Non-instrumented perishable product tracking in a supply chain

US8463651B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Daniel P. Connors · Pleasant Valley, US
• Markus Ettl · Ossining, US
• Mary E. Helander · North White Plains, US
• Shubir Kapoor · Yorktown Heights, US
• Stuart A. Siegel · Millburn, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 27, 2011
• Grant date: Jun 11, 2013
• Expiry date: May 27, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q10/0833
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

There are provided a system, a method and a computer program product for tracking an inventory distribution of a perishable product in a supply chain. The system receives shipment data and point of sale data for the product from every location in the supply chain. The system creates, based on the obtained shipment data and the point of sale data, a network graph that represents a flow of the product in the supply chain. The system identifies an age of unsold inventory of the product at each node of the graph based on the created graph. The system provides a notification to a user at each location that informs the age of the unsold inventory of the product at that location.