditions are set, routes that satisfy the acceptance conditions are not always cheap routes. . In addition, when the same product is produced at multiple factories, if a lot produced at one factory is transported to all destinations, the production date that exists at other production sites A problem arises that early lots cannot be transported to any warehouse, resulting in a defective inventory due to a defect in the transportation plan.

  The object of the present invention is to construct a model construction technique for planning a transportation plan that does not reverse the expiration date, as well as satisfying transportation costs and safety stock standards when transporting products that require freshness management. And to provide appropriate transportation planning by providing planning process technology.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides:
An input means for the planner to input the target product, target area, and target period, and to select and set constraints and objective functions.
Model element information storage unit storing element templates and formulation libraries, master information storage unit in which various master data tables are defined, parameter information storage unit in which various parameter data tables are defined, initial inventory at each site, manufacturing results, Data storage composed of a record information storage unit in which each table of shipment results is defined, a shipment request information storage unit storing a shipment request table from a sales base, and an output result information storage unit storing a planned transportation plan Means,
The model element defined in the element template included in the planning target area is called from the model element information storage unit to create a model combined with a transportation route, and a constraint expression regarding inventory transition at each of the transportation source base and the transportation destination base Create the constraint conditions for avoiding reversal of production time or expiry date at the destination site, and the standard inventory compliance constraint formula at the destination site, and combine the objective functions according to the priority of the input objective function. A model construction means for constructing an objective function;
From the data storage means, the initial stock, the shipping request information, and various parameter values of each of the transportation source and the transportation destination bases are retrieved and substituted into the model, the constraint condition, and the objective function, and linear programming processing is performed. A planning processing means for performing an optimization operation by
It has an output means for displaying a list of planned transportation plans on the screen,
Provided is a transportation planning system that takes in product characteristic information such as product demand and product life cycle and automatically adjusts parameters relating to the degree of freedom of safety stock standards at a transportation destination base.

  According to the present invention, when planning a transportation plan for a product that requires freshness management, not only reducing transportation costs by solving an optimization problem that is taken in with avoiding reversal of the expiration date at the transportation destination base. , It is possible to eliminate product inventory that cannot be transported to any base and stagnant at the transport base. In addition, since the person in charge of planning can easily construct and formulate a model by combining model elements prepared in advance, man-hours required for constructing a new model can be reduced. Furthermore, since the parameters are flexibly adjusted according to the characteristics of the product, it is possible to hold strategic stocks according to market conditions such as fluctuations in demand, and avoid delays in delivery, shortages and excess stocks. Can do.

(1) Transportation plan model assumed as application object of one embodiment of the present invention A transportation plan model to which one embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG.
A product manufactured at the manufacturing base M is received in a factory warehouse corresponding to the manufacturing base on a one-to-one basis. Products are transported to the wholesale warehouse W, which is the transport destination base, using the factory warehouse F as the transport base. The products accumulated in the wholesale warehouse W are delivered to each sales base C according to demand.

  For example, a product produced at the manufacturing base 62 is received at the transport source base 63 and transported to the transport destination bases 66 and 67 using the transport routes 64 and 65. From there, it is delivered to sales bases 68 and 69.

These bases are generally managed by being divided into areas called area 61. There is a one-to-one correspondence between an area, a manufacturing base, a transportation base, and a transportation destination base, but there may be a manufacturing base, a transportation base, and a transportation base that belong to a plurality of areas. Basically, the transportation route is completed within the area. However, when a product that can be manufactured only at a specific manufacturing base or the same product is manufactured in a plurality of areas in order to distribute the load of production capacity, there is a transportation route that runs through the area as in 70. Such a transportation route that crosses the area has a problem that a long distance is expensive and the transportation lead time tends to be prolonged, and the management work becomes complicated. Therefore, it is desirable to plan to avoid transportation routes that cross areas.

(2) Hardware Configuration of One Embodiment of the Present Invention Next, the hardware configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the transportation planning system includes a network 73 that connects an input terminal 71 for inputting information by a planner, an output device 72 for outputting a planned plan, and a processing device 74 for planning a transportation plan, The data storage unit 75 stores model information and master information.

In the present embodiment, the transportation planning system is described as an independent information system, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention may be configured to be incorporated in other information processing systems and function as a part thereof. Alternatively, a plurality of input units and output units may share the model construction unit and the planning processing unit via a network as terminal functions, and share a centrally managed database with each terminal function.

(3) Processing Flow of One Embodiment of the Present Invention The processing flow of the entire transportation planning system will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the person in charge of planning performs input processing 100 from the input terminal of the transportation planning system. Here, the selection 100a of the planning target is first performed, then the constraint condition 100b to be considered in the model, and various settings 100c regarding the objective function of the model are performed.
Next, the transportation planning system performs a model construction process 101 based on the input information. Here, first, master data reading 101a is executed from the data storage unit. Next, the model element selection 101b is performed according to the planning target specified by the input information. Thereafter, the constraint condition specified by the person in charge of planning by the input process is formulated 101c, and similarly the objective function 101d is also formulated for the objective function.

  Next, the transportation planning system performs a planning process 102. First, performance information acquisition processing 102a such as initial inventory and manufacturing performance is performed from the data storage unit. Next, the optimization process 102b is performed using the formulation of the constructed model.

