JP2024069813A - Inter-company adjustment device and inter-company adjustment method - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To generate an adjustment plan for adjusting inconsistencies in agreements between multiple companies belonging to a supply chain and present it to each company. [Solution] The system includes an input unit that inputs information from each individual information processing system belonging to each of the multiple companies constituting the supply chain as input information, a storage unit having adjustment plan library information that records multiple measures including adjustment contents for the order-receiving company and the ordering company, which are adjustment contents for ordering and receiving orders where inconsistencies in agreements between the order-receiving company and the ordering company among the multiple companies may occur, in association with the inventory statuses of the order-receiving company and the ordering company, an adjustment plan generation unit that generates an adjustment plan including at least one of the multiple measures based on each of the input information input by the input unit and the adjustment plan library information, and an output unit that transmits information including the adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit to each individual information processing system. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an inter-company coordination device and an inter-company coordination method.

In the manufacturing industry, a supply chain consisting of multiple companies such as suppliers, factories, and sales companies works in sync to meet market demand. In recent years, there has been a high degree of uncertainty in supply and demand, requiring rapid responses to sudden changes. For this reason, each company has surplus resources such as inventory to deal with uncertainty and sudden changes. However, resource information is not disclosed between companies, so each company makes decisions such as prioritizing with limited information. This can lead to inconsistencies in the entire supply chain, leading to lower delivery deadline compliance rates and profitability.

In response, a technology has been proposed for deriving an adjustment proposal between companies. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technology that "sets proposal candidates to be presented to the negotiating party, calculates a utility value for each set candidate indicating the utility if the candidate is accepted by the negotiating party, selects the candidates that satisfy a set criterion using the utility value for each candidate, sets a priority for each selected candidate based on its utility value, and proposes one of the selected candidates to the negotiating party in accordance with the priority. (Omitted) The utility value represents the degree of convenience that the manufacturer (yourself) will obtain (or may obtain) if the supplier (the other party) accepts the proposal from the manufacturer (yourself)" (see abstract).

Publication No. WO2020/183709

The technology described in Patent Document 1 has the function of automatically generating negotiation proposals with the other party, but it only takes into account its own indicators, and does not describe a means for creating adjustment proposals for individual indicators to improve the overall indicators.

The objective of the present invention is to generate and present to each company an adjustment proposal for adjusting inconsistencies in agreements between multiple companies in a supply chain.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is characterized by comprising an input unit that inputs information generated by each individual information processing system from each individual information processing system belonging to each of a plurality of companies constituting a supply chain as input information, a storage unit having adjustment plan library information that records a plurality of measures including adjustment contents for the order receiving company and the ordering company, which are adjustment contents for orders and purchases that may cause inconsistencies in the agreement between the order receiving company and the ordering company among the plurality of companies, in association with the inventory status of the order receiving company and the ordering company, an adjustment plan generation unit that generates an adjustment plan including at least one of the plurality of measures based on each of the input information input by the input unit and the adjustment plan library information, and an output unit that transmits information including the adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit to each of the individual information processing systems.

According to the present invention, it is possible to generate and present to each company an adjustment proposal for adjusting inconsistencies in agreements between multiple companies belonging to a supply chain.

Issues, configurations, and advantages other than those mentioned above will become clear from the description of the embodiments below.

1 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional block of an inter-company adjustment system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a data structure of supply chain information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of BOM information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a data structure of order information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of inventory information according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a data structure of adjustment proposal library information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of adjustment proposal information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a data structure of adjustment proposal summary information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of adjustment order information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of answer result information according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an adjustment proposal response screen of the individual adjustment device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an adjustment result confirmation screen of the individual adjustment device according to the embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of an inter-company adjustment device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of inter-company reconciliation processing in the inter-company processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Below, an embodiment will be described based on the drawings, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment. In this embodiment, an adjustment plan for improving the overall indicators in the supply chain of a target item is automatically generated. Examples of the target item include automobiles, electrical products, mechanical products, elevators, trains, aircraft, generators, control devices, control panels, storage devices, network storage such as NAS (Network Attached Storage), servers, and water treatment devices.

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional blocks of an inter-company coordination system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 1, the inter-company coordination system 1 includes an inter-company coordination device 10 and individual systems 2-1 to 2-N of each company, and the inter-company coordination device 10 and the individual systems 2-1 to 2-N of each company are connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other via a network 30.

The inter-company coordination device 10 is an information processing device such as a PC (Personal Computer) or a server computer. The inter-company coordination device 10 includes an input unit 11, a calculation unit 12, a storage unit 13, an output unit 14, and a communication unit 15.

The input unit 11 accepts information input to the inter-company coordination device 10 via an input device such as a keyboard or touch panel. The calculation unit 12 acquires information from each company and derives a coordination proposal for each company. The memory unit 13 stores information necessary for inter-company coordination. The output unit 14 outputs information to an output device such as a display. The communication unit 15 transmits and receives information to and from other devices connected via the network 30.

The input unit 11 includes a supply chain information receiving unit 110 and a response result receiving unit 111. The supply chain information receiving unit 110 and the response result receiving unit 111 each obtain necessary information from each company's user terminal 21 or database 22 via the communication unit 15, and store the obtained information in the memory unit 13.

The calculation unit 12 includes an adjustment proposal generation unit 120, an adjustment cost calculation unit 121, an adjustment order generation unit 122, an adjustment proposal inquiry unit 123, an adjustment proposal update unit 124, and an adjustment result generation unit 125.

As described below, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 generates information on adjustment proposals for improving the overall evaluation index, which is an index for evaluating the entire supply chain, from supply chain information, BOM (Bill Of Material) information, order information, inventory information, and adjustment proposal library information, and stores the generated information in the memory unit 13 as adjustment proposal information 135.

The adjustment cost calculation unit 121 calculates the cost related to the adjustment in each adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit 120 as an adjustment cost, adds information on the calculated adjustment cost to the adjustment plan information 135, and stores it in the storage unit 13. The adjustment cost calculation unit 121 also calculates the adjustment cost for each adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit 120, generates information on the adjustment cost for each adjustment plan from the calculation result, and stores the generated information in the storage unit 13 as adjustment plan summary information 136.

The adjustment order generation unit 122 references the adjustment costs in the adjustment plan information 135, generates an adjustment order by rearranging each adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit 120 in ascending order of adjustment cost, and stores information including the relationship between the generated adjustment order and each adjustment plan as adjustment order information 137 in the storage unit 13.

The adjustment proposal inquiry unit 123 transmits information on each adjustment proposal in the order of the adjustment order recorded in the adjustment order information 137 generated by the adjustment order generation unit 122 to the user terminal 21 of each company via the communication unit 15, and inquires of each company about the contents of the adjustment proposal. At this time, the adjustment proposal inquiry unit 123 refers to the adjustment proposal information 135, generates adjustment proposal answer screen information based on the adjustment proposal information 135, and transfers the generated adjustment proposal answer screen information to the output unit 14.

When the response result receiving unit 111 receives a response result (adjustment proposal response) regarding the adjustment proposal proposed to each company from the inter-company adjustment device 10 via the communication unit 15, the adjustment proposal update unit 124 generates response result information 138 based on the received response result (adjustment proposal response) and stores the generated response result information 138 in the memory unit 13.

The adjustment result generation unit 125 generates adjustment result confirmation screen information that is displayed to confirm the adjustment result based on the adjustment proposal information 135 and the response result information 138, and transfers the generated adjustment result confirmation screen information to the output unit 14.

The memory unit 13 stores supply chain information 130, BOM information 131, order information 132, inventory information 133, adjustment plan library information 134, adjustment plan information 135, adjustment plan summary information 136, adjustment order information 137, and response result information 138.

The output unit 14 includes an adjustment proposal notification unit 140 and an adjustment result notification unit 141. The adjustment proposal notification unit 140 has a function of transmitting the adjustment proposal response screen information transferred from the adjustment proposal inquiry unit 123 to the user terminal 21 via the communication unit 15. At this time, the adjustment proposal response screen (see FIG. 11) of each company's user terminal 21 displays the target company name, the order data to be adjusted, the adjustment content, a response field indicating whether to accept or not, and a registration button, as described below.

The adjustment result notification unit 141 has a function of transmitting the adjustment result confirmation screen information transferred from the adjustment result generation unit 125 to the user terminal 21 via the communication unit 15. At this time, the adjustment content and information on the overall evaluation index are displayed on the adjustment result confirmation screen (see FIG. 12) of each company's user terminal 21, as described below.

The individual systems 2-1 and 2-N each include a user terminal 21 for each company, a database 22 for each company, and an individual adjustment device 23 for each company, and are each configured as an individual information processing system.

