DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the yard management system (YMS) for finished Goods (vehicles) yard. In particular, the present invention relates to online system for receipt, parking and dispatch of vehicles by using such a FG parking yard management system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a real-time inventory in Completely Built Units (CBUs) of vehicles in a FG Yard Management System (FG-YMS) for audit and accounting purposes. The invention also relates to a method for managing the finished goods (FG) inventory by means of the yard management system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In any vehicle manufacturers’ finished goods (vehicles or CBUs) parking yard, it is necessary to carry out the following activities for managing the dispatch of the vehicles parked therein:

- Vehicle entry at the receipt gate of the vehicle parking yard;
- Manual entry and Ready-For-Dispatch (RFD) status check;
- Making RFD / communicating to TCF (Trim, Chassis and Final) shop (where final assembly of the vehicles is completed), if vehicle RFD status is not OK;
- Randomly parking vehicle at an empty parking location, if RFD status is OK;
- Manual billing of vehicle in SAP;
- Search for Vehicle Operator/Yard Jockey for dispatching the vehicle;
- Vehicle line-up by a yard-jockey;
- Dispatch of the vehicle; and
- Updating the availability of vehicle parking locations within parking yard.

An efficient Finished Goods (Vehicles) yard (FG-Yard) Inventory management is a very complex task, particularly managing and maintaining FG stock in a very large area. For example, one of the automotive manufacturing facilities of the applicant with a capacity to produce 3 lakhs to 6.5 lakhs vehicle per year, is spread over an area in excess of about 700 acres.

Most of the companies in this field still employ manual practices for yard management, which results in MUDA [a Japanese word meaning "futility; uselessness; idleness; superfluity; waste; wastage; wastefulness", and which is a key concept in Toyota Production System] due to data inaccuracy, lack of visibility and inefficient storage and retrieval processes.

Thus, there is a need felt for developing a well-designed and efficiently maintained yard management system in order to eliminate wastes and for improving system responsiveness.

A Yard Management System (YMS) is a software application designed to manage the movement of Finished Goods (Vehicles) within FG-Yard. This Yard Management System (YMS) is a component within a mission-critical supply chain execution suite of different applications. The object of a Yard Management System (YMS) application is to provide real-time instructions to the yard jockeys, who are responsible for moving the vehicles within the FG-Yard. It is imperative to move Finished Goods (Vehicles) to the predefined locations on a prioritized basis to maximize order fill rates and to eliminate the carrier detention charges to be paid to the transport contractors.

A properly integrated Yard Management System (YMS) application would enable such complex distribution operations to accurately locate and identify the vehicles parked within the FG-Yard for optimum inventory management.

A modern vehicle yard management would require an efficient system for tracking the location, details and RFD status of all vehicles parked anywhere within the parking yard. This would also require a streamlined and automated management of gate schedules and vehicle jockey assignments as well as up-to-date database of the empty parking spaces within the parking yard at any point of time.

For this reason, the above-mentioned conventional manually maintained, manual, paper-based system could not provide such up-to-date information, and the parking process therein were often more time-consuming and prone to yard-jockeys making errors while parking the vehicles within the parking yard and so, the vehicle receipt, parking and dispatch management is not up to the mark.

The applicants are a large Indian multinational automotive and farm equipment manufacturer having manufacturing facilities at different locations. The plans are afoot for a multifold (approx. 10x) increase in the yard areas for different models of the vehicles manufactured and dispatched to the clients. This would require the number of parking slots to be increased by approx. 8.5 times, and almost doubling the shipment of these vehicles.

Accordingly, a YMS application has been developed in-house by the applicants. It has completely changed the operational process. This YMS application has delivered full visibility and complete control over FG-management processes, which in turn has increased efficiency, improved productivity and saved costs.

DISADVANTAGES WITH THE EXISTING FG YARD

During our detailed in-house studies, it was found that there is difficulty in timely tracking of the vehicles within the storage and parking yard. Further, no visual data is available about the Work-In-Progress (WIP) vehicles parked there. This requires time-consuming searches to be done for the vehicles to be dispatched. This is an added non-productive activity or waste (called as MUDA in Japanese lean manufacturing processes). Moreover, there is no centralized and consolidated database available for dispatch of the vehicles. In addition, the present arrangements are manpower intensive, thus prone to delays in shipment of vehicle from the vehicle storage and parking yards. Due to above mentioned problems and for reasons of poor communications and multiple handling and lack of coordination between the vast number of vehicle operators or yard jockeys, the vehicles cannot be dispatched on-time.

