TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention generally relates to a method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain, a supply chain management system thereof, and a supply chain system including the supply chain management system.

BACKGROUND

[0002] In supply chain optimization, production plans and delivery plans may be generated or formulated in advance in order to optimally allocate resources (e.g., human and/or machine resources) based on production capacity and delivery capacity. This advance production and delivery planning enable efficient resource management. For example, a supply chain may include a plurality of nodes, such as corresponding to manufacturers (e.g., factory or production plant) and/or delivery companies. Furthermore, each node may belong to, or be part of, multiple supply chains, and may formulate its own production and/or delivery plan. However, conventionally, the production and/or delivery plan associated with a node of the supply chain is generally not shared with other nodes of the supply chain. As a result, if there is a delay in the work or task (e.g., production and/or delivery) performed at a node, downstream nodes in the supply chain with respect to the node may then be informed manually (e.g., via a phone call or an email) by the node and then respectively perform replanning in an attempt to accommodate for the delay at the node.

[0003] As an illustrative example, FIG. 1 depicts a supply chain 100 comprising five nodes, denoted as factory A, delivery B, factory C, delivery D and retailer. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 and according to conventional supply chain management methods, a delay may occur at a particular node (e.g., at factory A, such as due to an accident), and subsequent (or downstream) nodes (e.g., factory C and delivery D) in the supply chain with respect to the particular node may then be informed manually of the delay by the particular company. Thereafter, such subsequent companies may then respectively attempt to replan individually to accommodate for the delay by the particular company.

[0004] Therefore, according to such conventional supply chain management methods, each downstream node that has been manually notified of a delay at an upstream node may simply respectively attempt to replan regardless of whether it is actually necessary for the downstream node to replan. Accordingly, a number of downstream nodes in the supply chain may unnecessarily replan or delay tasks at their end due to a delay at an upstream node, resulting in operational inefficiencies in the supply chain. Furthermore, the manual management (e.g., coordination) of nodes in the supply chain in response to a delay at one or more nodes in the supply chain results in further operational inefficiencies in the supply chain.

[0005] For example, Japanese patent application no. 2016-161266 (publication no. JP 2018- 28853 A) discloses a production plan creation method and a production plan creation device. According to the production plan creation method disclosed, briefly, if there is a delay in the production plan, determine whether there is a problem even if the current plan is executed as it is, and if there is a problem, replanning is performed. In this regard, it is found that although the production plan creation method may be able to handle delays that do not affect delivery times when applied within a supply chain that spans multiple nodes (e.g., companies), but if the delivery date is not met, subsequent nodes (e.g., contractors) would also need to replan in an attempt to accommodate the delay. Therefore, it may be necessary to manually coordinate production plan changes among multiple nodes in the supply chain. Accordingly, the production plan creation method also suffers from the above-mentioned problem whereby a number of downstream nodes in the supply chain may unnecessarily replan or delay tasks at their end due to a delay at an upstream node, resulting in operational inefficiencies in the supply chain.

[0006] For example, Japanese patent application no. 2016-78182 (publication no. JP 2017- 188026 A) discloses a production planning method. According to the production planning method disclosed, briefly, a production plan is developed for the front process (parts factory) according to the production plan for the back process (assembly factory) in the supply chain and its changes. In this regard, it is found that this production planning method may work when the parts factory gives top priority to the operations of the assembly factory. However, if the parts factory has another assembly factory with the same or higher priority as a customer, it may not be able to withstand sudden changes.

[0007] A need therefore exists to provide a method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain and a supply chain management system thereof, that seek to overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the deficiencies in conventional supply chain management methods and systems, such as but not limited to, improving or enhancing operational efficiencies in the supply chain. It is against this background that the present invention has been developed. SUMMARY

[0008] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain using at least one processor, the method comprising: receiving, from a first node of the plurality of nodes, a margin information request in relation to an infeasibility in modifying a current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node that satisfies first link constraint information associated with the first node, the margin information request being configured to obtain margin information for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; sending, to the first node, the margin information in response to the margin information request received from the first node; receiving, from the first node, applied margin information comprising an applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; and sending, to a second node of the plurality of nodes, the applied margin information from the first node and a supply chain node replan request, the supply chain node replan request being configured to request the second node to modify a current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node, wherein the first node and the second node are connected in the supply chain via a first supply link, the first node being an upstream node and the second node being a downstream node in the supply chain with respect to the first supply link.

[0009] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a supply chain management system for managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain, the supply chain management system comprising: a memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to: receive, from a first node of the plurality of nodes, a margin information request in relation to an infeasibility in modifying a current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node that satisfies first link constraint information associated with the first node, the margin information request being configured to obtain margin information for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; send, to the first node, the margin information in response to the margin information request received from the first node; receive, from the first node, applied margin information comprising an applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; and send, to a second node of the plurality of nodes, the applied margin information from the first node and a supply chain node replan request, the supply chain node replan request being configured to request the second node to modify a current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node, wherein the first node and the second node are connected in the supply chain via a first supply link, the first node being an upstream node and the second node being a downstream node in the supply chain with respect to the first supply link.

[0010] According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product, embodied in one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums, comprising instructions executable by at least one processor to perform the method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain according to the above-mentioned first aspect of the present invention.

[0011] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a supply chain system comprising: a plurality of supply chain node planning systems of a plurality of nodes, respectively, of a supply chain, including a first supply chain node planning system of a first node of the plurality of nodes and a second supply chain node planning system of a second node of the plurality of nodes; and the supply chain management system for managing the plurality of nodes of the supply chain according to the above-mentioned second aspect of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Embodiments of the present invention will be better understood and readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following written description, by way of example only, and in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example supply chain comprising five nodes;

FIG. 2 depicts a schematic flow diagram of a method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain using, according to various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts a schematic block diagram of a supply chain management system for managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain, according to various embodiments of the present invention, such as corresponding to the method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain system according to various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 depicts a schematic block diagram of an exemplary computer system in which the supply chain management system, the first supply chain node planning system and the second supply chain node planning system according to various embodiments of the present invention may each be embodied respectively;

FIG. 6 depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain system according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 7A depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain managed according to conventional supply chain management methods as a comparative example;

FIG. 7B depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain managed according to various example embodiments of the present invention as an illustrative example;

FIG. 8 depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain system according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 depicts a schematic drawing of the supply chain system with example components/modules and interconnections (data flow) shown, according to various example embodiments of the present invention; FIG. 10 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an example operation flow of a requester planning server of the supply chain system, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 11 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an example operation flow of a collaboration planning server of the supply chain system, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 12 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an example operation flow of a receiver planning server of the supply chain system, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 13 depicts a schematic drawing of an example supply chain based on which an example method of managing a plurality of nodes thereof may be implemented, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 14A depicts example node condition information, comprising a plurality of node conditions (or node constraint parameters), of factory node A, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 14B depicts example node condition information, comprising a plurality of node conditions (or node constraint parameters), of factory node B, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 14C depicts example node condition information, comprising a plurality of node conditions (or node constraint parameters), of factory node C, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 15 depicts example boundary information, comprising a plurality of boundary parameters (or link constraint parameters), according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 16A depicts example node plan information, comprising a plurality of node plan parameters, of factory node A, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 16B depicts example node plan information, comprising a plurality of node plan parameters, of factory node B, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 16C depicts example node plan information, comprising a plurality of node plan parameters, of factory node C, according to various example embodiments of the present invention; FIG. 17 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of margin analysis with respect to a previous stage performed by a margin analysis module of the collaboration planning server, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 18A depicts an example node plan information at factory node B, taking into account a quantity reduction margin, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 18B depicts an example node plan information at factory node C, taking into account a delivery delay margin, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 19 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of margin analysis with respect to a subsequent stage performed by the margin analysis module of the collaboration planning server, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 20A depicts an example node plan information at factory node B, taking into account a delivery date advancement and quantity reduction margin, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 20B depicts an example node plan information at factory node C, taking into account a one-day delivery advancement margin, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 21 depicts an example margin information registered by the margin analysis module in an illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 22 depicts an example delayed plan information of factory node A, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 23 depicts an example related margin request made by factory node A, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 24 depicts an example related margin list sent by the collaboration planning server to the requester planning server, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 25 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of replanning using the related margin list received by the requester planning server, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 26 depicts an example updated node plan information of factory node A using a margin parameter, according to various example embodiments of the present invention; FIG. 27 depicts an example used margin information, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 28 depicts an example updated node plan information of factory node B, taking into account the used margin parameter, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 29 depicts an example replan request message to factory node B, according to various example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 30 depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain system with example components/modules and interconnections (data flow) shown, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 31 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of a requester planning server of the supply chain system, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 32 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of a collaboration planning server of the supply chain system, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 33 depicts an operation flow of a cause analysis module of the requester planning server, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 34A depicts an example feasible node plan information of factory node A based on delivery delay to factory node B, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 34B depicts an example feasible node plan information of factory node A based on delivery delay to factory node C, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 35 depicts an example list of margins (potential margin parameters) for replan created, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 36 depicts an example requested margin for replan returned by a margin sharing module of the collaboration planning server, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0013] Various embodiments of the present invention provide a method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain, a supply chain management system thereof, and a supply chain system including the supply chain management system.

[0014] As discussed in the background, in conventional supply chain management methods, a number of downstream nodes in the supply chain may unnecessarily replan or delay tasks at their end due to a delay at an upstream node, resulting in operational inefficiencies in the supply chain. Furthermore, in conventional supply chain management methods, the manual management or coordination of nodes in the supply chain in response to a delay at one or more nodes in the supply chain results in further operational inefficiencies in the supply chain. Accordingly, various embodiments provide a method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain and a supply chain management system thereof, that seek to overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the deficiencies in conventional supply chain management methods and systems, such as but not limited to, improving or enhancing operational efficiencies in the supply chain.

