ProvisionAI Receives Patent for Managing Optimization of a Network Flow

FRANKLIN, Tenn., April 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ProvisionAI is now the only provider of a patented, optimized replenishment transportation scheduling solution. The patent, “Managing Optimization of a Network Flow,” is a proven way to optimize the cost and service of a deployment transportation network. The patent was issued for ProvisionAI’s LevelLoad solution.

“We are excited to be rewarded with this patent as LevelLoad has saved millions in warehouse and transportation costs while improving customer service for clients,” says Thomas A. Moore, Founder and CEO of ProvisionAI. “It has solved the problem defined by a VP of Transportation, ‘We deploy, at a premium cost, product that may not be needed, from sites that may struggle to ship it to and sites that may not be able to receive it.’ The combination of holistic network optimization, smart early tendering, and load-size maximization has reduced supply-chain volatility and cut costs. My hat is off to our team of practical data scientists and logisticians who bridged the gap between planning and execution. Now clients’ deployment plans work.”

The patent, in typical legal fashion, reads, “A method, system, and/or computer usable program product for managing optimization of a transportation network system including identifying a set of terms for transportation between a set of origins and a set of destinations during a set of time periods, prioritizing each of the set of items, utilization a set of network constraints and costs, utilizing a set of loading constraints for a set of transportation units, the loading constraints limiting the quantity and placement of items for each transportation unit, optimizing a quantity of the set of transportation units for transporting the set of items between the set of origins and the set of destinations during the set of time periods based on the prioritization of each of the set of items, the network constraints and costs, and the loading constraints for each transportation units, and adjusting the optimized quantity of transportation units to a discrete quantity based on the prioritization of each of the set of items and the network constraints and costs.”

The patent claims:

• Identifies a set of deployment transportation lanes based on each product's prioritization, network constraints, costs, and loading constraints for each truck.
• Adjusts the optimized quantity of transportation units based on a discrete quantity of available transport units.
• Creates network rewards and penalties for transporting items during time periods other than the identified specific time periods.
• Simulates loading of the transportation units with a set of items in accordance with the loading constraints.
• Identifies which of the optimized quantity of transportation units must be committed for utilization.

ProvisionAI's innovative solution harnesses the power of demand and supply-planning systems and combines transportation data with the overall network's constraints. It performs daily optimization and generates a globally optimized replenishment transportation schedule, recommending early trucking capacity reservations across the entire network. To achieve this seamless flow, ProvisionAI employs standard operations research techniques and reinforcement learning—a cutting-edge AI approach—that effectively reduces transportation and warehouse costs.

By addressing demand fluctuations, ProvisionAI's solution streamlines the product flow on each lane from day to day. It carefully assesses supply-plan requirements and previously tendered truck capacity, then intelligently loads containers to ensure that the highest priority items are shipped first. This approach creates a smooth, optimized flow of products throughout the supply chain.

About ProvisionAI

ProvisionAI provides global manufacturers with a transportation scheduling solution featuring optimized, capacity-constrained replenishment. LevelLoad, the flagship offering, attains long-term transportation planning objectives despite the realities of supply chain network constraints. The results include fuller loads, higher use of preferred freight carriers, and overall lower costs. Clients save millions by tendering loads early to reserve preferred carriers, filling truckloads optimally to minimize wasted capacity, improving customer order fulfillment, and ratcheting down costs. The patented technology was developed over five years by a team of logistics optimization experts that studied shippers like Unilever, Baxter, P&G, and Kimberly-Clark. For more information, visit www.provisionai.com.