The user terminal 21 is an information processing device such as a PC, and is operated by a user who uses the inter-company coordination service provided by the inter-company coordination device 10. The database 22 is, for example, a system such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), or a database that accumulates data equivalent thereto, or a storage device. The database 22 stores, for example, supply chain information 130, BOM (Bill Of Material) information 131, order information 132, and inventory information 133 as information generated by each company's individual coordination device 23.

The individual adjustment device 23 is an information processing device such as a PC or a server computer. The individual adjustment device 23 includes a communication unit 24, an input unit 25, a calculation unit 26, and an output unit 27.

The communication unit 24 transmits and receives information to and from other devices connected via the network 30. The input unit 25 accepts information input to the individual adjustment device 23 via an input device such as a keyboard or touch panel. The calculation unit 26 considers and operates the adjustment plan proposed by the inter-company adjustment device 10. The output unit 27 outputs information to an output device such as a display.

The input unit 25 includes an adjustment proposal receiving unit 250 and an adjustment result receiving unit 251. The adjustment proposal receiving unit 250 and the adjustment result receiving unit 251 acquire information from the inter-company adjustment device 10 via the communication unit 24.

The calculation unit 26 includes an adjustment proposal review unit 260 and an operation implementation unit 261. The adjustment proposal review unit 260 reviews whether the adjustment proposal accepted by the adjustment proposal acceptance unit 251 is acceptable or not. The operation implementation unit 261 implements an operation for the adjustment content that it has accepted, according to the adjustment result accepted by the adjustment result acceptance unit 251.

The output unit 27 includes a response result notification unit 270. The response result notification unit 270 generates the results considered by the adjustment proposal review unit 260 as a response result, and transmits information on the generated response result to the inter-company adjustment device 10 via the communication unit 24.

The network 30 communicatively connects the inter-company coordination device 10, the user terminal 21, the database 22, and the individual coordination device 23. The network 30 is a computer network (CN), such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), a VPN (Virtual Private Network), or a communication network that uses general public lines such as the Internet in part or in whole.

In this embodiment, the user terminal 21 and the database 22 are provided outside the individual adjustment device 23, but the configuration of the individual system 2-1 is not limited to this. For example, the information stored in the database 22 may be stored in a new storage unit. The device configuration of the inter-company adjustment device system 1 can be changed as appropriate as long as it does not impair the purpose of this embodiment.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the data structure of supply chain information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 2, supply chain information 130 is information related to the supply chain path that is generated by the individual coordination device 23 of each company and stored in the database 22 of each company and the memory unit 13 of the inter-company coordination device. This supply chain information 130 includes a From company 1301, a To company 1302, an item 1303, and a transportation lead time (LT) 1304. The supply chain information 130 is information indicating that an item is transported from the From company to the To company over the transportation lead time. In other words, the supply chain information 130 records information on the transportation lead time required to transport an item from the order-receiving company to the ordering company.

In the From Company 1301, information such as "Supplier 1" is recorded as the source of parts, products, etc. (the company receiving the order). In the To Company 1302, information such as "Factory 1" is recorded as the destination of parts, products, etc. (the company placing the order). In the Item 1303, information such as "Part A" is recorded as the name of the part, product, etc. In the Transportation Lead Time (LT) 1304, information such as "7 days" is recorded as the time (number of days) required to transport items such as parts and products from the From Company to the To Company.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the data structure of BOM information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 3, BOM information 131 is part configuration information generated by an individual adjustment device 23 of a company with manufacturing capabilities, and is information stored in the database 22 and the memory unit 13 of the inter-company adjustment device 23. This BOM information 131 includes a manufacturing company 1311, child items 1312, a parent item 1313, a quantity 1314, and a manufacturing lead time (LT) 1315, and records the number of child items configured per one unit of production of a parent item. In other words, BOM information 131 records information on the manufacturing lead time required for a manufacturing company among multiple companies to manufacture an item.

In the manufacturing company 1311, information such as "Supplier 1" is recorded as the manufacturer that produces items such as parts and products. In the child item 1312, information such as "Material A" is recorded as the item that corresponds to the child (item that constitutes the parent) when items such as parts and products are divided into parent-child relationships. In the parent item 1313, information such as "Part A" is recorded as the item that corresponds to the parent (item that is composed of children) when items such as parts and products are divided into parent-child relationships. In the quantity 1314, information such as "1 piece" is recorded as the number of child items that constitute the parent item. In the manufacturing lead time (LT) 1315, information such as "3 days" is recorded as the time (number of days) required to manufacture the parent item from the child items.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the data structure of order information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 4, order information 132 is information related to the ordering and placement of the target item that is generated by each company's individual coordination device 23 and stored in each company's database 22 and the memory unit 13 of each company's inter-company coordination device 23. This order information 132 includes a From company 1321, a To company 1322, an item 1323, a quantity 1324, a requested delivery date 1325, and a replied delivery date 1326.

In the From Company 1321, information such as "Supplier 1" is recorded as the supplier (receiving company) of parts, products, etc. In the To Company 1322, information such as "Factory 1" is recorded as the supply destination (ordering company) of parts, products, etc. In the item 1323, which is the target item, information such as "Part A" is recorded as the name of the part, product, etc. In the quantity 1324, information such as "10 pieces" is recorded as the order quantity (order amount) of the part, product, etc. In the requested delivery date 1325, information such as "6/15" is recorded as the delivery date (date) requested by the supplier (receiving company) that delivers the parts, products, etc. In the responded delivery date 1326, information such as "6/17" is recorded as the delivery date (date) that the supplier (receiving company) responded that it can deliver in response to the requested delivery date 1325. In this case, the requested delivery date 1325 is "6/15" and the responded delivery date 1326 is "6/17", so the delivery date will be delayed by two days, creating a risk of delivery delay.

Figure 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the data structure of inventory information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 5, inventory information 133 is information indicating the current inventory of each item at each company, which is generated by each company's individual adjustment device 23 and stored in each company's database 22 and the memory unit 13 of each company's inter-company adjustment device 23. This inventory information 133 includes company 1331, item 1332, time 1333, and inventory amount 1334.

In company 1331, information such as "Supplier 1" is recorded as the name of the company storing parts, products, etc. In item 1332, information such as "Part A" is recorded as the name of the part, product, etc. stored at the company. In time 1333, information such as "6/1" is recorded as the time (date) when the inter-company reconciliation process is performed by the inter-company reconciliation device 10. In inventory amount 1334, information such as "50" is recorded as the number of parts, products, etc. in stock at the current time, which is the time (date) recorded in time 1333. Note that when there are no parts, products, etc. in stock at the current time, information such as "0" is recorded.

Figure 6 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the data structure of adjustment proposal library information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 6, adjustment proposal library information 134 is information generated by the inter-company adjustment device 10 and stored in the memory unit 13 of the inter-company adjustment device 10 as information summarizing measures for the From/To companies according to the inventory status of the order-receiving company (From company) and the ordering company (To company) involved in the order-receiving transaction. This adjustment proposal library information 134 includes an adjustment proposal library number (#) 1341, From company child item inventory 1342, From company parent item inventory 1343, To company child item inventory 1344, To company parent item inventory 1345, From company adjustment content 1346, and To company adjustment content 1347. In other words, the adjustment proposal library information 134 associates multiple measures with each combination of the availability of inventory of an order-receiving-side managed item under the management of the order-receiving company and the availability of inventory of an order-receiving-side managed item under the management of the order-receiving company, and each measure specifies the adjustment content for the order-receiving company (first adjustment content) and the adjustment content for the order-receiving company (second adjustment content).

In the adjustment proposal library number (#) 1341, the number for managing the adjustment proposal is recorded in order starting from "1". In the From company child item inventory 1342, information indicating the presence or absence of inventory for the parent item of the From company is recorded, for example, "yes" if there is inventory, and "no" if there is no inventory. In the From company parent item inventory 1343, information indicating the presence or absence of inventory for the child item of the From company is recorded, for example, "yes" if there is inventory, and "no" if there is no inventory. In the To company child item inventory 1344, information indicating the presence or absence of inventory for the child item of the To company is recorded, for example, "yes" if there is inventory, and "no" if there is no inventory. In the To company parent item inventory 1345, information indicating the presence or absence of inventory for the parent item of the To company is recorded, for example, "yes" if there is inventory, and "no" if there is no inventory. In From company adjustment details 1346, information indicating the adjustment details for the From company is recorded, for example, if a change to a means of transportation with a short lead time is required, information such as "change to a means of transportation with short LT" is recorded. In To company adjustment details 1347, information indicating the adjustment details for the To company is recorded, for example, if a delivery date needs to be extended, information such as "delivery date extension" is recorded.