[0015] FIG. 2 depicts a schematic flow diagram of a method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain using at least one processor, according to various embodiments of the present invention, which may also be referred to herein as a supply chain management method. The method 200 comprises receiving (at 202), from a first node of the plurality of nodes, a margin information request in relation to an infeasibility in modifying a current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node that satisfies first link constraint information associated with the first node, the margin information request being configured to obtain margin information for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; sending (at 204), to the first node, the margin information in response to the margin information request received from the first node; receiving (at 206), from the first node, applied margin information comprising an applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; and sending (at 208), to a second node of the plurality of nodes, the applied margin information from the first node and a supply chain node replan request, the supply chain node replan request being configured to request the second node to modify a current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node. In various embodiments, the first node and the second node are connected in the supply chain via a first supply link, the first node being an upstream node and the second node being a downstream node in the supply chain with respect to the first supply link.

[0016] Accordingly, the method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain according to various embodiments of the present invention advantageously avoids or minimizes unnecessary node replanning and/or task delays (e.g., production and/or delivery) at one or more downstream nodes in the supply chain due to task delays at one or more upstream nodes, as well as automating management or coordination of nodes in the supply chain in response to task delays at one or more nodes in the supply chain, thereby improving or enhancing operational efficiencies in the supply chain. These advantages or technical effects, and/or other advantages or technical effects, will become more apparent to a person skilled in the art as the method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain, as well as the corresponding supply chain management system, is described in more detail according to various embodiments and example embodiments of the present invention.

[0017] In various embodiments, the first link constraint information comprises a first link constraint parameter associated with the first supply link, the first link constraint parameter having associated therewith downstream node information indicating the second node as the downstream node with respect to the first supply link. Furthermore, the applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node is for modifying the first link constraint parameter of the first link constraint information.

[0018] In various embodiments, the method 200 further comprises: generating a margin information list associated with the supply chain, the margin information list comprising a plurality of candidate margin parameters, and the plurality of candidate margin parameters comprising a first candidate margin parameter associated with the first link constraint parameter; and selecting the first candidate margin parameter from the margin information list based on the margin information request received from the first node as a selected margin parameter for the margin information request. In this regard, the above-mentioned margin information sent to the first node in response to the margin information request comprises the selected margin parameter. [0019] In various embodiments, the method 200 further comprises: receiving, from the second node, the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node. In this regard, the above-mentioned generating the margin information list comprises determining the first candidate margin parameter associated with the first link constraint parameter based on the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node.

[0020] In various embodiments, the above-mentioned determining the first candidate margin parameter associated with the first link constraint parameter comprises: delaying a supply schedule of a first item associated with the first link constraint parameter by a first time period to obtain a first modified link constraint parameter; determining a first feasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node that satisfies second link constraint information associated with the second node if the second link constraint information is modified based on the first modified link constraint parameter; and generating the first candidate margin parameter having associated therewith time delay margin information corresponding to the first time period if the above-mentioned first feasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node is determined to be feasible.

[0021] In various embodiments, the above-mentioned determining the first candidate margin parameter associated with the first link constraint parameter further comprises: reducing a supply quantity of the first item associated with the first link constraint parameter by a first quantity amount to obtain a second modified link constraint parameter; determining a second feasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node that satisfies the second link constraint information associated with the second node if the second link constraint information is modified based on the second modified link constraint parameter; and generating the first candidate margin parameter having associated therewith first quantity reduction margin information corresponding to the first quantity amount if the above-mentioned second feasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node is determined to be feasible.

[0022] In various embodiments, the second link constraint information associated with the second node comprises a second link constraint parameter associated with a second supply link, the second node and a third node of the plurality of nodes being connected in the supply chain via the second supply link, and the second node being an upstream node and the third node being a downstream node in the supply chain with respect to the second supply link, the second link constraint parameter having associated therewith downstream node information indicating the third node as the downstream node with respect to the second supply link, the plurality of candidate margin parameters of the margin information list further comprising a second candidate margin parameter associated with the second link constraint parameter, and the above-mentioned generating the margin information list further comprises determining the second candidate margin parameter associated with the second link constraint parameter based on the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node.

[0023] In various embodiments, the above-mentioned determining the second candidate margin parameter associated with the second link constraint parameter comprises: advancing a supply schedule of a second item associated with the second link constraint parameter by a second time period to obtain a third modified link constraint parameter; determining a third feasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node that satisfies the second link constraint information associated with the second node if the second link constraint information is modified based on the third modified link constraint parameter; and generating the second candidate margin parameter having associated therewith time advancement margin information corresponding to the second time period if the above-mentioned third feasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node is determined to be feasible.

[0024] In various embodiments, the above-mentioned determining the second candidate margin parameter associated with the second link constraint parameter further comprises: reducing a second supply quantity of the second item associated with the second link constraint parameter by a second quantity amount to obtain a fourth modified link constraint parameter; determining a fourth feasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node that satisfies the second link constraint information associated with the second node if the second link constraint information is modified based on the fourth modified link constraint parameter; and generating the second candidate margin parameter having associated therewith second quantity reduction margin information corresponding to the second quantity amount if the above-mentioned fourth feasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node is determined to be feasible.

[0025] In various embodiments, the method 200 further comprises: receiving, from each remaining node of the plurality of nodes of the supply chain, a current supply chain node plan associated with the remaining node. In this regard, the above-mentioned generating the margin information list further comprises determining, for the above-mentioned each remaining node of the plurality of nodes, another candidate margin parameter associated with another link constraint parameter associated with another supply link of the supply chain, the above- mentioned another supply link connecting the remaining node with another node of the plurality of nodes.

[0026] In various embodiments, the margin information request comprises node identity information of the first node. In this regard, the above-mentioned selecting the first candidate margin parameter from the margin information list comprises selecting the first candidate margin parameter based on the node identity information of the first node in the margin information request. In particular, the above-mentioned selecting the first candidate margin parameter based on the node identity information of the first node comprises determining that the first candidate margin parameter has associated therewith upstream node information corresponding to the node identity information of the first node in the margin information request.

[0027] In various second embodiments, the margin information request comprises a first potential margin parameter associated with the first link constraint parameter, the first potential margin parameter comprising at least one of time delay margin information and quantity reduction margin information and is determined by the first node to address the infeasibility in modifying the current supply node plan associated with the first node to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node that satisfies the first link constraint information associated with the first node if the first link constraint information is modified based on the first potential margin parameter. In this regard, the above-mentioned selecting the first candidate margin parameter from the margin information list comprises determining that the first candidate margin parameter corresponds to the first potential margin parameter.

[0028] In various embodiments, the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node is a current production and/or delivery plan associated with the first node for producing and/or delivering one or more items based on one or more resources. In this regard, the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node is a current production and/or delivery plan associated with the second node for producing and/or delivering one or more items based on one or more resources.

[0029] In various embodiments, the first node has associated therewith first node constraint information comprising one or more first node constraint parameters relating to the above- mentioned producing and/or delivering the one or more items based on the one or more resources based on the current production and/or delivery plan associated with the first node. In this regard, the above-mentioned modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node comprises modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node based on the first node constraint information. Similarly, the second node has associated therewith second node constraint information comprising one or more second node constraint parameters relating to the above-mentioned producing and/or delivering the one or more items based on the one or more resources based on the current production and/or delivery plan associated with the second node. In this regard, the above-mentioned modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node comprises modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node based on the second node constraint information.

[0030] In various embodiments, each of the one or more first node constraint parameters has associated therewith a first node constraint condition, respectively, and a value associated with the first node constraint condition, the first node constraint condition relating to said producing and/or delivering the one or more items based on the one or more resources based on the current production and/or delivery plan associated with the first node. Similarly, each of the one or more second node constraint parameters has associated therewith a second node constraint condition, respectively, and a value associated with the second node constraint condition, the second node constraint condition relating to said producing and/or delivering the one or more items based on the one or more resources based on the current production and/or delivery plan associated with the second node.

[0031] In various embodiments, the supply chain node replan request comprises an option for the second node to decide whether to accept the request to modify the current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information. In various embodiments, the option is associated with an incentive for the second node to accept the request to modify the current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information.

[0032] FIG. 3 depicts a schematic block diagram of a supply chain management system 300 for managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain, according to various embodiments of the present invention, such as corresponding to the method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain as described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 2 according to various embodiments. The supply chain management system 300 comprises: a memory 302; and at least one processor 304 communicatively coupled to the memory 302 and configured to: receive, from a first node of the plurality of nodes, a margin information request in relation to an infeasibility in modifying a current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node that satisfies first link constraint information associated with the first node, the margin information request being configured to obtain margin information for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; send, to the first node, the margin information in response to the margin information request received from the first node; receive, from the first node, applied margin information comprising an applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; and send, to a second node of the plurality of nodes, the applied margin information from the first node and a supply chain node replan request, the supply chain node replan request being configured to request the second node to modify a current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node. In various embodiments, the first node and the second node are connected in the supply chain via a first supply link, the first node being an upstream node and the second node being a downstream node in the supply chain with respect to the first supply link. It will be appreciated to a person skilled in the art that the supply chain management system 300 may also be embodied as a device or an apparatus.

[0033] It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the at least one processor 304 may be configured to perform various functions or operations through set(s) of instructions (e.g., software modules) executable by the at least one processor 304 to perform the various functions or operations. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3, the supply chain management system 300 may further comprise a margin information request module (or a margin information request circuit) 306 configured to perform the above-mentioned receiving (at 202), from a first node of the plurality of nodes, a margin information request in relation to an infeasibility in modifying a current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node that satisfies first link constraint information associated with the first node, the margin information request being configured to obtain margin information for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; a margin information module (or a margin information circuit) 308 configured to perform the above- mentioned sending (at 204), to the first node, the margin information in response to the margin information request received from the first node; receive, from the first node, applied margin information comprising an applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; an applied margin information module (or an applied margin information circuit) 310 configured to perform the above-mentioned receiving (at 206), from the first node, applied margin information comprising an applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node; and a supply chain node replan request module (or a supply chain node replan request circuit) 312 configured to perform the above-mentioned sending (at 208), to a second node of the plurality of nodes, the applied margin information from the first node and a supply chain node replan request, the supply chain node replan request being configured to request the second node to modify a current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information to form a modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node.

