JP2020033110A - Control system and control method for warehouse facilities - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a control system and a control method for warehouse facilities that can improve efficiency of shipping work for products.SOLUTION: A control system for warehouse facilities according to the present invention comprises: a plurality of buildings where products are stored; building-by-building loading/unloading facilities which are provided by the buildings and carries out storage and retrieval work; and inter-building moving facilities which have a transporting function of transporting products between buildings and a loading/unloading function for products. The control system for warehouse facilities further comprises: a work decision device which generates, upon the basis of storage and retrieval plan information and inventory information on products in the respectively buildings, optimum arrangement information including information representing a building where products should be stored in shipment while loads on retrieval work and numbers of shipped products at the respective buildings are leveled, and also decides, upon the basis of the inventory information and the optimum arrangement information, details of work to be performed by the building-by-building loading/unloading facilities and the inter-building moving facilities; and a control device which controls the building-by-building loading/unloading facilities and the inter-building moving facilities so as to execute the details of the work decided by the work decision device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a control system and a control method for warehouse equipment.

  Generally, products manufactured in a factory in a manufacturing industry are carried into a warehouse facility and stored in the warehouse facility until they are shipped. Overhead cranes for loading and unloading products are often installed in warehouse facilities, and the range over which each overhead crane can travel in the warehouse facilities is limited. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a warehouse facility in which one overhead crane is in charge of loading and unloading of one warehouse facility of four buildings. 10, reference numeral 1 denotes warehouse equipment, reference numerals 1a to 1d are buildings, reference numerals 2a to 2d are overhead cranes, reference numerals 3a and 3b are transport vehicles, reference numerals 4a and 4b are loading cranes, reference numeral 5 is a transport ship, and reference numeral C is a product. Is shown.

  When shipping products stored in such warehouse equipment, the products are loaded on a transport vehicle or carrier for shipping and transported to customers or distribution centers. In order to carry out such shipping work, it is necessary to carry out the work of unloading the products from the warehouse facilities.However, the same transport vehicle and the same transport ship and hold (meaning the room where the products of the transport ship are placed, the transport to the same hold) (The work is often performed using the same loading crane.) If the products to be loaded are located close to each other, the unloading work can be performed more efficiently.

  For example, when products are shipped using a transport vehicle for shipping, if the products loaded on the transport vehicle for shipping are stored separately in multiple buildings, the transport vehicle for shipping will travel around multiple buildings. Products must be loaded. In this case, it takes extra time to move between buildings, and another work being performed in the building that unloads the product and the unloading work compete with each other, resulting in a waiting time, which tends to reduce the efficiency of the unloading work. . If the products to be loaded on the transporting vehicle for shipment are collectively stored in one building, the above-described wasted time is reduced, and the efficiency of the unloading operation is improved.

  On the other hand, when products are shipped using a carrier, it is not always optimal that the products loaded on the same carrier and the hold are collectively stored in one building. For example, when the loading capacity of one overhead crane is smaller than the amount of product that one loading crane can handle in a unit time (hereinafter referred to as the loading capacity), the products to be loaded are collectively stored in one building. In this case, the loading operation by the overhead crane cannot keep up with the loading operation by the loading crane, and the loading operation is interrupted. However, even in this case, if the products to be loaded on the same carrier and hold are stored in different buildings, the unloading work is likely to be inefficient, so the products to be loaded must be stored in a specific building to some extent. It is required to keep them together.

  For the reasons described above, in order to increase the efficiency of the product shipping operation, it is desirable to store the products loaded in the same transport vehicle or the same transport ship and hold in a specific building. However, at the time when a product is carried into a warehouse facility from a factory, it is often undecided which shipping vehicle, carrier ship, or hold is to be loaded with the product. Therefore, after the product is carried into the warehouse facility, the work of moving the product between the ridges may be performed after the shipping vehicle to be loaded, the transport ship, and the hold are determined.

  In order to move products between buildings, a transport vehicle or a trolley between buildings (a trolley that moves between buildings) is often used. When a transport vehicle is used for moving products between buildings, the same transport vehicle is also used for transferring products to a loading crane, so that work is likely to compete, and when the work load is concentrated, delay is likely to occur. On the other hand, in the case of using an inter-building cart, unlike a transport vehicle, work competition is unlikely to occur, and there is little risk of delay. However, it is necessary to use an overhead crane for loading and unloading products on the inter-building cart, and there is a possibility that work competition with the overhead crane occurs. In addition, work competition with overhead cranes also occurs in transport vehicles. Against this background, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 disclose techniques for preventing a work load of an overhead crane from increasing when a product is moved. More specifically, the technologies described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are all related to a product moving vehicle having both a cargo handling function and a transport function, and the product moving vehicle reduces the work load of the overhead crane. Distribution efficiency can be improved.