Finally, output 103 of the created transportation plan is performed. Here, the person in charge of the plan confirms the plan, and when alarm information is output, plan adjustment such as countermeasures is performed.

(4) Functions of Transportation Planning System Next, each function of the transportation planning system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5 to 8.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the transportation planning system includes an input unit 1, an output unit 2, a model construction unit 3, a planning process unit 4, and a data storage unit 5. The data storage unit 5 includes a model element information storage unit 51, a master information storage unit 52, a parameter information storage unit 53, a performance information storage unit 54, a shipping request information storage unit 55, and an output result storage unit 56.

As shown in FIG. 5, the input unit 1 includes a planning target selection function 11, a constraint condition designation function 12, and an objective function setting function 13.
The planning target selection function 11 has a function 111 for selecting a product to be planned, a function 112 for specifying an area to be planned, and a function for specifying a target period 113 for specifying how many days before the planning target is considered. .

The constraint condition specifying function 12 has a function 121 for selecting a constraint condition to be considered at the time of model construction, and a function 122 for reflecting the selected constraint condition on the model.
The objective function setting function 13 includes an objective function selection 131, a function 132 for setting a weight value given between evaluation items of the selected objective function, and a function 133 for reflecting the selected objective function in the model.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the output unit 2 includes a plan display function 21, a plan approval function 22, and an alarm countermeasure function 23.

  The plan display function 21 includes a plan list display function 211 for displaying the planned transportation plan on the screen, a plan search function 212 for searching the transportation plan by a specific search keyword, and a function 213 for outputting the created transportation plan information as a file. Have.

  The plan approval function 22 has a function 221 for selecting an object to be approved and a function 222 for reflecting the approval in an actual instruction.

  The alarm countermeasure function 23 includes an alarm display function 231 for displaying an inventory alarm, a target selection function 232 for selecting a target to be countermeasured, a function 233 for searching for a stock that can be a candidate for forced transportation as a countermeasure plan, and forcing a specified transportation A function 234 for instructing execution.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the model construction unit 3 includes a master management function 31, a model element management function 32, and a model formulation function 33.

  The master management function 31 includes a function 311 for retrieving master information in the data storage unit, and a function 312 for reading master information from the data storage unit. And a function 313 for updating the master information to the latest information.

  The model element management function 32 has a function 321 for reading an element template in the data storage unit, and an element template connection function 322 for associating a relationship between user-specified element templates.

  The model formulation function 33 has a function 331 that formulates a constraint expression, a function 332 that formulates an objective function, a function 333 that checks the consistency of all variables, and a function 334 that checks the consistency of constants. .

  As shown in FIG. 8, the planning function 4 includes three results information management function 41, parameter management function 42, and optimization processing function 43.

  The track record information management function 41 has a function 411 for reading track record information in the data storage unit, and a function 412 for reading shipping request information.

  The parameter management function 42 includes a demand characteristic determination function 421, a product characteristic determination function 422, and a function 423 that obtains product characteristic information and adjusts the parameter to be reflected in the parameter.

The optimization processing function 43 includes a model reading function 431 that reads the information of the created model, a parameter reading function 432 that reads the set parameter value, a linear programming processing function 433, and a result output function that outputs the created planning information 434.

(5) Input / Output Information of Transportation Planning System Input information and output information in the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  The input information 6 in the model building process 101 is composed of an element template, a formulation library, an area master, a manufacturing base master, a transportation source base master, a transportation destination base master, a transportation route master, a product master, a manufacturing base / product link master. The Further, the output information 7 in the model construction process is a formulation model in which variables and constants are expressed by mathematical expressions.

  Input information 8 in the planning process 102 is a formulation model, a transport source base initial stock, a transport base initial stock, manufacturing results, shipping request information, objective function weight parameters, a standard stock excess penalty, and a standard stock shortage penalty. . In addition, the output information 9 in the planning process is an inventory alarm that is information on a transportation plan and a transportation destination base that does not satisfy the reference stock.

  Details of the data storage unit that stores the input / output information will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the model element information storage unit includes an element template 511 and a formulation library 512. The element template 511 stores a manufacturing base model 511a, a transport source base model 511b, a transport destination base model 511c, and a sales base model 511d.

  In the formulation library, each table of a constraint expression library 512a, a subscript library 512b, a variable library 512c, and a constant library 512d is defined.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the master information storage unit includes an area master 521, a manufacturing base master 522, a transport source base master 523, a transport destination warehouse master 524, a transport route master 525, a product master 526, and a manufacturing base / product link. Each table of the master 527 is defined.

  In the parameter information storage unit 53, as shown in FIG. 12, the objective function priority parameter 531, the base stock excess penalty 532, the base stock shortage penalty 533, the base stock case number 534, and the base stock day number 535 are defined. Has been. The actual information storage unit 54 defines tables of a transport source base initial stock 541, a transport destination base initial stock 542, a manufacturing performance 543, and a shipping performance 544.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the shipping request information storage unit 55 defines a shipping destination warehouse shipping request 551 table that stores shipping requests from the shipping destination warehouse calculated based on orders received from sales bases. Yes.

The output result information storage unit 56 stores a transportation plan table 561 that stores a planned plan, an inventory alarm table 562 that stores information on a destination base that has not yet reached the standard stock, and a history of parameter values set in the planning. A parameter history table 563 is defined.

