Patent Application

App. No. 11/839,727

Abstract

Claims (66)

1 . A method for manufacturing portfolio flexibility planning comprising;

matching production needs to manufacture a plurality of products with manufacturing capabilities of plants in a manufacturing portfolio;

developing flexibility scenarios for a manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan, the flexibility scenarios including manufacturing related products at one or more identified plants in the manufacturing portfolio;

performing statistical analysis of the flexibility scenarios;

evaluating a result of the statistical analysis to determine whether the flexibility scenarios meet a success criterion;

updating the manufacturing portfolio per the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan when the flexibility scenarios meet the success criterion; and

outputting the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

allocating the plurality of products to the manufacturing portfolio; and

updating the allocation of the plurality of products to the manufacturing portfolio when the manufacturing portfolio is updated.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising;

accessing a product portfolio plan, the product portfolio plan including product manufacturing characteristics for the matching or the production needs to manufacture the plurality of products with the manufacturing capabilities of the plants in the manufacturing portfolio.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein developing flexibility scenarios further comprises, for each flexibility scenario:

identifying one or more of the plants with at least one common characteristic;

creating a flexibility connection between the related products at the one or more identified plants; and

storing the flexibility scenario.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein performing statistical analysis of the flexibility scenarios further comprises:

calculating statistical parameters of net present value (NPV) of the flexibility scenarios.

6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the flexibility scenarios for the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan when the flexibility scenarios fail to meet the success criterion.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein details of the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan are provided to one or more suppliers.

8 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

performing the method in response to one of: an elapsing of a planning period, a change in manufacturing capability, a change in manufacturing capacity, a change in a product portfolio, and a change in product demand.

9 . A computer program product for manufacturing portfolio flexibility planning, the computer program product comprising:

a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for implementing a method, the method comprising:

matching production needs to manufacture a plurality of products with manufacturing capabilities of plants in a manufacturing portfolio;

developing flexibility scenarios for a manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan, the flexibility scenarios including manufacturing related products at one or more identified plants in the manufacturing portfolio;

performing statistical analysis of the flexibility scenarios;

evaluating a result of the statistical analysis to determine whether the flexibility scenarios meet a success criterion;

updating the manufacturing portfolio per the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan when the flexibility scenarios meet the success criterion; and

outputting the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan.

10 . The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

allocating the plurality of products to the manufacturing portfolio; and

updating the allocation of the plurality of products to the manufacturing portfolio when the manufacturing portfolio is updated.

11 . The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising:

updating the flexibility scenarios for the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan when the flexibility scenarios fail to meet the success criterion.

12 . The computer program product of claim 9 wherein developing flexibility scenarios further comprises, for each flexibility scenario:

identifying one or more of the plants with at least one common characteristic;

creating a flexibility connection between the related products at the one or more identified plants;

storing the flexibility scenario; and

outputting the flexibility scenario with the flexibility connection to a graphical display.

13 . A system for manufacturing portfolio flexibility planning, comprising:

a host system;

a data storage device in communication with the host system, the data storage device holding a manufacturing portfolio; and

a manufacturing portfolio flexibility planning tool (MPFPT) executing on the host system, the MPFPT including computer instructions for performing:

matching production needs to manufacture a plurality of products with manufacturing capabilities of plants in the manufacturing portfolio;

developing flexibility scenarios for a manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan, the flexibility scenarios including manufacturing related products at one or more identified plants in the manufacturing portfolio;

performing statistical analysis of the flexibility scenarios;

evaluating a result of the statistical analysis to determine whether the flexibility scenarios meet a success criterion;

updating the manufacturing portfolio per the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan when the flexibility scenarios meet the success criterion; and

outputting the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan.

14 . The system of claim 13 wherein the MPFPT further performs:

allocating the plurality of products to the manufacturing portfolio; and

updating the allocation of the plurality of products to the manufacturing portfolio when the manufacturing portfolio is updated.

15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the data storage device further includes a product portfolio plan, the product portfolio plan including product manufacturing characteristics for the matching of the production needs to manufacture the plurality of products with the manufacturing capabilities of the plants in the manufacturing portfolio.

16 . The system of claim 13 wherein developing flexibility scenarios further comprises, for each flexibility scenario:

identifying one or more of the plants with at least one common characteristic;

creating a flexibility connection between the related products at the one or more identified plants;

storing the flexibility scenario; and

outputting the flexibility scenario with the flexibility connection to a graphical display.

17 . The system of claim 13 wherein the performing statistical analysis of the flexibility scenarios further comprises:

calculating statistical parameters of net present value (NPV) of the flexibility scenarios.

18 . The system of claim 13 wherein the MPFPT further performs:

updating the flexibility scenarios for the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan when the flexibility scenarios fail lo meet the success criterion.

19 . The system of claim 13 wherein details of the manufacturing portfolio flexibility plan are provided to one or more suppliers

20 . The system of claim 13 wherein the MPFPT performs in response to one of: an elapsing of a planning period, a change in manufacturing capability, a change in manufacturing capacity, a change in a product portfolio, and a change in product demand.

Assignments (11)