The situation aggravates further due to very large and extensively spread out (more than 700 acres) location of the existing parking yard, thereby posing following specific operational bottlenecks and problems in yard-management:
- Finding vehicles is very time-consuming and yet speedy retrieval of parked vehicles is not completely error-free,
- Real-time visibility of the parked vehicles is not possible,
- Prolonged turnaround time and shipment delays due to missing vehicles and lack of availability of up-to-date status thereof,
- Extra waiting charges incurred on the trailers employed for shifting finished goods to clients/ports due to such delayed shipments,
- Prolonged gate checks,
- Vehicles requiring rework within parking yard are not tracked timely, and
- Absence of reports and dashboards with actual locations and inventory.

The situation is expected to deteriorate further, once the FG yard area is increased almost tenfold (as planned), bringing more than 8.5 times of vehicles in the expanded yard and in turn, raising the daily shipments to almost double the present capacity of vehicles within the parking yard.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

Some of the objects of the present invention - satisfied by at least one embodiment of the present invention - are as follows:

An object of the present invention is to provide an easy storage of finished goods (vehicles) at pre-designated empty parking spaces in Completely-Built-Units yard.

Another object of the present invention is to provide easy retrieval of finished goods from these pre-designated areas by the operators or yard jockeys.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide real-time FG-yard information to the yard managers for speedy and accurate dispatch of vehicles.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide semi-automated workflow process to assist Demand Chain Management (DCM) in CBU-yard management.

One more object of the present invention is to provide real-time visual display of the finished goods inventory in CBU-yard for purposes of audit and accounting.

Still further object of the present invention is to generate Management Information System (MIS) Reports and Dashboards for ease of status-display.

Yet further object of the present invention is to create real-time yard management system, which facilitates in billing management and on-time receipt, parking and dispatch of the vehicles.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when read with the accompanying figures of drawing, which are, however, not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

DESCRIPTION AND UNIQUENESS OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the Finished Goods Yard Management System (FG-YMS) developed in accordance with the present invention includes following characteristic features:

? Establishes a positive location disciplined YMS process for the "First time" in the Automotive Sector,
? Provides Location v/s Presence analysis and placement of vehicles,
? Allows yard jockey to directly go to the vehicle parked at designated parking location by exactly knowing the vehicle "Location", to save time.
? Allows to check the "Presence" information about the targeted vehicle based on Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to confirm the location of vehicle within FG-Yard,
? Uses available resources, e.g. barcode sticker with VIN information and FG Model Code in a most effective manner,
? Focuses on Real-time visibility and Operational output,
? Offers a very robust and simple solution with extensive user input to make it very intuitive and user friendly,
? Does More with Less: i.e. the idea of more value, quality at less cost to the customer with true frugality and inclusiveness, and
? Keeps it Simple: Instead of deploying an over engineered solution, the focus is to keep it simple and easily supported by the assembly-plant/TCF.

Accordingly, all aspects of the Supply Chain Management (SCM) shipping and dispatching of FG (vehicles), including all the operations and functions of the Completely Built Unit (CBU) yard were analyzed and understood. The key metrics required to improve the performance of the shipping process were identified.

Yard Management System (YMS) application using VB6.0 and MS SQL Database is conceptualized developed and validated for tracking, tracing and positive location of all FG (vehicles) in CBU-Yard. YMS uses the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) information as the primary key available from the barcode sticker pasted on each of the FG. This VIN information is matched with SAP for Ready-for-Dispatch (RFD) status of the FG. Upon receipt of confirmation of RFD status, YMS allocates a fixed parking location to FG. YMS application provides real-time instructions to the yard jockeys responsible for moving vehicles within the FG-Yard. It is imperative to move vehicles to the predefined locations on a prioritized basis to maximize order fill rates. YMS also provides Excel sheet output for Billing as well as for Yard Inventory Management purposes. After billing status confirmation, the list of vehicles with parking location information is provided to yard jockeys for initiating the dispatch sequence. After security check, the respective Yard jockey drives the vehicle to the waiting trailer for shipment to client/port. Finally, the Yard Jockey as well as the designated parking location is recorded as EMPTY in the YMS and kept ready for next RFD vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a yard management system (YMS) for managing real-time inventory in finished goods (FG or CBUs of vehicles) for audit and accounting purposes, the system comprises:

- Receipt module;

- RFD Status checking module;

- Parking lot assignment module;

- Communication module;

- FG movement prioritizing module;

- Real-time parking lot status recording and displaying module;

- Billing status recording and displaying module; and

- FG billing status communication module.

