Patent Application
20100131431
1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention relate to a transportation management system. Specifically, the embodiments of the invention relate to a system and process for generating shipment orders, freight orders and tours automatically from planned transportation activity data.
2. Background
Supply chain management includes the field of transportation management. Transportation management includes handling shipment requests that are received from customers or other links in a supply chain. These requests specify that a particular product is to be delivered to a particular location. These shipment requests are then used to generate freight units to fulfill the shipment requests. The freight units are discrete groupings of the product that can be delivered to a target destination to fulfill a request for the product. These freight units then have to be assigned to particular routes and vehicle schedules, which generates a set of data referred to as planned transportation activity (PTA) data. The process of generating the PTA can be an automated process based on the input of shipment requests. However, the PTA must ultimately be turned into a set of shipment orders, freight orders or tours. These are different types of objects that assign a particular vehicle resource to carry freight units between points along the routes specified in the PTA. Currently there is no process where the PTA data is analyzed and divided into one of a shipment order, a freight order or a tour either by a human reviewer or automatically. Thus, it is not possible to consolidate freight units into shipments, complete the delivery of freight units and forward the necessary information to external parties and systems such as transportation service provider, order management system or other entities in a supply chain.
Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted that different references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.
The freight unit builder 103 is a software module that receives shipment requests 101 and generates freight units 105. The freight unit builder 103 analyzes incoming shipment requests 101 that may be received from customers or other links or entities in a supply chain such as warehouses, retailers, factories or similar entities. The freight unit builder 103 analyzes the available resources in terms of product shipment sizes, possible routes and similar criteria using information stored in the available resources 111 of the system such as scheduling databases, vehicle resource databases and similar resources. The freight unit builder 103 then identifies discrete freight units for shipping to satisfy each of the requests specified in the shipment requests 101.
The vehicle scheduling and routing optimizer 107 utilizes the output of the freight unit builder 103 along with the other system resources 111 to generate a set of planned transportation activities that route the freight units to their destination in the most efficient manner possible based on a set of routing algorithms and scheduling algorithms. The routes and schedules generated are not tied to specific vehicles. The vehicle and routing optimizer generates planned transportation activity data, which is organized as a data structure with activities that move freight units from point to point in a route.
The shipment order, freight order and tour builder (SFTB) module 113 analyzes each activity in the planned transportation activity data 109 and generates a set of shipment orders 131, freight orders 125 or tours 123 depending on the SFTB settings 137 and planning profile 135. The planning profile 135 and SFTB settings 137 define the parameters under which the SFTB module 113 operates. The planning profile 135 can determine the parameters for defining shipment orders, freight orders and tours. The parameters can include determining which of the three types of objects (shipment order, freight order or tour) are to be generated. The SFTB settings 137 define the parameters of the operation of the SFTB including the operating conditions under which the SFTB operates. These parameters determine how shipment orders, freight orders and tours are to be generated and can define constraints that the SFTB is to consider when it generates these three types of objects.
The shipment order can be defined as an order (i.e., a planning document that directs the use of real-world resources) that fulfills specific criteria within the area of transportation or planning. Freight units are assigned to shipment order items. A shipment order typically has one vehicle resource assigned to it unless passive means of transport such as a trailer are involved. Usually, a shipment order that is generated by SFTB contains one stage representing the transportation of one or more freight units. Thus, the shipment order usually begins with directives for loading the freight unit and ends with directives for the unloading of the freight unit. An exception exists for freight units that are loaded onto a passive means of transportation and are assigned to a shipment order. In this case a shipment order can begin with directives for coupling the passive means of transportation or end with directives for decoupling it. The source location for a shipment order is identical for all shipment order items that are assigned to that shipment order. The destination location is also identical for all the shipment order items that are assigned to the shipment order. A shipment order can also include stages that represent empty runs.
A freight order is defined by a set of criteria related to transportation planning such that the freight order stages represent the transportation of one or more freight units. A freight order can also include stages that represent empty runs. A freight order can contain multiple shipment orders. Each shipment order assigned to a freight order can have a different source location and destination location. If all freight units within a PTA chain are unloaded in a location and other freight units are loaded in this or subsequent locations of the PTA chain, then the SFTB can generate separate freight orders dividing the chain in the location where the freight units are unloaded. A planning profile 135 can specify that the set of freight orders and shipment orders is to be created as opposed to freight orders, shipment orders and tours. The planning profile 135 can also specify that any combination of these objects is to be created. Typically, one vehicle resource is assigned to a freight order. An exception to this rule is the use of passive transportation components such as trailer or box cars in combination with active transportation components such as trucks and trains.
A tour is defined by criteria related to transportation planning. The tour represents movement of a single vehicle resource. A tour defines a single location where the tour starts and defines a single location where the tour ends. The creation of tours can be designated by the planning profile 135. Changing a vehicle resource within a PTA chain requires the splitting of a tour. Thus, the process of identifying and assigning vehicles for a set of tours includes identifying necessary shifts in vehicle resources in a PTA chain. These shifts are then used to define the end of one tour and the start of the next tour. The tours can also include empty runs. These empty runs can be utilized to move a vehicle resource to a next location or return it to an original location even though no freight units are being moved during the empty run segment of the routing and scheduling.