[0034] It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that various modules described herein are not necessarily separate modules, and two or more modules may be realized by or implemented as one functional module (e.g., a circuit or a software program) as desired or as appropriate without deviating from the scope of the present invention. For example, two or more of the margin information request module 306, the margin information module 308, the applied margin information module 310 and the supply chain node replan request module 312 may be realized (e.g., compiled together) as one executable software program (e.g., software application or simply referred to as an “app”), which for example may be stored in the memory 302 and executable by the at least one processor 304 to perform various functions/operations as described herein according to various embodiments. [0035] In various embodiments, the supply chain management system 300 corresponds to the method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain as described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 2, therefore, various functions or operations configured to be performed by the least one processor 304 may correspond to various steps or operations of the method 200 as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments, and thus need not be repeated with respect to the supply chain management system 300 for clarity and conciseness. In other words, various embodiments described herein in context of a method are analogously valid for the corresponding system (e.g., which may also be embodied as a device or an apparatus), and vice versa.

[0036] For example, in various embodiments, the memory 302 may have stored therein the margin information request module 306, the margin information module 308, the applied margin information module 310 and/or the supply chain node replan request module 312, which respectively correspond to various steps or operations of the method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments, which are executable by the at least one processor 304 to perform the corresponding functions or operations as described herein according to various embodiments.

[0037] FIG. 4 depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain system 400 according to various embodiments of the present invention. The supply chain system 400 comprises a plurality of supply chain node planning systems of a plurality of nodes, respectively, of a supply chain 401, including a first supply chain node planning system 402 of a first node 404 of the plurality of nodes and a second supply chain node planning system 406 of a second node 408 of the plurality of nodes; and the supply chain management system 300 for managing the plurality of nodes of the supply chain 401 as described herein with reference to FIG. 3 according to various embodiments of the present invention.

[0038] In various embodiments, the first supply chain node planning system 402 comprises: a memory 412; and at least one processor 414 communicatively coupled to the memory 412 and configured to: send, to the supply chain management system 300, the margin information request in relation to the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404 to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404 that satisfies the first link constraint information associated with the first node 404, the margin information request being configured to obtain the margin information for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node 404 for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404; receive, from the supply chain management system 300, the margin information in response to the margin information request sent from the first node 404; and send, to the supply chain management system 300, the applied margin information comprising the applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node 404 for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node 404 for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404 to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404. [0039] In various embodiments, the second supply chain node planning system 406 comprises: a memory 422; and at least one processor 426 communicatively coupled to the memory 422 and configured to: receive, from the supply chain management system 300, the applied margin information from the first node 404 and the supply chain node replan request, the supply chain node replan request being configured to request the second node 408 to modify the current supply node plan associated with the second node 408 based on the applied margin information to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node 408. [0040] In various embodiments, as mentioned hereinbefore, the first node 404 and the second node 408 are connected in the supply chain 401 via the first supply link 405, the first node 404 being the upstream node and the second node 408 being the downstream node in the supply chain 401 with respect to the first supply link 405.

[0041] It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the at least one processor 414 of the first supply chain node planning system 402 may be configured to perform various functions or operations through set(s) of instructions (e.g., software modules) executable by the at least one processor 414 to perform the various functions or operations. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4, the first supply chain node planning system 402 may further comprise a margin information request module (or a margin information request circuit) 416 configured to send, to the supply chain management system 300, the margin information request in relation to the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404 to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404 that satisfies the first link constraint information associated with the first node 404, the margin information request being configured to obtain the margin information for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node 404 for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404; a margin information module (or a margin information circuit) 418 configured to receive, from the supply chain management system 300, the margin information in response to the margin information request sent from the first node 404; and an applied margin information module (or an applied margin information circuit) 420 configured to send, to the supply chain management system 300, the applied margin information comprising the applied margin parameter that has been applied at the first node 404 for modifying the first link constraint information associated with the first node 404 for addressing the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404 to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404.

[0042] Similarly, it will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the at least one processor 424 of the second supply chain node planning system 406 may be configured to perform various functions or operations through set(s) of instructions (e.g., software modules) executable by the at least one processor 424 to perform the various functions or operations. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4, the second supply chain node planning system 406 may further comprise a supply chain node replan request module (or a supply chain node replan request circuit) 426 configured to receive, from the supply chain management system 300, the applied margin information from the first node 404 and the supply chain node replan request, the supply chain node replan request being configured to request the second node 408 to modify the current supply node plan associated with the second node 408 based on the applied margin information to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node 408. [0043] The first supply chain node planning system 402 and the second supply chain node planning system 406 may comprise the same modules or components, and it will be understood by a person skilled in the art that the first supply chain node planning system 402 is described or illustrated from the perspective of a supply chain node planning system sending the margin information request to the supply chain management system 300 (which may herein be referred to as the requester planning system or the like) and the second supply chain node planning system 406 is described or illustrated from the perspective of a supply chain node planning system receiving the supply chain node replan request from the supply chain management system 300 (which may herein be referred to as the receiver planning system or the like). Accordingly, the first supply chain node planning system 402 and the second supply chain node planning system 406 may each comprise the margin information request module 416, the margin information module 418, the applied margin information module 420 and the supply chain node replan request module 426, and the relevant module(s) may operate or be executed depending on whether the supply chain node planning system functions as a requester or a receiver planning system. [0044] It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that various functions or operations configured to be performed by the least one processor 414 of the first supply chain node planning system 402 and various functions or operations configured to be performed by the least one processor 424 of the second supply chain node planning system 406 may correspond to various steps or operations performed by the least one processor 304 of the supply chain management system 300 as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments, and thus need to be repeated with respect to the first supply chain node planning system 402 and the second supply chain node planning system 406 for clarity and conciseness. As an example, the operation of the at least one processor 304 of the supply chain management system 300 in receiving, from the first node 404 of the plurality of nodes, the margin information request in relation to the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404, corresponds to the operation of the at least one processor 414 of the first supply chain node planning system 402 in sending, to the supply chain management system 300, the margin information request in relation to the infeasibility in modifying the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node 404. As another example, the operation of the at least one processor 304 of the supply chain management system 300 in sending, to the second node 408 of the plurality of nodes, the applied margin information from the first node 404 and a supply chain node replan request, corresponds to the operation of the at least one processor 424 of the second supply chain node planning system 406 in receiving, from the supply chain management system 300, the applied margin information from the first node 404 and the supply chain node replan request.

[0045] A computing system, a controller, a microcontroller or any other system providing a processing capability may be provided according to various embodiments in the present disclosure. Such a system may be taken to include one or more processors and one or more computer-readable storage mediums. For example, the supply chain management system 300 described hereinbefore may include a processor (or controller) 304 and a computer-readable storage medium (or memory) 302 which are for example used in various processing carried out therein as described herein according to various embodiments. A memory or computer-readable storage medium used in various embodiments may be a volatile memory, for example a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or a non-volatile memory, for example a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable PROM), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable PROM), or a flash memory, e.g., a floating gate memory, a charge trapping memory, an MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) or a PCRAM (Phase Change Random Access Memory).

[0046] In various embodiments, a “circuit” may be understood as any kind of a logic implementing entity, which may be special purpose circuitry or a processor executing software stored in a memory, firmware, or any combination thereof. Thus, in an embodiment, a “circuit” may be a hard-wired logic circuit or a programmable logic circuit such as a programmable processor, e.g., a microprocessor (e.g., a Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) processor or a Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) processor). A “circuit” may also be a processor executing software, e.g., any kind of computer program, e.g., a computer program using a virtual machine code, e.g., Java. Any other kind of implementation of various functions or operations may also be understood as a “circuit” in accordance with various other embodiments. Similarly, a “module” may be a portion of a system according to various embodiments in the present invention and may encompass a “circuit” as above, or may be understood to be any kind of a logic-implementing entity therefrom.

[0047] Some portions of the present disclosure are explicitly or implicitly presented in terms of algorithms and functional or symbolic representations of operations on data within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and functional or symbolic representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey most effectively the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities, such as electrical, magnetic or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated.

[0048] Unless specifically stated otherwise, and as apparent from the following, it will be appreciated that throughout the present specification, description utilizing terms such as “receiving”, “sending”, “modifying”, “generating”, “selecting”, “determining”, “delaying”, “reducing”, “advancing”, “planning” or the like, refer to the actions and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical quantities within the computer system into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system or other information storage, transmission or display devices.

[0049] The present specification also discloses a system (e.g., which may also be embodied as a device or an apparatus) for performing various operations or functions of methods described herein. Such a system may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or may comprise a general purpose computer or other device selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. The algorithms presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose machines may be used with computer programs in accordance with the teachings herein. Alternatively, the construction of more specialized apparatus to perform various method steps may be appropriate. [0050] In addition, the present specification also at least implicitly discloses a computer program or software/functional module, in that it would be apparent to the person skilled in the art that various individual steps of various methods described herein may be put into effect by computer code. The computer program is not intended to be limited to any particular programming language and implementation thereof. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages and coding thereof may be used to implement various teachings of the disclosure herein. Moreover, the computer program is not intended to be limited to any particular control flow. There are many other variants of the computer program, which can use different control flows without departing from the scope of the present invention. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that various modules described herein (e.g., the margin information request module 306, the margin information module 308, the applied margin information module 310 and/or the supply chain node replan request module 312 associated with the supply chain management system 300) may be software module(s) realized by computer program(s) or set(s) of instructions executable by a computer processor to perform the required functions, or may be hardware module(s) being functional hardware unit(s) designed to perform the required functions. It will also be appreciated that a combination of hardware and software modules may be implemented.

[0051] Furthermore, one or more of the steps of a computer program/module or method described herein may be performed in parallel rather than sequentially. Such a computer program may be stored on any computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include storage devices such as magnetic or optical disks, memory chips, or other storage devices suitable for interfacing with a general purpose computer. The computer program when loaded and executed on such a general purpose computer effectively results in an apparatus that implements steps of various methods described herein.

