JP3239980B2 - Logistics management system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a distribution management system for smoothly transmitting product delivery information from a production factory to a customer via a distribution center and a store.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a production factory for producing various products and a distribution center are connected via a communication line. Then, the products produced in the production factory are once carried into a warehouse of a distribution center, for example, in lots. Each store receives an order for a product from a customer and transmits the order to the distribution center. Upon receiving the order from each dealer, the distribution center checks whether the products included in the order are stocked in the warehouse.

[0003] If there is stock, the distribution center allocates stock products to this order. Then, the order acceptance is returned to the store with the delivery date set to the date obtained by adding the number of days required for product delivery to the current date (the current day or the next day).

[0004] If there is no stock quantity corresponding to the number of ordered products, a currently available quantity is allocated. Then, a partial order acceptance including the orderable number of product orders and the delivery date is transmitted to the store. Further, if there is no stock of the corresponding product, an order unacceptable is transmitted.

[0005] The store informs the customer of the number of products available for sale and the delivery date based on the order acceptance, partial order acceptance or order unacceptable information received from the distribution center. Also,
In some cases, the distribution center allocates the unallocated product to the unallocated order when the relevant product is scheduled to be received from the factory in the near future. In this case, the delivery date for the corresponding product is a date obtained by adding the number of days required for the product delivery to the expected storage date of the product from the factory to the warehouse of the product distribution center.

[0006]

However, the following problems still need to be improved in the physical distribution management system for notifying the presence / absence and the delivery date of the sold product for the customer's order by the above-mentioned method. That is, the order acceptance or partial order acceptance consisting of the product and the delivery date that the distribution center sends to each dealer as available for sale, at least including products that are produced at the production factory and are waiting to be shipped, are all actually actual products. It is reserved for what exists. Accordingly, the delivery date is also the date obtained by adding the number of days in and out of the week required for the factory inventory days, the delivery from the factory to the distribution center, and the delivery from the distribution center to the dealer from the current date.

However, the customer may wish to obtain information on whether or not the product can be obtained, although the delivery date may be late. In addition, some customers want to be sure to get the product regardless of the delivery date.

[0008] In such a case, if the order cannot be accepted uniformly, the factory cannot introduce products manufactured one month ahead or two months ahead, and misses a sales opportunity. Will be. That is, there is a disadvantage in the sales strategy.

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by executing the allocation for orders not only for the warehousing plan from the factory but also for the production plan of the factory, the order for the customer can be fulfilled. Can provide a wider range of product delivery terms, even if the actual product does not exist
The purpose is to provide a logistics management system that can secure more sales opportunities.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a product is transported in advance from a production factory to a warehouse of a distribution center, and when each store receives an order for a product from a customer, the order is sent to the distribution center. Then, the distribution center is applied to a distribution management system that allocates inventory products to the order and transmits the allocation result and the delivery date for the order to the dealer.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an order management system for a distribution center, which stores products for which orders have been received from dealers and delivery dates of the products to the dealers. A file, a receiving plan file storing the receiving plan of each product received from the production factory, a production planning file storing the production plan of each product received from the manufacturing factory, and own warehouse for the order from the dealer. Inventory allocation processing means for allocating products to be stocked and writing the allocated products and delivery dates to the order management file, and the unallocated orders that could not be allocated by the inventory allocation processing means are stored in the receipt planning file. Incoming goods allocation processing means that allocates products to be received in the goods receipt plan and writes the allocated products and delivery dates to the order management file. Provision of the products that are produced in the production plan, which is stored in the production plan file for the provision order,
Addition of production allocation processing means for writing the allocation product and delivery date to the order management file, and order response transmission means for sending each allocation product and each delivery date for the order from the store written in the order management file to the store. are doing.

In the logistics management system thus configured, the storage plan of each product received from the production factory is stored in the storage plan file of the distribution center. Further, the production plan of each product received from the production factory is stored in the production plan file of the distribution center.

[0013] Then, in the distribution center, first of all, a product to be stocked in its own warehouse is allocated to an order received from a dealer, and if an unallocated order is generated, then a product of a storage plan is allocated to the unallocated order. Allocate. Further, at this point, if an unallocated order still occurs, finally, the product of the production plan is allocated to the unallocated order.

The number of allocated products and the delivery date at each allocation stage are written in the order management file. Then, the order response including the number of products and each delivery date at each allocation stage in the inventory allocation, the warehouse allocation, and the production allocation written in the order management file is transmitted to the store.

In general, production plans in factories are not significantly changed, and therefore, sales outlets are required to provide delivery conditions for products that may change slightly even if delivery dates and quantities are not completely determined. , The customer's selection range can be expanded and sales opportunities can be increased.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a physical distribution management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The distribution management system of this embodiment includes a store 1, a local distribution center 2, and a central distribution center 3. The central distribution center 3 is provided at one location with respect to the production factory 4, and the local distribution center 2 is disposed at a plurality of locations with respect to the central distribution center 3. Further, dealers 1 are provided at a plurality of locations relative to the local distribution center 2.