JP-A-11-33623 JP-A-11-193109

  However, when the product transfer vehicles described in Patent Literatures 1 and 2 are applied, the luggage storage at the transfer source and the transfer destination needs to be compatible with the product transfer vehicle. In the warehouse facility 1 shown in FIG. 10, a work for placing products on a transport vehicle or a quay is performed, but it is generally difficult to provide facilities corresponding to a vehicle for moving products in these depots. For this reason, overhead cranes are used for transportation work related to places without such facilities, and equipment for product transfer vehicles is installed in warehouse warehouses when transferring products between buildings. The product can be moved between buildings using the product moving vehicle without increasing the load. However, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 do not describe a warehouse facility in which an overhead crane and a product moving vehicle are mixed, and do not specifically disclose or suggest a control method thereof.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control system and a control method for a warehouse facility capable of improving the efficiency of a product shipping operation.

  A control system for a warehouse facility according to the present invention includes a plurality of buildings for storing products, a loading / unloading facility for each building, which is provided for each building, and performs a loading / unloading operation of the products, and a transport function for transporting the products between the buildings. And an inter-building transfer facility having a cargo handling function for the product, and a load control system for the warehouse facility comprising: a loading / unloading operation for each building based on the product entry / exit planning information and stock information in each building. And, while leveling the number of products to be shipped, generate optimal arrangement information including information indicating a building where the product should be stored at the time of exit from the warehouse, based on the inventory information and the optimal arrangement information, the building-based cargo handling equipment and the A work determination device that determines the content of work to be performed by the inter-building transfer facility, and a control device that controls the building-specific cargo handling equipment and the inter-building transfer facility to execute the work content determined by the work determination device, Characterized in that it comprises.

  A method of controlling a warehouse facility according to the present invention includes a plurality of buildings for storing products, a loading / unloading facility for each building, which is provided for each building and performs a loading / unloading operation of the products, and a transport function for transporting the products between the buildings. And an inter-building transfer facility having a cargo handling function for the product, comprising: And, while leveling the number of products to be shipped, generate optimal arrangement information including information indicating a building where the product should be stored at the time of exit from the warehouse, based on the inventory information and the optimal arrangement information, the building-based cargo handling equipment and the A work determination step of determining the work content to be executed by the inter-building transfer facility; and a control step of controlling the building-specific cargo handling equipment and the inter-building transfer facility so as to execute the work content determined in the work determination step. , Characterized in that it comprises a.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the control system and control method of the warehouse equipment which concerns on this invention, the efficiency of the shipping work of a product can be improved.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a warehouse facility and a control system thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the work determination device shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the work determination process according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the berth plan information. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of shipping product list information. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the optimal arrangement information. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the estimated work time is calculated for work other than the shipping work of the shipped product. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculating the remaining work capacity. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the optimal arrangement information. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a warehouse facility in which one overhead crane is in charge of loading and unloading of one warehouse facility of four buildings.

  Hereinafter, a control system and a control method for a warehouse facility according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Configuration of warehouse equipment]
First, a configuration of a warehouse facility according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a warehouse facility and a control system thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a warehouse facility 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of buildings 1a to 1d, and each building is provided with one overhead crane 2a to 2d. Each of the overhead traveling cranes 2a to 2d moves (enters) the products C loaded on the transport vehicles 3a and 3b entering each building to an empty storage space in each building, or is stored in each building. The product C is moved (exited) on the transport vehicles 3a, 3b or the quay, and the arrangement is changed (rearranged) by moving the product C in each building. The overhead cranes 2a to 2d function as wing-based cargo handling equipment according to the present invention.

