W-- ment for buvers bV allowing them to review purchasin 6,088,678 A* 7/2000
Shannon........ 705/8 yers by allowing in p 9. 6,088,679 A* 7/2000 Barkley......... 705/8 …

(75) Inventor: Steven R. Lively, Sudbury, MA (57) ABSTRACT (US) Systems and methods for
providing expanded procurement Correspondence Address: and/or acquisition of products …

According to one embedment, a supply chain monitoring system can collect performance
information from a server associated with each of a tier 1 control tower, tier 2 product …

(57) ABSTRACT A cost comparing System includes a plurality of client computers (10), an
application server (12), and a database (14). The cost comparing System is connected to a …

(57) ABSTRACT A method, system and machine readable code for creating a lot having a
plurality of items to be auctioned in an elec tronic auction based on common attributes of the …

US PATENT DOCUMENTS 3,908,113 A 9, 1975 Maxham et al. 4,336,589 A 6, 1982 Smith et
al. 4,340,810 A 7, 1982 Glass 4,527,937 A 7/1985 Tomasello, Jr. 4,832,204 A 5/1989 Handy …

6,049,742 A 4/2000 Milne cal 2002/0O87438 A1 7/2002 Kunieda et al. 6078, 900 A 6/2000
Ettietal. 2002/0091536 A1 7/2002 Seaman et al. 6.1 4s. 291 A 11/2000 Radican …

The present invention includes a method and system config ured to analyze a plurality of
parts, each of the parts having at least one part characteristic. The method includes the steps …

BACKGROUND Manufacturing of products includes design not only of a product but also of
the manufacturing system itself. Design of the manufacturing system includes design of the …

BACKGROUND The present invention relates generally to business infor mation networks.
More specifically, preferred embodiments of the present invention relate to the integration of …