Order allocation to select from inventory locations stocking few units of inventory

US6622127B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · US

Inventors

• Boris Klots · Belmont, US
• William Waddington · Foster City, US
• Patricia C. Grewell · San Mateo, US
• Peter Ham · Palo Alto, US
• Susan L. Griese · Menlo Park, US
• Gerry Perham · San Francisco, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 10, 2000
• Grant date: Sep 16, 2003
• Expiry date: May 10, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04L67/1097
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A warehouse management system that maximizes throughput and reduces carrying costs by reducing the number of stops that a container makes in the process of fulfilling a customer order. This is accomplished by allocating inventory to orders using the following series of considerations. First, the system selects a pod in order to maximize throughput. If there are multiple locations within the pod that stock the same inventory item, then the method chooses one of those locations based upon the expiration date. Finally, if multiple of these locations have units that expire within the same expiration period, the location with the fewest units is chosen.