Typically, the Receipt module comprises a vehicle identification number (VIN) reading and recording system, e.g. manual VIN input device or a bar code reader.

Typically, the Ready-For-Dispatch (RFD) status checking module includes a RFD status comparator for comparing RFD status of FG with the RFD status in the SAP system of YMS database.

Typically, the RFD status checking module includes a communication sub-module for issuing RFD ‘OK’ Status of FG to yard jockeys OR for issuing RFD ‘Not-OK’ Status of FG for taking appropriate corrective actions by respective sub-section.

Typically, the Parking lot assignment module comprises a sub-module for assigning a unique parking slot to each FG with confirmed or ‘OK’ RFD status and a sub-module for generating and printing the assigned parking lot number to be pasted on FG.

Typically, the Yard jockey assignment module comprises a sub-module for allotting a yard jockey for moving each FG to an assigned parking lot located within the FG yard and/or to a FG loading station outside FG yard and another sub-module for issuing real-time instructions to respective allotted yard jockey for moving the allotted FG to the assigned parking lot or to the FG loading station.

Typically, the communication module comprises a sub-module for issuing real-time instructions to respective allotted yard jockey for moving the RFD “OK’ FG to the assigned parking lot, a sub-module for communicating ‘Not OK’ RFD status to the respective section, e.g. Trim-Chassis-Final (TCF) shop for taking appropriate corrective actions, and another sub-module for communicating FG billing status along with the assigned parking slot thereof to the respective allotted yard jockey.

Typically, a sub-module is provided for prioritizing the movement of finished goods and to record and display the real-time parking lot status of each RFD finished.

Typically, the billing module comprises a sub-module for confirming billing status in SAP from the YMS which holds the list of parked RFD finished goods with their respectively assigned parking slots and a module for communicating the billing status along with the assigned parking slot of the finished goods to the respective yard jockey.

In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided a method for managing finished goods (FG) inventory in a FG Yard, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

(a) receiving the finished goods (FG) in the FG-yard;

(b) entering vehicle identification number (VIN) in the receipt section as the primary key information read from the barcode sticker on the FG;

(c) moving the FG for checking Ready-For-Dispatch (RFD) status of FG;

(d) matching this RFD status with the SAP system of the YMS database and if RFD Status is found ‘OK’ or confirmed:

(i) assigning an empty parking spot is assigned to the FG with confirmed or ‘OK’ RFD status;

(ii) pasting the sticker on FG having the unique location no. assigned within FG Yard;

(iii) allotting a yard jockey for moving each FG within the FG yard;

(iv) issuing real-time instructions to respective allotted yard jockey;

(e) if the RFD status of the FG is detected to be ‘Not OK’ or not-confirmed:

(I) either FG is made RFD within the FG yard itself
OR
(II) ‘Not OK’ RFD status is communicated to the respective section, e.g. Trim-Chassis-Final (TCF) shop for taking appropriate corrective actions;

(III) again confirming RFD Status is ‘OK’;

(IV) pasting the sticker on FG having the unique location no. assigned within FG Yard;

(V) allotting a yard jockey for moving each FG within the FG yard;
(VI) issuing real-time instructions to respective allotted yard jockey;
(f) moving RFD FG to the assigned parking slot by the assigned yard jockey moves on a prioritized basis;

(g) immediately reflecting the parked FG in the assigned slot for further processing, e.g. billing;

(h) confirming billing status in SAP from the YMS holding the list of parked FG with respective assigned parking slots;

(i) communicating FG billing status along with the assigned parking slot thereof the respective yard jockey;

(j) commencing the dispatch sequence by FG being picked-up by the respective yard jockey for dispatch via OUT gate of the FG-Yard;

(k) scanning and recording VIN no. of the FG in YMS database;

(l) checked the billing confirmation of FG again before dispatch;

(m) entering VIN of FG in YMS after confirmation of the billing status thereof;

(n) marking the respective parking slot as EMPTY inside the FG-Yard for next allotment of FG;

(o) moving FG forward by yard jockey after security check to the loading point; and

(p) releasing yard jockey for next assignment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The present invention will be briefly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the FG-Yard showing FG (vehicles) systematically parked in their designated parking locations in ‘A’ and ‘B’ blocks.