Regarding the availability of inventory, if the availability of inventory is not included in the discrimination conditions, the information "-" is recorded in From company child item inventory 1342, From company parent item inventory 1343, To company child item inventory 1344, and To company parent item inventory 1345. Regarding the adjustment content, if there is no relevant adjustment content, the information "-" is recorded in From company adjustment content 1346 and To company adjustment content 1347. Furthermore, in adjustment proposal library number (#) 1341, numbers 1 to 12 record library information of adjustment proposals used for adjustment between the parties, and in adjustment proposal library number (#) 1341, numbers 13 to 18 record library information of adjustment proposals utilizing the slack of a third party.

Here, let's take an example where the adjustment plan library number (#) 1341 in the adjustment plan library information 134 is 6. If the inventory of the From company's child item is greater than 0, the inventory of the From company's parent item is greater than 0, and the To company's child item inventory is 0, the From company's adjustment content will be "change to short LT transportation method," and the To company's adjustable content will be "-," meaning that there is no adjustment content. In this case, the From company's parent item and the To company's child item are the same item, and the From company's child item and the To company's parent item can be identified from the BOM information 131. Furthermore, if the From company has multiple child items, the inventory of all child items is checked, and if even one of them has 0 inventory, the child item is deemed to have no inventory.

When using the adjustment proposal library information 134, the only criterion used in the explanation was the "presence" of inventory, but the "presence" of resources such as equipment and personnel could also be used as a criterion, and other conditions could also be combined.

Figure 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the data structure of adjustment proposal information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 7, adjustment proposal information 135 is information summarizing the adjustment contents of each adjustment proposal generated by the adjustment proposal generation unit 120, and is stored in the memory unit 13 of the inter-company adjustment device 10. This adjustment proposal information 135 includes an adjustment proposal 1351, a measure 1352, a company 1353, adjustment contents 1354, a target item 1355, a target quantity 1356, a target delivery date 1357, and an adjustment cost 1358.

In adjustment proposal 1351, information such as "1" is recorded as information indicating the adjustment proposal number. In measure 1352, information such as "1" is recorded as information indicating the measure number. In company 1353, information such as "Supplier 1" is recorded as the name of the company to which the adjustment proposal applies. In adjustment content 1354, information such as "additional operating hours" is recorded as the content of the adjustment proposal, for example, if an additional operating time is requested of the company. In target item 1355, information such as "Part A" is recorded as the item to be delivered by the company. In target quantity 1356, information such as "10" is recorded as the quantity of the item to be delivered by the company. In target delivery date 1357, information such as "6/1" is recorded as the delivery date of the item to be delivered by the company. In the adjustment cost 1358, the cost related to the adjustment to the adjustment proposal is recorded. For example, if the adjustment cost of "adding operating hours" is "100" and the adjustment cost for a company with one countermeasure implementation company (stakeholder) is "1", the total of the two, "101", is recorded.

In the adjustment proposal information 135, there are four records with the adjustment proposal number 2, of which there are two records with the measure number 2 and two records with the measure number 3. Here, it means that the same adjustment proposal number and the same measure number are a set. For example, measure number 2 is a set of two adjustment contents: "Give priority to other bases and other items for orders of 10 units of product A from factory 2 with a required delivery date of 6/10" (adjustment proposal number 2), and "Extend the delivery date for orders of 10 units of product A from distributor 2 with a required delivery date of 6/10" (adjustment proposal number 2). Similarly, measure number 3 is a set of two adjustment contents (adjustment proposal number 2), and the adjustment proposal with adjustment proposal number 2 is an adjustment proposal that is valid when all four adjustment contents are accepted. In addition, since the adjustment proposal with adjustment proposal number 2 does not have "additional operating hours" in the adjustment contents, the information "1" is recorded in the adjustment cost 1358.

Figure 8 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the data structure of adjustment proposal summary information relating to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 8, adjustment proposal summary information 136 is information obtained by calculating and totaling the adjustment costs for each adjustment proposal from adjustment proposal information 135, and is stored in the memory unit 13 of the inter-company adjustment device 10. This adjustment proposal summary information 136 includes an adjustment proposal 1361 and an adjustment cost 1362.

In adjustment proposal 1361, for example, information "1" is recorded as information indicating the adjustment proposal number. In adjustment cost 1362, for example, "101" is recorded as information obtained by calculating and totaling the adjustment costs for each adjustment proposal from adjustment proposal information 135. Note that for the adjustment proposal with adjustment proposal number 2, information "4" is recorded as the sum of the adjustment costs of each of the four adjustment proposals, which are all "1."

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the data structure of adjustment order information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 9, adjustment order information 137 is information in which each adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generating unit 120 is rearranged according to the adjustment cost, and is stored in the memory unit 13 of the inter-company adjustment device 10. The adjustment cost recorded in this adjustment order information 137 indicates the cost related to the adjustment of the adjustment plan, and the smaller the value, the more likely the adjustment is to be accepted. Therefore, adjustment order information 137 is information in which the adjustment order of the adjustment plans belonging to adjustment plan information 135 is rearranged in ascending order of adjustment cost so that the adjustment is more likely to be established. This adjustment order information 137 includes adjustment order 1371, adjustment plan 1372, measure 1373, and company 1374.

In adjustment order 1371, for example, numerical information starting from "1" is recorded as information indicating the adjustment order. In adjustment proposal 1372, for example, information "2" is recorded as information indicating the adjustment proposal number of the generated adjustment proposal, which indicates the adjustment proposal number of the adjustment proposal belonging to adjustment proposal information 135. In measure 1373, information "2" is recorded as information indicating the measure number of the adjustment proposal belonging to adjustment proposal information 135. In company 1374, for example, information "Sales company 2" is recorded as the name of the company with the smallest adjustment cost value among the companies belonging to adjustment proposal information 135.

Figure 10 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the data structure of response result information according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 10, response result information 138 is information summarizing the response results to the adjustment proposal proposed to each company, and is stored in the memory unit 13 of the inter-company adjustment device 10. This response result information 138 includes an adjustment proposal 1381, a measure 1382, a company 1383, and a response result 1384.

In adjustment proposal 1381, information indicating the adjustment proposal number of the adjustment proposal generated by adjustment proposal generation unit 120, for example, information "2" indicating the adjustment proposal number of the adjustment proposal belonging to adjustment order information 137, is recorded. In measure 1382, information "2" indicating the measure number of the adjustment proposal belonging to adjustment order information 137 is recorded. In company 1383, information such as "Sales company 2" is recorded as the name of the company belonging to adjustment order information 137. In response result 1384, information indicating the response result from each company, for example, if information to the effect that "acceptance" has been received from a company, "acceptance" is recorded.

Figure 11 is a block diagram showing an example of an adjustment proposal response screen of an individual adjustment device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 11, the adjustment proposal response screen 142 of each individual adjustment device 23 is a screen for each company to respond to the adjustment proposal proposed by the inter-company adjustment device 10, and includes a target company name 14201 indicating the target company, a From company name 14202 and a To company name 14203, which are order placement and receipt data information of the adjustment target, an item 14204, a quantity 14205, a requested delivery date 14206, a replied delivery date 14207, adjustment contents 14208, a reply field 14209 indicating whether or not to accept the adjustment contents, and a registration button 14210 for registering the result.

Target company name 14201 displays the name of the company that received the adjustment proposal, for example, "Sales Company 2". From company name 14202 displays the name of the company that is the target of the adjustment proposal, for example, "Factory 2". To company name 14203 displays the name of the company that responds to the adjustment proposal, for example, "Sales Company 2". Item 14204 displays the item that is the target of the adjustment proposal, for example, "Product A". Quantity 14205 displays the quantity of the item that is the target of the adjustment proposal, for example, "10". Requested delivery date 14206 displays the delivery date requested in the adjustment proposal, for example, "6/10". For example, if the delivery date responded as the delivery deadline of the item is June 10, "6/10" is displayed in the responded delivery date 14207. Note that if the delivery date responded as the delivery deadline of the item after the adjustment of the adjustment proposal is June 25, "6/25" is displayed in accordance with the information recorded in responded delivery date 1326 of the order information 132. In the case where the adjustment content selected in the adjustment proposal is "Delivery date extension", that is, when "Delivery date extension" is selected as the To company adjustment content 1347 in the adjustment proposal library information 134, "Delivery date extension" is displayed in the adjustment content 14208. In the response field 14209, "Accept" and "Reject" are displayed as information indicating whether or not the adjustment content displayed in the adjustment content 14208 is accepted. It should be noted that the display format of the adjustment proposal response screen 142, which proposes an adjustment proposal and asks the company to respond, is not limited to the form shown in FIG. 11.