[0052] In various embodiments, there is provided a computer program product, embodied in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), comprising instructions (e.g., the margin information request module 306, the margin information module 308, the applied margin information module 310 and/or the supply chain node replan request module 312 in relation to the supply chain management system 300) executable by one or more computer processors to perform the method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain as described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 2 according to various embodiments. There may also be provided a computer program product, embodied in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), comprising instructions (e.g., the margin information request module 416, the margin information module 418 and/or the applied margin information module 420 in relation to the first supply chain node planning system 402) executable by one or more computer processors as described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 4 according to various embodiments. There may also be provided a computer program product, embodied in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), comprising instructions (e.g., the supply chain node replan request module 426 in relation to the second supply chain node planning system 406) executable by one or more computer processors as described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 4 according to various embodiments.

[0053] Accordingly, various computer programs or modules described herein may be stored in a computer program product receivable by a system therein, such as the supply chain management system 300 as shown in FIG. 3, for execution by at least one processor 304 of the system 300 to perform various functions or operations.

[0054] The software or functional modules described herein may also be implemented as hardware modules. More particularly, in the hardware sense, a module may be a functional hardware unit designed for use with other components or modules. For example, a module may be implemented using discrete electronic components, or it can form a portion of an entire electronic circuit such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Numerous other possibilities exist. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the software or functional module(s) described herein can also be implemented as a combination of hardware and software modules.

[0055] In various embodiments, the supply chain management system 300, the first supply chain node planning system 402 and the second supply chain node planning system 406 may each be realized by any computer system (e.g., portable or desktop computer system, such as tablet computers, laptop computers, mobile communications devices (e.g., smart phones), and so on) including at least one processor and a memory, such as a computer system 500 as schematically shown in FIG. 5 as an example only and without limitation. Various methods/steps or functional modules (e.g., the margin information request module 306, the margin information module 308, the applied margin information module 310 and/or the supply chain node replan request module 312 in relation to the supply chain management system 300) may be implemented as software, such as a computer program being executed within the computer system 500, and instructing the computer system 500 (in particular, one or more processors therein) to conduct various methods or functions of various embodiments described herein. The computer system 500 may comprise a computer module 502, input modules (e.g., a keyboard 504, a mouse 506 and/or a touchscreen), and a plurality of output devices such as a display 508, and a printer 510. The computer module 502 may be connected to a computer network 512 via a suitable transceiver device 514, to enable access to e.g., the Internet or other network systems such as Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area Network (WAN). The computer module 502 in the example may include a processor 518 for executing various instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) 520 and a Read Only Memory (ROM) 522. The computer module 502 may also include a number of Input/Output (I/O) interfaces, for example I/O interface 524 to the display 508, and I/O interface 526 to the keyboard 504. The components of the computer module 502 typically communicate via an interconnected bus 528 and in a manner known to the person skilled in the relevant art.

[0056] It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing various embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

[0057] Any reference to an element or a feature herein using a designation such as “first”, “second” and so forth does not limit the quantity or order of such elements or features, unless stated or the context requires otherwise. For example, such designations may be used herein as a convenient way of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, a reference to first and second elements does not necessarily mean that only two elements can be employed, or that the first element must precede the second element. In addition, a phrase referring to “at least one of’ a list of items refers to any single item therein or any combination of two or more items therein. [0058] In order that the present invention may be readily understood and put into practical effect, various example embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter by way of examples only and not limitations. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the present invention may, however, be embodied in various different forms or configurations and should not be construed as limited to the example embodiments set forth hereinafter. Rather, these example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art.

[0059] In particular, for better understanding of the present invention and without limitation or loss of generality, unless stated otherwise, various example embodiments of the present invention will now be described with respect to the supply chain being a manufacturing supply chain (i.e., a supply chain in relation to the manufacture of one or more end products) and the plurality of nodes being a manufacturing node (e.g., a production plant or a factory for producing one or more items (one or more outputs of the manufacturing node) based on one or more resources (one or more inputs of the manufacturing node)). However, it will be appreciated that the method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain according to various embodiments of the present invention is not limited to manufacturing supply chain(s) and manufacturing node(s), and may be implemented in a variety of industries, applications or scenarios as long as management (e.g., coordination with respect to supply chain node plans) of a plurality of nodes of a supply chain is desired or required.

[0060] As described in the background, in supply chain optimization, production plans and delivery plans may be generated or formulated in advance in order to optimally allocate resources (e.g., human and/or machine resources) based on production capacity and delivery capacity. This advance production and delivery planning enable efficient resource management. For example, a supply chain may include a plurality of nodes, such as corresponding to manufacturers (e.g., factory or production plant) and/or delivery companies. Furthermore, each node may belong to, or be part of, multiple supply chains, and may formulate its own production and/or delivery plan. However, conventionally, the production and/or delivery plan associated with a node of the supply chain is generally not shared with other nodes of the supply chain. As a result, if there is a delay in the work or task (e.g., production and/or delivery) performed at a node, downstream nodes in the supply chain with respect to the node may then be informed manually (e.g., via a phone call or an email) by the node and then respectively perform replanning in an attempt to accommodate for the delay at the node. [0061] As an illustrative example, as also described in the background, FIG. 1 depicts a supply chain 100 comprising five nodes, denoted as factory A, delivery B, factory C, delivery D and retailer. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 and according to conventional supply chain management methods, a delay may occur at a particular node (e.g., at factory A, such as due to an accident), and subsequent (or downstream) nodes (e.g., factory C and delivery D) in the supply chain with respect to the particular node may then be informed manually of the delay by the particular company. Thereafter, such subsequent companies may then respectively attempt to replan individually to accommodate for the delay by the particular company.

[0062] Therefore, according to such conventional supply chain management methods, each downstream node that has been manually notified of a delay at an upstream node may simply respectively attempt to replan regardless of whether it is actually necessary for the downstream node to replan. Accordingly, a number of downstream nodes in the supply chain may unnecessarily replan or delay tasks at their end due to a delay at an upstream node, resulting in operational inefficiencies in the supply chain. Furthermore, the manual management (e.g., coordination) of nodes in the supply chain in response to a delay at one or more nodes in the supply chain results in further operational inefficiencies in the supply chain.

[0063] In seeking to overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the deficiencies in conventional supply chain management methods and systems, various example embodiments of the present invention provides a method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain (e.g., corresponding to the method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) that improves or enhances operational efficiencies in the supply chain.

[0064] FIG. 6 depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain system 600 (e.g., corresponding to the supply chain system 400 as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) according to various example embodiments of the present invention. The supply chain system 600 comprises a plurality of node planning systems 604 (e.g., corresponding to the plurality of supply chain node planning systems 402, 406 as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) of a plurality of nodes, respectively, of a supply chain 601; and a collaboration planning system 608 (e.g., corresponding to the supply chain management system 300 as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) for managing (e.g., coordinating) the plurality of nodes of the supply chain 601. The collaboration planning system 608 may comprise a collaboration planning module (which may also be referred to as a collaboration planning part). Each node planning system 604 may comprise a planning module (which may also be referred to as a planning part). Accordingly, various example embodiments provide a collaboration planning system 608 to a supply chain system 600 as a mechanism to manage (e.g., coordinate) node plans (e.g., production and/or delivery plans) amongst the plurality of nodes (e.g., multiple entities (e.g., factories and/or delivery companies)).

[0065] In various example embodiments, the collaboration planning system 608 may be configured to collect or receive current (or existing) node plans (e.g., production and/or delivery plans) of all nodes in the supply chain 601. Thereafter, the collaboration planning system 608 may be configured to analyze whether there is margin(s) in each of the current plans received. For example, referring to FIG. 6, it may be that factory node C’s production output of a product to delivery node D does not cause delivery node D’s node plan to become infeasible even if factory node C’s production output of the product is delayed by 2 hours. In such a case, it may be deemed that there is a margin of 2 hours in the node plan of delivery node D in relation to receiving the product from factory node C. Accordingly, the supply link between factory node C and delivery node D has a margin of 2 hours in relation to the production output of the product to delivery note D. In various example embodiments, infeasibility in a node plan associated with a node means that the node plan is not able to be modified or replanned to satisfy the associated boundary condition(s) (which may also be referred to as link constraint condition(s), such as the quantity and the date that the node has to produce (or output) a particular product). [0066] In various example embodiments, if a node (e.g., factory node C) experience a delay (e.g., delay in receiving a resource for manufacturing a product) with respect to a current node plan for certain reason, the node planning system 604 associated with the node may attempt to modify the current node plan (i.e., replan) based on its boundary condition(s). If the node planning system 604 is successful in replanning based on its boundary condition(s) (i.e., able to replan while satisfying its boundary condition(s)), a modified node plan associated with the node may thus be formed. In this regard, since no output(s) of the node is affected by the delay (e.g., the product will still be produced by the node on schedule), no further action in relation to the delay is necessary.

[0067] On the other hand, if the node planning system 604 of the node (e.g., factory node C) is not successful in replanning based on its boundary condition(s), the node planning system 604 may send a margin information request to the collaboration planning system 608 to determine if the current node plan associated with the immediately subsequent node (e.g., delivery node D) in the supply chain is able to accept a delay in receiving the product from the node (e.g., a delay of 2 hours). If it is determined based on the margin information received from the collaboration planning system 608 that the immediately subsequent node is able to accept the delay, the node planning system 604 of the node (e.g., factory node C) may then proceed to replan based on the margin information received, thus enabling the node to proceed with modifying the corresponding boundary condition and the delay (e.g., 2 hours) in supplying the product to the immediately subsequent node. The immediately subsequent node may then be notified of the modified boundary condition and then also proceeds to replan based on its boundary conditions (including the modified boundary condition).

[0068] Therefore, according to various example embodiments, since the collaborative planning system 608 has knowledge of the true deadline (i.e., margin(s), if any) associated with the node plan of each node in the supply chain 601, it is possible to modify the node plan(s), if necessary, with less disruption (e.g., avoid or minimise unnecessary delays at various nodes of the supply chain 601) to the supply chain 601 compared with conventional supply chain management methods when a delay occurs at one or more nodes in the supply chain 601, thereby improving or enhancing operational efficiencies in the supply chain 601.

[0069] As a comparative example, FIG. 7 A depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain managed according to conventional supply chain management methods. In the comparative example, as shown in FIG. 7A, it is assumed that a production delay occurs at factory node A. Based on conventional supply chain management methods, factory node C may simply be notified that the delivery of a product from factory node A via delivery node B has been delayed. As a result, factory node C may then simply proceed to delay its production based on the delay notification, regardless of whether it is actually necessary for it to delay its production.