Figure 2 shows another perspective view of the FG-Yard showing FG (vehicles) systematically parked in their designated parking locations in ‘S’ and ‘T’ blocks.

Figure 3 shows the flow diagram of the conventional yard management practice used in the finished goods (vehicles) for receiving, parking and dispatching vehicles ready for dispatch (RFD).

Figure 4 shows the flow diagram of the Yard Management System (YMS) according to the process in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

In the following, different embodiments of the present invention will be described in more details with reference to the accompanying drawings without limiting the scope and ambit of the present invention in any way. The semi-automated yard management system for finished goods (vehicles) employed for receiving, parking and dispatching the same in accordance with the present invention now be described in more details with reference to the accompanying drawings, however without limiting the scope and ambit of the present disclosure in any way.

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the FG-Yard showing FG (vehicles) systematically parked in their designated parking locations A-1, A-2, A-3 etc. in ‘A’ and ‘B’ blocks which are all shown filled with FG vehicles here. However, in practice, the vehicles are continuously being received, parked and dispatched in a FG-Yard, by entering their VIN nos. at the receipt gate, then matching the list in SAP for “Ready-For-Dispatch” status (RFD) of each vehicle, on confirmation of RFD, YMS allocates a designated parking location, e.g. A-1, A-2, A-3 for each vehicle and also issues real-time instructions to the yard jockey for driving each vehicle within FG-Yard to its respective designated parking location. The YMS issues these instructions to move RFD vehicles to designated parking locations on a prioritized basis in order to maximize the order fill rates. Subsequently, based on the “billed” confirmation status, the list of vehicles is provided by the YMS, along with their respective parking location information to the yard jockeys for initiating the dispatch sequence to move each vehicle for security check and the out via dispatch gate to finally load them on the waiting trailer for dispatch to the client location or ports.

Figure 2 shows another perspective view of the FG-Yard showing FG (vehicles) systematically parked in their designated parking locations in ‘S’ and ‘T’ blocks

Figure 3 shows a flow diagram of the conventional yard management practice used in the finished goods (vehicles) for receiving, parking and dispatching vehicles ready-for-dispatch (RFD). In the FG yard, each vehicle is received at point 10 at the Receipt-yard. Then, it is manually checked for its Ready-For-Dispatch (RFD) status at point 20. In case, the vehicle RFD status is ‘OK’, it is parked randomly at any empty parking location 30 and a manual billing is carried out at point 40 before dispatching the vehicle. However, if the RFD status of the vehicle is found to be ‘Not OK’, either the vehicle is made RFD at the yard itself or the detected RFD status ‘Not OK’ is communicated at point 25 to the respective Trim-Chassis-Final (TCF) shop in order to take appropriate corrective actions. After manual billing at point 40, the operator and/or yard jockey is looked for and assigned at point 50 for dispatching the vehicle. The operator takes over the vehicle and lines it up at point 60 in a queue for dispatch from the yard OUT gate. Finally, the vehicle is dispatched after making manual entry at point 70 for recording the dispatch of this vehicle from the yard. It is to be pointed out that the conventional system is prone to delays due non availability of visual data of parked vehicles, leading to unnecessary manual search for free-slots.

