Inventors:
William B. Day - Richmond TX, US
Kenneth F. Spitler - Houston TX, US
International Classification:
G06F 17/50
Abstract:
In a method of managing a supply chain from a supplier to a customer by a service company that purchases a product, a plurality of costs corresponding to supply chain parameters and associated with providing a product to a customer is determined. Each of the plurality of costs is stored in a computer database and is associated with a corresponding supply chain parameter. A subset of the plurality of costs is retrieved from the computer database in response to a supply event relative to the product. A total cost for each of a plurality of supply chain permutations is calculated. Each of the plurality of supply chain permutations includes a different combination of supply chain parameters in the supply chain. The supply chain permutation having a lowest total cost is selected. The customer is supplied with the product by employing the selected supply chain permutations.