[0070] As an illustrative example, FIG. 7B depicts a schematic drawing of the supply chain managed according to various example embodiments of the present invention. In the illustrative example, as shown in FIG. 7B, the collaborative planning system 608 is provided for managing the supply chain. In particular, for example, the collaborative planning system 608 may determine that there is no problem even if the delivery date of factory node F is delayed. As a result, based on this information (i.e., margin information) from the collaborative planning system 608, factory node A may pause the production of the product for factory node F and add production capacity for the production of the product for factory node C. As a result, factory node C would actually receive the product from factory node A, and thus it is actually not necessary for factory node C to delay its production although there was a production delay at factory node A. Therefore, this illustrative example demonstrates the improvement or enhancement in operational efficiencies in the supply chain managed according to various example embodiments of the present invention, by advantageously avoiding or minimizing unnecessary node replanning and/or task delays (e.g., production and/or delivery) at one or more downstream nodes in the supply chain due to task delays at one or more upstream nodes, as well as automating management or coordination of nodes in the supply chain in response to task delays at one or more nodes in the supply chain.

[0071] FIG. 8 depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain system 800 according to various example embodiments of the present invention, such as corresponding to the supply chain system 400 as described hereinbefore with reference to FIG. 4 according to various embodiments. The supply chain system 800 comprises a collaboration processing server 802 (e.g., corresponding to the collaboration planning system 608 and the supply chain management system 300 as described herein), a plurality of individual planning servers 806 (e.g., corresponding to the node planning systems 604 and the supply chain node planning systems 402, 406 as described herein according to various embodiments) and a communication network 810 (e.g., based on wireless and/or wired communications). In various example embodiments, the collaboration processing server 802 and the individual planning servers 806 may be implemented as a computer comprises a computer processor (e.g., CPU), a memory, a storage device, and an interface. The computer may also comprise a bus connecting various components of the computer for data communication. As shown in FIG. 8, the collaboration planning module may be stored in a memory of the collaboration processing server 802. Similarly, the requester/receiver planning module may be stored in a memory of the corresponding individual planning server 806. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the requester planning module and the receiver planning module may functionally be the same or similar, and are named according to whether the individual planning server 806 is sending the margin information request (requester planning module) or is receiving the applied margin information (receiver planning module). The supply chain system 800 will now be described in more detail according to various example embodiments of the present invention.

[0072] FIG. 9 depicts a schematic drawing of the supply chain system 800 with example components/modules and interconnections (data flow) shown, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, the supply chain system 800 comprises a requester planning server (including a requester planning module) 902 (e.g., corresponding to the first supply chain node planning system 402 as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) associated with a first node, a receiver planning server 906 (including a receiver planning module) 906 (e.g., corresponding to the second supply chain node planning system 406 as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) associated with a second node, and a collaboration planning server (including a collaboration planning module) 802 for managing a plurality of individual planning servers, including the requester planning server 902 and the receiver planning server 906.

[0073] As shown in FIG. 9, in various example embodiments, the requester planning server 902 and the receiver planning server 906 each may comprise a monitoring module configured to perform a monitoring function for monitoring a node plan (e.g., production and/or delivery plan) at the first node, a planning module configured to perform a node planning function for planning or replanning a node plan, and an arrangement request module configured to perform an arrangement request function for requesting margin information. Furthermore, in various example embodiments, the requester planning server 902 and the receiver planning server 906 may each comprise a plan information database configured to store a current node plan (e.g., corresponding to the current supply chain node plan as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments), a node condition information database configured to store node condition information (e.g., corresponding to the first or second node constraint information as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) relating to the production and/or delivery of one or more types of products (e.g., corresponding to the one or more items as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) based on one or more types of resources at the first node and a boundary information database configured to store boundary information (e.g., corresponding to the first or second link constraint information as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) relating to input and/or output conditions relating to the production and/or delivery of the one or more types of products based on the one or more types of resources. The collaboration planning server 802 may comprise a margin analysis module configured to perform a margin analysis function on a current node plan for determining associated margin information, a margin sharing module configured to perform a margin sharing function for sending one or more margin parameters of the margin information determined, and a margin information databased configured to store the margin information comprising a plurality of margin parameters determined.

[0074] FIG. 10 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an example operation flow 1000 of the requester planning server 902 associated with a node (e.g., which may be referred to as a first node herein for reference purpose) of a supply chain according to various example embodiments of the present invention. The planning module may create a node plan (e.g., a production or business plan) based on the node condition information and the boundary information associated with the first node. For example, the node condition information may include node constraint information such as the types of parts (or the type of resources) that are used to manufacture each product, the production capacity per unit time of each product, the inventory level of each product at the time of planning, and the inventory level of each part at the time of planning, and so on. The boundary information may be include link constraint information such as the particular product and the time/date that are scheduled to be delivered to a particular downstream node. The plan information may include node plan information such as a production schedule of a particular product per unit time (e.g., per day). Subsequently, the created node plan may be sent to the collaboration planning server 802 as a current node plan (which may also be referred to as an existing node plan) associated with the first node. Furthermore, the monitoring module may monitors whether the product is being produced as planned (i.e., according to schedule).

[0075] When the monitoring module detects a problem that the product is not being produced as planned, the monitoring module may instruct the planning module to perform a replan based on the node condition information and the boundary information associated with the first node. In the case that the planning module is able to replan based on the node condition information and the boundary information (that is, if the replanning is feasible, e.g., able to modify the current node plan based on node condition information to satisfy the boundary information associated with the first node), a modified node plan is created which would then be the new current node plan associated with the first node, thereby addressing or solving the above-mentioned problem. On the other hand, in the case that the planning module is not able to replan based on the node condition information and the boundary information (that is, if the replanning is infeasible, e.g., not able to modify the current node plan based on node condition information to satisfy the boundary information associated with the first node), the arrangement request module may then send a related margin request (e.g., corresponding to the margin information request as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) to the collaboration planning server 802. In various example embodiments, the related margin request may be a query on whether there is margin(s) in the boundary information associated with the first node used by the planning module of the requester planning server 902 for forming a node plan associated with the first node.

[0076] In response to the related margin request, related margin information (e.g., a related margin list, e.g., corresponding to the margin information as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) may be received by the arrangement receive module requester planning server 902 from the collaboration planning server 802, the related margin information comprising one or more margin parameters that may be applied by the requester planning server 902 to modify one or more corresponding boundary parameters in the boundary information for addressing the infeasibility in replanning by the planning module. The planning module may then perform replanning based on the related margin list received to form a new current node plan (e.g., corresponding to the modified supply chain node plan as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) associated with the first node for producing one or more types of products.

[0077] After the planning module has successfully performed replanning based on a margin parameter in the related margin list, the arrangement request module may then send used margin information including the used margin parameter (e.g., corresponding to the applied margin information comprising an applied margin parameter as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) to the collaboration planning server 802.

[0078] FIG. 11 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an example operation flow 1100 of the collaboration planning server 802 according to various example embodiments of the present invention. The collaboration planning server 802 may receive current node plans from the requester planning server 902 and the receiver planner server 906, respectively. Subsequently, the collaboration planning server 802 may analyze each current node plan received to determine whether there exist margin(s) in the current node plan (e.g., corresponding to generating a margin information list (comprising a plurality of candidate margin parameters) associated with the supply chain as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments). The margins determined in the current node plans may then be stored as margin information in the margin information database.

[0079] As described above, the requester planning server 902 associated with the first node may send a related margin request to the collaboration planning server 802. In this regard, the margin sharing module of the collaboration planning server 802 may extract margin(s) related to the related margin request (e.g., extracted based on the boundary information associated with the requester planning server 902) from margin information database and send the margin(s) extracted as related margin information (e.g., a related margin list) to the requester planning server 902 (e.g., corresponding to sending, from the first node, the margin information in response to the margin information request received from the first node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments). [0080] As described above, the requester planning server 902 may send used margin information including the used margin parameter to the collaboration planning server 802 (e.g., corresponding to receiving, from the first node, the margin information in response to the margin information request received from the first node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments). In this regard, the margin sharing module may then send the used margin information received to the individual planning server indicated by the downstream node information associated with the boundary information associated with the used margin parameter in the used margin information. In this example, the downstream node information corresponds to the receiver planning server 906, and thus, the used margin information is sent to the receiver planning server 906. The collaboration planning server 802 may send the used margin information in the form of, or together with, a replan request for the receiver planning server 906 associated with another node (e.g., which may be referred to as a second node herein for reference purpose) of the supply chain to perform a replan based on the used margin information (e.g., corresponding to sending, to a second node of the plurality of nodes, the applied margin information from the first node and a supply chain node replan request, as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments).

[0081] FIG. 12 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an example operation flow 1200 of the receiver planning server 906 associated with the second node according to various example embodiments of the present invention. In the same or similar manner as the requester planning server 902, the planning module of the receiver planning server 906 may create a node plan (e.g., a production or business plan) based on the node condition information and the boundary information associated with the second node. Subsequently, the created node plan may be sent to the collaboration planning server 802 as a current node plan. The monitoring module may monitor whether the product is being produced as planned (i.e., according to schedule).

[0082] As described above, the collaboration planning server 802 may send the used margin information in the form of, or together with, a replan request for the receiver planning server 906 to perform a replan based on the used margin information (e.g., corresponding to the receive, from the supply chain management system, the applied margin information from the first node and the supply chain node replan request, the supply chain node replan request being configured to request the second node to modify the current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information to form the modified supply chain node plan associated with the second node, as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments). In response, the planning module of the receiver planning server 906 may decide to perform replanning based on the used margin information received to form a new current node plan for producing one or more types of products.

[0083] As an illustrative example, FIG. 13 depicts a schematic drawing of an example supply chain 1300 based on which an example method of managing a plurality of nodes thereof may be implemented according to various example embodiments of the present invention. In particular, an example method of managing a plurality of nodes of the example supply chain 1300 shown in FIG. 13 (e.g., corresponding to the corresponding to the method 200 of managing a plurality of nodes as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) will now be described. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that example values of various parameters may be used in relation to the example method for illustration purpose only and the present invention is not limited to such example values.

