WO2018186799A1

WO2018186799A1 - Device and method for process flow management

Info

Publication number: WO2018186799A1
Application number: PCT/SG2017/050200
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lounell Bahoy GUETA; Akiko Sato
Original assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Current assignee: Hitachi Ltd
Priority date: 2017-04-07
Filing date: 2017-04-07
Publication date: 2018-10-11
Anticipated expiration: 2019-10-07
Also published as: JP2020513129A; JP6938668B2

Abstract

According to various embodiments, a device for process flow management among a buyer and at least one vendor may be provided. The device may include a receiver configured to receive a plurality of process flow candidates and capability indices for each process flow candidate. Each process flow candidate originates from one of the at least one vendor selling merchandise and terminates at a destination predetermined by the buyer, and each process flow candidate includes a sequence of process items each of which represents a service carried out by one of the buyer or the vendor. Each capability index represents a performance value determined based on physical asset data and risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item. The device may further include a process flow optimizer configured to determine an optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, based on the capability indices for the process items of the plurality of process flow candidates.

Description

DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PROCESS FLOW MANAGEMENT

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments relate generally to process flow management devices and process flow management methods.

Background

[0002] Buying and selling either merchandise or service is rapidly growing with the popularity of e-commerce. The growth leads to better services that can be attributed to lower trading cost and expedited delivery. Consequently, it creates an ecosystem of high competition among vendors, and high appetite of buyers to find vendors offering same merchandise or service. The bottom line to this phenomenon is to ask vendors: "What is the minimum total landed cost that is feasible to their respective key performance indices?" And conversely, for a buyer, "What is an affordable price range that does not compromise merchandise and service quality?"

[0003] Deriving a feasibly minimum total landed cost however is a complex process due to several factors. Given the original price of the merchandise, the cost is calculated by taking into account other costs from transportation, custom duties, taxes, insurance, among others. These costs are dynamically changing, are affected by external factors, and are derived from different entities like vendors offering similar or different services.

[0004] Because of this complexity, simplifications are made in exchange for potential cost savings. In one instance, a buyer is given limited delivery preferences when purchasing merchandise. This instance is commonly evident in the terms of sales wherein a vendor of merchandise will be responsible in the shipment and any cost incurred is taken by the buyer. In another instance, a buyer may decide to pick up the merchandise from the vendor at his own expense. Another possibility is that a buyer may ask an agent that specializes on the procurement. Outsourcing a service can be beneficial but is limiting especially when relying on only one service provider. Hence, the above instances provide limits in finding opportunities to reduce the total landed cost or to optimize other performance indices such as delivery time.

[0005] With the recognition of the process complexity, multi-sourcing strategies are utilized to optimize procurement by tapping the resources of a plurality of vendors. Undertakings in multi-sourcing, however, are focused on assigning responsibilities to service providers depending on the default services offered by them. For example a service provider that offers an end-to-end solution may be viewed by a buyer as a provider of end-to-end services only. Moreover, a vendor that is only specializing on specific services are viewed as providing only a "silo" solution that is applicable for very specific business cases.

[0006] Further, in multi-sourcing, making decision on the selection process of vendors can be complicated. The assessment of capability of vendors may lead to redundancy in process functions that can result in operation loss. This unwanted redundancy is a manifestation of the difficulty to discover cut-through method of assigning responsibility in multi-outsourcing. Therefore, there is a need for a system and a method that effectively conduct a process flow arrangement and optimization in a multi-sourcing environment, to achieve feasibly minimal total landed cost between a buyer and a plurality of vendors.

Summary

[0007] According to various embodiments, a device for process flow management among a buyer and at least one vendor may be provided. The device may include a receiver configured to receive a plurality of process flow candidates and capability indices for each process flow candidate. Each process flow candidate originates from one of the at least one vendor selling merchandise and terminates at a destination predetermined by the buyer, and each process flow candidate includes a sequence of process items each of which represents a service carried out by one of the buyer or the vendor. Each capability index represents a performance value determined based on physical asset data and risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item. The device may further include a process flow optimizer configured to determine an optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, based on the capability indices for the process items of the plurality of process flow candidates.

[0008] According to various embodiments, a method for process flow management among a buyer and at least one vendor may be provided. The method may include receiving a plurality of process flow candidates, wherein each process flow candidate originates from one of the at least one vendor selling merchandise and terminates at a destination predetermined by the buyer, and wherein each process flow candidate includes a sequence of process items each of which represents a service carried out by one of the buyer or the vendor. The method further includes receiving capability indices for the process items of each process flow candidate, wherein each capability index represents a performance value determined based on physical asset data and risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item. The method further includes determining an optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, based on the capability indices for the process items of the plurality of process flow candidates. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009] In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the following description, various embodiments are described with reference to the following drawings, in which:

[0010] FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of a process flow management device according to various embodiments.

[0011] FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram showing a method for process flow management according to various embodiments.

[0012] FIG. 3 shows exemplary modules of a process flow management device according to various embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 4 shows a diagram showing exemplary components of a process flow data entry according to various embodiments.

[0014] FIG. 5 shows a diagram showing exemplary components of a process flow determination module according to various embodiments.

[0015] FIG. 6 shows a diagram showing exemplary components of a physical asset data and risk data entry according to various embodiments.

[0016] FIG. 7 shows a diagram showing exemplary components of a capability index determination module according to various embodiments.

[0017] FIG. 8 shows a diagram illustrating exemplary components of a capability index determination module according to various embodiments.

[0018] FIG. 9 shows a diagram illustrating capability indices of a determined capability matrix according to various embodiments. [0019] FIG. 10 shows exemplary components of a process arrangement optimization module according to various embodiments.

[0020] FIG. 11 shows an exemplary embodiment of the process flow optimization module.

[0021] FIG. 12 shows a functional relationship between local KPI and global KPI according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0022] FIG. 13 shows an embodiment of a User Interface which is an implementation of a process flow synchronization module with an integrated functionality of a process flow data entry.

[0023] FIG. 14 shows an embodiment of an interface for a process flow arrangement optimization module.

[0024] FIG. 15 shows an exemplary embodiment of a system for process flow management in a client/server network setting.

[0025] FIG. 16 shows a schematic diagram of a process flow management device according to various embodiments.

Description

[0026] Embodiments described below in context of the devices are analogously valid for the respective methods, and vice versa. Furthermore, it will be understood that the embodiments described below may be combined, for example, a part of one embodiment may be combined with a part of another embodiment.

[0027] It will be understood that any property described herein for a process flow management device may also hold for any process flow management device described herein. It will be understood that any property described herein for a specific method may also hold for any method described herein. Furthermore, it will be understood that for any process flow management device or method described herein, not necessarily all the components or steps described must be enclosed in the device or method, but only some (but not all) components or steps may be enclosed.

[0028] In this context, the process flow management device as described in this description may include a memory which is for example used in the processing carried out in the process flow management device. A memory used in the embodiments may be a volatile memory, for example a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) or a nonvolatile 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).

[0029] In an embodiment, a "circuit" or a "module" 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" or a "module" 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" or a "module" may also be a processor executing software, e.g. any kind of computer program, e.g. a computer program using a virtual machine code such as e.g. Java. Any other kind of implementation of the respective functions which will be described in more detail below may also be understood as a "circuit" or a "module" in accordance with an alternative embodiment.

[0030] In the specification the term "comprising" shall be understood to have a broad meaning similar to the term "including" and will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps. This definition also applies to variations on the term "comprising" such as "comprise" and "comprises".

[0031] The term "coupled" (or "connected") herein may be understood as electrically coupled or as mechanically coupled, for example attached or fixed, or just in contact without any fixation, and it will be understood that both direct coupling or indirect coupling (in other words: coupling without direct contact) may be provided.

[0032] Multi-sourcing provides opportunities to utilize the "best-of-breed" services offered by a plurality of vendors. However, the process for selecting vendors can be complicated and thus the simplifications are made for this process in the existing approaches. As such, undertakings in multi-sourcing are much focused on assigning responsibilities to service providers depending on the default services offered by them. For example a service provider that provides an end-to-end solution may be viewed by a buyer as a potential provider of all services in the end-to-end solution. Moreover, a vendor that is only specializing on specific services is viewed as providing only a "silo" solution that is applicable for very specific business cases. Therefore, a system is needed that can accelerate the discovery of services and the assessment of the capabilities of vendors.

