Patents Assigned to W.W. Grainger
  • Patent number: 7343326
    Abstract: A dynamic merchandising system for presenting product recommendations to customers. The system and method generally creates for each of a plurality of products in a plurality of purchase orders a list of purchased-with products, i.e., products that were purchased with each of the plurality of products in each of the plurality of purchase orders. At the same time that the purchased-with product lists are created, or in another step, the same plurality of purchase orders are examined and, using the concept of “self organizing lists,” the lists of purchased-with products are ordered in a meaningful manner. The ordering of the products in a purchased-with list may then be considered when recommending products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2008
    Assignee: W.W. Grainger
    Inventor: Geoffry A. Westphal
  • Patent number: 7324966
    Abstract: A method for fulfilling an order in a supply chain. The method is performed by extracting from a customer system information pertaining to the work order that specifies a piece of equipment to be repaired and items expected to be used during the repair procedure, determining, using an equipment knowledge base, a probability that each of the items will be needed to effect the repair procedure, and using the determined probability to stage the items within the supply chain whereby the items are made ready for use in the repair procedure. Further steps can include extracting from the customer system information pertaining to a completion of the repair procedure and using the information pertaining to the completion of the repair procedure to populate the equipment knowledge base for use in future probability of need calculations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2008
    Assignee: W.W. Grainger
    Inventor: Robert H. Scheer