(6) Steps of model construction processing Next, specific processing steps of model construction will be described. Here, the actual base, transportation route, transportation quantity of the product to be transported, etc. are expressed by variables and constants, and given constraints and objective functions are expressed by mathematical expressions as models.
When building a model, it is necessary to first grasp the planning target specified by the user. For example, if only a single area is the target of planning, there is no need for a transport route that extends from that area to other areas. Must be included in the model.

  In general, the operation of defining such a transportation route to be planned is performed by narrowing down various master information. In the present invention, the model elements defined in the element template 511 are called from the model element information storage unit 51 and combined. Do. FIG. 14 shows an image of an element template and a model generated thereby. 511a is a manufacturing base element, and a single output route is defined. Reference numeral 511b denotes a transportation source base element in which a single input route connected from the manufacturing base element and a plurality of output routes connected to the transportation destination base are defined. Reference numeral 511c denotes a transportation destination base element, in which a plurality of input routes for receiving products from the transportation source base and a single output route for transportation to the sales base are defined. Reference numeral 511d denotes a sales base element, which defines a single input route for receiving a product from a transport destination base. When the user selects a target area, elements of various bases included in the area are called, and the target transportation route is automatically searched to connect the elements.

Next, the formulation process will be described. The person in charge of planning freely selects the model preconditions such as whether to consider the storage capacity of the transport source warehouse as a constraint. For the selected constraint condition, a constraint expression, a subscript, a variable, and a constant are called from the constraint expression library 512a and added as a constraint condition. For the selected subscript, the set information is acquired from the subscript library 512b.

(7) Formulation of constraint equations Formulation of actual constraints will be described.
First, consider the transportation base. Let i be the product, j be the date of manufacture, and s be the inventory base. BIF _{ijs is} the inventory quantity of the product i at the production date j at the base s before the transportation is performed, and AIF _{ijs is} the inventory quantity of the product i at the production date j at the base s after the transportation is carried out. If the production quantity of product i of j is P _ijs , and the quantity of product i of production date j transported from the transport source base s to the transport destination base s 'is U _ijss' , the product quantity is constant before and after transport. Therefore, the constraint on the inventory transition of the transportation source base is expressed by the following equation (1). Since there are a plurality of routes from one transport source base to the transport destination base, U _{ijss ′} uses a total value corresponding to the number of transport destination bases.

Here, I is a set of products, t _e is the last day of the target period, and F is a set of transport bases.

Similarly, regarding the transport destination site s ', the inventory quantity of the product i on the production date j at the site s' before the transportation is performed is BIW _{ijs '} and the production date at the site s' after the transportation is performed. The inventory quantity of product i of j is AIW _{ijs '} , the quantity of product i of production date j transported from the source base s to the destination base s' is U _{ijss '} , and the quantity of goods i _{delivered at} the base s' _is O _{is If} this is the case, the quantity of products before and after transport is constant, so the constraint on the inventory transition at the destination site is expressed by the following equation (2).

Here, I is a set of products, and W is a set of destinations.

The constraint on avoiding reversal of the expiry date that a lot that is always newer than all the lots transported up to the previous day must be delivered to the destination. If the _last date of all the lots transported up to the previous day is j _last , if the lot of the j _last day is ready for delivery, the total transport quantity of all lots up to j _last -1 day will always be By providing a constraint (Equation 3) such that it becomes 0, the reversal of the expiration date can be avoided.

Here, I is a set of products, W is a set of transport destination bases, and F is a set of transport source bases.

The standard inventory compliance constraint at the destination site is expressed by the following _equation 4 because the standard inventory quantity is SD _{is '} and the standard inventory days is D _is' , since the inventory after transportation at the destination site is AIW _ijs. The

Here, rmd _{is '} is the shortage quantity when product i fails to achieve the standard inventory at site s', and rpd _{is '} is the excess quantity when product i exceeds the standard inventory at site s'. It is.

FIG. 31 shows the concept of the reference inventory compliance constraint. 76 is a case where the stock 79 is larger than the reference stock 78. In this case, the excess inventory 80 may stagnate and become a defective asset. On the contrary, 77 is a case where the inventory is less than the standard inventory, and since the inventory 79 is less than the standard inventory 78, there is a shortage 81, and when there are more demands than usual due to fluctuations in demand, The risk of generating Therefore, a penalty is set for both, and planning is performed with the aim of rmd _{is '} and rpd _is' being zero.

(8) Formulation of objective function The objective function allows the user to freely select a plurality of evaluation items such as total transportation cost minimization and surplus inventory minimization at the transportation destination base. An objective function is constructed by combining the selected objective functions.

For example, C _{iss' is} the cost required to transport product i from base s to s', the penalty cost when product i is short of one unit at base s' _is Cm _is' , and product i is base s' weight of excess penalty cost of surplus one unit _'and, by product, rmd _iS given by _bases,' Cp _{iS ',} rmd _iS a deviation from standard inventory in transport destination _warehouse' and rpd _iS rpd _{iS 'Te} Wm _is , wp _is , and U _{iss '} is the transportation amount from the base s to s' of the product i, the transportation amount is considered for each production date j and is totaled for all the production dates. It can be expressed in one term. Further, since the surplus inventory and the shortage risk can be minimized, it is expressed by the second and third terms of Equation 5.