[0033] A combination of "best-of-breed" service providers may necessarily result in an optimal outcome. An appropriate technique in the use of multi-sourcing is to determine at which scenario, a service provider is best suited. In the context of purchasing and delivery, vendors can be optimally selected if it can be employed in both planning and operations. Therefore, a sourcing strategy that enables dynamically configuring a collaborative or synchronized process flow involving a buyer and multiple vendors is necessary. The process flow management device and method of various embodiments are based on such multi-sourcing strategy, wherein service providers can be accessed flexibly and their capabilities are evaluated when actual merchandise orders are made, thereby optimizing the process flow and at the same time the routing of the merchandise. A routing is defined as a complete process flow from a starting process to an end process, wherein each process is defined as a process item or a process entity representing a service carried out by either a buyer or a vendor in charge of that process.

[0034] According to the process flow management device and method of various embodiments, an optimized process flow may be determined. For example, a total landed cost can be optimized utilizing a multi-sourcing strategy.

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of a process flow management device according to various embodiments.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 1, a device 10 for process flow management among a buyer and at least one vendor may be provided. The device 10 may include a receiver 11 configured to receive a plurality of process flow candidates and capability indices for each process flow candidate. Each process flow candidate originates from one of the at least one vendor selling merchandise and terminates at a destination predetermined by the buyer, and each process flow candidate includes a sequence of process items each of which represents a service carried out by one of the buyer or the vendor. Each capability index represents a performance value determined based on physical asset data and risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item. The device may further include a process flow optimizer 13 configured to determine an optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, based on the capability indices for the process items of the plurality of process flow candidates.

[0037] In other words, various embodiments provide a process flow management device 10 which is able to determine an optimized process flow from a plurality of process flow candidates based on the capability indices for the process items of the plurality of process flow candidates, i.e. based on the performance of the buyer and the vendor in carrying out the respective process items. The optimized process flow may be a process flow for purchasing merchandise which has an optimized capability index. The optimized process flow may also be a process flow for purchasing merchandise which has an optimized key performance indicator for the buyer.

[0038] In this context, each process flow candidate may be also be referred to as a routing, defined as a complete process flow from a starting process item to an end process item. Each process item, also be referred to as a process entity, may represent a service carried out by either the buyer or one of the at least one vendor. The plurality of process flow candidates therefore defines multiple routings from various vendors to the destination of the buyer, which may combine process items carried out by multiple vendors and/or the buyer to form a complete process flow.

[0039] In this context, the vendor may be a merchandise provider and/or a service provider. The buyer is an entity who buys merchandise from a vendor and may have capability to provide one or more process items, for example, in the delivery process of the merchandise. The buyer may include an agent or a middleman on behalf of the buyer.

[0040] According to various embodiments, the receiver 11 may be a circuit or an interface configured to receive and collect data, which may be a data source, e.g. a data storage or a memory configured to receive and store the process flow candidates and the capability indices. According to various embodiments, the receiver 11 may also be included in the process flow optimizer 13, wherein may be an interface of the process flow optimizer 13 for retrieving and receiving the process flow candidates and the capability indices from an external source.

[0041] In various embodiments, the receiver 11 and the process flow optimizer 13 may each be implemented by a circuit referred to above, or may be implemented by a single circuit. [0042] According to various embodiments, the process flow optimizer 13 may be configured to determine a global key performance indicator (KPI) of the buyer for each process flow candidate based on the capability indices for each process flow candidate, and determine the optimized process flow as a process flow candidate having the optimized global key performance indicator.

[0043] In various embodiments, the global key performance indicator of the buyer may include at least one of a landed cost for the merchandise, a merchandise cost, or a lead time for the merchandise. The landed cost is the total price of a product or merchandise once it has arrived at a buyer's door. The landed cost may include the original price of the merchandise, all transportation fees (e.g., both inland and ocean), customs, duties, taxes, insurance, currency conversion, crating, handling and payment fees, etc. The merchandise cost is the price of the merchandise. The lead time is the total time between the initiation and completion of a process, in this example, the total time between the merchandise order and the delivery of the merchandise to arrive at the buyer.

[0044] According to various embodiments, the process flow optimizer 13 may be further configured to calculate at least one of a landed cost for the merchandise, a merchandise cost, or a lead time for the merchandise for each process flow candidate. The process flow optimizer 13 may be configured to determine the global key performance indicator of the buyer for each process flow candidate, based on the capability indices for each process flow candidate and at least one of the landed cost, the merchandise cost, or the lead time for each process flow candidate.

[0045] According to various embodiments, the process flow optimizer 13 may be configured to determine the optimized process flow further based on a change-over penalty for each process flow candidate. The change-over penalty represents a penalty value when changing between different vendors or changing between the vendor and the buyer for carrying out the process items in each process flow candidate, wherein the penalty value is associated with previous or current business transactions of the vendors or the buyer.

[0046] According to various embodiments, the process flow optimizer 13 may be further configured to calculate a local key performance indicator of each vendor in each process flow candidate based on the capability indices of the process items for each process flow candidate, and determine the optimized process flow using the local key performance indicator as a constraint.

[0047] According to various embodiments, the process flow management device 10 may further include a capability index determiner (not shown in FIG. 1) configured to determine the capability index for each process item of each process flow candidate, based on the physical asset data and the risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item.

[0048] In various embodiments, the physical asset data may include data associated with at least one of vehicles, warehouse, or human resource of the vendor or the buyer. The physical assets data may represent the capability of the vendor or the buyer in their physical assets for carrying out the corresponding process items.

[0049] In various embodiments, the risk data may indicate process-related risks, and may include data associated with at least one of transaction history, temperature, weather, traffic, road condition, geographical risk, merchandise damage, or delivery delay. The risk data represents the risk associated with the process items when carried out by the vendor or the buyer. The risk data may be based on transaction history and/or real-time environmental data, and may include corresponding impact associated with the transaction history and/or real-time environmental data. [0050] According to various embodiments, the process flow management device 10 may further include a process flow determiner (not shown in FIG. 1) configured to assign the respective process items to one or more of the buyer and the at least one vendor to determine each of the plurality of process flow candidates, based on process flow data of the buyer and process flow data of each of the at least one vendor. The process flow data of the buyer includes a sequence of process items offered by the buyer, and the process flow data of each of the at least one vendor includes a sequence of process items offered by each vendor.

[0051] In various embodiments, the process flow data of at least one of the buyer and the vendor include synchronization data associated with one or more of the process items, indicating one or more points allowable to change to a different vendor or change between the vendor and the buyer for a preceding or subsequent process item. The process flow determiner is configured to assign the respective process items to one or more of the buyer and the vendor to form each process flow candidate, based on the synchronization data.

[0052] According to various embodiments, the receiver 11 is further configured to receive a merchandise order from the buyer. The merchandise order may include data associated with at least one of a merchandise type, a merchandise volume, a landed cost constraint, or a delivery time window constraint. The process flow optimizer 13 may be configured to dynamically determine the optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, further based on the merchandise order.

[0053] According to various embodiments, the receiver 11 is further configured to receive external environment data, including at least one of weather data, traffic data, local events data, or holiday data. The process flow optimizer 13 may be configured to dynamically determine the optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, further based on the external environment data. [0054] In various embodiments, the process flow optimizer 13 is configured to update the capability indices for each process flow candidate based on the external environment data, and dynamically determine the optimized process flow based on the updated capability indices.

[0055] FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram 20 showing a method for process flow management according to various embodiments.

[0056] The flow diagram 20 includes a plurality of processes or steps 21, 23 and 25. In 21, a plurality of process flow candidates is received. Each process flow candidate originates from one of the at least one vendor selling merchandise and terminates at a destination predetermined by the buyer, and each process flow candidate includes a sequence of process items each of which represents a service carried out by one of the buyer or the vendor. In 23, capability indices for the process items of each process flow candidate may be received, wherein each capability index represents a performance value determined based on physical asset data and risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item. The processes 21 and 23 may be carried out simultaneously, or may be carried out sequentially in which case the process 21 may be carried out before or after the process 23. In 25, an optimized process flow is determined from the plurality of process flow candidates, based on the capability indices for the process items of the plurality of process flow candidates.

[0057] In the following, blocks or modules of the process flow management device according to various embodiments are described.

[0058] FIG. 3 shows exemplary modules of a process flow management device 100 according to various embodiments. The process flow management device 100 may be or may include the process flow management device 10 described above. Various embodiments of the process flow management device 10 described above are analogously valid for the process flow management device 100, and vice versa.