Here, when a user using the individual adjustment device 23 executes an operation to select "accept" or "reject" in the response field 14209 on the adjustment proposal response screen 142, the operation content of "accept" or "reject" is transmitted to the inter-company adjustment device 10 via the communication unit 24 together with the information on the adjustment proposal response screen 142.

When the inter-company adjustment device 10 receives the operation content of "accept" or "reject" and the information on the adjustment proposal response screen 142, the received information is transferred to the adjustment proposal update unit 124 via the response result reception unit 111. The adjustment proposal update unit 124 generates response result information 138 based on the information transferred from the response result reception unit 111, and stores the generated response result information 138 in the memory unit 13. The adjustment result generation unit 125 generates information indicating the adjustment result based on the response result information 138 and adjustment proposal information 135 stored in the memory unit 13. At this time, the adjustment result generation unit 125 calculates the delivery date compliance rate after adjustment by calculating, from the response result information 138, the number of order-placement transactions in which the risk of delivery date delays has been eliminated by the accepted adjustment. Thereafter, the adjustment result generating unit 125 generates adjustment result confirmation screen information (image information of the adjustment result confirmation screen 143) for displaying the adjustment results and the delivery date compliance rate, and transmits the generated adjustment result confirmation screen information to the individual adjustment device 23 of each company via the adjustment result notifying unit 141 and the communication unit 15. The adjustment result confirmation screen of each company's individual adjustment device 23 displays information including the adjustment plan proposed to each company and accepted based on the adjustment result confirmation screen information, and the overall evaluation index obtained by implementing the adjustment according to the adjustment plan.

Fig. 12 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an adjustment result confirmation screen of an individual adjustment device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 12, the adjustment result confirmation screen 143 on which each company confirms the adjustment result is a screen on which each company confirms the adjustment result for the adjustment proposal proposed by the inter-company adjustment device 10, and includes a display area 1431 on the upper level for displaying the adjustment contents, and a display area 1432 on the lower level for displaying the degree of change in the overall evaluation index due to the implementation of the adjustment contents.

In the adjustment content display area 1431, the following items of adjustment content information are displayed: adjustment content number (#) 14301, From company name 14302 of the order data information to be adjusted, To company name 14303, item 14304, quantity 14305, requested delivery date 14306, answered delivery date 14307, and adjustment content 14308.

The adjustment content number (#) 14301 displays the number that manages the adjustment content, starting from "1". The From Company Name 14302 of the order data information to be adjusted displays information equivalent to the From Company 1321 of the order information 132, for example, "Factory 2" as the name of the company that is the subject of the adjustment proposal. The To Company Name 14303 displays, for example, "Sales Company 2" as the name of the company that responds to the adjustment proposal. The Item 14304 displays, for example, "Product A" as the item that is the subject of the adjustment proposal. The Quantity 14305 displays, for example, "10" as the quantity of the item that is the subject of the adjustment proposal. The Requested Delivery Date 14306 displays, for example, "6/10" as the delivery date requested in the adjustment proposal. The Answered Delivery Date 14307 displays, for example, "6/10" if the delivery date responded as the delivery deadline for the item is June 10th. If the delivery date given as the delivery deadline for the item after adjustment in the adjustment proposal is June 25th, "6/25" is displayed in accordance with the information recorded in the given delivery date 1326 in the order information 132. The adjustment content selected in the adjustment proposal is displayed in the adjustment content 14308. For example, if "Delivery extension" is selected for "Sales company 2" in the adjustment proposal library information 134, "Delivery extension" is displayed, and if "Prefer other locations/other items" is selected for "Factory 2" in the adjustment proposal library information 134, "Prefer other locations/other items" is displayed.

In the overall evaluation index display area 1432, the following items of overall evaluation index information are displayed: index number 14309, end customer in the supply chain 14310, item 14311, delivery date compliance rate before adjustment 14312, and delivery date compliance rate after adjustment 14313.

In the index number 14309, for example, a number that manages the overall evaluation index is displayed in order starting from "1" as a number that uniquely identifies the overall evaluation index. In the end customer 14310, for example, information on "Market 1" is displayed as the name of the end customer in the supply chain. In the item 14311, for example, information on "Product A" is displayed as the item to be delivered to the end customer. In the delivery date compliance rate before adjustment 14312, for example, information on "95%" is displayed as the delivery date compliance rate executed before adjustment by the adjustment proposal. In the delivery date compliance rate after adjustment 14313, for example, information on "100%" is displayed as the delivery date compliance rate executed after adjustment by the adjustment proposal. In this case, by making adjustments between companies according to the adjustment proposal, the delivery date will be achieved "100%". In other words, an adjustment proposal for improving the overall evaluation index for evaluating the entire supply chain has been presented to each company. In addition, the display format of the adjustment result confirmation screen 143 on which each company confirms the adjustment results is not limited to the form shown in FIG. 12.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of an inter-company coordination device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In Fig. 13, the inter-company coordination device 10 includes an input device 161, an output device 162, an external storage device 163, a computing device 164, a main storage device 165, and a communication device 166, and each component is connected by a bus 167.

The input device 161 is a device that accepts input operations from the user, such as a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, microphone, etc.

The output device 162 is a device that performs output processing of data stored in the main memory device 165 and data showing the results of calculations by the calculation device 164, and is, for example, a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or a printer. Note that the functions of the input device 161 and the output device 162 may be realized by a user terminal 21 on the network 30.

The external storage device 163 is a writable and readable storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD). The arithmetic unit 164 is a central processing unit that executes processing according to various programs recorded in the main storage device 165 or the external storage device 163. At this time, the arithmetic unit 164 executes the various programs recorded in the main storage device 165 or the external storage device 163, whereby each processing unit constituting the arithmetic unit 12 shown in FIG. 1, the input unit 12, the output unit 14, and the communication unit 15 realize their respective functions.

The main memory device 165 is a memory device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory, and functions as a storage area from which programs and data are temporarily read. The communication device 166 is a device for connecting the inter-company coordination device 10 to the network 30, and is, for example, a communication device such as a NIC (Network Interface Card). In this case, the function of the memory unit 13 shown in FIG. 1 is realized by the external memory device 163 or the main memory device 165. The function of the memory unit 13 may also be realized by a database 22 on the network 30.

The processing of each component of the inter-company coordination device 10 may be executed by a single piece of hardware or by multiple pieces of hardware. The processing of each component of the inter-company coordination device 10 may be realized by a single program or by multiple programs. The individual coordination devices 23 of each company also have the same hardware configuration as the inter-company coordination device 10, so a description thereof will be omitted.

Figure 14 is a flowchart showing an example of inter-company adjustment processing of the inter-company processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This processing is started by the inter-company adjustment device 10 at an execution cycle and timing previously agreed upon between the companies involved in the supply chain. Note that this processing may also be started by requesting adjustment from the user terminal 21 of the company that wishes to make adjustment to the inter-company adjustment device 10 when an inconsistency in the agreement between the companies occurs, such as a delivery date delay.

First, the supply chain information receiving unit 110 acquires input information from each company (step S1). Specifically, the supply chain information receiving unit 110 of the inter-company adjustment device 10 reads supply chain information 130 and BOM information 131, which are configuration information of the supply chain, from the database 22 of each company via the communication unit 15, and stores the read supply chain information 130 and BOM information 131 in the storage unit 13. Note that the supply chain information receiving unit 110 may skip the processing of step S1 if there is no change in the information stored in the storage unit 13 from the second time onwards. In addition, as the processing of step S1, the supply chain information receiving unit 110 reads order information 132, which is backorder information for order placement and receipt, and inventory information 133, which is current inventory information, from the database 22 of each company, and stores the read order information 132 and inventory information 133 in the storage unit 13.

Next, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 refers to the order information 132 stored in the memory unit 13, and for each record of the order information 132, compares the information (date) recorded in the requested delivery date 1325 of the order information 132 with the information (date) recorded in the answered delivery date 1326. It then repeatedly executes the processing from step S2 to step S4 (processing of loop L1) for the number of order transactions in order to set records in which the information (date) recorded in the answered delivery date 1326 is delayed compared to the information (date) recorded in the requested delivery date 1325 as records indicating transactions at risk of delaying delivery (records indicating transactions that are inconsistent in terms of the agreement between the companies).

Next, the adjustment plan generation unit 120 reads the supply chain information 130, BOM information 131, order information 132, inventory information 133, and adjustment plan library information 134 from the memory unit 13, compares the inventory status of the trading company with the adjustment plan library based on each of the read information, creates adjustment plan information 135 including an adjustment plan, and stores the created adjustment plan information 135 in the memory unit 13 (step S3).