The SFTB settings 137 designate the criteria under which shipment orders, freight orders or tours are to be generated. For example, the SFTB settings 137 can designate that the unloading of all freight units within a PTA chain requires the splitting of the chain into multiple tours for each point where there is a loading or unloading. In another example, the SFTB settings determine whether a freight order has to be generated even if it contains only one shipment order. In a further example, the SFTB settings determine whether or not the empty runs of a vehicle resource shall be assigned to shipment orders or freight orders.
The SFTB module 113 can be a module that is executed by a computer system such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, dedicated server system, distributed computer system or similar computing devices and systems. Any number of computers and computing devices can inter-operate to provide the SFTB module 113. These may be general purpose devices or computing devices designed specifically for this purpose. The SFTB module 113 includes an evaluation module 115, a frame builder 119 and a completion unit 121. The evaluation module 115 analyzes the individual activities in the PTA chain to prepare the PTA data structure for the frame builder 119. This data structure contains only information that is necessary to apply constraints in the frame builder 119. The evaluation module 115 thereby determines the freight units that are to be assigned to a shipment order, freight order or tour. The evaluation module 115 receives PTA, freight units and resources and enables the frame builder 119 to generate shipment order, freight order and tour frames.
The frame builder 119 processes the PTA data to generate frames. Frames are minimal sets of PTA data needed to generate a shipment order, freight order or tour. The PTA data is reduced to a frame to improve processing efficiency. A frame is a minimal set of data required to process hard and soft constraints that are utilized to identify shipment orders, freight orders and tours. The soft constraints are defined by the SFTB settings 137. The frame builder 119 considers these hard and soft constraints. After the shipment order, freight order and tour frames are generated by the frame builder 119, the completion unit 121 gathers the records and data necessary to complete the shipment orders, freight orders and tours from the corresponding resources 111, as well as objects such as freight units 105 and shipment requests 101. Much of this data was removed to create the frames for efficient processing and now must be rejoined to complete shipment orders, freight orders and tours.
The SFTB module 113 can generate any number of shipment orders, freight orders or tours depending on the input PTA data and the planning profile 135 and SFTB settings 137. The shipment orders 131, freight orders 125 and tours 123 that are generated by the SFTB module 113 are stored in respective data structures or databases for storing shipment orders 133, freight orders 129 and tours 127. In one embodiment, these may be separate data structures or data storage systems. In another embodiment, these shipment orders 131, freight orders 125 and tours 123 are stored in a unified storage system, which may be a monolithic data management system or a distributed data management system.
The frame builder then evaluates each PTA chain based on hard and soft constraints and incompatibilities (block 207). Based on this evaluation, the PTAs flow into separate shipment order, freight order or tour frames. These hard and soft constraints can be any user or programmer defined set or combination of business parameters. For example, constraints can include product or vehicle incompatibility, size and volume constraints, timing constraints, and similar shipping, transportation and business related constraints on the movement and delivery of goods. The hard constraints include the definitions of the shipment orders, freight orders and tours as described above. Any constraint can be designated as a hard constraint. A hard constraint is a criteria for forming a shipment order, freight order or tour that cannot be violated. Any constraint can be designated as a soft constraint. A soft constraint is a criteria that has some level of flexibility in its application by way of an acceptable range, threshold level, preference or weighting to indicate a preference for one configuration over another or similar constraints. Evaluation of these constraints on the PTA data results in the assignment of stages and specific vehicle resources that meet the hard constraints and best fits the soft constraints being assigned to fulfill a shipment order, freight order or tour. This designation is added to the output frame data or similarly correlated with the shipment order, freight order or tour frame.
The frames output by the frame builder do not contain the complete set of information necessary for a proper set of shipment orders, freight orders and tours. Thus, the completion unit draws the necessary information from the PTA data and other available resources (block 209). The completed frames can then be transformed or similarly used to generate the shipment orders, freight orders and tours (block 211). This includes linking the shipment orders, freight orders and tours with the necessary resources in the system (e.g., notifying other system components of the successful handling or generation of shipment orders for purposes of monitoring the system or initiating the process or executing these orders) and storing the shipment orders, freight orders and tours to be utilized later in the transportation management system.
This route 301 is represented also in the diagram of 303. This diagram 303 shows the loading and unloading points for each of the freight units. The first freight unit traverses the entire route while the other freight units are added and dropped over the length of the route. Each segment of the route is defined by specific elements of the PTA data that can be grouped as PTA chain PTA1-PTA6. Diagram 305 illustrates one example embodiment of a set of shipment orders generated to fulfill the requirement of the routes and shipment orders that require the movement of the freight units along this route. These are basic shipment orders that are defined by the load and unload locations for a group of freight units and other soft or hard constraints. The freight orders 307 are illustrated as discrete combinations of the shipment orders that have a common vehicle resource. Some of the shipment orders do not meet the criteria for a freight order and are thus not grouped together into freight orders such as shipment orders SO3 and SO6, which are the only shipment orders for the respective segments and cannot therefore be combined with other shipment orders to form a freight order.
In one embodiment, the SFTB module and the other components of the system may be implemented as a set of hardware devices. In another embodiment, these components may be implemented in software (e.g., microcode, assembly language or higher level languages). These software implementations may be stored on a computer-readable medium. A “computer-readable” medium may include any medium that can store or transfer information. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a ROM, a floppy diskette, a CD-ROM, a DVD, flash memory, hard drive, an optical disk or similar medium.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes can be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