In addition, each store 1, a local distribution center 2,
Each of the central distribution centers 3 is composed of an information processing device such as a computer. Each store 1 and the local distribution center 2 are connected by, for example, a public network, and each local distribution center 2 and the central distribution center 3 are connected to a WAN (wide area communication network).
And so on. Further, the central distribution center 3 is connected to a computer in a production control room or a delivery control room of the production factory 4 via a LAN (local area network) or the like.

In the store 1, an order file 5 for temporarily storing orders received from each customer is formed. Further, the local distribution center 2 has a stock database 6 for storing stock information of each product stocked in its own warehouse, and a store 1
And an unallocated order file 8 for storing unallocated orders that could not be allocated only with stock products.

Further, the central distribution center 3 has an inventory database 9 for storing inventory information of each product in stock in its own warehouse, and an unallocated order file for storing unallocated orders that could not be allocated only with inventory products. 10. Receiving plan file 11, which stores the receiving plan received from the production plant,
And the production plan file 12 also received from the production plant
Are formed.

The store 1 transmits an order received from a customer to the local distribution center 2. The local distribution center 2 allocates the product in its own warehouse to the order from the store 1 and transmits the unallocated order that could not be allocated to the central distribution center 3. The central distribution center 3 inquires of the production factory 4 about a storage plan and a production plan in advance, obtains the information, and writes the information in the storage plan file 11 and the production plan file 12.

Then, the central distribution center 3 allocates the products in its own warehouse to the unallocated orders from the local distribution centers 2, and further allocates the unallocated orders, which could not be allocated, to the products to be received. Further, the unallocated orders that could not be allocated are allocated to the products of the production plan. Then, the inventory allocation result, the storage allocation result, and the production allocation result are transmitted to the local distribution center 2.

The local distribution center 2 transmits the inventory allocation result of its own warehouse, the inventory allocation result received from the central distribution center 3, the storage allocation result, and the production allocation result to the sales store 1 as an order response. The store 1 presents each received allocation result to the customer.

Next, detailed operations of the store 1, the local distribution center 2 and the central distribution center 3 will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 2, an order processing unit 13 is configured inside the store 1 including an information terminal device such as a computer. The order processing unit 13 temporarily stores the order 13a input from the keyboard or the like in the order file 5, and then transmits the order 13a to the local distribution center 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the input order 13a is composed of an order number, a store code designating itself, a product name (product code), a quantity, a desired delivery date, and a scheduled delivery date. At the time of receiving the order, the expected delivery date has not been written.

As shown in FIG. 3, a stock allocation processor 14 and a stock database (D / B) are provided in the local distribution center 2 which is also constituted by information terminals such as computers.
6, an order management file 7, an unallocated order file 8, and an unallocated order processing unit 15.

The stock database 6 stores a product name, a warehouse number, a quantity, an unallocated quantity, and the like for each product in the warehouse of the local distribution center 2. For example, FIG. 3 shows that although 200 products X are in stock, 150 have already been allocated, and only 50 can be allocated for a new order.

When receiving the order 13a shown in FIG. 2 from each store 1, the inventory allocation processing unit 14 searches the inventory database 6 and searches for the unallocated quantity of the product included in the order 13a. Assign the corresponding unallocated quantity to the order quantity.
In this embodiment, the order quantity of the product X is 40 and the unallocated quantity of the corresponding product X is 50, so that the entire quantity of the order can be allocated, and the unallocated quantity of the corresponding product X after the allocation is 10 Becomes

For orders that have been allocated, the delivery date (scheduled delivery date) is obtained by adding the number of days (the current day or the next day) for the delivery site from the own local center 2 to the store 1 to the date today.
Is calculated to create the inventory allocation result 7a shown in FIG.
Write to the order management file 7.

If the total quantity of the products included in the order cannot be allocated based on the unallocated quantity of the corresponding product stored in the inventory database 6, the inventory allocation processing unit 14 allocates the available quantity for the time being. Then, a stock allocation result is created and written to the order management file 7. For example, the order quantity of the product Y is 250 pieces, but the unallocated quantity is 20 pieces.
Therefore, 20 pieces are allocated, and the inventory allocation result 7b shown in FIG.
Is created and written in the order management file 7. The unallocated quantity of the corresponding product Y after the allocation is 0.

When an unallocated order is generated, the unallocated order management unit 15 starts up, writes an order that could not be allocated due to the inventory of its own warehouse as an unallocated order 8a in the unallocated order file 8, and writes the unallocated order 8a. The allocation order 8a is incorporated in the transmission format and transmitted to the central distribution center 3 via the LAN.