Specifically, for example, if the current time, when the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 refers to the memory unit 13, is 6/1, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 refers to the order information 132 and, since the replied delivery date is later than the requested delivery date, sets the first record in the order information 132 (From company: Supplier 1, To company: Factory 1, Item: Part A, Quantity: 10 units, Requested delivery date: 6/15, Answered delivery date: 6/17) as a record with a risk of delivery delay, and executes the process of generating an adjustment proposal for the first record.

Then, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 obtains the inventory amounts of the related companies (Supplier 1 and Factory 1) identified in the first record from the inventory information 133, and also obtains supply chain information 130 and BOM information 131 as information on the related companies (Supplier 1 and Factory 1), and based on each of the obtained information, calculates which items' inventory at which point in time for each company is related to the order information.

In this example, the required delivery date recorded in the order information 132 is 6/15, the transportation lead time from supplier 1 to factory 1 (transportation LT 1304 in supply chain information 130) is 7 days, and the manufacturing lead time from material A to part A at supplier 1 (manufacturing LT 1315 in BOM information 131) is 3 days, so it is necessary to calculate (1) factory 1's inventory of part A as of 6/15, (2) supplier 1's inventory of part A as of 6/8 (6/15 - 7 days =), and (3) supplier 1's inventory of material A as of 6/5 (6/8 - 3 days =).

First, for (1), the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 obtains the current inventory amount as of 6/1 ("0") from the inventory information 133, and calculates the inventory as of 6/15 by subtracting the shipping amount scheduled up to 6/15 from the inventory amount based on the order information 132. In this example, there is no shipping amount scheduled up to 6/15 (there is no shipping amount with a required delivery date before 6/15), so the inventory amount of part A at factory 1 as of 6/15 remains 0.

Next, for (2), the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 obtains the current inventory amount as of 6/1 ("0") from the inventory information 133, and calculates the inventory as of 6/8 by subtracting the shipping amount scheduled up to 6/8 from the order information 132 from the inventory amount. In this example, there is no shipping amount scheduled up to 6/8, so supplier 1's inventory of part A as of 6/8 remains 0.

Finally, for (3), the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 obtains the current inventory amount as of 6/1 ("50") from the inventory information 133, and calculates the inventory as of 6/5 by subtracting from the inventory amount the quantity calculated by multiplying the shipment amount scheduled until 6/8 from the order information 132 by the quantity 1314 (1). In other words, if there is a shipment scheduled for 6/7, the manufacturing lead time is 3 days and material A will be consumed on 6/4, so the inventory outlook can be calculated in this manner. In this example, there is no shipment amount scheduled until 6/8, so supplier 1's inventory of material A as of 6/5 remains at 50.

As a result of the above, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 determines the inventory status in the first record as follows: there is a child item inventory of the From company (supplier 1's inventory of material A as of 6/5), there is no parent item inventory of the From company (supplier 1's inventory of part A as of 6/8), and there is no child item inventory of the To company (factory 1's inventory of part A as of 6/15). After this, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 compares the inventory status in the first record with the adjustment proposal library information 134, and as a result of the comparison, it determines that the inventory status in the first record corresponds to the adjustment proposal with adjustment proposal number 10 in the adjustment proposal library information 134, the adjustment content of the From company (supplier 1) is "addition of operating hours", and the adjustment content of the To company (factory 1) is "-", that is, there is no adjustment content. After this, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 assigns the information of the adjustment proposal including this adjustment content adjustment proposal number 1 and stores it in the adjustment proposal information 135.

By performing the above processing, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 can generate an adjustment proposal (adjustment proposal number 1 and measure number 1) for adjustment between the parties for the first record in the order information 132 (a record that has a risk of a delivery delay).

Here, the process of generating an adjustment proposal that utilizes a third party's slack is explained. In this case, the adjustment candidates for generating an adjustment proposal that utilizes a third party's slack from among the order information 132 are order transactions that ship from the same supplier (receiving company) to another supply destination (ordering company) at the same time as the order transaction that may experience a delivery delay. In this example, since supplier 1 ships not only to factory 1 but also to factory 2, the second record (record #2) in the order information 132, which has the same requested delivery date of 6/15, is selected as a candidate for the order related to the order that is at risk of experiencing a delivery delay.

In addition, among the order information 132, the order transaction downstream of the supply chain (towards the customer or market) in which the supply destination of the order transaction is the supplier in relation to the second record of the order information 132 is also a candidate for adjustment, since the supply availability is determined based on the previous order transaction. For example, the fourth record of the order information 132 (record #4) is considered to be an order associated with record #2, because the required delivery date is 6/25, which is the requested delivery date of 6/15 of record #2 plus the manufacturing lead time of 3 days to manufacture product A from part A at factory 2 and the transportation lead time of 7 days to transport from factory 2 to distributor 2 (6/15 + 3 days + 7 days =).

Similarly, the sixth record (record #6) in order information 132 has a required delivery date of 7/2, which is the requested delivery date of 6/25 for record #4 plus the transportation lead time of 7 days from distributor 2 to market 2, and is therefore considered to be an order associated with record #4. Therefore, records #2, 4, and 6 are candidates for adjustment as orders related to the order (record #1) that is at risk of a delivery delay.

First, for record #2, the requested delivery date is 6/15, and the manufacturing lead time 1315 from part A to product A at factory 2 is 3 days, so it is necessary to calculate (1) the inventory of part A at factory 2 as of 6/15, and (2) the inventory of product A at factory 2 as of 6/18. In the case of record #2, unlike the adjustment when there is a risk of a delivery date delay in record #1, there is no need to check the inventory at the From company, but it is necessary to check the inventory of parent and child items at the To company and confirm whether it is okay to give priority to others.

The adjustment proposal generating unit 120 calculates inventory information for record #2 in the same way as for record #1. At this time, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 determines that the inventory status in record #2 is that there is no child item inventory of the To company (inventory of part A at factory 2 as of 6/15) and no parent item inventory of the To company (inventory of product A at factory 2 as of 6/18). At this time, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 compares the inventory status in record #2 with the adjustment proposal library information 134, and as a result of the comparison, it determines that the inventory status in record #2 corresponds to the adjustment proposal with adjustment proposal number 18 in the adjustment proposal library information 134, and that the adjustment contents of the From company (supplier 1) and To company (factory 2) are "-", that is, there is no adjustment content.

Next, for record #4, the required delivery date is 6/25, and (1) it is necessary to calculate the inventory of product A at distributor 2 as of 6/25. In the case of record #4, unlike record #2, since To company does not have a manufacturing function, it is not necessary to check the inventory of the parent item, and it is only necessary to check the inventory of the child item.

The adjustment proposal generating unit 120 calculates the inventory information for record #4 in the same way as for record #1. At this time, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 determines that the inventory status in record #4 is that the To company's child item inventory (sales company 2's inventory of product A as of 6/25) is available. After this, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 compares the inventory status in record #4 with the adjustment proposal library information 134, and as a result of the comparison, determines that the inventory status in record #4 corresponds to the adjustment proposal with adjustment proposal number 13 in the adjustment proposal library information 134, the adjustment content of the From company (factory 2) is "prioritize other bases and other items", and the adjustment content of the To company (sales company 2) is "delivery delay". After this, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 assigns the information on the adjustment proposal including this adjustment content as adjustment proposal number 2 and measure number 2, and stores it in the adjustment proposal information 135.

Here, if the contents of the adjustment proposal generated for record #4 (adjustment proposal number 2, measure number 2) are implemented as the actual adjustment content, the original plan to ship 10 units of product A from factory 2 to distributor 2 on 6/18 will be postponed, so the inventory of product A at factory 2 as of 6/18 will change from 0 to 10 units. As a result, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 determined that (2) there was no inventory of product A at factory 2 as of 6/18 for record #2, but assuming the case in which the adjustment proposal generated for record #4 is implemented, it determines that the inventory of product A at factory 2 as of 6/18 for record #2 can be changed to available. At this time, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 re-verifies the inventory status in record #2 after the change with the adjustment proposal library information 134, and as a result of the comparison, it determines that the inventory status in record #2 after the change corresponds to the adjustment proposal with adjustment proposal number 16 in the adjustment proposal library information 134, that the adjustment content of the From company (Supplier 1) is "give priority to other locations and other items," and that the adjustment content of the To company (Factory 2) is "extension of delivery date." Since the adjustment proposal including this adjustment content will be established if the adjustment proposal generated for record #4 is implemented, it becomes another measure of the adjustment proposal with adjustment proposal number 2. Therefore, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 assigns the information of the adjustment proposal including this adjustment content as measure number 3 of adjustment proposal number 2 and stores it in the adjustment proposal information 135.