[0059] The process flow management device 100 may include a process flow data entry module 110 configured to provide an interface to input the process flow data of the buyer and the process flow data of the at least one vendor. The process flow management device 100 may include a process flow determination module 120 (also referred to as a process flow synchronization module) configured to process the process flow data inputs to determine a plurality of process flow candidates. In an exemplary embodiment, the process flow determination module 120 is configured to synchronize the process flow segments of the buyer and the at least one vendor by identifying the synchronization points from the respective process flow data. The process flow segment of the buyer or the vendor refers to a segment of process flow, including one or more process items in sequence that is offered or provided by the respective buyer or vendor. The process flow segment may be a complete sequence of process items offered by the buyer or the vendor, or may be a subset of the complete sequence of process items offered by the buyer or the vendor. The output of the process flow determination module 120 is a plurality of process flow candidates, which represents the various routing from the vendor to the buyer. The plurality of process flow candidates may be referred to as a process flow superset (PFS), wherein the process flow segments of the buyer and vendors are connected and synchronized so as to create multiple possible routings from an origin of merchandise to a desired destination.

[0060] The process flow management device 100 may further include a physical asset data and risk data entry module 130 configured to provide an interface to input the physical asset and risk information from the buyer and the vendor. The process flow management device 100 includes a capability index determination module 140 (also referred to as a capability index evaluation module) configured to evaluate capability indices for the process items of the process flow candidates based on the physical asset data and the risk data, and may further based on the PFS. The result of the evaluation is a PFS with each process item evaluated and assigned with a capability index, which may be represented in a matrix form referred to as a capability matrix.

[0061] The process flow management device 100 may further include a merchandise order entry module 150 configured to provide an interface to input or receive entries of a merchandise order. In an illustrative embodiment, a buyer may input the merchandise data, such as the type, volume and a delivery preference, e.g., date, vendor priority, and location data, etc.

[0062] The process flow management device 100 includes a process flow optimization module 160 (also referred to as a process arrangement optimization module) configured to select or determine an optimal routing, i.e. the optimized process flow, from the PFS based on the capability indices. The process flow optimization module 160 may be configured to dynamically determine the optimized process flow further based on the merchandise order. The optimal routing may be a sequence of process items carried out by only one party from the buyer and the at least one vendor, or a combination of process flow items carried out by more than one party from the buyer and the at least one vendor.

[0063] In various embodiments, the process flow optimization module 160 may be configured to further receive external environment data, which may include custom data and risk reports, such as weather data, traffic data, local events data, or holiday data. The process flow optimization module 160 may be configured to dynamically determine the optimized process flow further based on the external environment data. The output of the optimization may include a merchandise data with the optimized process flow from a merchandise origin toward the destination. [0064] In FIG. 3, the process flow data entry module 110 and the process flow determination module 120 may be included in Stage 1 which establishes the framework for multi-sourcing. A set of vendors and the buyer are defined along with their associated process items. This stage may be important in determining the redundant processes and process flow candidate in the PFS.

[0065] The physical asset data and risk data entry module 130 and the capability index determination module 140 may be included in Stage 2, which maps the assets to the capability indices in this framework based on the physical asset data and risk data of each vendor and buyer. Each process item for each process flow candidate is evaluated quantitatively. For planning purposes, a selection of process segments as well as vendor selection may already be made at this stage. In another embodiment, a set of vendors may be filtered at this stage to reduce the size of possible process flows in exchange of the quality of optimization solution in Stage 3.

[0066] Stage 3 includes the merchandise order entry module 150 and the process flow optimization module 160, which accepts an input merchandise order to route it based on the process flow superset. Further, this stage may be configured to optimize the buyer's key performance indicator (KPI) as a global objective in the optimization process, while considering the individual KPI of vendors as local objectives or local KPIs.

[0067] The data entry modules 110, 130, 150 above may be the receiver 11 of FIG. 1 above, and the process flow optimization module 160 may be the process flow optimizer 13 of FIG. 1 above.

[0068] In various embodiments, the process flow management device 100 may include Stage 3 modules, with the process flow candidates and capability indices received from an external source, for example. In other embodiments, the process flow management device 100 may include Stage 3 modules and modules of one or both of Stage 1 and Stage 2, which may determine the process flow candidates and/or capability indices internally.

[0069] In various embodiments, Stage 1 and Stage 2 may be applied in a planning stage for multi-sourcing, while Stage 3 may be applied for merchandise delivery. In other embodiments, a device based on FIG. 3 may be configured to dynamically arrange process flows and optimize process flows or routings, such that multi-sourcing and merchandise delivery are tightly integrated. In this case, a set of vendors are maintained on demand as service providers, and the selection of these vendors and buyer, i.e. the assignment of roles, is decided when actual merchandise orders are made. This is in contrast to traditional practices wherein multi-sourcing are conducted at planning stage and that assignment of roles are made as part of contract negotiation.

[0070] FIG. 4 shows a diagram 200 showing exemplary components of the process flow data entry 110 according to various embodiments. The process flow data entry 110 may include process flow data (PF) of each buyer and each vendor, for example, include the Buyer's PF 210, Vendor A's PF 220, Vendor B's PF 230, Vendor C's PF 240, and Vendor D's PF 250 as shown in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4.

[0071] A process flow is a sequence of process items defined by the vendor or the buyer in undertaking a service. The process flow of each vendor or buyer may include only a related process flow segment, and may not be its entire process flow. The related segment may correspond to a service item only or a set of services being offered by the vendor or the buyer. For instance, in Buyer's PF 210, its process flow can be represented in tabular form as shown in Buyer's PF Segment 211. Similarly, examples of vendor's process flow for Vendor A's PF 220, Vendor B's PF 230, Vendor C's PF 240 and Vendor D's PF 250 may be represented in Vendor A's PF Segment 221, Vendor B's PF Segment 231, Vendor C's PF Segment 241, and Vendor D's PF Segment 251, respectively. [0072] As shown in the examples of FIG. 4, a process flow segment may include a plurality of process items, wherein each process item is represented by a row. Each process item may include data associated with one or more of process order, process name, location, or synchronization data to describe the process item. The column "Order" in the tables of 21 1, 221, 231 , 241, and 251 indicates the sequences of the process items that should be followed as a requirement of a process flow.

[0073] In various embodiments, the synchronization data may include synchronization flags, such as "Synch-Before" and "Synch-After", indicating the synchronization points allowable to change to a different vendor or change between the vendor and the buyer for a preceding or subsequent process item. The synchronization flags may be the base for creating a synchronization point in a process flow candidate. The synchronization flag may have a value of Yes or No, True or False, or a Boolean value of 0 or 1, etc. The Synch-Before flag of a process item and the Synch- After flag of another process item are indicators of a possibility of connecting process flow segments from two different vendors or connecting process flow segments from the vendor and the buyer. For instance, a process item with a Synch-Before flag of "Yes" value means that a process item before it, called a preceding process item, can be a process from another vendor or buyer, provided that the preceding process item satisfies the process order and is allowed to connect to a different party. Whether the preceding process item is allowed to connect to a different party is determined by checking whether the Synch-After flag of the preceding process item is "Yes". Conversely, a process item with a "Yes" Synch-After flag may be connected to a succeeding or subsequent process item from another party, provided that the succeeding process item satisfies the process flow order and has a Synch-Before flag of "Yes". [0074] In an illustrative example in FIG. 4, the process item "Export" of Buyer in 211 has a "Yes" value for Synch-Before flag, which means that a preceding process item from a party different from the buyer should be a process item of "Warehousing 1" based on the process order of the process item "Export". Accordingly, in checking for different parties, in this case, the Vendors, that are allowed to connect to the process item "Export," it need to be checked whether the Synch-After flag of vendors for the process item "Warehousing 1" is "Yes." In this illustrative example, Vendor A and Vendor B satisfy the requirement. Thus, Vendor A's process item "Warehousing 1" is allowed to be connected to Buyer's process item "Export", and Vendor B's process item "Warehousing 1" is also allowed to be connected to Buyer's process item "Export". The above connection is illustrated by a dotted line connecting the corresponding process items in the PFS Network 332 of FIG. 5 below.

[0075] Consequently, a synchronization point creates a joint between a process flow segment of one vendor/buyer, which signifies an end of its service, and a start of process flow segment by another vendor/buyer, signifying a start of another service. A large number of synchronization points indicate high modularity in the services provided by a vendor, in a way that the vendor is capable of handling diverse buyer's requirements at various phases of its entire process flow. For example, Vendor A in 221 indicates that it provides an end-to-end service from process item "Pick-up" to process item "Drop-off of a merchandise. Moreover, based on the Synch-After flag values, process items "Warehousing 1" and "Import" of Vendor A have "Yes" values. This means that Vendor A may provide services from process item "Pickup" and up to either process item "Warehousing 1" or process item "Import" only, which may be viewed as a subset of services of the original end-to-end service. In the example of Vendor B in 231 , it offers more possible services as indicated by "Yes" values for both Synch-Before and Synch- After flags. For instance, aside from a service from "Pickup" to "Drop-off, another service is probable by conducting from process item "Export", because the Synch-Before flag for this process item is "Yes," to process item "Import", as indicated by its Synch- After flag of "Yes". Furthermore, Vendor B may also provide a service from process item "Delivery" to process item 'Drop-off.