Figure 4 shows the flow diagram of the Yard Management System (YMS) according to the new semi-automated process in accordance with the present invention. Each vehicle is received in FG-yard at gate 110. After this, the vehicle identification number (VIN) is entered as the primary key information by using the keyboard of a personal computer or it is scanned, preferably by a hand-held scanning device 120 in the receipt section 110 of the FG-yard. This vehicle identification number (VIN) is available in the form of a barcode sticker pasted at a predetermined place on the vehicle. The vehicle is then moved to point 130, where its Ready-For-Dispatch (RFD) status of the vehicle is checked. This scanned VIN is then matched with the SAP system for Ready-for-Dispatch (RFD) status from the YMS database. In case, the vehicle RFD status is confirmed or is found to be ‘OK’, an empty parking spot is assigned at point 140 on a priority basis as defined by the YMS. A sticker of this assigned unique location no. is pasted on the RFD vehicle. In addition, real-time instructions are also issued to respective Yard Jockey responsible for moving the vehicle within FG yard. However, if the RFD status of the vehicle is detected to be ‘Not OK’, then either the vehicle is made RFD at the yard itself or the detected RFD status ‘Not OK’ is communicated at point 125 to the respective Trim-Chassis-Final (TCF) shop in order to take appropriate corrective actions. RFD vehicle is taken over by the respective yard jockey for moving it to the parking slot 150 assigned to that vehicle on a prioritized basis to maximize the order fill rates. Once, the vehicle is parked in the assigned slot 150, the parked RFD vehicle is immediately reflected in the excel sheet of the YMS for billing as well as for FG-Yard inventory management purposes. At 160, vehicle billing status in SAP is confirmed from the YMS, which also holds the list of parked vehicles with their assigned parking slot. This vehicle billing confirmation along with its assigned parking slot is again communicated to the respective yard jockey for commencing the dispatch sequence. The respective yard jockey picks the assigned vehicle at 170 for dispatch via OUT gate of the FG-Yard 180, where VIN no. of the vehicle is scanned again for recording it in YMS database. The vehicle is checked again by the vehicle tracking system of the YMS for billing confirmation of the vehicle before dispatch at point 190. Once, YMS confirms its billing status, VIN no. of RFD vehicle is again entered at point 200, using the keyboard of a personal computer or preferably scanned by a hand-held scanning device and the respective parking slot is again marked as EMPTY inside the FG-Yard and the yard jockey takes it forward after security check to the point 210 for loading the vehicle in the waiting trailer or container. With this loading, at the END 220, the yard jockey is released for escorting the next RFD vehicle again through above procedure.

The information- flow in a typical FG-YMS is given below:
• Recording opening balance in the FG-Yard of the stock of vehicles,
• Collecting online real-time data of all vehicle receipts and dispatch through their VIN nos.,
• Maintain total FG stock in CBU-Yard,
• Maintain total free-parking locations availability within FG-Yard anytime,
• Provide BNBD (Billed But Not Dispatched) information and data,
• Maintain FG (vehicle receipt / Dispatch / Repair) Log,
• Prepare ageing report of all FG in the CBU-Yard,
• Prepare cumulative inventory summary for CBU-Yard anytime,
• Search for vehicles through respective VIN nos. of assigned parking location nos.,
• Prepare CBU-Yard occupancy statistics, and
• Undertake the flexibility & configuration of Blocks in FG CBU-Yard.

According to above functionalities of the FG-YMS, following reports and Dashboards are prepared, which provide an easy-to-understand visual display of FG-Yard parking locations for their optimum utilization.

Table-1 below illustrates a real-time screenshot of the vehicle inventory within FG-Yard at any point in time, showing the total parking locations available after accounting for the receipt and dispatch of vehicles till that point of time. This screenshot directly gives the number of parking locations available, which may be assigned to vehicles subsequently entering FG-Yard. This data can preferably be used on the visual display of yard jockeys on their dedicated devices for the movement of vehicles.

TABLE -1

FINISHED GOODS YARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Vehicles Opening Balance Vehicle Receipt Today Vehicle Dispatch Today Repair Out Today Total FG Stock in Yard Total Parking Locations Total Free Parking Locations
XUV 500 203 101 11 0 294 366 72
REXTON 132 0 0 0 132 136 4
BOLERO 102 17 4 0 115 126 11
GENIO 57 6 0 0 63 72 9
MAXXIMO 236 74 62 39 213 331 118
MPV 191 74 25 0 240 373 133
AGEING NP1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RECONFIG BLOCK NP2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SETTINGS TOTAL 921 272 102 39 1057 1404 347
CUMULATIVE TOTAL FG YARD CAPACITY PRESENT QUANTITY TOTAL FREE LOCATIONS EXIT
GRAPH 1404 1057 347
LOG SEARCH VEHICLE BBND FG YARD OCCUPANCY 10.10.2013
5:51:36 PM

Table-2 below illustrates a screenshot of the model-wise vehicle inventory within FG-Yard at any particular point of time, showing the receipt, dispatches along with the number of repaired out vehicles.

TABLE -2

FINISHED GOODS YARD CUMULATIVE DATA
VEHICLE BALANCE ON
8/31/2013 VEHICLE RECEIPT DISPATCH REPAIR OUT
XUV 500 310 XUV 500 2377 2253 348
REXTON 120 REXTON 140 133 0
BOLERO 26 BOLERO 313 216 21
GENIO 27 GENIO 190 157 7
MAXXIMO 129 MAXXIMO 2466 2431 4
MPV 118 MPV 1996 1996 6
NP1 0 NP1 0 0 0
NP2 0 NP2 0 0 0
TOTAL 730 TOTAL 7482 7186 386

GET DATA FROM DATE 9/1/2013 GET DATA TO DATE 9/30/2013 GET DATA
MAIN SCREEN 10/10/2013
5:57:44 PM

In another screenshot of the YMS shown in Table-3 below, the vehicles which are billed but not yet dispatched (BBND) are shown distributed over different blocks A to T in which the FG-Yard is divided for better parking management.

TABLE -3
BBND
BLOCK A B C D E F
BBND Vehicles 23 26 28 29 16 10
BLOCK G H J K L M
BBND Vehicles 0 12 14 16 10 0
BLOCK N P Q R S T
BBND Vehicles 8 2 2 2 0 0
Vehicles XUV REXTON BOLERO GENIO MAXXIMO MPV NP1 NP2 TOTAL
BBND Vehicles 116 2 10 4 40 26 0 0 198
BBND LOG
DATE XUV REXTON BOLERO GENIO MAXXIMO MPV NP1 NP2 TOTAL
10/10/2013
MAIN SCREEN 10/10/2013 5:52:12 PM

Another screenshot pertains to the ageing of the vehicles within the FG-Yard. This displays the information as illustrated in Table-4 below:

TABLE-4

No. of Days within FG-Yard VEHICLE AGEING AT DISPATCH
XUV REXTON BOLERO GENIO MAXXIMO MPV NP1 NP2 TOTAL
6 to 11 18 21 30 4 22 0 0 0 95
12 to 17 0 23 57 0 3 0 0 0 83
18 to 23 0 37 0 7 0 1 0 0 45
24 to 29 0 7 0 3 0 2 0 0 12
30 to 44 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3
> 45 days 0 28 0 7 0 3 0 0 38

MAIN SCREEN 10/10/2013 5:52:12 PM

Yet another screenshot may illustrate the FG (vehicles) yard-occupancy information, as shown in Table-5 below:

TABLE -5

FINISHED GOODS YARD OCCUPANCY
BLOCK A B C D E F
VEHICLE XUV XUV XUV XUV MAXXIMO BOLERO
TOTAL LOCATIONS 51 60 90 80 75 68
FILLED LOCATIONS 51 60 90 72 71 62
EMPTY LOCATIONS 0 0 0 8 4 6

BLOCK G H J K L M
VEHICLE BOLERO MPV MPV MAXXIMO XUV MPV
TOTAL LOCATIONS 34 119 120 120 85 134
FILLED LOCATIONS 32 114 116 116 20 10
EMPTY LOCATIONS 2 5 4 4 65 124

BLOCK N P Q R S T
VEHICLE MAXXIMO REXTON GENIO GENIO GENIO BOLERO
TOTAL LOCATIONS 136 136 24 24 24 24
FILLED LOCATIONS 26 135 24 24 15 21
EMPTY LOCATIONS 110 1 0 0 9 3

MAIN SCREEN 10/10/2013 5:53:10 PM

Accordingly, YMS searches for the vehicle based on the combination of the VIN number and the unique location number pasted on the RFD vehicle at the receipt gate of the FG-Yard. The respective screenshot displayed on the PC of the CBU-Yard personnel is illustrated in Table-6 below:

TABLE -6

FG YARD VEHICLE SEARCH

PHOTO OF
XUV VIN NUMBER MAIYT2HJUD6KI509*
MODEL XUV
STORAGE / PARKING LOCATION A2-1
BILLING BILLING NOT DONE

SEARCH BY: VIN NO. LOCATION NO.*
MAIYT2HJUD6KI509*

SEARCH

MAINSCREEN 10/10/2013 5:53:54 PM

Finally, Table-7 illustrates a comparative analysis of Yard Management System impact on the entire FG-Yard and CBU-Yard operation, which clearly demonstrate the benefits accruing thanks to the YMS in accordance with the present invention over the manually operated yard discussed with reference to Figure 1 already described above.

TABLE -7

Vehicle Receipt RFD Status Vehicle Parking Location Vehicle Parking Vehicle Search for Billing Search Time for Billed
Vehicle Vehicle Dispatch through
OUT Gate Inventory Management MIS Report

a) Conventional Parking Yard Operation:
Manual Data Entry Manual
Confirmation Search for Empty Parking Location
Random Parking Manual Search for Vehicle Average 20 Min. per Vehicle Vehicle Line-up Double-Handling Traditional Manual Inventory Manual Data Collection

b) Parking Yard Operation under YMS according to the Present Invention:
Auto-Data Entry Automatic Confirmation Pre- defined Location by YMS Structured Parking VIN No. Excel Sheet with exact Parking Location 1 Min. per Vehicle No Line-up, Loading
Direct-on-Trailer Automatic Real-time Inventory List Real-time Report & Dashboard

From the above improvements, the time savings achieved during difference stages of the receipt, parking and dispatch of FG (Vehicles) within the FG-Yard are summarized in Table-8 below:

TABLE -8

Parameters Before Implementation of the YMS After Implementation of the YMS Improvement Achieved
Average Vehicle Receipt time/Vehicle 10 Min. per Vehicle 1 Min. per Vehicle 90%
Average Vehicle Dispatch time/Vehicle 20 Min. per Vehicle 1 Min. per Vehicle 95%
Required Manpower for Equipment in SAP One person per Shift NIL, Auto creation via YMS 100%
Vehicle Search &
Entry 2 persons
per Shift NIL 100%
Yard
Throughput-time 5 to 6 hours 1 hour 85%
Trailer
Throughput-time 2 days Same day 50%
Yard-audit NC’s 11 2 82%
Time for FG Inventory 8 hours 1 hour 87%

The YMS in accordance with the present invention has the following advantages, which are briefly summarized below:
? Real time visibility of Yard.
? Availability of FG yard information at one click to take the business decisions to forecast finance, FG inventory...
? Errors free shipping to maintain DCM schedule adherence.
? Availability of real time accurate information across the supply chain leads to improve decision making and increase collaborations.
? Reduce time for Inventory management within CBU Yard.
? Flexible architecture for easy functional upgrade and scalability to multiple variant and volume.
? Customized MIS report generation for better Business analysis and planning

TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

The finished goods (vehicles) yard management System configured in accordance with the present invention has the following advantages:
? A unique positive location-disciplined YMS process in Automotive Sector.
? Facilitates Location v/s Presence based analysis and placement of vehicles.
? Allows yard jockey to precisely reach the allotted vehicle parked by on-line information about the vehicle "Location", thereby saving jockey’s time.
? Facilitates VIN-based checking of targeted vehicle “Presence" information for confirming its exact location within FG-Yard.
? Optimizes available resources, e.g. bar code sticker having VIN information and FG Model Code.
? Offers a Real-time visibility and Operational output within FG Yard.
? Very intuitive and user friendly solution which is robust and simple thanks to the use of extensive user input.
? More value and quality at low-cost to the customer.
? Excellent solution easily supported by the assembly-plant/TCF.

Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, shall be understood to implies including a described element, integer or method step, or group of elements, integers or method steps, however, does not imply excluding any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or method steps.

The use of the expression “a”, “at least” or “at least one” shall imply using one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as used in the embodiment of the disclosure in order to achieve one or more of the intended objects or results of the present invention.

The exemplary embodiments described in this specification are intended merely to provide an understanding of various manners in which this embodiment may be used and to further enable the skilled person in the relevant art to practice this invention.

Although, only the preferred embodiments have been described herein, the skilled person in the art would readily recognize to apply these embodiments with any modification possible within the spirit and scope of the present invention as described in this specification.

Therefore, innumerable changes, variations, modifications, alterations may be made and/or integrations in terms of materials and method used may be devised to configure, manufacture and assemble various constituents, components, subassemblies and assemblies according to their size, shapes, orientations and interrelationships.

The description provided herein is purely by way of example and illustration. The various features and advantageous details are explained with reference to this non-limiting embodiment in the above description in accordance with the present invention. The descriptions of well-known components and manufacturing and processing techniques are consciously omitted in this specification, so as not to unnecessarily obscure the specification.

While considerable emphasis has been placed on the specific features of the preferred embodiment described here, it will be appreciated that many additional features can be added and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation. ,CLAIMS:We claim:

1. A yard management system (YMS) for managing real-time inventory in finished goods (FG or CBUs of vehicles) for audit and accounting purposes, the system comprises:

- Receipt module;

- RFD Status checking module;

- Parking lot assignment module;

- Communication module;

- FG movement prioritizing module;

- Real-time parking lot status recording and displaying module;

- Billing status recording and displaying module; and

- FG billing status communication module.