Finally, for record #6, the required delivery date is 7/2, and (1) it is necessary to calculate the inventory of product A as of 7/2 in market 2. The adjustment plan generating unit 120 calculates inventory information for record #6 in the same way as for record #1. At this time, the adjustment plan generating unit 120 determines that the inventory status in record #6 is that there is no child item inventory (inventory of product A as of 7/2 in market 2). After this, the adjustment plan generating unit 120 compares the inventory status in record #6 with the adjustment plan library information 134, and as a result of the comparison, it determines that the inventory status in record #6 corresponds to the adjustment plan with adjustment plan number 14 in the adjustment plan library information 134, and that the adjustment contents for the From company (distributor 2) and To company (market 2) are "-", that is, there is no adjustment content.

As described above, the adjustment proposal generating unit 120 refers to the order information 132 stored in the memory unit 13, compares the information (date) recorded in the requested delivery date 1325 of the order information 132 with the information (date) recorded in the answered delivery date 1326 for each record of the order information 132, sets the record in which the information (date) recorded in the answered delivery date 1326 is delayed compared to the information (date) recorded in the requested delivery date 1325 as a record at risk of a delivery date delay, and repeatedly executes the processing from step S2 to step S4 (processing of loop L1) for the number of order transactions to generate an adjustment proposal for the record at risk of a delivery date delay (record #1 of the order information 132) as an adjustment proposal for adjustment between the parties, and stores information including the generated adjustment proposal in the memory unit 13 as adjustment proposal information 135.

In other words, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 refers to the order/receive information 132, and when there is an order/receive transaction in the order/receive information 132 that may cause a delivery delay, extracts from the inventory information 133 the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company that are the subject of the order/receive transaction that may cause a delivery delay, and based on the extracted inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company, refers to the adjustment proposal library information 134 and extracts measures that correspond to the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company from among multiple measures, and generates a first adjustment proposal that includes the adjustment content of the extracted measure as adjustment proposal number 1 and adjustment proposal number 1.

The adjustment proposal generating unit 120 also refers to the order information 132 stored in the memory unit 13, and when comparing the information (date) recorded in the requested delivery date 1325 of the order information 132 with the information (date) recorded in the answered delivery date 1326 for each record of the order information 132, even if the information (date) recorded in the answered delivery date 1326 is not delayed compared to the information (date) recorded in the requested delivery date 1325, it can generate an adjustment proposal that utilizes a third party's slack for records (records #2, #4, and #6 of the order information 132) that are related to the record (first record) that has a risk of a delivery date delay, and store information including the generated adjustment proposal in the memory unit 13 as adjustment proposal information 135.

In other words, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 refers to the order information 132, and when there is an order transaction in the order information 132 that may be affected by the delivery date depending on the status of the order transaction in which a delivery date delay may occur, extracts from the inventory information 133 the inventory statuses of the receiving company and the ordering company that are the subject of the order transaction that may be affected by the delivery date, and based on the extracted inventory statuses of the receiving company and the ordering company, refers to the adjustment proposal library information 134 and extracts measures that correspond to the inventory statuses of the receiving company and the ordering company from among multiple measures, and generates a second adjustment proposal containing the adjustment content of the extracted measure as adjustment proposal number 2 and adjustment proposal number 2.

In addition, the adjustment proposal generation unit 120 refers to the order information 132, and when there are two or more specific order transactions in the order information 132 that may be affected by the delivery date depending on the status of the order transaction in which a delivery delay may occur (records #2, #4, and #6 of the order information 132), extracts from the inventory information 133 the inventory statuses of the receiving company and the ordering company that are the subject of the specific order transaction, and based on the extracted inventory statuses of the receiving company and the ordering company, refers to the adjustment proposal library information 134 to extract two or more measures that correspond to the inventory statuses of the receiving company and the ordering company from among the multiple measures, and generates a second adjustment proposal including the adjustment contents of the two or more extracted measures as the first round second adjustment proposal (adjustment proposal number 2 and adjustment proposal number 2), and then generates the first round On the condition that an adjustment is made using one of the two or more measures belonging to the second adjustment plan, the supply chain information 130 and BOM information (parts configuration information) 131 are referenced to determine whether or not it is possible to change the inventory of at least one of the receiving company and ordering company that are the subject of a specific order-receiving transaction, and if a positive result is obtained in this determination, the post-change inventory status of at least one company is calculated, and based on the calculated post-change inventory status of at least one company, the adjustment plan library information 134 is referenced to extract two or more measures that correspond to the post-change inventory status of at least one company from among the multiple measures, and a second adjustment plan including the adjustment contents of the extracted two or more measures is generated as a second round second adjustment plan (adjustment plan number 2 and adjustment plan number 3).

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which inventory information from each base (each company) was used, but it would also be acceptable to have each base disclose operating information for resources such as equipment and personnel, and generate an adjustment plan based on the availability of resources. In that case, in the process of step S3 in FIG. 14, the resource status of the trading company is compared with the adjustment plan library to create an adjustment plan.

After repeating steps S2 to S4, the adjustment cost calculation unit 121 calculates an adjustment cost indicating the cost of adjustment (cost required for adjustment) for each adjustment plan stored in the adjustment plan information 135, and adds information on the calculated adjustment cost to the adjustment plan information 135. The adjustment cost quantifies the money, effort, or time incurred by an adjustment, and the lower the adjustment cost, the more likely the adjustment is to be accepted. The adjustment cost calculation unit 121 also calculates the adjustment cost for each adjustment plan, generates the calculated information as adjustment plan summary information 136, and stores the generated adjustment plan summary information 136 in the memory unit 13 (step S5).

Specifically, in the case of an adjustment proposal generated for record #1 of the order receiving and placing information 132 and corresponding to adjustment proposal 1-measure 1 of the adjustment proposal information 135, since the adjustment content 1354 is "addition of operating hours", the adjustment cost calculation unit 121 calculates the adjustment cost of "addition of operating hours" as "100". Furthermore, since the number of companies (stakeholders) implementing the measure is one company (supplier 1), the adjustment cost calculation unit 121 calculates this adjustment cost as "1". The sum of the calculated adjustment costs, "101", becomes the adjustment cost of adjustment proposal 1-measure 1, and the information of the sum "101" is stored in the adjustment cost 1358 of the adjustment proposal information 135. Since there is no other measure for measure 1 in the adjustment proposal 1 of the adjustment proposal information 135, this sum "101" becomes the adjustment cost of adjustment proposal 1, and the information of the sum "101" is stored in the adjustment cost 1362 of the adjustment proposal summary information 136.

Here, the adjustment cost for "adding operating hours" is set to "100", but this can be done by having each company prepare the basic unit of adjustment cost 1358 for the adjustment content in advance, or it can be calculated each time from inventory information 133, etc. Also, in the above example, the adjustment cost was calculated from the adjustment content and the number of stakeholders, but it can also be calculated from the acceptance rate when similar measures were proposed in the past.

Next, when referring to the adjustment plan information 135 and the adjustment plan summary information 136, the adjustment order generation unit 122 rearranges each adjustment plan based on a first adjustment order generation rule that, if the adjustment cost is low and there are multiple measures in one adjustment plan, proposes an adjustment plan by prioritizing the prerequisite measure (the measure with the lower adjustment cost), and based on a second adjustment order generation rule that, if multiple companies are involved in the measure, proposes an adjustment plan by prioritizing the ordering party (To company) over the receiving party (From company), and generates adjustment order information 137, and stores the generated adjustment order information 137 in the memory unit 13 (S6).

Specifically, when the adjustment plan summary information 136 is referred to, if the adjustment cost of "Adjustment Plan 1" is "101" and the adjustment cost of "Adjustment Plan 2" is "4", the adjustment order generation unit 122 sets the order of proposing "Adjustment Plan 2" before "Adjustment Plan 1" because the lower adjustment cost indicates that the adjustment is easier. Also, "Adjustment Plan 2" in the adjustment plan information 135 includes "Measure 2" and "Measure 3", but as considered in step S3 in which the adjustment plan was generated, "Measure 3" can be implemented only after "Measure 2" is accepted by each company. For this reason, the adjustment order generation unit 122 sets the order of proposing "Adjustment Plan 2" including "Measure 2" before "Adjustment Plan 2" including "Measure 3". Also, since multiple companies are involved in "Measure 2" and "Measure 3", it is necessary to decide which one to propose first, but if the ordering side accepts an adjustment plan such as a delivery date extension in the supply chain, the receiving side is more likely to accept it as well. Therefore, the adjustment order generation unit 122 sets the order of proposal for "Measure 2" to be made to "Sales Company 2" (ordering company) before "Factory 2" (receiving order company). Adjustment order information 137 is generated based on the above adjustment order generation rules, and the generated adjustment order information 137 is stored in the storage unit 13.

