The present invention allocates the supply of critical components and
manufacturing capacity by optimizing critical material planning decisions
and dynamically allocating constrained materials using advanced
substitution logic that considers alternate suppliers and supports
product life cycle from design through end-of-life. The present invention
may utilize unique synchronized allocations and matched sets logic. The
synchronized allocations ensure that all materials necessary for
production are available in the appropriate time-phased allocation before
beginning production to minimize wasted production capacity and
materials. The supply system may include various combination of
components, including a Supply Planner, a Resource Optimizer, a
Constraint Based Master Planner, a Product Change Analyzer, a Comparer, a
Resource Requirements Planner, a Finite Resource Planner, a Customer
Promiser, and an Interactive Master Scheduler. Another embodiment of the
supply system includes a tool that allows users to define products using
engineering specifications.