  The product that is about to be loaded onto the carrier 5 (hereinafter referred to as a shipping product) is moved to the quay and placed at a position where the loading cranes 4a and 4b to be used can reach. In general, shipping products that are loaded using the same loading cranes 4a and 4b in the same time zone are in the same building, so that interference with the work of the overhead cranes 2a to 2d is reduced, and the shipping work (product berthing). + Shipping) often proceeds smoothly. In addition, when the products to be shipped are in the buildings near the loading cranes 4a and 4b to be used, the distance that the transport vehicles 3a and 3b move is shorter, so that the load on the transport vehicles 3a and 3b is reduced, and work delays. Is less likely to occur, and the efficiency of shipping work tends to be higher. Thus, it can be said that the efficiency of the shipping operation is affected by the building where the shipped product is stored.

  However, a berth plan that prescribes which products are to be loaded on which carrier 5 at which position on the quay using the loading cranes 4a and 4b is often not determined at the timing when the product C is received. However, shipped products are not always stored in ideal buildings. Therefore, the product C after storage is often moved to another building. Hereinafter, the operation of moving a product after storage to another building is called inter-building transfer operation. Here, it is the facilities such as the transport vehicles 3a and 3b and the trolley that perform the inter-building transfer operation. The work of loading and unloading the products on the transport vehicles 3a, 3b and the trolley is performed by the overhead cranes 2a to 2d of the transport source building and the transport destination ridge, and the loading and unloading of the overhead cranes 2a to 2d per one product transfer operation between buildings. The work occurs once in the transfer source building and once in the transfer destination building, that is, twice in total.

  However, the overhead cranes 2a to 2d have a task of receiving the incoming products into the ridge and a task of placing the shipping products on the transport vehicle or taking them out to the quay. For this reason, the work load of the overhead cranes 2a to 2d is often high from the beginning, and there is often no time for the overhead cranes 2a to 2d to sufficiently load and unload products for the inter-building transfer operation. From such a background, the warehouse facility 1 shown in FIG. 1 is provided with the inter-building moving facilities 6a and 6b so that the work of moving the product C between the buildings can be performed without using the overhead cranes 2a to 2d. Have been. The inter-building moving facilities 6a and 6b function as inter-building moving facilities according to the present invention.

  The inter-building transfer facilities 6a and 6b can independently load and unload the product C, and also have a traveling function for transporting the product C. By using the inter-building moving facilities 6a and 6b, the inter-building moving work can be performed without increasing the work load of the overhead cranes 2a to 2d and the transport vehicles 3a and 3b. In addition, when the loading cranes 4a and 4b that are in charge of loading and unloading the carrier 5 are changed due to the weather or the like, shipping work in a state where the building where the product C is stored is separated from the quay where the loading is performed. Is likely to occur, and in this case, the working efficiency is reduced. In the warehouse equipment 1 shown in FIG. 1, even when such a change in the assigned crane or the like occurs, the inter-building moving work is actively performed by using the inter-building moving facilities 6a and 6b so that the shipping product is loaded. It can be collected in the ridge near the quay. This is because competition between loading and unloading work of the product C required for moving the product C between buildings can be suppressed.

[Control system configuration]
Next, a configuration of a control system of the warehouse facility 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a warehouse facility and a control system thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the work determination device 13 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the control system 10 of the warehouse facility 1 includes a communication device 11, a control device 12, a work determination device 13, and an operation database (operation DB) 14.

  The communication device 11 is a device that controls mutual information communication between the inter-building mobile facilities 6a and 6b and the control device 12.

  The control device 12 is configured by an information processing device, and controls the operation of the entire control system 10.

  The work determination device 13 is configured by an information processing device, and stores the contents of the work of the target transport facility (the overhead cranes 2a to 2d and the inter-building moving facilities 6a and 6b) specified based on the information transmitted from the control device 12. decide. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the work determination device 13 is configured to execute an input processing unit 13a, an optimum layout generation unit 13b, and an optimum layout storage unit 13c by executing a computer program by an arithmetic processing unit in the information processing apparatus. , And functions as a work determination unit 13d and an output unit 13e. The functions of these units will be described later.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the operation DB 14 stores information on the operation results and the operation plan of the warehouse equipment 1. In the present embodiment, the information on the operation results and the operation plan of the warehouse facility 1 includes the following information.