Here, ω is a weighting parameter given to each objective function item, and it is assumed that an arbitrary ratio that is important for the planner in creating the plan is designated. This weight parameter value is read from the priority 531c registered in the objective function priority parameter table 531.

After the model formulation, the variable matching check function 333 checks whether all variables used in the formula are defined. Further, the constant matching check function 334 confirms whether all constants used in the mathematical expression are defined.

(9) Planning process step As described above, modeling is performed based on the input information, and planning is performed by incorporating various performance information and master information into the created model. The following are the planning steps.

  First, the record information reading function 411 of the record information management function 41 uses the transport source base initial stock table 541 to obtain the product code, base code, number of inventory cases, and manufacturing date information, and the transport base base initial stock table 542. , Product code, base code, number of inventory cases, date of manufacture are captured. The record information acquired here is used as a model constant. Further, the shipping request information fetching function 412 reads information on the product code, the base code, and the number of shipping request cases from the transport destination base shipping request table 551, and inputs the information as the output quantity O at the transport destination base into the model.

  Next, the demand characteristics and product characteristics are determined by the parameter management function 42. First, the demand characteristic determination function 421 determines whether the demand for a product is increasing, stable, or decreasing. FIG. 32 shows a determination example of the product demand curve 82. For example, regarding the daily shipment results for the past three months, if the average value of “the number of shipments on the current day—the number of shipments on the previous day” is positive, it can be determined that the product demand curve is increasing as shown in 83. . In such a period, the risk of shortage increases when operating only with a certain standard stock. Therefore, the penalty given to exceed the standard stock is set small, and the penalty given to the standard stock shortage is set large. For example, when the average value of “the number of shipments on the current day−the number of shipments on the previous day” is negative for the daily shipment results for the past three months, it can be determined that the demand for the product is in a downward trend as indicated by 84. In such a period, since the excess inventory risk increases when operating with a certain standard stock, the penalty given to exceed the standard stock is set large, and the penalty given to the standard stock shortage is set small. In this way, inventory adjustment that reflects the demand characteristics of the product becomes possible.

  Further, in the product characteristic determination function 422, as shown in FIG. 33, the horizontal axis represents demand fluctuation (the ratio of the difference between the average shipment quantity and the actual shipment quantity to the average), and the vertical axis represents the number of manufacturing bases. A graph 85 is displayed on the screen to prompt the planner to input the position to which the target product belongs. For example, a product has two manufacturing bases and demand fluctuation is about 70%, so if a user plots at point 86, demand fluctuation is relatively large, but there are multiple manufacturing bases, so it can withstand stock fluctuations to some extent. It is determined as a product (area 2). If it is set in advance for Area 2 that a low penalty will be given to both the base stock excess and the base stock shortage, the penalty value is automatically registered in the base stock excess penalty table 532 and the base stock shortage penalty table 533. .

  As described above, when the product characteristics are plotted on the graph, the excess of the reference stock or the unachieved penalty is automatically registered, so that an inventory strategy reflecting the product characteristics can be easily planned.

In the optimization processing function 43, first, the model is read by the model reading function 431, and the parameters are read from the objective function priority parameter table 531, the reference stock excess penalty table 532, and the reference stock shortage penalty table 533 by the parameter reading function 432. Based on these pieces of information, an optimization calculation is performed by the linear plan processing function 433, and the transportation plan and inventory alarm calculated by the result output function 434 are stored in the transportation plan table 561 and the inventory alarm table 562, respectively.

(10) Data Storage Format of Data Storage Unit A table defined in the data storage unit and its data items will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 16 is an area master table which is master data. Area code 521a and area name 521b are registered.

  FIG. 17 shows a manufacturing base master. The manufacturing base code 522a, the manufacturing base name 522b, and the location area code 522c are registered. The location area code defines which area the target site belongs to.

  FIG. 18 shows a transportation source base master. The base code 523a, base name 523b, location area code 523c, and storage capacity upper limit 523d are registered.

  FIG. 19 shows a transport destination base master. The base code 524a, base name 524b, location area code 524c, and storage capacity upper limit 524d are registered. For the storage capacity upper limit, register the maximum number of cases that can be stored in standard case conversion.

  FIG. 20 is a transport route master. Register information about the route that transports from the transport source base to the transport destination base. It is assumed that there is no transportation route for combinations not registered here. The transport source base code 525a, the transport destination base code 525b, and the transport means 525c are key items. As the means of transportation, the means of transportation such as T (truck: land freight), R (rail: rail freight), S (ship: ship freight), etc. are registered. It is assumed that there are a plurality of transportation means even on the same route. As the transportation cost 525d, a transportation unit price per ton is registered. In the transport capacity 525e, the upper limit value (ton) of the amount of material that can be transported per day when the corresponding transport means is used in the corresponding transport route is registered. The transportation lead time 525f registers the number of days required for transportation.

  FIG. 21 shows a product master. Product code 526a, product name 526b, shelf life 526c, the period from production to maintenance of quality, product quantity 526d per minimum transport unit (case), per case Register the weight of 526e. The case conversion value 526f is used when considering the upper limit of the warehouse capacity. The upper limit of the capacity of the warehouse is calculated by the number of cases that can be accommodated in standard case conversion. Since there is a difference in volume per case depending on the product, the relative ratio is registered as to how much the volume is different compared to the standard case. For example, in a warehouse that can accommodate up to 1000 standard cases, a product with a case conversion value of 0.8 can accommodate 1000 / 0.8 = 1250 cases.

