Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-28
2002-08-06
Gordon, Paul P. (Department: 2121)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C700S116000, C700S225000, C700S226000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06430457
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and a system for making up and managing a logistic chain for transporting goods, such as parcels, the logistic chain comprising a combination of several of the following activities, which may be termed elementary:
collecting at least one item at a collecting location or a sorting location, as the case may be, and subsequently transporting said at least one item to a destination location or a sorting location, as the case may be, where it is delivered;
at a sorting location, sorting goods by location of the next destination, the elementary activities being carried out on the authority of a principal for said logistic chain.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There was a time when the logistic chain for a traditional postal organisation in the event of parcel services did not imply anything more than what was required to enable an individual mailer to post a parcel at a post office, subsequently to have the postal organisation deliver the parcel, by way of several intermediate stations, to the destination office, and finally to have an employee of said organisation deliver the parcel at the addressee's. Currently, more is expected by customers of “parcel transporters”, in particular by business customers. In addition, there are now more parties on the market which render the extension of services imperative; such an extension provides a competitive advantage.
Thus, services have been added, such as:
a swapping service, a parcel X being transported from location A to location B, and a parcel Y being then transported from location B to location A;
a packing service, an empty package being transported from depot C to location B, where the package is filled with goods, whereafter the whole is delivered at location A;
an unpacking service, a package filled with goods being collected at location A and transported to location B, the goods being withdrawn, at location B, from the package and delivered, whereafter the empty package is taken to depot C.
The addition of a packing service and an unpacking service partly is a consequence of the increased care for the environment which has resulted in the desire to recycle packages, which is part of what is sometimes called “reverse logistics”. By the way, the term “reverse logistics” denotes collecting and swapping; activities which are the reverse, as it were, of the normal delivery by traditional postal organisations.
These services are based on combinations of collection, whether or not including packing, and delivery, whether or not including unpacking. In addition, said services in a longer logistic chain may be recombined to form, e.g.:
a swapping service including unpacking and packing;
a collecting service including unpacking;
a swapping service including unpacking;
a swapping service including unpacking, packing and once again unpacking.
Thus, in a logistic chain of a “parcel transporter”, many combinations of activities are possible. Stumbling blocks upon introducing such a more extensive service, however, are formed by:
the complexity for the prospective users: so many choices are possible that there is always something which is easily overlooked;
the combinations of actions required for handling an order to the transporter must result in orders and addresses for employees of said transporter, for each of the individual actions, which for logistic chains, which must be tailored to each order, results in the need of preparing ever new, unique order forms;
due to the above, it becoming ever more difficult to trace a parcel in the logistic chain.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With a method and a system according to the invention, the object is to eliminate the above objections, namely, by offering prospective users the opportunity of choosing from several logistic chains, without them having to make combinations of elementary activities themselves, based on the logistic chain chosen to have a unique order form according to a standard setup manufactured, and by offering opportunities of collecting information in order to determine whether elementary activities have been carried out in time, which facilitates tracing a parcel in the logistic chain. For this purpose, a method according to the invention is characterised in that the logistic chain also comprises the following elementary activities:
collecting at least one package for an item at a collecting location and then transporting said at least one package to a destination location, where the package is delivered;
packing at least one item at a collecting location and then transporting the packed at least one item to a destination location, where it is delivered;
unpacking at least one item at a collecting location and then transporting at least one package to a destination location, where the package is delivered, and that the method comprises the proviso that a principal communicates his choice for a specific logistic chain, in which he wants to transport at least one item, to a chain-management system, and that the chain-management system receives an order from the principal for entering, in a specific logistic chain, the at least one item, whereafter the chain-management system carries out several management steps, comprising:
the system breaks down said specific logistic chain into the elementary activities required therefor;
depending on the type of logistic chain indicated by the principal, the system determines the appropriate transporter for the purpose;
the system provides the specific transporter with the order to carry out elementary actions fitting the logistic chain;
the system has a form having sticking strips printed out, which form contains information serving to carry out the appropriate elementary actions, such as instructions for drivers in the employment of the specific transporter and addresses of locations, as well as a code unique to said specific logistic chain;
the system has the form delivered at the location where the logistic chain should begin. According to a first preferred embodiment of the invention, the method is further characterised in that the chain-management system in addition receives return messages from a transporter or from a sorting location on the status of execution of elementary actions.
According to a second preferred embodiment of the invention, the method is further characterised in that the chain-management system determines, based on return messages and on expected times of execution of elementary actions, whether an elementary action has been carried out within a predetermined time window.
According to a third preferred embodiment of the invention, the method is furthermore characterised in that the chain-management system prepares messages, based on return messages, on the status of execution of elementary actions and of possible time excesses, for the benefit of principals.
A system according to the invention is characterised in that the system is a chain-management system comprising:
a central processing unit;
memory means for storing programs and data;
interface circuits for connecting peripheral equipment, such as printers and modems, at least part of the programs being arranged for having carried out several management steps comprising:
the system breaks down a logistic chain into the elementary activities required therefor;
depending on the type of logistic chain indicated by the principal, the system determines the transporter appropriate thereto;
the system provides the specific transporter with the order to carry out elementary actions, fitting the logistic chain;
the system has a form having sticking strips printed out, which form contains information, serving to carry out the appropriate elementary actions, such as instructions for drivers in the employment of the specific transporter and addresses of locations, as well as a code unique to said specific logistic chain;
the system has the form delivered at the location where the logistic chain should begin.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5043908 (1991-08-01), Manduley et al.
patent: 5051914 (1
Gordon Paul P.
Michaelson Peter L.
Michaelson & Wallace
PTT Post Holdings B.V.
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