As shown in the figure, the unallocated order 8a includes an order number, a store code, a product name, a shipping destination, a shipping source designating its own warehouse, a quantity, an unshipped quantity, and a warehousing number. It is.

As shown in FIG. 5, a stock allocation processor 16 and a stock database (D / B) are provided in the central distribution center 3 which is also constituted by an information terminal device such as a computer.
9, unallocated order management unit 17, unallocated order file 10,
It comprises a storage plan file 11, a storage allocation processing unit 18, a production plan file 12, and a production allocation processing unit 19.

The stock database 9 stores a product name, a warehouse number DC, a quantity, an unallocated quantity, and the like for each product in the warehouse of the central distribution center 3. For example, FIG. 5 shows that although 300 products Y are in stock, 230 have already been allocated, and only 70 can be allocated for a new order.

The storage file 11 stores a storage plan 11a indicating the number of products to be stored in the warehouse of the central distribution center 3 from the production factory 4 every week for each product. In this embodiment, for the product Y, the current (= N) week is 40 pieces. 40 next week, 3 next week
This indicates that there is no storage of 0 items.

The production plan file 12 stores a production plan 12a indicating each quantity in a monthly production plan in the production factory 4 for each product. In this embodiment, the current (N = 1) week of the current month for product Y is 4
0 pieces. 40 next week, 30 next week, 3 next week
It shows that 0 pieces are to be produced, the first week of next month is 40 pieces, the second week is 40 pieces, the third week is 30 pieces, and the fourth week is 30 pieces.

When receiving the unallocated order 8a shown in FIG. 3 from the local distribution center 2, the inventory allocation processing unit 16 searches the inventory database 9 and determines the unallocated quantity of the product included in the unallocated order 8a. Search and assign the corresponding unallocated quantity to the order quantity. In this embodiment, the order number of the product Y is 230, and the unallocated quantity of the product Y is 70, so that the entire 230 pieces cannot be allocated.

[0038] Therefore, a reservable quantity is allocated for the time being to create a stock allocation result. In the present embodiment, the inventory allocation result 7c shown in FIG. 4 in which 70 out of 230 order quantities of the product Y are allocated is created. In this case, the delivery date is from the warehouse of the central distribution center 3 to the local distribution center 2
The number of days for delivery to the local distribution center 2 and the number of days for delivery to the store 1 are added. The unallocated quantity of the corresponding product Y after the allocation is 0.

When an unallocated order is generated, the unallocated order management unit 17 is started, and an order that could not be allocated due to the inventory of its own warehouse is defined as an unallocated order 10a in the unallocated order file 1.
At the same time, the storage allocation processing unit 18 is started. Therefore, the order quantity of the product Y written in the unallocated order file 10 is 160.

The warehousing allocation processing section 18 processes this unallocated order 1
The 160 orders of 0a are assigned to the respective products to be stored in the storage plan 11a stored in the storage plan file 11.
The number of orders for the product Y is 160, and the total planned number of storages of the product Y in the storage plan 11a of the product Y is 110, so that the total quantity of 160 pieces cannot be allocated.

Therefore, a reserve allocation result is created by allocating a quantity that can be allocated for the time being. In this embodiment, an inventory allocation result 7d shown in FIG. 4 in which 110 out of 160 order quantities of the product Y are allocated is created. In this case, the delivery date is such that the product Y is stored in the warehouse of the central distribution center 3 every week from the production factory 4, so that the number of days until the required number of products Y are stored is determined by This is the date obtained by adding the number of days for delivery from the warehouse to the local distribution center 2 and the number of days for delivery from the local distribution center 2 to the store 1. More specifically, the number of delivery days (=
3) is added to the date (N + 2/4 + 3).

The storage plan 11 of the corresponding product Y after the allocation
The assigned status is added to “a” so that duplicate assignment is not performed. In the storage allocation processing unit 18,
When an unallocated order is generated, the unallocated order management unit 17 is started again, and the unallocated order is set as the unallocated order and the production allocation processing unit 19 is started. The unallocated order in this case includes 50 orders for product Y.

The production allocation processing section 19 allocates the 50 unallocated orders to each production product of the production plan 12a stored in the production plan file 12. The order quantity of the product Y is 50 pieces, and the total production quantity of the product Y in the production plan 12a of the product Y is 280 pieces. Of the 280 items, (N
+2) 110 products up to week are reserved. Therefore, 170 are unallocated. Therefore, it is possible to reserve all 50 unallocated orders.

In this case, (N +
3) Reserve 50 minutes for the quantity of each product in the production plan after the week. That is, 20 of the 30 in the (N + 3) week of this month and the 40 in the first week (N + 4) of the next month are allocated. Then, a production allocation result 7e shown in FIG. 4 is created for this allocation.