[0084] In the example supply chain 1300, factory node A purchases material M from material maker node P and uses the material M to produce parts X and parts Y. Subsequently, from factory node A, parts X is shipped to factory node B and parts Y is shipped to factory node C. Factory node B purchases parts X from factory node A and uses parts X to produce product Z for factory node D. Factory node C purchases parts Y from factory node A and uses parts Y to produce product W for factory node E. In the illustrative example, for each node, a node plan for the node is made on a daily basis starting from 28 ^th March.

[0085] FIG. 14A depicts example node condition information (e.g., corresponding to the first node constraint information comprising one or more first node constraint parameters as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments as an example), comprising a plurality of node conditions CAI to CA7 (which may also be referred as node condition parameters, or node constraint parameters) of factory node A for the illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. For example, node condition CAI indicates the daily production capacity of parts X at factory node A, which in this example is 50 units of parts X. Node condition CA2 indicates the daily production capacity of parts Y at factory node A, which in this example is 100 units of parts Y. In the illustrative example, it is assumed that parts X and Y cannot be produced on the same day. Node condition CA3 indicates that two units of material M is consumed to produce one unit of parts X. Node condition CA4 indicates that one unit of material M is consumed to produce one unit of parts Y. Node conditions CA5, 6 and 7 indicate the inventory level of parts X, parts Y and material M, respectively, at the node plan start date (i.e., 28 ^th March). [0086] For the illustrative example, FIG. 14B depicts example node condition information (e.g., corresponding to the second node constraint information comprising one or more second node constraint parameters as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments as an example), comprising a plurality of node conditions CB1 to CB4, of factory node B, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. For example, node condition CB1 indicates the daily production capacity of product Z at factory node B, which in this example is 50 units of product Z. Node condition CB2 indicates that one unit of material X is consumed to produce one unit of product Z. Node conditions CB3 and CB4 indicate the inventory level of parts X and product Z, respectively, at the node plan start date (i.e., 28 ^th March).

[0087] FIG. 14C depicts example node condition information, comprising a plurality of node conditions CC1 to CC4, of factory node C for the illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. For example, node condition CC1 indicates the daily production capacity of product W at factory node C, which in this example is 50 units of product W. Node condition CC2 indicates that one unit of material Y is consumed to produce one unit of product W. Node conditions CC3 and CC4 indicate the inventory level of parts Y and product W, respectively, at the node plan start date (i.e., 28 ^th March).

[0088] FIG. 15 depicts example boundary information for the illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. For example, FIG. 15 depicts example boundary information, comprising boundary parameters BP1, BAI and BA2 associated with factory node A (e.g., corresponding to the first link constraint information associated with the first node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments as an example), example boundary information, boundary parameters BAI and BB1 (e.g., corresponding to the second link constraint information associated with the second node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments as an example) associated with factory node B, and example boundary information, comprising boundary parameters BA2 and BC1, associated with factory node C. Accordingly, boundary information associated with a node comprises boundary parameters relating to input(s) (e.g., resource(s) received) and output(s) (e.g., product(s) outputted) of the node. Furthermore, as can be seen from FIG. 13, each boundary parameter is associated with a supply link connecting two nodes of the supply chain 1300.

[0089] For example, each boundary parameter associated with a supply link may have associated therewith product information indicating the product to be supplied in the supply link, quantity information (or amount information) indicating the number of units of the product to be supplied in the supply link, downstream node information (or destination information) indicating the node that the product is to be supplied to, and schedule information (or deadline or delivery date information) indicating the date and/or time that the indicated number of units of the product is to be supplied. For example, boundary parameter BP1 indicates the delivery of material M from material maker node P to factory node A. In particular, boundary parameter BP1 indicates that a quantity of 500 units of material M is scheduled to be sent on 28 ^th March from material maker node P to factory node A. Boundary parameter BAI indicates that a quantity of 100 units of parts X is scheduled to be sent on 30 ^th March from factory node A to factory node B. Boundary parameter BA2 indicates that a quantity of 100 units of parts Y is scheduled to be sent on 30 ^th March from factory node A to factory node C. Boundary parameter BB 1 indicates that a quantity of 200 units of product Z is scheduled to be sent on 31 ^th March from factory node B to factory node D. Boundary parameter BC1 indicates that a quantity of 200 units of product W is scheduled to be sent on 1 ^st April from factory node C to factory node E. In the illustrative example, taking into account transportation time, the resources (e.g., materials or parts) sent from a node can be used from the next day at the destination node. For example, according to boundary parameter BP1, material M sent from material maker P on 28 ^th March can be used from 29 ^th March at the factory node A.

[0090] FIG. 16A depicts example node plan information (e.g., corresponding to the current supply chain node plan associated with the first node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments as an example), comprising a plurality of node plan parameters PAI to PA5, of factory node A for the illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. The node plan information of factory node A may be formed by the planning module of the corresponding individual planning server based on node condition information (e.g., see FIG. 14 A) and boundary information (e.g., boundary parameters BP1, BAI and BA2 shown in FIG. 15) associated with factory node A, as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments. In various example embodiments, the node plan (e.g., production plan) may formed using simple rules. By way of an example only and without limitation, check the boundary parameter(s) relating to inventory level to determine if the inventory level of a product meets the required quantity of the product to be sent. If the inventory level of the product is insufficient, produce the product for the day. However, if the inventory level of materials required for the product is less than the daily consumption to produce the product, the product may then not be produced. In this regard, if there is not sufficient material to product a particular product, the factory may instead produce another product if there is sufficient materials to make that product.

[0091] For example, applying the above-mentioned planning technique to form a production plan for factory node A, on 28 ^th March, there are two associated boundary parameters BAI and BA2 for which the inventory level for parts X and Y at the factory node A did not meet the requirements (i.e., are insufficient). Both of these parts X and Y have a delivery date of 30 ^th March, so either parts can be produced first. For example, if parts X is produced on 28 ^th March, 50 units of parts X are produced. As a result, the production of parts X increases the inventory level of parts X from 0 to 50 units and decreases the inventory level of material M from 100 to 0 units. Node plan parameter PAI in FIG. 16A shows this result.

[0092] Next, consider the node production plan for 29 ^th March. The inventory level of material M becomes 0 due to the production of parts X on 28 ^th March, but since according to boundary parameter BP1, material maker P sends 500 units of materials M to factory node A on 28 ^th March, the inventory level of the material M is 500 at the start of production on 29 ^th March. Therefore, factory node A may continue to produce parts X on 29 ^th March, and thus produces another 50 units of parts X on 29 ^th March. As a result, as shown in node plan parameter PA2 in FIG. 16A, on 29 ^th March, the inventory level of parts X becomes 100 units, and the inventory level of material M decreases by 100 units, namely, from 500 to 400 units.

[0093] Since the inventory level of parts X required for boundary parameter BAI has been satisfied by the production of parts X on 29 ^th March, the production of parts Y for boundary parameter BA2 may start on 30 ^th March. Accordingly, 100 units of parts Y may be produced on 30 ^th March. At the end of 30 ^th March, 100 units of parts X and 100 units of parts Y are schedule to be shipped. Therefore, the inventory level of parts X and Y will be 0 at the end of 30 ^th March. The inventory level of material M will also be reduced by 100 units to 300 units due to the product of Y, as shown in node plan parameter PA3. There is then no longer any outstanding boundary parameters to be satisfied, and thus, nothing will be produced on 31 ^st March and 1 ^st April as shown in node plan parameters PA4 and PA5.

[0094] It will be understood by a person skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to forming node plan information according to the above-described example method, and the node plan information may be formed based on node condition information and boundary information according to any suitable or appropriate planning method existing or known in the art. For example, it will be understood by a person skilled in the art that node plan information may be formed based on constraint programming using various parameters such as the node condition information and the boundary information, and a variety of types of constraint programming techniques are known in the art and thus need not be described herein for clarity and conciseness. For example, constraint programming may involve linear programming problems and may be solved by linear programming solver in a manner known in the art. For example, various commercial and non-commercial linear programming solvers may be applied that output a set of variables that minimize one or more objective functions based on a combination of constraint expressions inputted thereto. As an example, a basic solution known as the simplex method may be applied as a linear programming solver. For example, if it is determined that planning (or replanning) based on node condition information (or modified node condition information) and boundary information (or modified boundary information) is not possible (e.g., not able to produce or modify a node plan based on node condition information to satisfy the boundary information), then it may be determined that the planning (or replanning) is infeasible. On the other hand, if it is determined that planning (or replanning) based on node condition information (or modified node condition information) and boundary information (or modified boundary information) is possible, then it may be determined that the planning (or replanning) is feasible and the corresponding node plan informing may then be formed.

[0095] FIG. 16B depicts example node plan information (e.g., corresponding to the current supply chain node plan associated with the second node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments as an example), comprising a plurality of node plan parameters PB1 to PB5, of factory node B for the illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. Similar to the node planning approach for factory node A, the node plan information of factory node B may be formed by the planning module of the corresponding individual planning server based on node condition information (e.g., see FIG. 14B) and boundary information (e.g., boundary parameters BAI and BB1 shown in FIG. 15) associated with factory node B, as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments. The inventory level of product Z is 0 at the start of the node plan on 28 ^th March. For example, if 50 units of product Z are produced every day for 4 consecutive days, the required amount of 200 units of product Z for boundary parameter BB 1 will be met at the end of 31 ^st March. At the end of 30 ^th March, the inventory level of parts X will be 0, but since 100 units of parts X will be delivered from factory node A according to boundary parameter BAI on that day, production on 31 ^st March will also be possible. [0096] FIG. 16C depicts example node plan information, comprising a plurality of node plan parameters PCI to PC5, of factory node C for the illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. Similar to the node planning approach for factory nodes A and B, the node plan information of factory node C may be formed by the planning module of the corresponding individual planning server based on node condition information (e.g., see FIG. 14C) and boundary information (e.g., boundary parameters BA2 and BC1 shown in FIG. 15) associated with factory node C, as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments. The inventory level of product W is 0 at the start of the node plan on 28 ^th March. If 50 units of product W are produced every day for 4 consecutive days, the required amount of 200 units of product W for boundary parameter BC1 will be met at the end of 31 ^st March. In this regard, since the delivery date of product W for boundary parameter BC1 is 1 ^st April, there is a margin of one day in relation to the delivery of product W from factory node C to factory node E.