  FIG. 22 shows a manufacturing site / product link master. Register which products are produced at which manufacturing bases. The product code 527a and the manufacturing site code 527b are key items. The same product may be produced at multiple manufacturing sites.

  FIG. 23 is a registration table of objective function priority parameters in the parameter information. The parameters specified by the user on the objective function priority specification screen of FIG. 36 are reflected. The objective function 531a, weight constant 531b, and priority 531c are registered. The priority is a value between 0.0 and 1.0. This parameter information is captured in the planning process 102 as the value of ω of the objective function of (Equation 5).

FIG. 24 is a registration table of the reference stock excess penalty and the reference stock shortage penalty among the parameter information. In the reference stock excess penalty table 532, a product code 532a, a base 532b, and a penalty value 532c given when the corresponding product exceeds the reference stock at the base are registered. Registered in the standard inventory unsuccessful penalty table 533 are a product code 533a, a base 533b, and a penalty value 533c to be given when the corresponding product does not satisfy the standard stock at the base. The penalty value 532c is captured in the planning process 102 as the values of wm _is and wp _is of the objective function of (Expression 5).

FIG. 25 is a table for registering the reference inventory number of cases and the reference inventory days in the parameter information. The base stock case number table 534 registers the base code 534, the product code 534b, and the base stock case number 534c per day at the base. The number of reference stock cases is determined from, for example, the average shipment record for the past month. In the standard inventory days table 535, a base code 535a, a product code 535b, a standard inventory days 535c reflecting the demand trend, how many days of stock are stored in the bases, are registered. A value obtained by multiplying the reference inventory case number 534c by the reference inventory day number 535c is the reference inventory amount. The standard inventory days are adjusted to increase if the target product is likely to be out of stock, and to decrease if the target product is overstocked. The reference inventory amount and the reference inventory days are taken in as the reference inventory amount SD _{is '} and the reference inventory days D _is' of (Equation 4) in the planning process 102.

FIG. 26 is a table for registering the transport source base initial stock and the transport destination base initial stock in the performance information. In the transportation source base initial stock table 541, the actual acquisition date 541a, the product code 541b, the base code 541c, the stock case number 541d, and the manufacturing date 541e of the corresponding product are registered. In the transport destination base initial stock table 542, the result acquisition date 542a, the product code 542b, the base code 542c, the stock case number 542d, and the manufacturing date 542e of the corresponding product are registered. The transport source base initial stock is registered as BIF _ijs of ( _Equation 1) in the planning process 102. i is the product code, s is the site code, and j is the manufacturing date. Similarly, the transport destination base initial stock is registered as BIW _{ijs ′} in (Formula 2). i is the product code, s is the site code, and j is the manufacturing date.

  FIG. 27 is a table for registering the manufacturing results at the manufacturing base and the shipping results at the transportation destination base in the actual information. The manufacturing result becomes the warehousing information of the transportation base. In the manufacturing result table 543, the manufacturing base code 543a, the product code 543b, the number of manufacturing cases 543c, the manufacturing date 543d, and the goods receipt date 543e are registered. The shipment results are used when searching the latest production date lot at the transportation destination base. In the shipment record table 544, the product code 544a, the base code 544b, the number of shipment cases 544c, the production date 544d, and the shipment date 544e are registered.

FIG. 28 is a table for registering shipping request information. Based on the order information, calculate when, what and how many shipments from which destination, and register the product code 551a, site code 551b, and the number of shipping request cases 551c in the destination shipping request table 551 To do. The value obtained by adding the reference stock to the number of shipment request cases registered here and subtracting the initial stock is the number of cases to be newly replenished to the base. As for the number of shipping request cases, the amount of products i delivered at the base s ′ of (Equation 2) _is fetched as O _{is ′ in the} planning process 102.

FIG. 29 is a table for registering transportation plan and inventory alarm information, which are output result information. Information regarding the transportation date, transportation source, transportation destination, product, and production date output by the planning process 102 is registered in these tables. In the transportation plan table 561, the transportation date 561a, the transportation source base code 561b, the transportation destination base code 561c, the product code 561d, the production date 561e of the transportation target product, the number of transportation cases 561f, the transportation cost 561g, whether the target plan has been approved. Status 561h, which is flag information indicating whether or not, is registered. In the inventory alarm information table 562, the destination base 562a, the product code 562b, the reference inventory days 562c, the planned inventory days 562d, and the shortage cases 562e are registered.
FIG. 30 is a parameter history table that records the set parameters, their weight values, and the evaluation values calculated based on the parameters as history. Using the time 563a at which the planning process is performed as key information, the parameter value 563b and the calculated evaluation value 563c in each process are registered. Register 0 for parameters that were not selected.

(11) System Screen With reference to FIGS. 34 to 43, a screen configuration used in system input processing and output processing will be described.