[0076] According to various embodiments, the process flow segments as shown in 221, 231, 241, 251 may include location information. The location information may be important for a process item defined with a synchronization point. To illustrate, process item "Warehousing 1" of Buyer is located in Sakhon as shown in 211, and can be synchronized with Vendor C for process item "Export" at "Chabang" as shown in 221. Contributing factors between these two locations may need to be considered as part of the synchronized process flow, such as distance, additional lead time, transport cost, road surface condition, traffic condition, and weather, among others.

[0077] According to various embodiments, the process flow segments as shown in 221, 231, 241, 251 may further include lead time. The lead time may be specified for every process item or for each process flow segment, from a starting process item to an end process item of a service or an end process item prior to synchronization. The lead time information may be used in the process flow optimization as one of the factors.

[0078] According to various embodiments, the process flow segments as shown in 221, 231, 241, 251 may further include cost information. In one embodiment, the cost may be estimated for every process item or for each process flow segment. In an example of a process flow segment, the cost may be estimated from a starting process item to an end process item of a service or an end process item prior to synchronization. The cost information may be used in the process flow optimization as one of the factors. In another embodiment, a cost factor may be considered when a process flow synchronization is needed which depend on a vendor and the process item involved in the process synchronization. For example, a service cost for an entire process flow of a vendor is lower compared to the sum of the individual costs of process items of the same vendor due to a cost factor for selecting only a part of a service.

[0079] FIG. 5 shows a diagram 300 showing exemplary components of the process flow determination/synchronization module 120 of FIG. 3 according to various embodiments. In process alignment module 310, a standardization of process names among buyer and vendors may be performed. The process flow synchronization module 120 may receive a standard list of the process names for buyer and vendors to select. In an exemplary embodiment, after standardizing the process names, the process alignment module 310 may define a master list of process names and process orders, for storing in a process database (DB) 311. An exemplary embodiment of the data stored in the process database 311 is shown as a Process Requirement and Applicability Table 312, which provides the applicable process items of the buyer and vendors on the basis of the services they are providing. As shown in the process flow segment 221, Vendor A is capable of providing or offering services from process item "Pick-up" to process item "Drop-off, and accordingly the column for Vendor A in the table 312 is labeled as "A" to indicate the applicability of each process item in the process flow. In another illustrative example, the process flow segment of Vendor B in 231 shows that it does not require "Warehousing 2", since it directly proceeds to "Delivery" from "Import". Accordingly in table 312, the process item "Warehousing 2" is indicated as Not Needed (NN) for Vendor B. An NN value only means that a process item with NN is skipped or not needed to conduct a particular service. In another example, a Not Applicable (NA) value indicates that a buyer or vendor does not offer a service, so the process item is not applicable. [0080] In a further embodiment, a process item may include sub-process items, which allows a vendor or buyer to group its processes in order to conform to the standardization. The embodiments described above in relation to the process naming and definition of synchronization points may be similarly applied.

[0081] The process alignment module 310 may require substantial amount of time but may be only conducted initially. Updating of process items may be made when needed, e.g., when changes in the actual processes are made by a vendor.

[0082] A synchronization points mapping module 320 may be configured to extract a pair of synchronization points between two vendors or between a vendor and a buyer. From this pairing, a directed joining line may be created between a process item, which is an end process of a service from a vendor or buyer, and another process item, which is a starting process of a service from another vendor or buyer. The joining line indicates that two services from these two different vendors, or from a buyer and a vendor, can be combined. As aforementioned, the Synch-Before flag of a process item and the Synch- After flag of another process item are indicators for a possibility of connecting the process flow segments of two different parties. Therefore, in creating the pairings, the Synch- Before flag (Synch-After flag) of each process item and the Synch-After flag (Synch- Before flag) of the preceding process item (succeeding process item) may be checked. If both are "True" or "Yes", then a pairing is created. The synchronization pairs may be stored in a synchronization pairs storage 321.

[0083] In an exemplary embodiment, when a preceding process item (succeeding process item) has NN value in table 312, the next preceding process item (succeeding process item) based on the process order is paired. For example, Vendor C in 241 which offers only services from process item "Import" to process item "Export", wherein the Synch-After flag is "Yes" for process item "Import". Based on the process order in table 312, the next process item is process item "Warehousing 2". Therefore, a valid synchronizing point for process item "Import" is process item "Warehousing 2" that has Synch-Before flag of "Yes" value. This condition is satisfied by Buyer in 211 and Vendor D in 251. In this example, a special case applies to Vendor B because as shown in 312, process item "Warehousing 2" for Vendor B is NN, so the next process item has to be "Delivery" and that the process item "Delivery" for Vendor B has a Synch-Before flag of "Yes" value.

[0084] The process of finding synchronization pairs may be iteratively conducted by checking the Synch-Before and Synch-After flags for all process items. With the systematic processes from the Process Flow Entry 1 10 of defining process flows of buyer and vendors, to Process Alignment 310 of standardizing process names and determining process requirements and applicability, the synchronization points may be extracted automatically.

[0085] In a PF Superset Creation module 330, a process flow superset (PFS) may be determined by connecting the individual process items of the buyer and vendors using the synchronization pairs. Effectively, the PFS creates multiple routings from an origin of merchandise to a destination defined by the buyer. The process flow superset may be saved in a PF superset database (DB) 331, and may be represented as a PFS framework 332 in a form of a network diagram, a flowchart, or any other suitable forms.

[0086] An exemplary embodiment of a graphical representation of PFS is shown in PFS Network 332. The solid line connecting two process items defines the original or default process flow of the buyer and vendors, while the dotted line represents a joining line connecting process items of a buyer and a vendor, or two vendors. This representation is derived based on data example of Process Flow Entry 110 provided in 211, 221, 231, 241, and 251 as well as from the extracted data of Process Flow Requirement and Applicability 312.

[0087] In the process flow synchronization or determination described in various embodiments above, the process flow entry module 110 may be conducted individually by buyer and vendors, while the process in the process flow synchronization module 120 may be carried out automatically. The data entry in 110 and the process alignment and synchronization in 120 lead to determination of various service combinations that have not yet been explored between a buyer and a set of vendors. Determination of these combinations may be complicated since it involves multiple parties from buyer and vendors. Normally, an interested buyer has a set of vendors that it can select based on the service or merchandise offering. For vendors with similar process flow, the size increases exponentially. For example, for n sellers and m processes, (n+\)^m combinations are possible assuming processes can be flexibly changed among sellers. For n=5 and m=\0, 60 million combinations are possible.

[0088] On the other hand, the offerings of vendors are determined by their default services. Thus, traditional multi-sourcing only takes into consideration the default services or limited services wherein the selection of vendors is simplified and can often be conducted manually. By defining synchronization points together with other information such as location information, cost and lead time, etc. in the Process Flow Entry 110, a default end-to-end service (i.e., from Pick-up to Drop-off) offered by a vendor may be segmented to provide flexibility and a number of additional segmented service offerings (e.g., Delivery only, Warehousing only and a combination thereof). Thus, the Process Flow Synchronization 120 is able to explore a permutation of process flow segments from a buyer and at least one vendor, and define lines of contact and synchronize inter-party process flows. As a consequence, multiple routings can be determined, creating an opportunity for process flow arrangement.

[0089] FIG. 6 shows a diagram 400 showing exemplary components of the Physical Asset Data and Risk Data Entry 130 according to various embodiments. The Physical Asset Data and Risk Data Entry 130 may be referred to as an Asset Data Entry 130, which may include a Physical Asset Data (PAD) Entry 410 and a Risk Data Entry 420 (also referred to as a Risk Manifesting Data (RMD) Entry).

[0090] In the Physical Asset Data (PAD) Entry 410 including Buyer's PAD 41 1 and Vendor's PAD 412, the physical asset data may include data of resources allotted by a buyer and vendors, such as the number and type of truck vehicles for transportation, the allocated storage size and duration in a warehouse, the number and schedule of workers, or other related assets. The physical asset may be the currently available resources of a vendor, or may be the resources only allocated by a vendor to a buyer. The Vendor's Physical Asset 413 shows an example of a summary of the data entry of physical assets, which may be specified by category of process, vendor, and minimum and maximum capacity values, which are defined by a common unit. PAD may be viewed as the data commonly needed for capacity planning in logistics, transportation, manufacturing and warehousing.