[0097] FIG. 17 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of margin analysis with respect to a previous stage performed by the margin analysis module according to various example embodiments of the present invention. First, for a node (e.g., factory node A) and for each boundary parameter associated with the node (e.g., boundary parameters BP1, BAI and BA2), delay the delivery schedule by a time period, such as one day. For example, for factory node A, the boundary parameters associated with factory node A are boundary parameter BP1 (destination node is factory node A), boundary parameter BAI (destination node is factory node B) and boundary parameter BA2 (destination node is factory node C). Then, for each of the boundary parameters, determine whether it is feasible for the destination node indicated in the boundary parameter to accommodate the one day delay in receiving the product, that is, whether it is feasible for the destination node to replan successfully (e.g., still able to satisfy its boundary conditions) based on the one day delay in receiving the product. For example, for boundary parameter BP1, determine whether it is feasible for factory node A to replan if the delivery date indicated in boundary parameter BP1 is delayed by one day to 29 ^th March. In this case, since the inventory level of material M would be exhausted at the end of 28 ^th March, factory node A would not be able to produce on 29 ^th March to satisfy its boundary parameters (in particular, outgoing boundary parameters BAI and BA2). Therefore, it is not feasible for factory node A to replan plan if the delivery date indicated in boundary parameter BP1 is delayed by one day to 29 ^th March. Similarly, at factory node B, if the delivery schedule of parts X according to boundary parameter BAI is delayed by one day to 31 ^st March, production would not be possible on 31 ^st March, and the delivery date of boundary parameter BB 1 would not be met. Therefore, it is not feasible for factory node B to replan plan if the delivery date indicated in boundary parameter BAI is delayed by one day to 31 ^st March. On the other hand, at factory node C, even if the delivery schedule according to boundary parameter BA2 is delayed by one day to 31 ^st March, production would be stopped on 31 ^st March and instead would commence on 1 ^st April. In this regard, product W can be sent in time by the end of 1 ^st April. Therefore, it is feasible for factory node C to replan if the delivery date indicated in boundary parameter BA2 is delayed by one day to 31 ^st March. This production replan at factory node C, taking into account the above-mentioned margin at factory node C, results in a modified node plan as shown in FIG. 18B.

[0098] Accordingly, in various example embodiments, if it is feasible for a node to replan to satisfy its boundary parameters even if the delivery schedule according to an inbound boundary parameter is delayed by a time period, e.g., by one day, that inbound boundary parameter may be registered as having a margin corresponding to the time period, e.g., a margin of one day. In this illustrative example, it is determined that boundary parameter BA2 relating to the delivery of parts Y to factory node C has a one-day delay margin and is registered as such accordingly.

[0099] In various example embodiments, for boundary parameters whereby it is determined that it is infeasible for the destination node to replan if the delivery schedule is delayed, the delivery quantity is reduced by a quantity amount, such as by the daily production amount of the source node, and then determine whether it is feasible for the destination node to replan if the delivery quantity indicated in boundary parameter is reduced by the quantity amount but still sent on the delivery date as indicated in the boundary parameter. For example, in the case of boundary parameter BAI, since the daily production amount of parts X at factory node A is 50 units, the delivery quantity of parts X to factory node B may be reduced from 100 units to 50 units. Then, for boundary parameter BAI, determine whether it is feasible for factory node B to replan if the delivery quantity of parts X to factory node B is reduced to 50 units but not delayed (i.e., sent on 30 ^th March). For example, if 50 units of parts X are sent on 30 ^th March, production of product Z on 31 ^st March would be possible, and at the end of 31 ^st March, factory node B would have 200 units of product Z required for delivery according to boundary parameter BB1. This production replan at factory node B, taking into account the quantity reduction margin at factory node B, results in a modified node plan as shown in FIG. 18 A. [00100] Accordingly, in various example embodiments, if it is feasible for a node to replan to satisfy its boundary parameters even if the delivery quantity according to an inbound boundary parameter is reduced by a quantity amount, such as by a quantity amount corresponding to the above-mentioned one-day production capacity, the inbound boundary parameter may be registered as having a margin corresponding to that quantity amount. In this illustrative example, it is determined that boundary parameter BAI relating to the delivery of parts X to factory node B has a quantity reduction margin of the above-mentioned quantity amount and is registered as such accordingly.

[00101] FIG. 19 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of margin analysis with respect to a subsequent stage performed by the margin analysis module according to various example embodiments of the present invention. For the margin analysis with respect to the subsequent stage, contrary to the margin analysis with respect to the previous stage described with reference to FIG. 17, the margin analysis module determines whether the delivery schedule at a node in the supply chain can be advanced (brought forward), for example, in the case of a subsequent node having insufficient materials and require delivery of materials sooner than scheduled.

[00102] First, for a node (e.g., factory node B) and for each outbound boundary parameter associated with the node (e.g., boundary parameter BB 1 for factory node B), adjust the delivery date forward by a time period (e.g., one day) for the outbound boundary parameter. For example, for factory node B and its outbound boundary parameter BB1, determine whether it is feasible for the node to accommodate the one day advancement in sending product Z, that is, whether it is feasible for the factory node B to replan successfully (e.g., still able to satisfy its boundary parameters) based on the one day advancement in sending product Z. For example, for boundary parameter BB 1, determine whether it is feasible for factory node B to replan if the delivery date for product Z indicated in boundary parameter BB 1 is advanced by one day to 30 ^th March. In this case, it is determined that factory node B cannot have 200 units of product Z by 30 ^th March, and thus, the delivery date of product Z cannot be advanced by one day, and it is not feasible for factory node B to replan to accommodate the one day advancement in sending product Z.

[00103] For example, for factory node C and its outbound boundary parameter BC1, determine whether it is feasible for the node to accommodate the one day advancement in sending product W, that is, whether it is feasible for the factory node C to replan successfully (e.g., still able to satisfy its boundary parameters) based on the one day advancement in sending product W. In this case, it is determined that even if the delivery of product W according to boundary parameter BC1 is advanced by one day to 31 ^st March, at the end of 31 ^st March, there would be 200 units of product W, and thus, it is feasible for factory node C to change the delivery date of product W to 31 ^st March. This production replan at factory node C, taking into account the one-day delivery date advancement margin at factory node C, results in a modified node plan as shown in FIG. 20B.

[00104] Accordingly, in various example embodiments, if it is feasible for a node to replan to satisfy its boundary parameters even if the delivery date according to an outbound boundary parameter is advanced by a time period, such as one day, the outbound parameter may be registered as having a margin to accept early delivery corresponding to that time period. In this illustrative example, it is determined that boundary parameter BC1 in relation to the delivery of product W to factory node E has a one-day advancement margin and is registered as such accordingly.

[00105] In various example embodiments, similar to the margin analysis with respect to the previous stage described with reference to FIG. 17, for boundary parameters whereby it is determined that it is infeasible for the source node to replan if the delivery schedule is advanced for the quantity indicated, the delivery quantity may be reduced by a quantity amount, such as by the daily production amount of the source node, and then determine whether it is feasible for the source node to replan if the delivery schedule is advanced and the delivery quantity indicated in boundary parameter is reduced by the quantity amount.

[00106] For example, in the case of boundary parameter BB1, since the daily production amount of product Z at factory node B is 50 units, the delivery quantity may be reduced from 200 units to 150 units. Then, for boundary parameter BB1, determine whether it is feasible for factory node B to replan if the delivery date of product Z is advanced by one day to 30 ^th March and the delivery quantity of product Z to factory node D is reduced to 150 units. In this regard, at the end of 30 ^th March, there would be 150 units of product Z, and thus, it is possible for factory node B to change the delivery date of product Z to 30 ^th March by reducing delivery quantity of product Z to 150 units. This production replan at factory node B, taking into account the delivery date advancement and quantity reduction margin at factory node B, results in a modified node plan as shown in FIG. 20 A.

[00107] Accordingly, in various example embodiments, if it is feasible for a node to replan to satisfy its boundary parameters even if the delivery date according to an outbound boundary parameter is advanced by one day by reducing delivery quantity by a certain amount, such as by the one-day production capacity, the outbound boundary parameter may be registered as having a margin to accept early delivery for one day albeit for a reduced quantity. In this illustrative example, it is determined that boundary parameter BB1 in relation to the delivery of product Z to factory node D has a margin to accept early delivery by one day with reducing delivery amount to 150 and is registered as such accordingly.

[00108] FIG. 21 depicts an example margin information (e.g., corresponding to the margin information list, comprising a plurality of candidate margin parameters, associated with the supply chain as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) registered by margin analysis function in the illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. As shown, the example margin information comprises a plurality of margin parameters. Each margin parameter may have associated therein related boundary information, source node information (or upstream node information), destination node information (or downstream node information), product information, delivery quantity information, delivery date information, and margin value(s) (e.g., time period and/or quantity amount). For example, margin parameter Ml indicates that boundary parameter BAI is originally scheduled to deliver 100 units of parts X from factory node A to factory node B on 30 ^th March, but has a margin to reduce the quantity amount to 50 units if needed (i.e., factory node B is able to accommodate this reduced quantity amount if needed). Margin parameter M2 indicates that boundary parameter BA2 is originally scheduled to deliver 100 units of parts Y from factory node A to factory node C on 30 ^th March, but has a margin to delay the delivery date by one day to 31 ^st March if needed (i.e., factory node C is able to accommodate this delivery delay of parts Y if needed). Margin parameter M3 indicates that boundary parameter BB1 is originally scheduled to deliver 200 units of product Z from factory node B to factory node D on 31 ^st March, but factory node B is able to deliver product Z in advance by one day to 30 ^th March by reducing the delivery quantity to 150 units. Margin parameter M4 indicates that boundary parameter BC1 is originally scheduled to deliver 200 units of product W from factory node C to factory node E on 1 ^st April, but factory node C is able to deliver product W in advance by one day to 31 ^st March if needed.