The delivery date in this case is the fourth day of the first (N + 4) week of the following month when all 50 pieces are produced at the production factory 4. Therefore, the delivery days described above on this date (= 3)
(N + 4/4 + 3).

The production plan 12 of the product Y after the allocation is performed.
The assigned status is added to “a” so that duplicate assignment is not performed. Then, the inventory allocation processing unit 16.
The stock allocation result 7c, the stock allocation result 7d, and the production allocation result 7e shown in FIG.

Unallocated order management section 1 of local distribution center 2
5 is a received inventory allocation result 7c, a storage allocation result 7d,
When the production allocation result 7e is written into the order management file 7 and it is confirmed that all the unallocated orders in the unallocated order file 8 have been resolved, the unallocated order 8a in the unallocated order file 8 is deleted.

The local distribution center 2 stores the inventory allocation results 7a, 7b,
7c. The storage allocation result 7d and the production allocation result 7e are transmitted to the store 1 as an order response to the order 13a from the store 1.

Upon receiving the allocation results 7a to 7e, the order input processing unit 13 of the store 1 presents the allocation results 7a to 7e to the customer. In the logistics management system configured as described above, if the product of the order 13a received from the customer at each store 1 is in stock in each warehouse of the local distribution center 2 or the central distribution center 3, the corresponding product is immediately allocated. In addition, if the inventory is insufficient,
Is assigned to the centralized distribution center 3 from the storage plan 11a. Furthermore, the stocking plan 11a
However, if there is a shortage, the corresponding product specified in the production plan 12a of the production factory is allocated. Then, the allocation quantity of each product and each delivery date at each allocation stage are input to each store 1 as an order response.

Therefore, the sales clerk at each store 1 does not need to prepare all the products ordered by the customer at one time.
Present the delivery time of the ordered product on a weekly or monthly basis and wait for the customer's selection. Even if the customer does not have the full quantity of the ordered product at the moment, the customer can confirm the approximate delivery date of the remaining product, so if it is not urgent, place an order and wait for the remaining product to be delivered It is also possible.

As described above, even if not all products are available at the present time, by notifying the approximate delivery date, the customer's selection range is widened, and it is possible to prevent the sales opportunity from being missed.

Incidentally, The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. In the embodiment, the distribution center is constituted by the two distribution centers of the local distribution center 2 and the central distribution center 3, but it is also possible that one distribution center has the functions of both the distribution centers 2 and 3.

[0053]

As described above, in the physical distribution management system according to the present invention, the allocation of the customer's order is performed not only for the inventory of the physical distribution center and the plan for receiving goods from the factory but also for the production plan of the factory. Therefore, at the store, it is possible to present a wider range of delivery conditions such as the delivery date of the product to the customer's order, and even if the product does not actually exist at the present time, more sales opportunities Can be secured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a physical distribution management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an operation of a store of the physical distribution management system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of a local distribution center of the physical distribution management system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing allocation results created at a local distribution center and a central distribution center of the physical distribution management system.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of a central distribution center of the distribution management system.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sales shop, 2 ... Regional distribution center, 3 ... Central distribution center, 4 ... Production factory, 5 ... Order file, 6,9 ... Stock database, 7 ... Order management file, 8,10 ... Unallocated order file, 11 ... Reception plan file, 12 ... Production plan file, 13 ... Order input processing unit, 14, 16 ... Stock allocation processing unit, 15, 17 ... Unallocated order management unit, 18 ...
Storage allocation processing part, 19 ... Production allocation processing part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 1/137 G06F 17/60 116

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] Claims: 1. A product is delivered in advance from a production factory to a warehouse of a distribution center, and each dealer receives an order for a product from a customer and transmits the order to the distribution center.
The distribution center reserves inventory for this order,
In the logistics management system for transmitting the allocation result and the delivery date for the order to the store, the distribution center stores a reserved product of the order received from the store and a delivery date of the product to the store. An order management file, a receiving plan file storing the receiving plan of each product received from the production factory, a production planning file storing the production plan of each product received from the manufacturing factory, and an order from the dealer. Inventory allocation processing means for allocating products to be stocked in its own warehouse and writing the allocated products and delivery dates to the order management file; and for the unallocated orders which could not be allocated by the inventory allocation processing means. Allocate products to be received according to the storage plan stored in the storage plan file, and write the allocated products and delivery dates to the order management file. Processing means, for allocating a product produced by the production plan stored in the production plan file to an unallocated order that could not be allocated to the storage by the storage allocation processing means, and allocates the allocated product and delivery date to the order management file. A logistics management system comprising: a production allocation processing unit that writes information to the order management file; and an order response transmission unit that sends each allocation product and each delivery date for the order from the store written in the order management file to the store.