2. Yard management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Receipt module comprises a vehicle identification number (VIN) reading and recording system, e.g. manual VIN input device or a bar code reader.

3. Yard management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Ready-For-Dispatch (RFD) status checking module includes a RFD status comparator for comparing RFD status of FG with the RFD status in the SAP system of YMS database.

4. Yard management system as claimed in claim 3, wherein RFD status checking module includes a communication sub-module for issuing RFD ‘OK’ Status of FG to yard jockeys OR for issuing RFD ‘Not-OK’ Status of FG for taking appropriate corrective actions by respective sub-section.

5. Yard management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Parking lot assignment module comprises a sub-module for assigning a unique parking slot to each FG with confirmed or ‘OK’ RFD status and a sub-module for generating and printing the assigned parking lot number to be pasted on FG.

6. Yard management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Yard jockey assignment module comprises a sub-module for allotting a yard jockey for moving each FG to an assigned parking lot located within the FG yard and/or to a FG loading station outside FG yard and another sub-module for issuing real-time instructions to respective allotted yard jockey for moving the allotted FG to the assigned parking lot or to the FG loading station.

7. Yard management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication module comprises a sub-module for issuing real-time instructions to respective allotted yard jockey for moving the RFD “OK’ FG to the assigned parking lot, a sub-module for communicating ‘Not OK’ RFD status to the respective section, e.g. Trim-Chassis-Final (TCF) shop for taking appropriate corrective actions, and a sub-module for communicating FG billing status along with the assigned parking slot thereof to the respective allotted yard jockey.

8. Yard management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein another sub-module is provided for prioritizing the movement of finished goods and to record and display the real-time parking lot status of each RFD finished.

9. Yard management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the billing module comprises a sub-module for confirming billing status in SAP from the YMS which holds the list of parked RFD finished goods with their respectively assigned parking slots and a module for communicating the billing status along with the assigned parking slot of the finished goods to the respective yard jockey.

10. A method for managing finished goods (FG) inventory in a FG Yard, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

(a) receiving the finished goods (FG) in the FG-yard;
(b) entering vehicle identification number (VIN) in the receipt section as the primary key information read from the barcode sticker on the FG;
(c) moving the FG for checking Ready-For-Dispatch (RFD) status of FG;
(d) matching this RFD status with the SAP system of the YMS database and if RFD Status is found ‘OK’ or confirmed:

(i) assigning an empty parking spot is assigned to the FG with confirmed or ‘OK’ RFD status;
(ii) pasting the sticker on FG having the unique location no. assigned within FG Yard;
(iii) allotting a yard jockey for moving each FG within the FG yard;
(iv) issuing real-time instructions to respective allotted yard jockey;

(e) if the RFD status of the FG is detected to be ‘Not OK’ or not-confirmed:

(I) either FG is made RFD within the FG yard itself
OR
(II) ‘Not OK’ RFD status is communicated to the respective section, e.g. Trim-Chassis-Final (TCF) shop for taking appropriate corrective actions;
(III) again confirming RFD Status is ‘OK’;
(IV) pasting the sticker on FG having the unique location no. assigned within FG Yard;
(V) allotting a yard jockey for moving each FG within the FG yard;
(VI) issuing real-time instructions to respective allotted yard jockey;

(f) moving RFD FG to the assigned parking slot by the assigned yard jockey moves on a prioritized basis;
(g) immediately reflecting the parked FG in the assigned slot for further processing, e.g. billing;
(h) confirming billing status in SAP from the YMS holding the list of parked FG with respective assigned parking slots;
(i) communicating FG billing status along with the assigned parking slot thereof the respective yard jockey;
(j) commencing the dispatch sequence by FG being picked-up by the respective yard jockey for dispatch via OUT gate of the FG-Yard;
(k) scanning and recording VIN no. of the FG in YMS database;
(l) checked the billing confirmation of FG again before dispatch;
(m) entering VIN of FG in YMS after confirmation of the billing status thereof;
(n) marking the respective parking slot as EMPTY inside the FG-Yard for next allotment of FG;
(o) moving FG forward by yard jockey after security check to the loading point; and
(p) releasing yard jockey for next assignment.

Dated: this 01st December, 2014. SANJAY KESHARWANI
APPLICANT’S PATENT AGENT