[00109] FIG. 22 depicts an example delayed plan information of factory node A, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. At the end of 28 ^th March, it was confirmed that the delivery of material M indicated by boundary parameter BP1 would be delayed by one day. At this time, the inventory level of material M at factory node A is 0 and thus, production on 29 ^th March is not possible. In that case, the production on 30 ^th March alone cannot meet both the boundary parameter BAI requirement of 100 units of parts X and the boundary parameter BA2 requirement of 100 units of parts Y. That is, planning is infeasible. [00110] FIG. 23 depicts an example related margin request (e.g., corresponding to the margin information request sent by the first node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) made by factory node A, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. As described hereinbefore, factory node A may send a related margin request to the collaboration planning server 802 as a requester planning server 902 when its planning becomes infeasible. In various example embodiments, the related margin request may comprise the node identity information (e.g., factory node A) and the date of the request (e.g., 29 ^th March). [00111] FIG. 24 depicts an example related margin list (e.g., corresponding to the margin information sent by the supply chain management system 300 as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments) sent by the collaboration planning server 802 to the requester planning server 902 (e.g., factory node A), according to various example embodiments of the present invention. As described hereinbefore, the margin sharing module of the collaboration planning server 902 may receive a related margin request, and extracts the margin parameter(s) having source node information matching node identity information included in the related margin request and having a valid delivery date (e.g., not yet expired). The extracted margin parameter(s) may be included in a related margin list such as shown in FIG. 24. In the illustrative example, the requester planning server that sent the related margin request is factory node A and the date of the request is 29 ^th March 29, and thus, margin parameters MAI and MA2 are extracted from the margin list database and included in the related margin list.

[00112] FIG. 25 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of re-planning using the related margin list received by the requester planning server 902, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. For example, the planning module of the requester planning server 902 may retrieve the margin parameter(s) included in the related margin list one by one. Then, the planning module may determine whether it is be feasible to replan based on the margin parameter. For example, the planning module may determine if replanning based on margin parameter MAI becomes feasible. In this case, replanning based on margin parameter MAI becomes feasible as shown in FIG. 26. For example, if the replanning becomes feasible and replanned based on margin parameter MAI, the used margin (or applied margin) (in this case, margin parameter MAI) may then be sent to the collaboration planning server 802 as used margin information (or applied margin information) (e.g., corresponding to the applied margin information sent by the first node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments). In this regard, FIG. 26 depicts an example updated node plan information of factory node A using margin parameter MAI. In particular, considering the margin parameter MAI, the delivery quantity of parts X according to boundary parameter BAI has been reduced to 50 units. As a result, it becomes feasible to form a node plan at factory node A even though the production of parts X on 29 ^th March becomes impossible. FIG. 27 depicts an example used margin information, according to various example embodiments of the present invention.

[00113] FIG. 28 depicts an example updated node plan information of factory node B, taking into account the used margin, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. As described hereinbefore, the margin sharing module of the collaboration planning server 902 may request the destination node to replan based on the used margin information. In this illustrative example, margin parameter MAI was used, and factory node B is the destination node and thus function as a receiver planning server 906. The planning module of factory node B may thus replan based on the updated boundary information included in the margin parameter MAI. In this illustrative example, the delivery amount of parts X according to BAI is reduced to 50 units and replan. Since it is determined in advance that it is a suitable margin, this reduction in the delivery amount of parts X according to BAI does not affect the delivery of product Z by factory node B.

[00114] FIG. 29 depicts an example replan request message to factory node B for the illustrative example, according to various example embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, the collaboration planning server 902 may notify factory node B that its inbound boundary parameter has changed via the example replan request message. In various example embodiments, the collaboration planning server 902 may provide an option for factory node B to decide whether to accept or reject the change, as well as providing an incentive as a reward for factory node B to accept the change (e.g., corresponding the supply chain node replan request comprises an option for the second node to decide whether to accept the request to modify the current supply node plan associated with the second node based on the applied margin information, as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments).

[00115] FIG. 30 depicts a schematic drawing of a supply chain system 3000 with example components/modules and interconnections (data flow) shown, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention, whereby the cause of the infeasibility in forming a node plan at the requester planning server 3002 is determined or identified. In particular, the supply chain system 3000 is the same as the supply chain system 800 shown in FIG. 9 except the addition of a cause analysis module for performing a cause analysis function to identify the cause of the infeasibility in forming a node plan at the requester planning server 3002, and related or corresponding modules (or processes). For example, since it is specified which margin is required before the arrangement request module to be executed, the margin information exchange between the requester planning server and the collaboration planning server may also be different.

[00116] FIG. 31 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of the requester planning server 3002 associated with a node (e.g., which may be referred to as the first node for reference purpose) of the supply chain, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention. The operation flow of the requester planning server 3002 may be the same as the requester planning server 902 as described with reference to FIG. 9 except the operations when it is determined that node planning is infeasible. In particular, if the node plan is determined to be infeasible, the added cause analysis module analyzes which boundary information condition(s) associated with the first node may be relaxed or modified to make the node plan feasible. The cause analysis module may then list the analyzed causes identified and the arrangement request module may then send them to the collaboration planning server 3004 as a list of margins (e.g., which may be referred to as potential margin parameters herein, such as the first potential margin parameter as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments as an example) for required for replanning. Then, if one or more margins in the list exist in the margin list information (e.g., corresponds to one or more margin parameters in the margin list information) managed by the collaboration planning server 3004, the collaboration planning server 3004 may return a matched margin parameter as requested margin information for replan to the arrangement receive module of the requester planning server 3002. The planning module of the requester planning server 3002 may then use the margin parameter to replan to produce a new node plan associated with the first node. Thereafter, the arrangement request module may send the used margin information to the collaboration planning server 3006 in the same manner as the requester planning server 902 described with reference to FIG. 9.

[00117] FIG. 32 depicts a schematic flow diagram of an operation flow of the collaboration planning server 3004, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention. The operation flow of the collaboration planning server 3004 may be the same as the collaboration planning server 802 as described with reference to FIG. 9 except the operations relating to analyzing and saving margins by the margin analysis module. In particular, when the margin sharing module receives the list of margins required for replan, it determines if one or more margin parameters (e.g., which may be referred to as potential margin parameters) in the list corresponds to one or more margin parameters (e.g., which may be referred to as potential margin parameters) in the margin information stored by the collaboration planning server 3004. If there is a match, one or more matched margin parameters may be returned to the requester planning server 3002 as requested margin information for replan. The operations after the margin sharing module receives the used margin information from the requester planning server 3002 is the same as the collaboration planning server 802 as described with reference to FIG. 9.

[00118] FIG. 33 depicts an operation flow of the cause analysis module, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention. In various second example embodiments, FIGs. 13 to 22 as described hereinbefore may also apply in the same or corresponding manner. For example, referring to FIG. 22, when the delivery date of material M of boundary information BP1 is delayed and the inventory level of material M becomes 0, and the node plan becomes infeasible, according to various second example embodiments, the cause analysis module analyzes the cause. For example, for boundary information relating to delivery from factory node A, the following operations may be performed to determine the cause. First, delay the delivery of the boundary information by a time period (e.g., one day) and determine if the node plan becomes feasible. If the node plan becomes feasible, add the corresponding margin parameter to the list of margins for replan. If the node plan does not become feasible, the delivery date may be delayed by another time period (e.g., another day) and repeated as appropriate. For example, the delivery date for boundary information BAI is 30 ^th March, but this would be delayed by one day to 31 ^st March. Then, even if factory node A does not produce on 29 ^th March as shown in FIG. 34A, the node plan would be feasible by producing parts Y on 30 ^th March and parts X on 31 ^st March. Therefore, the cause analysis module may add the corresponding margin parameter to the list of margins for replan as it can be feasible if the delivery date of boundary information BAI is delayed by one day. Next, the delivery date for boundary information BA2 is also 30 ^th March, but this would be delayed by one day to 31 ^st March. Then, even if factory node A does not produce on 29 ^th March as shown in FIG. 34B, the node plan would be feasible by producing parts X on 30 ^th March and parts Y on 31 ^st March. Therefore, the cause analysis function adds the corresponding margin parameter to the list of margins for replan as it can be feasible if the delivery date of boundary information BA2 is delayed by one day. FIG. 35 depicts an example list of margins (potential margin parameters) for replan created in this manner. Accordingly, FIG. 34A depicts an example of feasible node plan information of factory node A based on delivery delay to factory node B, and FIG. 34B depicts an example feasible node plan information of factory node A based on delivery delay to factory node C.

[00119] FIG. 36 depicts an example requested margin for replan returned by margin sharing module, according to various second example embodiments of the present invention. The margin sharing module that receives the list in FIG. 35 may determine whether there is a margin parameter in list of margins required for replan that corresponds to (e.g., matches) a margin parameter in the margin list information managed by the collaboration planning server 3004. As a result, margin parameter MA2 matches margin parameter RA2, so margin parameter MA2 is returned to the requester planning server 3002 as a requested margin for replan (e.g., corresponding to sending, to the first node, the margin information in response to the margin information request as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments). The planning module of the requester planning module 3002 that received the requested margin for replan in FIG. 36 uses margin parameter MA2 to form the same plan as in FIG. 34B. Then, margin parameter MA2 is sent to the collaboration planning server 3004 as used margin information (e.g., corresponding to the applied margin information sent by the first node as described hereinbefore according to various embodiments). Subsequently, the margin sharing module that received the used margin information sends a replanning request to factory node C, which is the delivery destination of margin parameter MA2 (associated with boundary parameter BA2). After receiving the replanning request, the planning module of factory node C may replan and form a modified node plan, taking into account the used margin information, similar to FIG. 20B.

[00120] As an illustrative example and without limitation, the method of managing a plurality of nodes of a supply chain according to various example embodiments may be applied to a marketplace service for the manufacturing industry.

[00121] While embodiments of the invention have been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The scope of the invention is thus indicated by the appended claims and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced.