BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to methods, systems and apparatus for interchanging information and/or facilitating transactions in a manufacturing community with manufacturing community members that comprise product brand owners or managers and manufacturing organizations. More specifically it relates to methods, systems and apparatus for performing such tasks or functions automatically or semi-automatically.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] A “product brand” as the term is used herein refers broadly to a product to be manufactured or otherwise processed. The product brand may be a final product, an intermediate, a processed raw material, etc. Product brands, for example, may comprise a material manufactured by a batch chemical process. Product brands as they relate to the presently preferred embodiments and methods of the invention as disclosed herein preferably comprise batch products, or products manufactured by batch processes. The product brands may comprise chemical products, food products, agricultural products, synthetics such as plastics, pharmaceutical products, etc. The product brands may be for commercial or industrial use. It should be noted that the product brand need not necessarily be associate with a trademark. The term product brand is used merely to identify a particular product or product type, and to designate its association with a product brand manager or mangers.

[0005] Product brands typically although not exclusively are manufactured or processed as part of what is commonly referred to as the process industry. The process industry as the term is commonly understood includes the segments of industry that process bulk materials by processing input materials, normally in a bulk manner, to change their physical and/or chemical state, typically in the course of manufacturing, re-manufacturing, or otherwise processing them into products. Industrial processes within this industry often can be segregated into one of three categories, i.e., continuous operations, batch operations and discrete operations. Batch operations normally are required when the products being manufactured, for example, either: (1) do not justify a dedicated, continuous operation, (2) are not capable of being produced by a continuous operation, or (3) pose an unreasonable risk if the batch is fouled or lost, etc. Batch type operations of the second category (i.e., those which are incapable of continuous operation) which do not fall within the first category (those that do justify a dedicated continuous operation) typically will have a dedicated production line that operates in a semi-continuous manner. Products that fall into the first category create a unique and very significant sector in the process industry. The term “batch process” typically refers to processes in the first category (e.g., processes that do not justify a continuous operation).

[0006] Product brands usually are controlled and managed by what is referred to herein as a “product brand manager.” A product brand manager as the term is used herein refers broadly to an individual, corporation, business entity or other entity, or groups thereof that has responsibility for, control of, or otherwise manages the product brand. This may and often does comprise the owner or owners of the product brand, although this is not necessarily required. The product brand manager may, for example, comprise organizations or entities that own, develop, acquire, manage, or otherwise are responsible for product brand or brands. A product development organization would be an example.

[0007] Historically, the product brand manager has had its own facilities for manufacturing its own product brands. It has not been uncommon for a product brand manager to acquire materials or other manufacturing inputs from other parties, or to enlist the assistance of third parties in part of the manufacturing process, but the overall manufacturing process typically has been controlled, managed and for the most part undertaken by the product brand manager.

[0008] In recent years, there has been a global trend toward a separation of product brand management or ownership and the means of manufacturing the product brand. This has been accompanied by a trend toward the use by product brand managers of manufacturing organizations that are independent of the product brand managers, but which can be enlisted, for example, under contract, to manufacture the product brand for the product brand manager.

[0009] A manufacturing organization as the term is used herein refers broadly to an organization, business, activity, or other entity that undertakes or is capable of undertaking a manufacturing or product processing activity. Manufacture as the term is used herein refers not only to manufacturing per se, but also generally to any task of handling, treating or processing a thing to transform it from one state to another, generally with the ultimate objective of reselling, redistributing or reusing it as a product. As noted above, product is used in a general sense to include not only final or end-use products, but intermediates or processed materials as well.

[0010] This trend toward separation of product brand managers and manufacturing organizations has brought to bear a number of significant advantages for the product brand managers, the manufacturing organizations, and for the consuming public. Companies can specialize in what they do best and most efficiently. The product brand managers typically benefit most directly by avoiding the requirement to establish, maintain and operate the facilities necessary to manufacture the product brands. For example, companies that specialize in the development of product brands do not need to burden themselves with specializing in manufacturing the product brands they develop. Research groups that develop product often have a very different set of skills and assets than manufacturing organizations which specialize in manufacturing. Additionally, research groups do not need to burden themselves with developing product brands that are compatible with the specific manufacturing capabilities their company possesses.

[0011] The manufacturing organizations benefit by the additional business obtained from the product brand managers, and from the more complete and efficient utilization of their manufacturing capacity. Manufacturing organizations, for example, typically have multiple sites or plants at which they can manufacture products. From time to time these various sites or plants may not be fully utilized. By contracting with product brand owners, these manufacturing organizations may be able to adjust or modify production to utilize otherwise idle time so that its sites are fully utilized.

[0012] The trend toward the enlistment of manufacturing organizations also has led to the establishment of independent manufacturing organizations wherein the entire organization is established specifically to manufacture a variety of products under contract, and often under short term to intermediate term contracts as opposed to long term contracts. Manufacturing organizations often can better utilize equipment and processes, and, for example, can afford to invest in a particular item of equipment and spread the costs over multiple users where a single user could not justify the cost of the equipment for such a limited use.

[0013] Consumers have benefited from these arrangements, for example, through a greater availability of manufacturing resources and correspondingly greater availability of resulting products. Lower prices also have resulted.

[0014] The trend toward a global contract manufacturing community, however, also presents significant challenges. Along with the added potential flexibility of this community comes the increased need for improved methods of communicating information throughout this community. Communication channels generally are no longer within a single organization, where the manufacturing segment of the organization can be kept appraised of the product brands being developed by the research segment of the organization and the manufacturing requirements of the product brands in development. Instead, communication of the manufacturing process requirements for a newly developed product brand in a contract manufacturing community generally may not occur until the product brand is fully developed and ready for production. This may be due in part to the product brand owner's or manager's need to protect the intellectual property associated with the product brand. Communication of the product brand information often poses a risk of that information being compromised or misappropriated. If the product brand manager wishes to contact a number of manufacturing organizations to inquire about the possibility of enlisting them undertake the manufacture, this typically will result in this sensitive information being placed in the hands of an actual or potential competitor.

[0015] An additional challenge imposed on the product brand owners or managers in a contract manufacturing community environment is the need to evaluate a number of manufacturing organizations to effectively select the one that is best suited to manufacture the product brand. Such evaluation often involves obtaining a substantial amount of information about a number of manufacturing organizations. The task of collecting this information, evaluating it, etc., can be very time consuming and costly. Particularly where the product brand involves a new product or a new release, there often is substantial advantage in being first to the market. In such instances, it is usually advantageous to be able to collect this information, evaluate it, and make a selection quickly. Limitations imposed by security often restrict this process.

[0016] In collecting such information, the manufacturing organizations also have their own requirements of confidentiality, and typically are reluctant or unwilling to provide the necessary detail, or are willing to disclose it only under tight controls.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for facilitating transactions between product brand managers and manufacturing organizations.

[0018] Another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for facilitating such transactions so they can occur quickly relative to commercially known methods.

[0019] Another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for facilitating such transactions so they can occur securely.

[0020] Still another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for facilitating such transactions with reduced human intervention.

[0021] Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description, which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0022] To achieve the foregoing objects, and in accordance with the purposes of the invention as embodied and broadly described in this document, a method is provided for facilitating transactions between a product brand manager and manufacturing organizations using a transactional computer system. The product brand manager has a product brand and product brand information comprising information for manufacturing the product brand, and there is manufacturing organization information for each of the manufacturing organizations comprising the manufacturing process capabilities of the respective manufacturing organization.

[0023] The method according to this aspect of the invention comprises communicating the product brand information from the product brand manager to the transactional computer system, and communicating the manufacturing organization information for the manufacturing organizations from the manufacturing organizations to the transactional computer system. The method also comprises using the transactional computer system to process the product brand information and the manufacturing organization information to select at least one candidate manufacturing organization from the manufacturing organizations and to generate selection information regarding the at least one candidate manufacturing organization. The selection comprises using the transactional computer system to compare the product brand information to the manufacturing organization information. The method further comprises using the transactional computer system to communicate the selection information to the product brand manager.

[0024] In accordance with this aspect of the invention, it is desirable although optional that as much of the process as is practicable be carried out by computers or like machines with minimal human intervention. Accordingly, the communicating of the product brand information from the product brand manager to the transactional computer system preferably is performed without human intervention at the transactional computer system. The communicating of the manufacturing organization information for the manufacturing organizations from the manufacturing organizations to the transactional computer system also preferably is performed without human intervention at the transactional computer system.

[0025] In addition, it is preferred that the using of the transactional computer system to process the product brand information and the manufacturing organization information to select at least one candidate manufacturing organization from the manufacturing organizations and to generate selection information regarding the at least one candidate manufacturing organization is performed without human intervention at the transactional computer system.

[0026] It is also preferred that, the use of the transactional computer system to compare the product brand information to the manufacturing organization information and the use of the transactional computer system to communicate the selection information to the product brand manager are performed without human intervention at the transactional computer system.

[0027] The product brand manager preferably comprises a product brand manager computer and the transactional computer system is operatively coupled to the product brand computer to communicate the product brand information from the product brand computer and to communicate the selection information to the product brand computer. Similarly, it is preferred that each of the manufacturing organizations comprises a manufacturing organization computer and the transactional computer system is operatively coupled to each of the manufacturing organization computers to receive the manufacturing organization information from the manufacturing organization computers. As noted above, it is also preferred that the transactional computer system receives the product brand information and the manufacturing organization information from the product brand manager computer and the manufacturing organization computer respectively without human intervention at the transactional computer system and automatically selects the at least one candidate manufacturing organization without human intervention at the transactional computer system, and that the transactional computer system generates the selection information and communicates to the product brand manager without human intervention.

[0028] The transactional computer system preferably comprises at least one computer operatively coupled to a network and/or a local area network. It preferably comprises a plurality of computers and a distributed database. It may also comprise a wide area network.

[0029] The product brand manager may comprise an owner of the product brand, a product development organization, a product brand manager, or other entity responsible for the product brand and/or its production, distribution and/or the like.

[0030] The product brand in the preferred implementation comprises a material manufactured by a batch chemical process.

[0031] The product brand information communication may comprise communicating the product brand information to comprise a general recipe. It also may comprise pricing information, schedule information, delivery information, quality information, and/or other information pertaining to the product brand. The product brand information communicating may comprise communicating the product brand information in a general recipe format, or otherwise in a normalized format.

[0032] The manufacturing organizations preferably comprise contract manufacturing organizations, wherein each of the manufacturing organizations comprises at least one site, at least one area, and/or at least one process cell. The manufacturing organization information accordingly may comprise site information, area information, and/or process cell information. The manufacturing organization information also may and preferably does comprise equipment information, flow information, scheduling information, price information, delivery information, capacity information, plant location information, and other information relating to the production capabilities of the manufacturing organization, and/or its ability to meet product brand owner needs. Each of the manufacturing organizations typically is capable of manufacturing a product and the manufacturing organization information for each of the manufacturing organizations accordingly may comprise the product for the manufacturing organization.

[0033] Similarly, in may instances each of the manufacturing organizations is capable of manufacturing one or more products within at least one product classification. In this event, the manufacturing organization information for each of the manufacturing organizations may comprise the at least one product classification for the manufacturing organization.

[0034] Preferably, the manufacturing organization information communicating comprises communicating the manufacturing organization information in a normalized format.

[0035] The method optionally but preferably comprises excluding the product brand information from the manufacturing organizations, and may comprise excluding the manufacturing information from the product brand manager.

[0036] The product brand information communicating may comprise communicating the product brand information to comprise a general recipe as was noted above.

[0037] The processing accordingly may comprise converting the general recipe to a plurality of master recipes, and comparing the plurality of master recipes to the manufacturing organization information. The product brand information processing also may comprise formatting the product brand information to comprise a general recipe. The processing also may comprise converting the general recipe to a plurality of master recipes, and comparing the plurality of master recipes to the manufacturing organization information.

[0038] The processing also may comprise providing a normalized set of process parameters, and converting the product brand information to the normalized set of process parameters. Similarly, the manufacturing organization information communication may comprise providing a normalized set of process parameters, and providing the manufacturing organization information for each of the manufacturing organizations as the normalized set of process parameters. In addition, the processing may comprise providing a normalized set of process parameters, and converting the manufacturing organization information for each of the manufacturing organizations to the normalized set of process parameters.

[0039] The product brand information preferably but optionally may be stored in a database, such as a distributed database, a secure database, and the like. The manufacturing organization information also optionally but preferably may be stored in a database, such as a distributed database, a secure database or the like.

[0040] Where the product brand information comprises a general recipe, the processing preferably comprises converting the general recipe into at least one master recipe and preferably into a plurality of the master recipes. In this instance, the processing preferably comprises comparing the plurality of the master recipes with the manufacturing organization information.

[0041] In general terms, the product brand information may comprise steps required to make the product brand, the manufacturing organization information may comprise steps capable of being carried out by the manufacturing organization, and the processing preferably comprises comparing the product brand information steps with the manufacturing organization steps to identify a match.

[0042] Preferably, the at least one candidate manufacturing organization selection comprises selecting as the at least one candidate manufacturing organization each of the manufacturing organizations that has at least one master recipe for the general recipe for the product brand. The at least one candidate manufacturing organization selection may comprise assessing the extent to which each of the manufacturing organizations matches the product brand information and assigning to each of the manufacturing organizations a score, and including within the selection information each of the at least one candidate manufacturing organizations for which the score is above a threshold value. The at least one candidate manufacturing organization selection also may comprise assessing the extent to which each of the manufacturing organizations matches the product brand information and assigning to each of the manufacturing organizations a score, and including within the at least one candidate manufacturing organizations a predetermined number of the manufacturing organizations having the highest of the scores. The at least one candidate manufacturing organization selection also may comprise assessing the extent to which each of the manufacturing organizations matches the product brand information and assigning to each of the manufacturing organizations a rank, and including within the selection information each of the at least one candidate manufacturing organizations in order of the rank. The at least one candidate manufacturing organization selection still further may comprise assessing the extent to which each of the manufacturing organizations matches the product brand information satisfies a weighted set of selection criteria.

[0043] The selection information may comprise the number of manufacturing organizations comprising the at least one candidate manufacturing organizations. It also may comprise information sufficient to confirm that the at least one candidate manufacturing organization can manufacture the product brand according to the product brand information, but the selection information excludes information sufficient to identify the at least one candidate manufacturing organization. In a general sense, it is preferable that the selection information comprises information useful to the product brand manager. It may, for example, comprise price information. The selection information may comprise public selection information and private selection information, in which case the selection information communicating preferably comprises communicating the authorized selection information to the product brand manager and withholding the unauthorized selection information from the product brand manager.

[0044] The communication of the selection information to the product brand manager preferably comprises communicating the selection information to a product brand manager computer accessible by the product brand manager. It also may comprise communicating the selection information automatically upon the selection of the at least one candidate manufacturing organization, without human intervention.

[0045] In some applications it may be desirable to communicate some or all of the selection information to the at least one candidate manufacturing organization, although this typically may not be the case.

[0046] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for facilitating communications between a product brand manager and manufacturing organizations using a transactional computer system, wherein the product brand manager has a product brand and product brand information comprising information for manufacturing the product brand, and wherein there is manufacturing organization information for each of the manufacturing organizations comprising the manufacturing process capabilities of the respective manufacturing organization.

[0047] The method according to this aspect of the invention comprises communicating the product brand information from the product brand manager to the transactional computer system, and communicating the manufacturing organization information for the manufacturing organizations from the manufacturing organizations to the transactional computer system. The method also comprises using the transactional computer system to process the product brand information and the manufacturing organization information to select at least one candidate manufacturing organization from the manufacturing organizations and to generate selection information regarding the at least one candidate manufacturing organization. The selection is carried out according to this method by the transactional computer system and comprises confirming that the product brand information comprises a general recipe and to the extent the confirmation is not made, converting the product brand information into the general recipe. The method also comprises converting the general recipe into a plurality of master recipes, and comparing the product brand information to the manufacturing organization information. This method further comprises using the transactional computer system to communicate the selection information to the product brand manager. Optional and preferred aspects of the above summarized method also may apply to this method.

[0048] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for facilitating communications between a manufacturing organization and product brand managers using a transactional computer system. Each of the product brand managers has a product brand and product brand information comprising information for manufacturing the product brand, and there is manufacturing organization information for the manufacturing organization comprising the manufacturing process capabilities of the manufacturing organization.

[0049] The method according to this aspect of the invention comprises communicating the product brand information from the product brand managers to the transactional computer system, communicating the manufacturing organization information for the manufacturing organization from the manufacturing organization to the transactional computer system, and using the transactional computer system to process the product brand information and the manufacturing organization information to select at least one candidate product brand manager from the product brand managers and to generate selection information regarding the at least one candidate product brand managers. The selection comprises using the transactional computer system to compare the product brand information to the manufacturing organization information. The method further comprises using the transactional computer system to communicate the selection information to the manufacturing information.

[0050] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system is provided for facilitating transactions between a product brand manager and manufacturing organizations, wherein the product brand manager has a product brand and product brand information comprising information for manufacturing the product brand, and wherein there is manufacturing organization information for each of the manufacturing organizations comprising the manufacturing process capabilities of the respective manufacturing organization.

[0051] The system comprises a network comprising a transactional computer system, at least one product brand manager computer and a plurality of manufacturing organization computers. Each of the manufacturing organizations has one of the plurality of the manufacturing organization computers. The product brand manager computer comprises a storage device for storing the product brand information and communication means for communicating the product brand information to the transactional computer system. Each of the manufacturing organization computers comprises a storage device for storing the manufacturing organization information for the manufacturing, and communication means for communicating the manufacturing organization information to the transactional computer system. The transactional computer system comprises a processor for processing the product brand information and the manufacturing organization information to select at least one candidate manufacturing organization from the manufacturing organizations and to generate selection information regarding the at least one candidate manufacturing organization. The system also comprises communication means for communicating the selection information to the product brand manager computer without human intervention at the transactional computer system.

[0052] In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a system is provided for facilitating transactions between a manufacturing organization and product brand managers. Each of the product brand managers has a product brand and product brand information comprising information for manufacturing the product brand, and there is manufacturing organization information for the manufacturing organization comprising the manufacturing process capabilities of the manufacturing organization.

[0053] The system comprises a network comprising a transactional computer system, at least one manufacturing organization computer and a plurality of product brand manager computers. Each of the product brand computers has one of the plurality of the product brand manager computers. Each of the product brand manager computers comprises a storage device for storing the product brand information and communication means for communicating the product brand information to the transactional computer system. The manufacturing organization computer comprises a storage device for storing the manufacturing organization information for the manufacturing, and communication means for communicating the manufacturing organization information to the transactional computer system. The transactional computer system comprises a processor for processing the product brand information and the manufacturing organization information to select at least one candidate product brand manager from the product brand managers and to generate selection information regarding the at least one candidate product brand managers. The system further comprises communications means for communicating the selection information to the manufacturing organization computer without human intervention at the transactional computer system.