An automated customer order promising and confirming method.

摘要

A computer based customer order promising and confirming method system automatically interfaces to a production planning system to provide an integrated approach to the front-end planning process. The process estimates projected order completion based on customer requested orders. First, the customer requested orders are received and the requirements (as specified by the orders) are entered in the planning system. Next, a check is made to see if the requirement(s) can be satisfied by either unallocated inventory or unallocated scheduled production. If the results of this check meet the requirement(s), the information is provided for order- promising pending order confirmation. If the results on the other hand do not meet the requirement(s), the process then utilizes the logic of a material requirements planning system (MRP) to explode the requirements and generate a statement of time phased dependent requirements. The logic of the MRP is used to simulate the process of procurement and/or fabrication of the necessary components to calculate possible delivery dates. The effect of releasing new orders/requirements is further simulated by capacity/resource planning logic to verify if production capacity is available to meet delivery dates requested by the customer or suggested by MRP. Following the simulation process, the system provides the order processing operator with clear information on best available date(s) if requested, whether the customer specified date(s) can be met, and if customer specified date(s) cannot be met, the best available date(s).