  FIG. 34 shows an initial menu 250 of the system input screen. When the planning target selection button 251 is pressed, the screen shifts to the planning target selection screen 257 in FIG. When the constraint condition selection button 252 is pressed, the screen transitions to the constraint condition selection screen 263 in FIG. When the objective function priority designation button 253 is pressed, the screen shifts to the objective function priority designation screen 267 in FIG. When the demand characteristic designation button 254 is pressed, a demand trend graph of the product as shown in FIG. 32 is displayed so that the user can predict and register the demand characteristic when there is no past demand information such as a new product. To. When the product characteristic designation button 255 is pressed, a graph showing the product characteristic as shown in FIG. 33 is displayed so that the user can forcibly designate which area the target product belongs to.

  FIG. 35 shows a planning object selection screen 257. The planning target product is selected from the pull-down list 258, the planning target area is selected from the pull-down list 259, and the planning target period is entered in the input field 260. The registration information is confirmed with the confirm button 261, and the selected information 262 is returned to the initial value with the clear button.

  FIG. 36 shows a constraint condition selection screen 263. Preliminary registered constraint conditions are displayed in a list, and a constraint to be considered in creating a plan is selected by checking the check box 264.

  FIG. 37 shows an objective function priority designation screen 267. For pre-registered objective function items, items to be considered in planning are designated by checking the check box 268. For the selected objective function item, the priority of the objective function is designated as a weight parameter by moving the slider 269 left and right.

  FIG. 38 shows a main menu screen 272 used when confirming the output result. When the transport plan display button 273 is pressed, the screen transits to the transport plan display screen 276 in FIG. When the transport plan search button 274 is pressed, a transition is made to the search condition designation screen 288 of FIG. When the alarm confirmation button 275 is pressed, the screen shifts to the alarm confirmation screen 296 in FIG.

  FIG. 39 shows a transportation plan display screen 276. A transport date 277, a transport source base 278, a transport destination base 279, a transport target product 280, a transport target lot manufacturing date 281, a transport case number 282, and a transport cost 283 are displayed in a list. In addition, the transportation cost of the entire plan is displayed in the totaling box 286. In addition, a check box 285 is provided for each plan, and a plan checked here is approved as an actual transportation plan when the approval button 287 is pressed. By pressing the search condition button 284 from this screen, it is possible to transition to the search condition designation screen of FIG.

  In this example, the difference between the transportation means is not displayed, but as described in the transportation route master of FIG. 20, when there are a plurality of transportation means between the transportation source base and the transportation destination base, The transportation lead time, transportation cost, and transportation capacity set in the above are limited. In addition, depending on the product, the available transportation means may be restricted by the product, such as a ship with a long transportation lead time cannot be used. A transportation plan is made in consideration of such restrictions.

  FIG. 40 shows a search condition designation screen 288. Use this when you want to confirm plans related to a specific product, area, or location. Specify the transport date range 289, target product 290, lot (manufacturing date) range 291, transport source base area or transport source base code 292, transport destination base area or transport destination base code 293, and search start button 295 Is pressed to search the transportation plan table 561 based on the specified condition, and the result is displayed in the same format as in FIG.

  FIG. 41 shows an alarm confirmation screen 296. Alarm information 298 is displayed in a list for transport destination bases and products that do not satisfy the standard inventory days for the planned transportation plan. When the check box 297 provided in each record is checked and the inventory search button 299 is pressed, the screen transitions to an alarm countermeasure screen 350 in FIG.

FIG. 42 shows an alarm countermeasure screen 350. Here, the product designated on the alarm confirmation screen 296 is searched for whether the product exceeds the reference stock at other transportation destination bases, and if there is a surplus case, it is displayed in a list in Table 351. When the number of cases that are insufficient is displayed in the text box 353 and the check box 352 given to the inventory search result is checked, surplus inventory cases are added and displayed in the text box 354 as the number of supplementary cases. The check box is checked until the number of replenishment cases 354 exceeds the number of shortage cases 353, and when it exceeds, the transportation instruction button 355 confirms the transportation instruction.
FIG. 43 shows a parameter comparison screen 357. Here, the information registered in the parameter history table 563, that is, the parameter item 358, the input parameter value 359, and the evaluation value 360 calculated by the parameter combination are displayed. Using this screen, the planner can interactively make appropriate parameter adjustments while confirming what parameter adjustments are made and what output results are obtained. The combination of parameters that the person in charge of planning seems to be appropriate is reflected in the parameter information storage unit 53 when the button 361 is pressed, and is used as an initial value in the next planning process.

