Automated slot adjustment tool

Abstract

Systems, methods, and machine readable media are provided for slot capacity adjustment. A utilization rate of a facility for a plurality of time slots is determined. Slots having a utilization rate that can have an associated capacity increased are identified and the capacity for the slots having a utilization rate that can be increased is increased. Slots having a utilization rate that can have an associated capacity decreased are identified and these slots have their capacity decreased. A slot-to-slot capacity variance of greater than a smoothing threshold are identified and smoothed. A capacity schedule is produced based on the capacity increases, capacity decreases, and capacity smoothing.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for capacity adjustment, the system comprising:
 one or more computer-readable media storing a plurality of data structures associated with capacity of an entity for responding to electronic orders received via a network from user devices;   a computing device configured to execute a slot capacity module, wherein the slot capacity module, when executed:
 reads a first one of the one or more data structures to determine a utilization rate of a facility for a plurality of time slots for a plurality of days, the utilization rate being based on a prior history of utilization rates collected over a pre-determined period of time; 
 creates to a second one of the plurality of data structures that identifies candidate time slots for which capacity is subject to modification based on the utilization rate associated with each of the time slots or each of the time slots for a specified day; 
 modifies the second one of the plurality of data structures to at least one of remove a first subset of the candidate time slots from the new data structure, associate an increment flag with a second subset of the candidate time slots, or associate a decrement flag with a third subset of the candidate time slots; 
 modifies a third one of the plurality of data structures to adjust the capacity for the candidate time slots associated with the increment or decrement flag; 
 adjusts, in the third one of the plurality of data structures, the capacity for a fourth subset of the candidate time slots having a slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds a smoothing threshold; and 
 generates a capacity schedule in a fourth one of the plurality of data structures based on capacity increases, capacity decreases, and capacity smoothing performed in the third one of the plurality of data structures. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the second subset of the candidate time slots associated with the increment flag have a utilization rate that is greater than at least 85 percent. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the third subset of the candidate time slots associated with the decrement flag have a utilization rate that is less than 70 percent. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein adjustment of the capacity for the candidate time slots having the slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds the smoothing threshold comprises adjusting capacity values of the time slots adjacent to the candidate time slots in the fourth subset such that a capacity difference between the time slots does not exceed the smoothing threshold. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the smoothing threshold comprises a value of 3. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one of receiving a manually increase in capacity for a specified one of the time slots or receiving a manually decrease in capacity for the specified one of the time slots. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the computing device is configured to respond to the manual increase in capacity of the specified one of the time slots through an adaptive step up process wherein a user selects one of a conservative capacity increase, a normal capacity increase, or an aggressive capacity increase. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the conservative capacity increases capacity by 5 percent or less of a current maximum daily capacity,
 wherein the normal capacity increase for stores having a capacity of 100 orders or less increases capacity by 10 percent or less of a current maximum daily capacity, and for stores having a capacity of more than 100 orders increases capacity by 10 orders or less per day, and 
 wherein the aggressive capacity increase for stores having a capacity of 100 orders or less increases capacity by 10 orders or less per day, and for stores having a capacity of more than 100 orders increases capacity by 10 percent or less of a current maximum daily capacity. 
 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the capacity schedule is used for handling electronic orders associated with groceries. 
     
     
         10 . A computer-implemented method for slot capacity adjustment, the method comprising:
 determining a utilization rate of a facility for a plurality of time slots from a first data structure for a plurality of days, the utilization rate being based on a prior history of utilization rates collected over a pre-determined period of time;   creating a second data structure that identifies candidate time slots from the time slots for which capacity is subject to modification based on the utilization rate associated with each of the time slots or each of the time slots for a specified day;   modifying the second one of the plurality of data structures to at least one of remove a first subset of the candidate time slots from the new data structure, associate an increment flag with a second subset of the candidate time slots, or associate a decrement flag with a third subset of the candidate time slots;   modifying a third data structure to adjust the capacity for the candidate time slots associated with the increment or decrement flag;   adjusting, in the third data structure, the capacity for a fourth subset of the candidate time slots having a slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds a smoothing threshold; and   generating a capacity schedule in a fourth data structure based on capacity increases, capacity decreases and capacity smoothing performed in the third data structure.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the second subset of the candidate time slots associated with the increment flag have a utilization rate that is greater than at least 85 percent. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the third subset of the candidate time slots associated with the decrement flag have a utilization rate that is less than 70 percent. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein adjustment of the capacity for the candidate time slots having the slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds the smoothing threshold comprises adjusting capacity values of the time slots adjacent to the candidate time slots in the fourth subset such that a capacity difference between the time slots does not exceed the smoothing threshold. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the smoothing threshold comprises a value of 3. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising at least one of receiving a manually increase in capacity for a specified one of the time slots or receiving a manually decrease in capacity for the specified one of the time slots. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising responding to the manual increase in capacity of the specified one of the time slots through an adaptive step up process wherein a user selects one of a conservative capacity increase, a normal capacity increase, or an aggressive capacity increase. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the conservative capacity increases capacity by 5 percent or less of a current maximum daily capacity,
 wherein the normal capacity increase for stores having a capacity of 100 orders or less increases capacity by 10 percent or less of a current maximum daily capacity and for stores having a capacity of more than 100 orders increases capacity by 10 orders or less per day, and wherein the aggressive capacity increase for stores having a capacity of 100 orders or less increases capacity by 10 orders or less per day and for stores having a capacity of more than 100 orders increases capacity by 10 percent or less of a current maximum daily capacity. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the capacity schedule is used for handling electronic orders associated with groceries. 
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by a computing device, wherein execution of the instructions causes the computing device to implement a method for slot capacity optimization, the method comprising:
 determining a utilization rate of a facility for a plurality of time slots from a first data structure for a plurality of days, the utilization rate being based on a prior history of utilization rates collected over a pre-determined period of time;   creating a second data structure that identifies candidate time slots from the time slots for which capacity is subject to modification based on the utilization rate associated with each of the time slots or each of the time slots for a specified day;   modifies the second one of the plurality of data structures to at least one of remove a first subset of the candidate time slots from the new data structure, associate an increment flag with a second subset of the candidate time slots, or associate a decrement flag with a third subset of the candidate time slots;   modifying a third data structure to adjust the capacity for the candidate time slots associated with the increment or decrement flag;   adjusting, in the third data structure, the capacity for a fourth subset of the candidate time slots having a slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds a smoothing threshold; and   generating a capacity schedule in a fourth data structure based on capacity increases, capacity decreases and capacity smoothing performed in the third data structure.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the second subset of the candidate time slots associated with the increment flag have a utilization rate that is greater than at least 85 percent,
 wherein the third subset of the candidate time slots associated with the decrement flag have a utilization rate that is less than 70 percent, and   wherein adjustment of the capacity for the candidate time slots having the slot-to-slot capacity variance that exceeds the smoothing threshold comprises adjusting capacity values of the time slots adjacent to the candidate time slots in the fourth subset such that a capacity difference between the time slots does not exceed the smoothing threshold.