Next, the adjustment proposal inquiry unit 123 repeatedly executes the processes from step S7 to step S15 (loop L2 process) for the number of adjustment proposals stored in the adjustment order information 137. Furthermore, the adjustment proposal inquiry unit 123 repeatedly executes the processes from step S8 to step S12 (loop L3 process) for the number of measures and companies related to the adjustment proposal.

First, the adjustment proposal inquiry unit 123 reads the order information 132, adjustment proposal information 135, and adjustment order information 137 from the memory unit 13, and generates adjustment proposal response screen information (image information of the adjustment proposal response screen 142) including the order data to be adjusted (From company name, To company name, item, quantity, requested delivery date, and answered delivery date), adjustment content, and an answer field (answer field for whether the adjustment proposal can be accepted) as transmission information for the adjustment proposal, and transfers the generated adjustment proposal response screen information to the adjustment proposal notification unit 140 in accordance with the adjustment order. The adjustment proposal notification unit 140 transmits the adjustment proposal response screen information received from the adjustment proposal inquiry unit 123 via the communication unit 15 to the user terminal 21 of the company to which the proposal is made (step 9).

Next, when the user terminal 21 of the proposed company receives the adjustment proposal response screen information from the inter-company adjustment device 10, the adjustment proposal receiving unit 250 of the user terminal 21 receives the received adjustment proposal response screen information and transfers the received adjustment proposal response screen information to the adjustment proposal review unit 260. At this time, the screen of the display device belonging to the user terminal 21 of the proposed company displays a screen based on the adjustment proposal response screen information, that is, image information of the adjustment proposal response screen 142. The adjustment proposal review unit 260 takes in operation information of the user (user) on the adjustment proposal response screen 142, generates company response information as information on the response result (review result) indicating whether or not to accept the proposed adjustment proposal, and returns the generated company response information to the inter-company adjustment device 10 via the response result notification unit 270.

When the communication unit 15 of the inter-company adjustment device 10 receives company response information from the company's user terminal 21, it transfers the received company response information to the adjustment proposal update unit 124 via the response result reception unit 111. The adjustment proposal update unit 124 checks the acceptance result of the proposed adjustment proposal based on the received company response information, and if the proposed adjustment proposal is not accepted (if "NO" in step S10), the proposed adjustment proposal is discarded, no unproposed measures related to this adjustment proposal are proposed, and response result information 138 is generated from the company response information for the proposed adjustment proposal and the generated response result information 138 is stored in the memory unit 13 (step S13).

On the other hand, the adjustment proposal update unit 124 checks the acceptance result of the proposed adjustment proposal based on the received company response information, and if the proposed adjustment proposal has been accepted (YES in step S10), it checks whether all improvements have been proposed to the company, and if there are improvements that have not yet been proposed (NO in step S11), it proceeds to step S12 and repeats the processing from step 8 to step S12.

In addition, if all improvements have been proposed to the company (YES in step S11), the adjustment proposal update unit 124 generates response result information 138 from the company response information to the proposed adjustment proposals, and stores the generated response result information 138 in the memory unit 13 (step S13).

If all adjustment proposals stored in the adjustment order information 137 have not been proposed (if "NO" in step S14), the process proceeds to step 15, and the processes from step 7 to step 15 are repeated. On the other hand, if all adjustment proposals stored in the adjustment order information 137 have been proposed (if "YES" in step S14), the process proceeds to step 16.

Finally, on condition that there is a response result (acceptance) in the response result information 138 indicating that the adjustment proposal has been accepted, the adjustment result generating unit 125 calculates from the response result information 138 the number of order transactions in which the risk of delivery delays will be eliminated by adjustment based on the accepted adjustment proposal, and calculates the delivery date compliance rate after adjustment based on the accepted adjustment proposal based on the calculated number of order transactions. At this time, the adjustment result generating unit 125 can also calculate from the response result information 138 the number of order transactions before adjustment based on the accepted adjustment proposal, and calculate the delivery date compliance rate before adjustment based on the accepted adjustment proposal based on the calculated number of order transactions. Thereafter, the adjustment result generating unit 125 generates adjustment result confirmation screen information (image information of the adjustment result confirmation screen 143) including the delivery date compliance rate before and after the adjustment, each item of the order information 132, and the adjustment content belonging to the accepted adjustment proposal for each company as information on the accepted adjustment proposal, and transmits the generated adjustment result confirmation screen information to the user terminal 21 of each company via the adjustment result notifying unit 141 and the communication unit 15. In other words, the inter-company adjustment device 10 outputs the accepted adjustment proposal to each company and requests each company to carry out adjustment according to the accepted adjustment proposal.

When each company's user terminal 21 receives adjustment result confirmation screen information from the inter-company adjustment device 10, the adjustment result reception unit 251 of the user terminal 21 accepts the received adjustment result confirmation screen information and transfers the received adjustment result confirmation screen information to the operation implementation unit 261. At this time, the screen based on the adjustment result confirmation screen information, i.e., the image information of the adjustment result confirmation screen 143, is displayed on the display screen of the user terminal 21. The operation implementation unit 261 checks the adjustment results belonging to the adjustment result confirmation screen information and implements the adjustment contents that it has accepted (step S16). Thereafter, the calculation unit 12 ends the processing of this flowchart.

If none of the adjustment proposals are accepted, a message to that effect is sent to each company's user terminal 21, and the calculation unit 12 ends the processing of this flowchart.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to obtain an overview of the distribution situation throughout the entire supply chain, and to present each company with an adjustment proposal for adjusting delivery delays, which are inconsistencies in the agreements between companies belonging to the supply chain. As a result, it is possible to present each company with an adjustment proposal for improving the overall evaluation index for evaluating the entire supply chain. Furthermore, this embodiment can contribute to improving the stability of distribution throughout the supply chain. Furthermore, this embodiment makes it possible to quickly generate an adjustment proposal for adjusting inconsistencies that arise when each company makes decisions with limited information, and to reach an agreement on the adjustment content with each company at an early stage.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modified examples and equivalent configurations within the spirit of the appended claims. For example, the input unit 11 and the communication unit 15 can be integrated, or the output unit 14 and the communication unit 15 can be integrated. The above-described embodiments have been described in detail to explain the present invention in an easily understandable manner, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described.

Furthermore, each of the configurations, functions, etc. described above may be realized in part or in whole in hardware, for example by designing them as integrated circuits, or in software, by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function.

Information such as programs, tables, and files that realize each function can be stored in a storage device such as a memory, a hard disk, or an SSD (Solid State Drive), or in a recording medium such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) card, an SD (Secure Digital) card, or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc).

1 Inter-company coordination system, 2-1 to 2-N Individual systems, 10 Inter-company coordination device, 11 Input unit, 12 Calculation unit, 13 Storage unit, 14 Output unit, 15 Communication unit, 21 User terminal, 22 Database, 23 Individual coordination device, 24 Communication unit, 25 Input unit, 26 Calculation unit, 27 Output unit, 30 Network

Claims (15)

