Hub-and-spoke inventory management system

1. A hub-and-spoke inventory management system, comprising:

one or more hub systems, each hub system installed at a respective hub facility, comprising a plurality of radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tags attached to tracked items present at the respective hub facility readable by a plurality of RFID readers;

one or more point-of-use (“POU”) systems, each POU system installed at a respective POU facility, comprising a plurality of RFID tags attached to tracked items present at the respective POU facility readable by a plurality of RFID readers;

a cloud services platform providing cloud services including maintaining a MIN value, a MAX value, and an item current count value for each item in inventory at each hub and POU facility;

an inter-facility communication networks interconnecting the hub systems, the POU systems, and the cloud services platform;

a plurality of user interfaces that provide access, visibility, analysis, and on-demand reporting of RFID data along with inventory management services on individual tracked item, individual hub facility, individual POU facility, and consolidated bases.

2. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more supplier systems, each supplier system installed at a respective supplier facility and comprising a plurality of RFID tags attached to tracked items present at the respective supplier facility readable by a plurality of RFID readers;

wherein the inter-facility communication network interconnects the supplier systems and the hub POU systems; and

wherein the user interfaces further provide access, visibility, analysis, and on-demand reporting of RFID data on a supplier basis;

wherein the user interfaces further include supplier RFID data in the RFID data provided on a consolidated basis.

3. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 1 , wherein each POU facility comprises a manufacturing plant assembling the tracked items present at the respective POU facility into finished products or assemblies.

4. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 1 , wherein the cloud services include on-demand reporting of the MIN values, the MAX values, and the item current count values for tracked items on individual tracked item, individual hub facility, individual POU facility, and other consolidated bases.

5. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 1 , wherein the cloud services include a system of inventory management dashboards customizable to provide the specific inventory management information pertinent for each user, hub facility, and POU facility.

6. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID readers comprise loading dock RFID readers and storage crib RFID readers.

7. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID readers are selected from the group consisting of:

ingress-egress RFID readers;

pole-mounted RFID readers;

ceiling-mounted RFID readers;

wall-mounted RFID readers.

8. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID comprise mobile readers selected from the group consisting of vehicle-mounted RFID readers and handheld RFID readers.

9. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID tags are selected from the group consisting of:

fly tags;

housing tags;

component tags located inside a housings carrying an RFID housing tag;

insert tag;

adhesive tags.

10. A hub-and-spoke inventory management system, comprising:

one or more hub systems, each hub system installed at a respective hub facility, comprising a plurality of radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tags attached to tracked items present at the respective hub facility readable by a plurality of RFID readers;

one or more point-of-use (“POU”) systems, each POU system installed at a respective POU facility, comprising a plurality of RFID tags attached to tracked items present at the respective POU facility readable by a plurality of RFID readers;

a cloud services platform providing cloud services including maintaining a MIN value, a MAX value, and an item current count value for each item in inventory at each hub and POU facility;

an inter-facility communication network interconnecting the hub systems, the POU systems, and the cloud services platform;

a plurality of user interfaces that provide access, visibility, analysis, and on-demand reporting of RFID data along with inventory management services on individual tracked item, individual hub facility, individual POU facility, and other consolidated bases;

wherein the cloud services platform comprises a processor and a computer readable storage medium storing non-transitory computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the cloud services platform to perform operations, comprising:

storing MIN and MAX values for each tracked item on-hand at a selected POU facility;

receiving RFID tag information read from the RFID tags attached to products staged for shipping out of the selected POU facility;

determining that the products staged for shipping will cause the item current count for a particular tracked item to fall below the MIN value for the particular tracked item on hand at the selected POU facility;

issuing a purchase order for a quantity of the particular tracked item to bring an on-hand quantity of the particular tracked item up to the MAX value for the particular tracked item.

11. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the selected POU controller to perform operations further comprising:

issuing an advance shipping notice (“ASN”) for the quantity of the particular tracked item ordered;

transmitting a push notification of the ASN to an interested party outside the hub-and-spoke inventory management system.

12. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the selected POU controller to perform operations further comprising:

providing visibility of the ASN through cloud services.

13. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the cloud services controller to perform operations further comprising:

generating an inventory management dashboard identifying the MIN value, the MAX value, and a current item count for each tracked item on-hand at the selected POU facility;

providing visibility of the MIN value, the MAX value, and the current item count for each tracked item on-hand the selected POU facility through the cloud services.

14. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the cloud services controller to perform operations further comprising:

generating an inventory floor map identifying locations of items within a selected POU facility;

providing visibility of the inventory floor map to a paired mobile app running on a mobile device in communication with the cloud services controller.

15. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the cloud services controller to perform operations further comprising:

generating an inventory floor map identifying locations of items within a selected POU facility;

providing visibility of the inventory floor map through the cloud services.

16. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the cloud services controller to perform operations further comprising:

receiving an advance shipping notification (ASN) for a shipment of items sent to the selected POU identifying an expected quantity of a selected item;

receiving RFID reader information obtained from the shipment of items once it is received at the selected POU;

analyzing the RFID reader information obtained from the shipment to determine a received quantity of the selected item;

determining that a discrepancy exists between the expected quantity the received quantity of the selected item;

providing visibility of the discrepancy through cloud services.

17. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the cloud services controller to perform operations further comprising:

transmitting an advance shipping notification (“ASN”) for a shipment of finished products or assemblies to be sent from the selected POU to a customer facility identifying an expected quantity of a selected item;

receiving RFID reader information obtained from staged finished products or assemblies corresponding to the ASN;

analyzing the RFID reader information obtained from the staged finished products or assemblies to determine a staged quantity of the selected item;

determining that a discrepancy exists between the expected quantity and the staged quantity of the selected item;

activating an alarm indicating the discrepancy;

providing visibility of the discrepancy through the cloud services.

18. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 17 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the cloud services controller to perform operations further comprising:

based on the discrepancy, identifying a specific item missing from the staged finished products or assemblies;

causing one or more RFID readers associated with the selected POU facility to search for a tag identification number received by one of the RFID readers associated with the missing item.

19. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the cloud services controller to perform operations further comprising:

storing information identifying RFID tags associated with recalled or expired items;

receiving RFID reader information corresponding to the RFID tags associated with recalled or expired items;

activating an alarm indicating the presence of the RFID tags associated with the recalled or expired items.

20. The hub-and-spoke inventory management system of claim 19 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the cloud services controller to perform operations further comprising:

receiving a user command selecting consumption of the RFID tags associated with recalled or expired items;

in response to the user command, consuming the RFID tags associated with the recalled or expired items to remove them from the current item counts at the selected POU facility.