System and method for performing capacity checks and resource scheduling within a supply chain management system

1 . A method comprising:

subdividing a supply chain scheduling timeline for a particular resource into a plurality of time-buckets, each of the time buckets having a specified time period and a specified total capacity supply, the total capacity supply comprising utilized capacity supply which has been consumed by previously-scheduled activities and unutilized capacity supply which is available for processing new activities;

in response to receiving a customer request for a specified activity to be completed by a desired date, determining if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets or within a combination of adjacent time buckets prior to the desired date;

scheduling the specified activity on the resource within the time period defined by a particular time-bucket or combination of time buckets if sufficient unutilized capacity exists within the time-bucket or combination of time buckets; and

reducing the unutilized capacity within the time buckets or combination of time buckets by an amount of capacity supply consumed by the specified activity.

2 . The method as in claim 1 wherein the time bucket or series of time buckets are selected based on which time bucket or combination of adjacent time buckets will allow the activity to be completed closest to the desired date.

3 . The method as in claim 2 further comprising:

scheduling the specified activity after the desired date if no single time-bucket or no two adjacent time-buckets includes sufficient unutilized capacity to process the specified activity.

4 . The method as in claim 2 wherein scheduling the specified activity on the resources within a time period spread across adjacent time-buckets comprises:

consuming substantially all of the unutilized capacity from the one of the adjacent time-buckets which is relatively closer to the desired date; and

scheduling the remainder of the activity within the one or more of the adjacent time-buckets which is relatively further from the desired date.

5 . The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

prior to determining if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets or combination of time buckets prior to the desired date, initially checking to determine if a product resulting from the specified activity is already in stock and deliverable to the customer by the desired date; and

promising a product resulting from the specified activity to the customer by the desired date.

6 . The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets is combination of adjacent time buckets prior to the desired date then promising a product resulting from the specified activity to the customer by the desired date.

7 . The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

in response to the customer request, initially determining whether the particular resource is to be processed is a primary resource within the supply chain; and

if the resource is not considered a primary resource, then utilizing infinite scheduling techniques to schedule the activity on the resource.

8 . A system comprising:

a bucket-based scheduling module to subdivide a supply chain scheduling timeline for a particular resource into a plurality of time-buckets, each of the time buckets having a specified time period and a specified total capacity supply, the total capacity supply comprising utilized capacity supply which has been consumed by previously-scheduled activities and unutilized capacity supply which is available for processing new activities;

wherein, in response to receiving a customer request for a specified activity to be completed by a desired date, the bucket-based scheduling module determines if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets or combination of adjacent time-buckets prior to the desired date and schedules the specified activity on the resource within the time period defined by a particular time-bucket or adjacent time-buckets; and further reduces the unutilized capacity in the time-bucket or combination of adjacent time-buckets by an amount of capacity supply consumed by the specified activity.

9 . The system as in claim 8 wherein the time bucket or series of time buckets are selected based on which time bucket or combination of adjacent time buckets will allow the activity to be completed closest to the desired date.

10 . The system as in claim 9 wherein the bucket-oriented scheduling module schedules the specified activity after the desired date if no single time-bucket or combination of adjacent time-buckets includes sufficient unutilized capacity to process the specified activity.

11 . The system as in claim 9 wherein scheduling the specified activity on the resources within a time period spread across the combination of adjacent time-buckets by the bucket-oriented scheduling module further comprises:

consuming substantially all of the unutilized capacity from the one of the adjacent time-buckets which is relatively closer to the desired date; and

scheduling the remainder of the activity within the one or more of the adjacent time-buckets which is relatively further from the desired date.

12 . The system as in claim 8 further comprising:

an available to promise module which, prior to the determination by the bucket-based scheduling module determining if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets or combination of adjacent time buckets prior to the desired date, initially checks to determine if a product resulting from the specified activity is already in stock and deliverable to the customer by the desired date; and promises a product resulting from the specified activity to the customer by the desired date.

13 . The system as in claim 8 wherein, if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets or combination of adjacent time-buckets prior to the desired date then the bucket-oriented scheduling module promises a product resulting from the specified activity to the customer by the desired date.

14 . The system as in claim 8 further comprising:

production planning and detailed scheduling module (PP/DS) which, in response to the customer request, initially determines whether the particular resource is to be processed is a primary resource within the supply chain; and if the resource is not considered a primary resource, then utilizes infinite scheduling techniques to schedule the activity on the resource.

15 . A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, cases the machine to perform the operations of:

subdividing a supply chain scheduling timeline for a particular resource into a plurality of time-buckets, each of the time buckets having a specified time period and a specified total capacity supply, the total capacity supply comprising utilized capacity supply which has been consumed by previously-scheduled activities and unutilized capacity supply which is available for processing new activities;

in response to receiving a customer request for a specified activity to be completed by a desired date, determining if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets or within a combination of adjacent time buckets prior to the desired date;

scheduling the specified activity on the resource within the time period defined by a particular time-bucket or combination of time buckets if sufficient unutilized capacity exists within the time-bucket or combination of time buckets; and

reducing the unutilized capacity within the time buckets or combination of time buckets by an amount of capacity supply consumed by the specified activity.

16 . The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 wherein the time bucket or series of time buckets are selected based on which time bucket or combination of adjacent time buckets will allow the activity to be completed closest to the desired date.

17 . The machine-readable medium as in claim 16 further comprising:

scheduling the specified activity after the desired date if no single time-bucket or no two adjacent time-buckets includes sufficient unutilized capacity to process the specified activity.

18 . The machine-readable medium as in claim 16 wherein scheduling the specified activity on the resources within a time period spread across adjacent time-buckets comprises:

consuming substantially all of the unutilized capacity from the one of the adjacent time-buckets which is relatively closer to the desired date; and

scheduling the remainder of the activity within the one or more of the adjacent time-buckets which is relatively further from the desired date.

19 . The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 comprising additional program code to cause said machine to perform the operations of:

prior to determining if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets or combination of time buckets prior to the desired date, initially checking to determine if a product resulting from the specified activity is already in stock and deliverable to the customer by the desired date; and

promising a product resulting from the specified activity to the customer by the desired date.

20 . The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 comprising additional program code to cause said machine to perform the operations of:

if sufficient unutilized capacity supply exists within one of the time-buckets is combination of adjacent time buckets prior to the desired date then promising a product resulting from the specified activity to the customer by the desired date.

21 . The machine-readable medium as in claim 15 comprising additional program code to cause said machine to perform the operations of:

in response to the customer request, initially determining whether the particular resource is to be processed is a primary resource within the supply chain; and

if the resource is not considered a primary resource, then utilizing infinite scheduling techniques to schedule the activity on the resource.