an input unit that inputs information generated by each individual information processing system from each individual information processing system belonging to each of a plurality of companies constituting a supply chain as input information;
a storage unit having adjustment plan library information that stores a plurality of measures including adjustment contents for the order receiving company and the order placing company, which are adjustment contents for an order receiving company and an order placing company among the plurality of companies that may cause an inconsistency in the agreement between the order receiving company and the order placing company, in association with the inventory status of the order receiving company and the order placing company;
an adjustment plan generating unit that generates an adjustment plan including at least one measure among the plurality of measures based on each of the input information input by the input unit and the adjustment plan library information;
an output unit that transmits information including the adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit to each of the individual information processing systems. The inter-company coordination device according to claim 1,
The input unit is
inputting, as the input information, order information that records item, quantity, requested delivery date, and reply delivery date as multiple items of order transactions between companies including the order receiving company and the order placing company, and inventory information that records the inventory status of the items at each company in association with a date;
The adjustment proposal generation unit,
an inter-company adjustment device which, when referring to the order/receive information input by the input unit and when an order/receive transaction in which the inconsistency may occur is present in the order/receive information, extracts from the inventory information the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company which are the subject of the order/receive transaction in which the inconsistency may occur, refers to the adjustment plan library information based on the extracted inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company, extracts from the multiple measures a measure that corresponds to the inventory status of the receiving-order company and the ordering company, and generates as the adjustment plan a first adjustment plan including adjustment contents of the extracted measure. The inter-company adjustment device according to claim 2,
The adjustment proposal generation unit,
an inter-company adjustment device which, when referring to the order/receive information input by the input unit and when there is an order/receive transaction in the order/receive information that may be affected by the delivery date depending on the status of the order/receive transaction in which the inconsistency may occur, extracts from the inventory information the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company which are the subject of the order/receive transaction that may be affected by the delivery date, refers to the adjustment plan library information based on the extracted inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company, extracts from the multiple measures measures that correspond to the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company, and generates as the adjustment plan a second adjustment plan including adjustment contents of the extracted measure. The inter-company adjustment device according to claim 2,
The input unit is
inputting, as the input information, supply chain information recording a transportation lead time required to transport the item from the receiving company to the ordering company, and parts configuration information recording a manufacturing lead time required for a manufacturing company among the plurality of companies to manufacture the item;
The adjustment proposal generation unit,
With reference to the order information input by the input unit, when there are two or more specific order transactions in the order information that may be affected by the delivery date depending on the status of the order transaction in which the inconsistency may occur, the inventory status of each of the order receiving company and the ordering company that are the subject of the specific order transaction is extracted from the inventory information, and based on the extracted inventory statuses of each of the order receiving company and the ordering company, two or more measures corresponding to the inventory statuses of each of the order receiving company and the ordering company are extracted from the multiple measures by referring to the adjustment plan library information, and a second adjustment plan including adjustment contents of the two or more extracted measures is generated as a first round second adjustment plan, and then, an inter-company adjustment device which, on the condition that adjustment using any of the measures is carried out, refers to the supply chain information and the parts configuration information input by the input unit to determine whether or not it is possible to change the inventory of at least one of the order-receiving company and the order-placing company which are the subject of the specific order-receiving/selling transaction, and if a positive result is obtained in this determination, calculates the inventory status after the change of the at least one company, refers to the adjustment plan library information based on the calculated inventory status after the change of the at least one company, extracts two or more measures from the multiple measures that correspond to the inventory status after the change of the at least one company, and generates a second adjustment plan for a second round that includes adjustment contents of the two or more extracted measures. The inter-company adjustment device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The adjustment proposal library information is
An inter-company coordination device characterized in that each of the plurality of measures is associated with each combination of the presence or absence of inventory of an order-receiving-side managed item under the control of the order-receiving company and the presence or absence of inventory of an order-receiving-side managed item under the control of the order-receiving company, and a first coordination content for the order-receiving company and a second coordination content for the order-receiving company are defined for each of the measures. The inter-company adjustment device according to claim 2,
an adjustment cost calculation unit that calculates an adjustment cost required for adjustment based on the adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit;
an adjustment order generation unit that generates first adjustment order information indicating a first adjustment order for the adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit, based on the adjustment cost calculated by the adjustment cost calculation unit and an adjustment content of the adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit;
an adjustment plan inquiry unit that generates adjustment plan response screen information including each item of the order information, adjustment contents belonging to the adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit, and a response field for whether or not the adjustment plan generated by the adjustment plan generation unit can be accepted based on the order information,
The output unit is
An inter-company adjustment device characterized by importing the first adjustment order information and the adjustment proposal response screen information, and transmitting the adjustment proposal response screen information to each of the individual information processing systems in accordance with the first adjustment order as information including the adjustment proposal. The inter-company coordination device according to claim 6,
an adjustment proposal update unit that generates response result information including a response result of each of the companies based on the company response information input by the input unit when the input unit inputs company response information indicating the response of each of the companies from each of the individual information processing systems;
an adjustment result generating unit that, on condition that the response result information generated by the adjustment proposal updating unit contains a response result indicating that the adjustment proposal has been accepted, calculates, from the response result information, a number of order placement and receipt transactions in which the risk of a delivery date delay will be eliminated by the adjustment based on the accepted adjustment proposal, and calculates a delivery date compliance rate after the adjustment based on the accepted adjustment proposal based on the calculated number of order placement and receipt transactions;
The adjustment result generation unit is
generating, for each of the companies, adjustment result confirmation screen information including at least the delivery deadline compliance rate after the adjustment, each item of the order information, and the adjustment content belonging to the adjustment plan, and transferring the generated adjustment result confirmation screen information to the output unit;
The output unit is
The inter-company adjustment device is characterized in that the adjustment result confirmation screen information is transmitted to each of the individual information processing systems as information including the adjustment proposal. The inter-company coordination device according to claim 1,
The adjustment proposal generation unit,
An inter-company reconciliation device characterized in that it generates as the reconciliation proposals: a first reconciliation proposal for a transaction in which the inconsistency may occur, the first reconciliation proposal including a measure requiring reconciliation between the parties; and a second reconciliation proposal for a transaction related to the transaction in which the inconsistency may occur, the second reconciliation proposal including a measure requiring reconciliation utilizing a third party's slack. The inter-company coordination device according to claim 1,
The adjustment proposal generation unit,
When two or more measures are extracted from the plurality of measures as measures to resolve the occurrence of the inconsistency, an inter-company adjustment device generates an adjustment plan that combines two or more adjustment plans, each of which includes adjustment contents for the two or more extracted measures, into one as the adjustment plan. The inter-company coordination device according to claim 6,
The adjustment cost calculation unit
An inter-company adjustment device characterized by calculating the adjustment cost from the cost of the measures belonging to the adjustment plan, the number of companies involved in the measures belonging to the adjustment plan, or the proportion of similar measures among the measures belonging to the adjustment plan that have been accepted by the companies in the past. The inter-company coordination device according to claim 6,
The adjustment sequence generation unit
When the adjustment plan includes two or more measures, a second adjustment order is set for the two or more measures for adjusting the two or more measures in order starting from the measure that is a prerequisite, and second adjustment order information indicating the set second adjustment order is generated and transferred to the output unit;
The output unit is
an inter-company adjustment device for transmitting the adjustment plan including the two or more measures to each of the individual information processing systems in accordance with the two adjustment orders; The inter-company coordination device according to claim 6,
The adjustment sequence generation unit
When the measures belonging to the adjustment plan include measures related to two or more of the multiple companies, a third adjustment order is set for adjusting the measures in order starting from the ordering company, and third adjustment order information indicating the set third adjustment order is transferred to the output unit;
The output unit is
an inter-company adjustment device configured to transmit the adjustment plan including measures involving the two or more companies to each of the individual information processing systems in accordance with the third adjustment order; A method for an inter-company coordination device that transmits and receives information to and from each individual information processing system belonging to each of a plurality of companies constituting a supply chain, comprising:
an input step in which the inter-company adjustment device inputs information generated by each of the individual information processing systems as input information from each of the individual information processing systems;
a storage step in which the inter-company adjustment device stores, as adjustment plan library information, a plurality of measures including adjustment contents for the order receiving company and the order placing company, which are adjustment contents for an order receiving company and an order placing company among the plurality of companies that may cause an inconsistency in the agreement between the order receiving company and the order placing company, in association with the inventory status of the order receiving company and the order placing company;
an adjustment plan generating step in which the inter-company adjustment device generates an adjustment plan including at least one measure among the plurality of measures based on each of the input information input in the input step and the adjustment plan library information;
an output step in which the inter-company adjustment device transmits information including the adjustment proposal generated in the adjustment proposal generating step to each of the individual information processing systems. The inter-company coordination method according to claim 13,
The inter-company adjustment device includes:
In the input step, order information that records item, quantity, requested delivery date, and reply delivery date as multiple items of order transactions between companies including the order receiving company and the order placing company, and inventory information that records the inventory status of the items at each company in association with a date are input as the input information,
In the adjustment proposal generation step, by referring to the order/receive information input in the input step, if an order/receive transaction in which the inconsistency may occur exists in the order/receive information, the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company which are the subject of the order/receive transaction in which the inconsistency may occur are extracted from the inventory information, and based on the extracted inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company, measures corresponding to the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company are extracted from the multiple measures by referring to the adjustment proposal library information, and a first adjustment proposal including adjustment contents of the extracted measure is generated as the adjustment proposal. The inter-company coordination method according to claim 14,
The inter-company adjustment device includes:
In the adjustment proposal generation step, by referring to the order/receive information input in the input step, if there is an order/receive transaction in the order/receive information that may be affected by the delivery date depending on the status of the order/receive transaction in which the inconsistency may occur, the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company that are the subject of the order/receive transaction that may be affected by the delivery date are extracted from the inventory information, and based on the extracted inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company, the adjustment proposal library information is referred to, and measures corresponding to the inventory statuses of the receiving-order company and the ordering company are extracted from the multiple measures, and a second adjustment proposal including adjustment contents of the extracted measures is generated as the adjustment proposal.

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