It is a figure explaining the functional structure of the transportation planning system of this invention. It is a figure explaining the outline | summary of the transportation plan problem of this invention. It is a figure explaining the hardware constitutions of this invention. It is a figure explaining the system whole processing flow of this invention. It is an input processing function block diagram. It is an output processing function block diagram. It is a model construction process part functional block diagram. It is a planning function block diagram. This is input / output information for model construction processing and planning processing. It is a model element information storage part detail drawing. It is a master information storage part detail drawing. It is a parameter information storage part and a performance information storage part detail drawing. It is detail drawing of a shipping request information storage part and an output result information storage part. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a model construction image by an element template 51. 4 is a diagram for explaining a data structure of a formulation library 52. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of an area master 521. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a manufacturing base master 522. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of a transport source base master 523. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a transport destination base master 524. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a transport route master 525. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a product master 526. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a manufacturing base / product link master 527. FIG. FIG. 11 shows a data structure of an objective function priority parameter table 531. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a data structure of a reference stock excess penalty table 532 and a reference stock shortage penalty table 533. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a reference inventory case number table 534 and a reference inventory days table 535. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data structure of a transport source base initial stock table 541 and a transport destination base initial stock table 542. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a manufacturing performance table 543 and a shipping performance table 544. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a transport destination base shipping request table 551. FIG. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the transportation plan table 561 and an inventory alarm table. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a parameter history table 563. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the penalty of reference | standard inventory compliance restrictions. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of the parameter adjustment by a demand characteristic. It is a figure for demonstrating determination of a product characteristic. It is a menu screen for selecting a process. It is a user interface screen for performing planning object selection. It is a user interface screen for selecting constraint conditions. It is a user interface screen for registering the priority of an objective function. It is a menu screen when viewing the output result. It is a user interface screen that displays a list of planned transportation plans. It is a user interface screen for specifying a search condition. It is a user interface screen which displays an inventory shortage alarm. It is a user interface screen for examining countermeasures against an inventory shortage alarm. It is a user interface screen for performing parameter adjustment while confirming the set parameter and the evaluation value of the result designed by it.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... input unit, 2 ... output unit, 3 ... model construction unit, 4 ... planning processing unit, 5 ... data storage unit,
6 ... Model construction process input information, 7 ... Model construction process output information
8 ... Planning process input information, 9 ... Planning process output information
11 ... Planning target selection function, 12 ... Restriction condition specification function, 13 ... Objective function setting function
21 ... Plan display function, 22 ... Plan approval function, 23 ... Alarm countermeasure function
31 ... Master management function, 32 ... Model element management function, 33 ... Model formulation function
41… Result information management function, 42… Parameter management function, 43… Optimization processing function
51 ... Model element information storage unit, 52 ... Master information storage unit, 53 ... Parameter information storage unit,
54 ... Result information storage unit, 55 ... Shipping request information, 56 ... Output result information
61 ... Area, 62 ... Manufacturing base, 63 ... Transportation base, 64,65 ... Transport route, 66,67 ... Transport destination base,
68,69… Sales bases, 70… Transport routes across areas
71 ... Hardware configuration input terminal, 72 ... Hardware configuration display terminal
73 ... Parameter information storage unit of hardware configuration, 74 ... Processing device of hardware configuration
75 ... Hardware configuration data storage

100 ... input processing, 101 ... model construction processing, 102 ... planning processing, 103 ... planning output processing
100a ... Select the target of planning, 100b ... Specify the constraint condition, 100c ... Set the objective function
101a ... Read master information, 101b ... Select model element, 101c ... Formulation of constraints,
101d ... Formulation of objective function
102a… Read results information, 102b… Optimization processing

111, 112, 113, 121, 122, 131, 132, 133 ... Each function of the input unit
211, 212, 213, 221, 222, 231, 232, 233, 234 ... Each function of the output unit
311, 312, 313, 321, 322, 331, 332, 333, 334 ... Each function of the model building unit
411, 412, 421, 422, 431, 432, 433, 434 ... Each function of the planning department
511 ... Element template, 511a to 511d ... Contents of element template
512: Formulation library, 512a to 512d: Contents of the formulation library
513 ... Overall image of model elements constructed, 514 ... Manufacturing base, 515 ... Transportation base,
516 ... Transport route, 517 ... Destination base, 518 ... Sales base
521 ... Area master, 521a to 521b ... Area master table configuration items
522 ... Manufacturing base master, 522a to 522c ... Manufacturing base master table configuration items
523 ... Transport source base master, 523a to 523d ... Transport source base master table configuration items
524 ... Transport destination base master, 524a to 524d ... Transport destination base master table configuration items
525 ... Transport route master, 525a to 525f ... Transport route master table configuration items
526 ... Product master, 526a to 526f ... Product master table configuration items
527 ... Manufacturing base / product link master, 527a to 527b ... Manufacturing base / product link master table configuration item
531: Objective function priority parameter, 531a to 531c: Objective function priority parameter table configuration item
532 ... Base stock excess penalty, 532a to 532c ... Base stock excess penalty table configuration item
533 ... Penalty for not reaching standard stock, 533a to 533c ... Penalty table configuration item for standard stock not reached
534 ... Number of standard stock cases, 534a to 534c ... Standard stock case number table configuration items
535 ... Standard inventory days, 535a to 535c ... Standard inventory days table configuration items
541 ... Transport source base initial stock, 541a to 541e ... Transport source base initial stock table configuration items
542 ... Destination base initial stock, 542a to 542e ... Destination base initial stock table configuration items
543 ... Manufacturing results, 543a to 543e ... Manufacturing results table configuration items
544 ... Shipment results, 544a to 544e ... Shipment results table configuration items
551 ... Destination warehouse shipment request, 551a to 551c ... Destination warehouse shipment request table configuration items
561 ... Transport plan, 561a to 561h ... Transport plan table configuration items
562 ... Inventory alarm, 562a to 562e ... Inventory alarm table configuration items
563 ... Parameter history, 563a to 563c ... Parameter history table configuration items
250 to 300, 350 to 361… User interface screen functions and display items

Claims (14)