[0091] The Risk Manifesting Data (RMD) may be a set of real-world data that describes process environment at a specific time period and may include indirect information relating to process-related risks. RMD requires data analysis to determine the risk and the degree of impact that can manifest to a process item or a set of process items. In one embodiment of the RMD Entry 420, RMD may include previous actual transactions between a buyer and a vendor, such as purchase order, delivery order, etc. From these transactions, a statistical analysis may be conducted to extract patterns, trends, etc. that may be related to lead time delays of a process item, poor asset utilization, etc. RMD may also include data that are critical in conducting a service. For example, data can be collected from an actual delivery environment for transporting merchandise. This data may give a qualitative description or a quantitative measurement of the environmental risks. This data may include but is not limited to road surface condition, temperature, weather, traffic, geographical risk, merchandise damage, merchandise losses while in transit, delivery delay, and other incidents. The Vendors' RMD Summary 423 shows an exemplary embodiment of a summary of RMD from vendors. The device 100 may identify a category of RMD, such as road condition, transport time and temperature change. Further, detailed RMD for each vendor may be provided, as shown in an exemplary embodiment of Vendor A's RMD for the process item "Transport" in 433. In the Vendor A's RMD 433, data sources of each RMD category may be identified, the risk to a particular process may be analyzed, and the impact to a specific KPI may be determined. As shown in the Vendor A's RMD 433, under the RMD Category "Road condition", the corresponding data source is road vibration. Further, the risk related to the process item "Transport" is product damage, and the corresponding impact is a 5% product loss due to damage. Other data sources may include locations, timestamps of process and sub-processes, temperature logs, etc.

[0092] The RMD data may depend on the device support and that the device 100 may only utilize a data subset for specific purposes. For example, RMD may be found to have high correlations in either one or both of the parameters for planning and operation. The methods to determine correlation may be factor analysis, statistical correlations, clustering analysis, linear and non- linear regression analysis, etc.

[0093] In the above embodiments, the updating of the PAD may be manually made by the respective party, i.e., either a buyer or a vendor. On the other hand, the RMD may require frequent updating on the basis of occurrence in the case of incidents, or on the basis of the refresh rate setting of a sensing device utilized to measure it.

[0094] Various embodiments of the process flow management device 100 incorporate RMD in the determination of capability indices. This may be practical and necessary in a multi-sourcing setting, considering that a service such as a delivery of merchandise involves multiple parties, a newly-synchronized process flow may be exposed to a new set of risks and impacts that are not previously existent. Therefore, the calculation of the capability index based on RMD allows risk assessment while conducting process flow synchronization.

[0095] According to various embodiments, a capability index for every process item in the PFS may be calculated or determined based on the physical assets data PAD and the risk data RMD. FIG. 7 shows a diagram 500 showing exemplary components of the capability index determinator 140 according to various embodiments.

[0096] In various embodiments, the calculation of capability indices (CI) may be separated for PAD and RMD, although the steps may be similar, as shown by the PAD- based Capability Index Calculation 510 and the RMD-based Capability Index Calculation 520, respectively. A separate evaluation may be made so that the information regarding the PAD-based and RMD-based capabilities is preserved, and a drilldown of this information may be possible for visualization and optimization purposes.

[0097] In various embodiments, the steps for capability index calculation in the PAD- based Capability Index Calculation 510 may include a PAD value conversion 511 and a capability index calculation 513. The PAD Value Conversion 511 may be a module or circuit configured to compare the physical asset data of a buyer and vendors. In an exemplary embodiment, a comparison may be made by assigning values of a common unit, e.g., daily going rate or weekly going rate. This process may be similar to the calculation for capacity planning as previously mentioned. The converted PAD values may be stored in the converted PAD value module 512. In another exemplary embodiment, a value from 0 to 1 may be assigned by normalizing the numerical measurements or values describing the physical asset of buyer and vendors. In the PAD- based Capability Index calculation 513, a value conversion is conducted to all applicable process items in the PF Superset DB 331 to determine the PAD-based PFS Capability 514 which includes PAD based capability indices for the determined PFS 331.

[0098] An illustrative example of PAD-based capability index determination is described herein, based on physical assets data including freight input data and buyer's KPI preference. Table 1 below shows freight input data and buyer's KPI preference.

Table 1

[0099] Based on the physical asset data of the vendor, the respective committed value is inquired or determined, for example, from the columns of "Seller A Commitment", "Seller B Commitment", and "Seller C Commitment" of Table 1.

[00100] Based on the determined committed value and the required value in the column of "Requirement", the PAD based capability iridex for each process item in the process flow candidates PFS may be determined according to the following equation:

CI(SellerX) =

[00101] wherein min/max represents minimum or maximum function, depending on whether minimum or maximum value is desired for the committed and the required value. n represents the number of types of physical asset data, e.g. 2 types in this example including capacity requirement and time required. w_< represents the respective weighting factor for the respective type of physical asset data. In this illustrative example, the CI value is normalized. A value of CI = 1 may indicate that a seller satisfies the requirement, whereas a value of CI = 0 may indicate that the seller is unable to satisfy the requirement.

[00102] In various embodiments shown in FIG. 7, the steps for capability index calculation in the RMD-based Capability Index Calculation 520 may include RMD value conversion 521, RMD weight calculation 523, and RMD-based capability index calculation 525. The RMD Value Conversion 521 may be a module or circuit configured to compare RMD of a buyer and vendors of a specific process item. In an exemplary embodiment, comparing is carried out by ranking buyer and vendors based on the data size, data accuracy and timeliness of RMD data. The converted RMD value may be stored in a converted RMD value module 522. The RMD Weight Calculation 523 may be a module or circuit configured to set weighting factor among the RMD. For example, the RMD may include GPS logs, vibration logs, and temperature logs, etc. These data have differing impacts depending on the season, merchandise location and destination, the timing of the order, etc. The RMD weights may be stored in a RMD weights module 524. By taking into account weighting factors in each data type according to various embodiments, the capability index may be properly evaluated based on the current merchandise order. The RMD-based Capability Index calculation 525 is a module or circuit configured to conduct RMD value conversion to all applicable process items in the PF Superset DB 331 to determine the RMD-based PFS Capability 526 which includes RMD based capability indices for the determined PFS 331.

[00103] The calculated PFS capability indices in 514 and 526 are useful in showing point-to-point process flow segment that may be a guide for selecting a routing. According to various embodiments, considering point-to-point process flow segments only may not be sufficient to decide on optimal routing. This is a typical problem in multi-sourcing when selecting vendors to a set of responsibilities. Often, the decision may become shortsighted by only looking at individual process items, or at only a few number of process items, but not on the entire process flow from the starting process item to the end process item. Manual trial of the combination may be possible for a small set of vendors and synchronization points, but may be difficult for a large set of vendors and synchronization points. Various embodiments provide an automatic optimization process which is able to find the optimized combination of vendors and buyer that minimizes a key performance index (KPI) or an objective function.

[00104] FIG. 8 shows a diagram illustrating exemplary components of the capability index determinator 140 according to various embodiments.

[00105] In the embodiments of FIG. 8, the calculation of capability indices (CI) may be carried out similarly to various embodiments of FIG. 7 above, with the difference that the CI calculation is preformed simultaneously for PAD and RMD. The capability index determinator 140 is configured for quantitative evaluation of multiple sellers and buyer based on the PAD and RMD. The PAD may include data associated with trucks, warehouse, or human resource (e.g. specializing in import/export), etc. The RMD may include data associated with purchase order, delivery receipts, road condition, or risk reports, etc. As shown in FIG. 8, based on the vendor's physical asset and risk data 132 and the buyer's physical asset and risk data 134, the physical asset data and risk data value conversion 142 may be carried out similar to the modules 511, 521 above. For example, for risk data, statistics may be used to analyze historical data to determine the converted value. The capability index weighting 144 is then performed for one or both of PAD and RMD, e.g. similar to the module 523 above. For example, automatic weighting by transaction data may be performed. Index calculation 146 is then carried out to calculate the capability indices. For example, CI based on PAD may be determined as: CIPAD = l -Seller Physical Asset + oc2 -Buyer Physical Asset, al and al represent the respective weighting factors, and CIPAD represents the total PAD based capability index for a process flow including a process segment carried out by the Seller and a process segment carried out by the Buyer. In another example, CI based on RMD may be determined as CIRMD = a 1 -Seller Risk Data + a2 · Buyer Risk Data. CIRMD represents the total RMD based capability index for a process flow including a process segment carried out by the Seller and a process segment carried out by the Buyer. The determined capability indices may be mapped based on the process flow superset 331 to determine a capability matrix 149. The capability matrix 149 may include capability indices for process items of the plurality of process flow candidates in the PFS 331. The capability matrix 149 may be a dual matrix including PAD based matrix and RMD based matrix, or may be an integrated matrix incorporating the PAD based CI and RMD based CI.

[00106] The capability matrix 149 may be useful in showing beneficial point-to-point process flow, and may not be used solely for arranging the whole process flow. FIG. 9 shows a diagram 90 illustrating the capability indices of the determined capability matrix 149 according to various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 9, the process items in the various routings among Seller 1, Seller 2, Seller 3 and Buyer are shown in various grey levels, indicating various values of the capability indices. For example, a lower grey level may indicate a lower value of capability index, and a higher grey level may indicate a higher value of capability index.

[00107] According to various embodiments, one consideration in the process flow optimization is that switching from a vendor to another vendor or between a vendor and a buyer may incur overhead cost. This overhead cost can be represented as a penalty during the optimization, also referred to as a change-over penalty. It may vary depending on the involved vendors or buyer, which may be derived by incorporating previous and current related business ties between them. These ties may be quantitatively measured by searching historical transaction data between the vendors and buyers, or may be set by a buyer or a vendor by indicating a priority order for vendors, etc.

[00108] Various embodiments of the process flow management device and method also include handling different KPIs of the buyer and vendors. KPI of the buyer may be referred to as a global KPI, and KPI of the vendor may be referred to as local KPI. Vendors may be offering competing or complementing services and may have different sets of KPIs to measure their operations and targets. For example, a merchandise vendor targets to gain a large profit margin, while a trucking service planner is concerned with filling a truck capacity before dispatching. Moreover, a logistics service provider commissioned to conduct final packaging process wants to ensure the product quality is not compromised during handling and transportation. A purchasing planner on the other hand is tasked to ensure that the right volume of merchandise arrived at the expected delivery date. Although the above mentioned scenarios may traditionally be regarded as internal KPIs to their operations, these are directly impacting the total landed product cost. Therefore, various embodiments of the process flow management device and method considers these KPI targets to be properly aligned with the assignment of responsibilities during process flow optimization. A vendor may desire to fix its service rates for the purpose of achieving its local KPI. For example, regardless of a merchandise volume provided that it does not exceed a maximum limit by its size and weight, the delivery cost may be fixed at a certain value. This may not be practical from a competitive pricing viewpoint. Therefore, one of the requirements in the process flow optimization is to specify a range of KPI values that a vendor can practically operate. [00109] Accordingly, the existence of multiple process flows while considering the difference in the KPI targets of the buyer and vendors complicates the process arrangement optimization. In the following, the process flow optimization according to various embodiments is described to deal with the multiple process flows from different potential vendors, possible process risks on the basis of RMD, and different KPIs of a buyer and vendors.

[00110] FIG. 10 shows exemplary components of the Process Arrangement Optimization 160 according to various embodiments. A merchandise order from the merchandise order entry 150 may describe merchandise details, e.g., as shown in a Sample Merchandise Order 612. The Sample Merchandise Order 612 may include merchandise data, such as merchandise type, model, number of units and a delivery preference. The delivery preference may indicate a delivery time window constraint, a maximum limit of total landed cost, etc.

[00111] According to various embodiments, the device 10, 100 may utilize External Data 61 1 representing data from a third party source, such as weather data provider, traffic data provider, news report provider about local events, holidays, etc. The external data may also be referred to as external environment data. These data may be used as input parameters to the process flow optimization, such that the process flow optimization module 160 is configured to dynamically determine the optimized process flow further based on the external data. The process flow optimization module 160 may be further configured to update the capability indices for each process flow candidate based on the external environment data, and dynamically determine the optimized process flow based on the updated capability indices.

[00112] The process flow optimization module 160 may include a PFS Capability Synthesis 610 which is a module or circuit for configuring the PFS prior to optimization, based on at least one of the PAD-based PFS Capability 514, RMD-based PFS Capability 526, or External data 61 1. In an exemplary embodiment, the process in 610 may include updating the PFS capability indices, as the data from External Data 611 may be incorporated, for instance in the PAD-based PFS capability. Whereas the RMD used for the calculation of the original RMD-based PFS capability 526 are associated to specific vendors, the updating due to External Data 611 may not be linked to a specific vendor. Then, a capability index of a process item may be updated in 610. For example, the capability index of a process item including location information may be updated if the location is affected by traffic congestion as reported by a data source from External Data 61 1.

[00113] In various embodiments, the capability indices from PAD-based and RMD- based PFS capabilities 514, 526 may be aggregated as follows. For simplicity, a buyer may be considered as a vendor. Suppose p& { 1...P} denoting the p^th process item, i.e., p=l denotes the 1^st process item, and P is the total number of process items from start (e.g., process item "Pick-up") to end (e.g., process item "Drop-off). Further, v e { l ... V} denotes a vendor and Vis the total number of vendors including the buyer, in this example. [00114] An aggregated capability index, cap_v (p), for each process item may be determined as: capy(p) = w_Pad · ραά_ν ρ)+\ν_ΓΤηά - rmd_v(p)

wherein

• Wp_ad is the weight for PAD-based capability index

• Wrmd is the weight for RMD-based capability index.

• pad v (p) is the PAD-based capability index of process item p carried out by vendor v.

• rmd v (p) is the RMD-based capability index of process p carried out by vendor v. [00115] The weights w_pad and MW may be selected in a way that cap _v (p) is bounded by value from 0 to 1. The value of cap _v (p), in turn, may be utilized to evaluate the objective function or global KPI (e.g., total landed cost) for the process flow optimization.

[00116] In the PFS Routing Optimization 620, the fundamental objective may be to minimize the buyer's KPI. In an exemplary embodiment, the objective or the global KPI may be the total landed product cost, or the merchandise cost to be paid by the buyer. In another exemplary embodiment, the objective or the global KPI may be a delivery lead time or a combination of the cost and the time.

[00117] According to various embodiments, the total landed cost, totalCost, as an example of the global KPI of the objective function may be calculated as follows: v p

[00118] δν (p) has a value of 1 for process item p conducted by vendor v, and a value of 0 otherwise. A value of 1 for δν (p) means that process item p conducted by vendor v is part of a process flow candidate in the PFS 331.

[00119] The parameter procCos (p) represents the process item cost if conducted by vendor v. Moreover, the process item cost may be calculated by taking into account the direct cost, indirect costs, as well as the capacity indices as shown by the following equation: procCost_v(p) = f(directCost_v (p), indirectCost_v(p), cap_v(p))

(4)

[00120] The above function / to calculate the process item cost is a linear function of direct and indirect costs. By considering capacity indices according to various embodiment, the function / may be nonlinear such that statistical analysis is required to define the relationship. The calculation of cost is defined by process item and by vendor because its value depends on these factors.

[00121] Since each vendor has its own local KPI, the cost per vendor may be calculated as:

[00122] Practically the value of costPerVendor may be the basis for calculating the profit margin of each vendor. Therefore, it may be bounded by lower and upper limits. These limits may be represented as a constraint in minimizing the totalCost, as shown in 1102 of FIG. 11 below.

[00123] According to various embodiments, in the above calculation of the global KPI, totalCost, a penalty function may be incorporated to account for the overhead in switching from one vendor to another vendor, or switching between the vendor and the buyer, as shown in 1104 of FIG. 1 1 below.

[00124] The permutations of possible routings from start to end process items, i.e. the process flow candidates, are exponential. For V vendors including the buyer and R synchronization points, there are about V^AR permutations, wherein switching from one process item to the next process item can be flexibly made. This problem is regarded as NP-hard in various research literatures which would require large computational resources if all possible permutations will be evaluated.

[00125] According to various embodiments, the Process Flow Arrangement Optimization may be solved by a direct search method, such that a possible solution is tried and evaluated based on the defined objective function. In the Process Flow Arrangement Optimization 160, a solution is a routing from a merchandise origin to a destination, and an objective function may be a total landed cost, a delivery lead time or a combination thereof.

[00126] A direct search method is approximated in this problem compared to an exact method which requires a functional derivative of problem expressed as a mathematical function. Further, in a direct search method, several algorithms may be employed, such as simple heuristics like nearest neighbor algorithm. Another algorithm using a direct method is to try all possible routings, which may be impractical for a large number of vendors and synchronization points. The algorithms that may be appropriate for the problem at hand are metaheuristics, such as Simulated Annealing, Tabu Search Method, Ant Colony Optimization and Particle Swarm Optimization.

[00127] According to various embodiments, these metaheuristics algorithms may be employed in solving the process arrangement optimization, i.e. the routing optimization in 620.

[00128] In FIG. 10, a Sample Routing Flowchart 621 shows an exemplary embodiment of an optimization flowchart for process flow optimization. The optimization may include optimizing a global KPI, and/or a set of local PIs. The global KPI corresponds to the objective function which is a buyer's KPI, such as total landed cost, delivery lead time, among others. A local KPI corresponds to a KPI of a vendor. Since a solution to the optimization may not imply that all KPIs of the buyer and selected vendors are optimized, the process flow optimization 620 may be configured such that vendors may specify an allowable region of operation. Therefore, a vendor may define an operating region, a decision logic, etc. which describe a range of its local KPI values that may be appropriate to buyer's objective or the global KPI. In the exemplary embodiments described above, the global KPI is to minimize the totalCost defined in equation (3), while the local KPI such as sales price, which may be based on equation (5), may need to be maximized from the viewpoint of a vendor.

[00129] As illustrated in the above embodiments, a relationship between local KPI and global KPI may be necessary in the optimization. The functional relationship may be based on historical operation data, wherein prior to the optimization, a functional relationship may be extracted. FIG. 12 shows a functional relationship 1200 between local KPI and global KPI according to an exemplary embodiment. The functional relationship 1200 may be obtained by numerically relating buyer's KPI value and seller's KPI value shown in table 1202 based on historical transaction or operational data.

[00130] According to various embodiments, the sample routing flowchart 621 may start from an initial routing solution, e.g. a process flow candidate involving a buyer or a vendor only, and the global KPI may be calculated based on the capability indices of the process items. A routing solution may be then selected, for example, by stochastically selecting a process flow segment of a vendor, and the local KPI of the selected process flow segment is optimized. Operating point is adjusted for the selected process flow segment to improve the cost, e.g., within the allowable region of operation specified by the vendor, until no more improvement is possible. The process may continue to another selected routing solution, until an end condition is satisfied.

[00131] In an exemplary embodiment, the algorithm described in the sample routing flowchart 621 may be configured to continue the optimization under specific conditions, for example, based on a time constraint or based on monitoring the improvement of the global KPI.

[00132] According to various embodiments, the PFS optimal result 621 output from the optimization 620 is at least a routing that originates from at least a starting process item of a buyer or a vendor, follows a consecutive path of process items that may involve a buyer or at least a vendor, and concludes in a point indicating the delivery of the merchandise.

[00133] For an order where one merchandise vendor is sufficient, at least one route is possible assuming that the total volume of the merchandise is transported in the same routing. In another embodiment, multiple routings are possible when the volume of the merchandise may be split into at least two vendors supplying the merchandise.

[00134] According to various embodiments, a delivery order may come from at least one vendor of merchandise. The routing of this merchandise may be separated first and merged later assuming that the same logistics transport service provider is utilized. Therefore, the output may be delivery orders that are split into at least two volumes wherein each volume will indicate the merchandise vendor, the routing, and the vendors for the routing.

[00135] FIG. 11 shows an exemplary embodiment of the process flow optimizer 620. Similar to the above embodiments, the process flow optimization module 620 is configured to determine an optimal process flow (PF) 621 based on the capability indices 149. In the embodiments of FIG. 1 1, external data may also be considered in the process flow optimization, such as freight delivery data, including merchandise type, volume, delivery preferences, etc.

[00136] According to the embodiments of FIG. 11, the process flow optimization module 620 is a combinatorial optimization module, which is configured to further combine constrains 1 102 and penalties 1104 in the optimization. The constrains 1 102 may be based on the local KPIs of the vendors as described above. The penalties 1104 may be based on change-over penalties described above.

[00137] Table 2 below shows examples of constraints and penalties according to various embodiments. Table 2

[00138] In various embodiments above, various data may be updated according to different frequencies. In an exemplary embodiment, process flow data and physical asset data may be updated as needed. Freight delivery data may be updated by transaction. Risk data and external environment data may be updated frequently.

[00139] FIG. 13 shows an embodiment of a User Interface 700 which is an implementation of Process Flow Synchronization 120 with an integrated functionality of Process Flow Data Entry 110. A vendor or a buyer may input or create its own process flow data by pressing the button 710 and modify its synchronization points through Panel 750. Moreover, a vendor has a privilege to define a sub-process item inside each process item in order that its process flow may conform to other process flows of other vendors. This may be accessed by clicking a process item in Panel 750. A pop-up menu may be shown as illustrated in a Sub-panel 760 to create and modify sub-process items. In this menu, the horizontal axis may show the relative schedule based on the lead times of sub- process items. The vertical axis shows the order of the sub-process items.

[00140] Further, a buyer who may have the access to all process flows, may load all process flows from vendors, and create its own process flow. The buyer may configure the PFS by modifying synchronization points, and join lines in Panel 750. The buyer may be able to review a process flow superset by selecting a list in List 730 and confirm the changes made in the process flow superset through button 740. [00141] FIG. 14 shows an embodiment of an interface for Process Flow Arrangement Optimization 160. A PF Superset may be loaded by button 810, and a merchandise entry may be provided by button 820. The loaded PF Superset may be confirmed by a graphical display shown in Panel 850. After the confirmation, an optimization may be initiated by pressing button 830. In this optimization, a default setting of the optimization parameters such as an initial solution, update parameter, etc. is used. Button 840 may be utilized to modify the optimization settings and another cycle of optimization may be conducted by pressing again button 830. The results of the optimization are shown in KPI charts 860. Further, a recommended routing based on the solution is displayed in Panel 850, as indicated by the bold lines. In this example, the recommend routing, i.e. the optimized process flow includes: process items "Pickup", "Transport" and "Ware-housing 1" carried out by Vendor A; followed by process items "Export" and "Import" carried out by Vendor C; and followed by process items "Ware-housing 2", "Delivery", and "Drop-off carried out by Vendor D.

[00142] FIG. 15 shows an exemplary embodiment of a system 900 for process flow management in a client/server network setting. A device 910, e.g. a server, is configured to carry out the process flow optimization of various embodiments described above, and may optionally further carry out the process flow synchronization/determination of various embodiments described above. The process flow arrangement and optimization system server 910 may be or may include the process flow optimizer 13, 160 above, and optionally may be or may include the process flow determination/synchronization module 120 above.

[00143] At least one vendor may be able to access the server 910 to input process flow information via the Interface 920, and to input asset information including physical asset data and risk data via the Interface 930. Accordingly, a buyer may input process flow data via the Interface 940, and input asset information including physical asset data and risk data via the Interface 950. Merchandise order may be input via the Interface 960. The server 910 may include a receiver configured to receive one or more of the process flow data, the physical asset data, the risk data, or the merchandise data for further processing according to various embodiments above via internet.

[00144] Fig. 16 shows a schematic diagram of a process flow management device 1600 according to various embodiments. The process flow management device 1600 may be the device 10 of FIG. 1, and may be the device 100 of FIG. 3 above. Various embodiments described above with reference to the devices 10, 100 are analogously valid for the device 1600 of FIG. 16, and vice versa.

[00145] The process flow management device 1600 may be implemented by a computer system. In various embodiments, the receiver 11, the process flow optimizer 13, the respective data entry 110, 130, 150, the process flow determination 120, the capability index determination 140, and the process flow optimization 160, may also be implemented as modules executing on one or more computer systems. The computer system may include a CPU 1601 (central processing unit), a processor 1603, a memory 1605, a network interface 1607, input interface/devices 1609 and output interface/devices 1611. All the components 1601, 1603, 1605, 1607, 1609, 1611 of the computer system 1600 are connected or coupled for communicating with each other through a computer bus 1613.

[00146] The memory 1605 may be used as for storing the process flow candidates, the capability indices, the process flow data, the physical asset data, the risk data, the merchandise data, and the external data used and determined according to the device of the embodiments. The memory 1605 may include more than one memory, such as RAM, ROM, EPROM, hard disk, etc. wherein some of the memories are used for storing data and programs and other memories are used as working memories. [00147] In an embodiment, the memory 1605 may be configured to store instructions for process flow management according to various embodiments above. The instructions, when executed by the CPU 1601, may cause the CPU 1601 to determine an optimized process flow based on the capability indices; determine process flow candidates; and/or determine capability indices based on the physical asset data and risk data. The instruction may also cause the CPU 1601 to store the respective data or result determined according to the device and the method of the embodiments in the memory 1605.

[00148] In another embodiment, the processor 1603 may be a special purpose processor, in this example, a process flow optimizer, for executing the instructions described above.

[00149] The CPU 1601 or the processor 1603 may be used as the process flow management device as described in various embodiments above, and may be connected to an internal network (e.g. a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) within an organization) and/or an external network (e.g. the Internet) through the network interface 1607.

[00150] The Input 1609 may include a keyboard, a mouse, etc. The output 1611 may include a display for display the process flows in the embodiments below.

[00151] It will be understood that in the description above, whenever reference is made to a "module", both the respective steps in a method, in which the functionality of the "module" is carried out, and the respective circuit configured to carry out the functionality of the "module" is addressed.

[00152] According to various embodiments above, a device and a method for process flow synchronization and process flow optimization are provided.

[00153] The various embodiments above may be utilized by a procurement unit that operates with a plurality of vendors with similar, overlapping, or complementary services. Moreover, the procurement unit of a company may also have a capability of conducting selected in-house services. The device and method of various embodiments virtually combines the related process flows of a buyer and vendors to determine the optimal sourcing of the merchandise and its corresponding routing. The decision making process in selecting the vendors may be automatically conducted by the device and method of various embodiments based on the calculated capability indices on the merits of the physical asset data and risk data of the vendors and the buyer.

[00154] The various embodiments above may be further utilized by a vendor to manage its resource commitment (e.g., truck capacity, warehouse stocking capacity) for the use of a specific buyer during the process flow arrangement stage. The decision to increase or reduce its committed resources may be based on historical transactions between the vendor and the buyer.

[00155] Moreover, the various embodiments above may be utilized by a third party logistics service provider (3 PL) that manages a set of services for transporting products such as trucking, warehousing, packaging among others. According to the method of the above embodiments, the logistics service providers may provide a service that logs buying patterns of a buyer and suggests a seller or a combination of sellers based on the pattern, and may provide an added service to find truck carriers for logistics service provider based on the above suggestion. In turn, the logistics service providers provide flexible terms of sale between buyers and sellers, and allow reducing trading cost in a win-win situation. By the device and method of various embodiments, a buyer or a 3PL can determine its services with competitive advantages and services that have to be sourced.

[00156] Various embodiments above provide a device and a method that optimize the procurement and delivery of merchandise based on capabilities of a buyer and a plurality of vendors. Various embodiments configure a synchronized process flow of the buyer and vendors on the basis of defining synchronization points. By introducing synchronization points in the process flows of the buyer and vendors, the device and the method effectively accelerate the discovery of services from a vendor other than its default services, and the assessment of the capabilities of the buyer and vendors for the procurement and delivery of the merchandise. A large number of synchronization points indicate high modularity in the service provided by a vendor such that it is capable of handling diverse buyer's requirements at various phases of its process flow.

[00157] Various embodiments further take into consideration that the synchronized process flow involves multiple parties, and a combination of process flows may be exposed to a different set of risks. Therefore, the device and method of various embodiments evaluate a capability index of a buyer and vendors not only based on the physical assets but also on risk data. The risk data is risk-manifesting data such as road vibration data, temperature variation logs, among others that may include information about potential risks and its impact to a process item or a set of process items.

[00158] The device and method of various embodiments further have capability to optimize process flow arrangement by dealing with different KPIs of a buyer and vendors. For example, a merchandise vendor targets to gain a large profit margin while a trucking service planner is concerned with filling the truck capacity before dispatching. Moreover, a logistics service provider commissioned to conduct final packaging process wants to ensure the product quality is not compromised during handling and transportation. A purchasing planner on the other hand is tasked to ensure that the right volume of merchandise arrived at the expected delivery date. According to various embodiments above, in finding the feasible total landed cost, these different KPIs have been taken into account to ensure that responsibilities are assigned to right vendors. Thus, various embodiments reach a workable total landed product cost on the basis of the key performance indices of the buyer and vendors, wherein the cost is within their target key performance index levels.

[00159] Various embodiments further utilizes other external data sources during the process flow optimization, such as road condition and weather data, aside from the physical asset data and risk data of the buyer and vendors. This creates a more realistic purchasing and delivery strategies in a multi-sourcing setting.

[00160] While the invention has 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 spirit and 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.

Claims

Claims What is claimed is:

1. A device for process flow management among a buyer and at least one vendor, the device comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a plurality of process flow candidates and capability indices for each process flow candidate,

wherein each process flow candidate originates from one of the at least one vendor selling merchandise and terminates at a destination predetermined by the buyer, and wherein each process flow candidate includes a sequence of process items each of which represents a service carried out by one of the buyer or the vendor,

wherein each capability index represents a performance value determined based on physical asset data and risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item; and

a process flow optimizer configured to determine an optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, based on the capability indices for the process items of the plurality of process flow candidates.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the process flow optimizer is configured to determine a global key performance indicator of the buyer for each process flow candidate based on the capability indices for each process flow candidate, and determine the optimized process flow as a process flow candidate having the optimized global key performance indicator.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the global key performance indicator of the buyer comprises at least one of a landed cost for the merchandise, a merchandise cost, or a lead time for the merchandise.

4. The device according to claim 2, wherein the process flow optimizer is further configured to calculate at least one of a landed cost for the merchandise, a merchandise cost, or a lead time for the merchandise for each process flow candidate, and

determine the global key performance indicator of the buyer for each process flow candidate, based on the capability indices for each process flow candidate and at least one of the landed cost, the merchandise cost, or the lead time for each process flow candidate.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the process flow optimizer is configured to determine the optimized process flow further based on a change-over penalty for each process flow candidate,

wherein the change-over penalty represents a penalty value when changing between different vendors or between the vendor and the buyer for carrying out the process items in each process flow candidate, wherein the penalty value is associated with previous or current business transactions of the vendors or the buyer.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the process flow optimizer is further configured to calculate a local key performance indicator of each vendor in each process flow candidate based on the capability indices of the process items for each process flow candidate, and

determine the optimized process flow using the local key performance indicator as a constraint.

7. The device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a capability index determiner configured to determine the capability index for each process item of each process flow candidate, based on the physical asset data and the risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the physical assets data comprises data associated with at least one of vehicles, warehouse, or human resource of the vendor or the buyer.

9. The device according to claim 7, wherein the risk data indicates process-related risks, and comprises data associated with at least one of transaction history, temperature, weather, traffic, road condition, geographical risk, merchandise damage, or delivery delay.

10. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a process flow determiner configured to assign the respective process items to one or more of the buyer and the at least one vendor to determine each of the plurality of process flow candidates, based on process flow data of the buyer and process flow data of each of the at least one vendor, wherein the process flow data of the buyer comprises a sequence of process items offered by the buyer, and the process flow data of each of the at least one vendor comprises a sequence of process items offered by each vendor.

11. The device of claim 10,

wherein the process flow data of at least one of the buyer and the vendor comprises synchronization data associated with one or more of the process items, indicating one or more points allowable to change to a different vendor or change between the vendor and the buyer for a preceding or subsequent process item;

wherein the process flow determiner is configured to assign the respective process items to one or more of the buyer and the vendor to form each process flow candidate, based on the synchronization data.

12. The device according to claim 1,

wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a merchandise order from the buyer, the merchandise order comprising data associated with at least one of a merchandise type, a merchandise volume, a landed cost constraint, or a delivery time window constraint;

wherein the process flow optimizer is configured to dynamically determine the optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, further based on the merchandise order.

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive external environment data, comprising at least one of weather data, traffic data, local events data, or holiday data;

wherein the process flow optimizer is configured to dynamically determine the optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, further based on the external environment data.

The device according to claim 13,

wherein the process flow optimizer is configured to update the capability indices for each process flow candidate based on the external environment data, and dynamically determine the optimized process flow based on the updated capability indices.

15. A method for process flow management among a buyer and at least one vendor, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of process flow candidates, wherein each process flow candidate originates from one of the at least one vendor selling merchandise and terminates at a destination predetermined by the buyer, and wherein each process flow candidate includes a sequence of process items each of which represents a service carried out by one of the buyer or the vendor;

receiving capability indices for the process items of each process flow candidate, wherein each capability index represents a performance value determined based on physical asset data and risk data associated with the buyer or the vendor carrying out the corresponding process item; and determining an optimized process flow from the plurality of process flow candidates, based on the capability indices for the process items of the plurality of process flow candidates.