A transportation planning system that determines at least a transportation time, a transportation means, and a transportation quantity when planning a transportation of a product from a transportation base to one or a plurality of transportation destinations,
An input means for accepting selection or input of a target product, a plan target area, a plan target period, a constraint condition, and a priority of an objective function by a user;
Model element information storage unit storing element templates and formulation libraries, master information storage unit in which various master data tables are defined, parameter information storage unit in which various parameter data tables are defined, initial inventory at each site, manufacturing results, Data storage composed of a record information storage unit in which each table of shipment results is defined, a shipment request information storage unit storing a shipment request table from a sales base, and an output result information storage unit storing a planned transportation plan Means,
The model element defined in the element template included in the planning target area is called from the model element information storage unit to create a model combined with a transportation route, and a constraint expression regarding inventory transition at each of the transportation source base and the transportation destination base Create the constraint conditions for avoiding reversal of production time or expiry date at the destination site, and the standard inventory compliance constraint formula at the destination site, and combine the objective functions according to the priority of the input objective function. A model construction means for constructing an objective function;
From the data storage means, the initial stock, the shipping request information, and various parameter values of each of the transportation source and the transportation destination bases are retrieved and substituted into the model, the constraint condition, and the objective function, and linear programming processing is performed. A planning processing means for performing an optimization operation by
A transportation planning system comprising an output means for displaying a list of the planned transportation plans on a screen. The reversal avoidance constraint formula for the production site or expiry date for the destination site has an acceptance constraint that the destination site can accept only products that are newer than the production date or expiry date of all lots received in the past. Represents that
The transportation planning system according to claim 1, wherein the planning processing means makes a transportation plan in which a production time or an expiration date does not reverse at a transportation destination base. The standard stock quantity of each product at each destination is determined in advance and stored in the parameter information storage unit,
If the plan drafted by the planning processing means cannot satisfy the standard stock quantity or if a transport plan that exceeds the standard stock quantity is drafted, a penalty will be provided for excess or shortage of inventory. The transportation planning system according to claim 1, wherein the penalty value is introduced into an objective function to improve the degree to which the plan meets the reference stock. By tracking the actual shipment data of the product in the past predetermined period by the planning processing means,
If it is determined that the demand curve for the relevant period is in an increasing trend, execute a process to set a penalty for exceeding the base inventory, and to increase and set a penalty for not reaching the base inventory.
If it is determined that the demand curve for the relevant period is in a downward trend, execute a process to increase and set the penalty for exceeding the base inventory, and to decrease and set the penalty for non-base inventory The transportation planning system according to claim 1 or claim 3, wherein The planning processing means displays a graph representing demand fluctuation on the horizontal axis and the number of production bases on the vertical axis on the output means to prompt the user to input which position the target product belongs to,
According to the position information input by the input means by the user, the planning processing means sets the values of the reference inventory excess penalty and the reference inventory unachieved penalty registered corresponding to the area on the graph as parameter information. The transportation planning system according to claim 1 or 3, wherein a process to perform is performed. When multiple transportation routes with different means of transportation are given for the transportation route between the transportation base and the transportation destination base, and whether or not the applicable transportation means is defined for each product,
The transportation planning system according to claim 1, wherein the model construction means determines a transportation means and a transportation route by selecting only transportation means capable of transporting the target product. From the restriction conditions of the inventory storage capacity at the transportation destination base and the transportation capacity upper limit of the transportation means registered in advance, the user designates the restriction conditions by the input means when planning,
The model construction means generates a model that satisfies only the specified constraints,
The transportation planning system according to claim 1, wherein the planning processing unit performs planning based on the generated model. The data storage means stores an element template in which basic definition information of manufacturing bases, transport bases, transport destination bases, sales bases, which are constituent elements of a transport plan model, is registered,
When making a plan, the user inputs a specification that combines these element templates according to the target logistics structure using the input means.
The transportation planning system according to claim 1, wherein the model construction unit forms a transportation planning model. The data storage means stores constraints used when formulating a logistics plan, mathematical formulas and variable definition information for formulating an objective function, constant definition information,
2. The model construction means reads these mathematical formulas and definition information from the data storage means in accordance with a constraint condition and an objective function specified by a user, and formulates a linear programming model. Transportation planning system as described in. The output means presents to the user a list of objective function items such as transportation cost minimization, excess inventory minimization, etc., registered in advance as objective functions to be considered in transportation planning.
The input means accepts the objective function item specified by the user and the weight parameter given for each selected objective function,
The transportation planning system according to claim 1, wherein the model construction unit generates a model incorporating a specified objective function and weight parameters. The data storage means holds change history information of various parameters set by the user,
When the user changes a parameter and executes a planning process, the output unit can compare and confirm what parameter change the planned transportation plan is obtained by. The transportation planning system according to claim 1, wherein display is performed.   When the planning processing means outputs all of the products that can be transported from the transportation source base and the safety stock standard cannot be satisfied at the transportation destination base, the inventory shortage alarm information of the transportation destination base is output. At the same time, it is searched whether the missing product is surplus at another transport destination base, and a display prompting the user to determine whether to transport the surplus inventory between transport destination bases is performed. The transportation planning system according to claim 1. The output means displays information regarding the date and time of transportation, the item to be transported, the transportation source base, the transportation destination base, the transportation quantity, and the total transportation cost for the planned transportation plan,
The transportation planning system according to claim 1, wherein the input means can accept the approval of the plan for each transportation planning unit.   The output means displays information on a destination for transportation that is lower than a predetermined standard stock for the planned transportation plan, and prompts the user to input a supplement means for satisfying the standard stock. The transportation planning system according to claim 1.

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