・ Each building product inventory information (information on products currently stored in each building)
・ Product warehousing plan information (information on products that are transported from factories to warehouse facilities by transport vehicles, information on buildings where products are warehousing and scheduled warehousing times, etc.)
・ Loading plan information (product loading time zone, loading order, assigned loading crane, loading berth position, destination information for vessels, etc.)
・ Transportation plan information (information on product lots to be moved to the quay, other buildings, and factories (product list, product transfer source, product transfer destination, transfer work scheduled time information), etc.)
・ Equipment information (overhead cranes, loading cranes, inter-building moving equipment, transport vehicles, information on work being carried out and scheduled to be carried out, information on the current location of each equipment, etc.)
・ Actual information (information on completed parts of plan information and information on plan changes)

  In the warehouse equipment 1 having such a configuration, the control system 10 executes the following work determination processing, thereby improving the efficiency of the work of shipping the product C. Hereinafter, the operation of the control system 10 when executing the work determination process will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[Work decision processing]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the flow of the work determination process according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the work determination device 13 receives, from the control device 12, information on the target transport equipment (the overhead cranes 2 a to 2 d and the inter-building transfer facilities 6 a and 6 b) to which the work is to be allocated, and information on the operation results and the operation plan. Then, the work determination process proceeds to the process of step S1. In the present embodiment, the target transport facility notifies the control device 12 that the work has been completed at the timing when the registered work has been completed, and the control device 12 transmits the target transport facility that has been notified of the work completion. Activate the work determination device 13 to make the work determination. When the work determination device 13 is activated, the control device 12 extracts information on the operation results and the operation plan from the operation DB 14, and sends the extracted information and the information on the target transport facility to which the work is to be allocated to the work determination device 13. Send.

  In the process of step S1, the input unit 13a receives the information transmitted by the control device 12, and transmits the received information to the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b. Thereby, the process of step S1 is completed, and the work determination process proceeds to the process of step S2.

  In the process of step S2, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b generates the optimal arrangement information indicating the optimal arrangement building of the shipping product (the building where the product should be stored at the time of unloading) using the information transmitted from the input unit 13a. (Optimal arrangement information generation processing), and stores the generated optimal arrangement information in the optimal arrangement storage unit 13c. Details of the optimum arrangement information generation processing will be described later. Then, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b activates the work determination unit 13d. Thereby, the process of step S2 is completed, and the work determination process proceeds to the process of step S3.

  In the process of step S3, the work determination unit 13d generates the contents of the work to be allocated to the target transport equipment (the target product and the destination) (work content generation processing), and outputs the work content information indicating the content of the generated work. 13e. Details of the work content generation processing will be described later. Thereby, the process of step S3 is completed, and the work determination process proceeds to the process of step S4.

  In the process of step S4, the output unit 13e transmits the work content information transmitted in the process of step S3 to the control device 12. Thus, the processing of step S4 is completed, and a series of work determination processing ends.

  Thereafter, the control device 12 transmits the work content information to the target transport facility, and the target mobile facility executes the work according to the work content information. Specifically, the target moving equipment moves to near the target product, loads the target product, and starts moving to the destination. When the product arrives at the destination, the target transport facility transmits to the control device 12 that the product has arrived at the destination. The control device 12 determines the location of the product carried by the target transport facility, and transmits the determination result to the target transport facility. The target transport facility carries the product down to the yard designated by the control device 12. When there are a plurality of product storage candidates, the storage may be determined according to the operation status. If the destination building has a large amount of stock, the yard should be arranged so as to stack as much as possible. If the stock amount is small, it is preferable not to stack the products so that the work efficiency does not decrease. When the products transported by the target transport facility have been placed in the yard of the destination building, a notification of the completion of the registration work is sent to the control device 12, and a new work is allocated to the target transport facility.

[Optimal arrangement information generation processing]
Next, the optimal arrangement information generation processing in step S2 will be described in detail.

  In the present embodiment, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b generates optimal arrangement information according to the following policies 1 to 3.

(Policy 1) Store shipping products in a building as close as possible to the shipping quay (loading crane used).
(Policy 2) Equalize the number of empty storage spaces (and the amount of products that can be placed) for each product size in each building. That is, the number of yards for storing products is not extremely reduced.
(Policy 3) Regarding the shipping products loaded by each loading crane, make sure that the cargo handling capacity of the overhead crane does not fall below the loading capacity of the loading crane used.

  Here, (policy 1) is a policy for using a transport vehicle as little as possible when moving the shipping product to the quay. Products stored in a wing near the shipping quay can be placed using an overhead crane where the loading cranes can reach (quay). Without hauling vehicles, shipping products to the quay will not be affected by the number of hauling vehicles or competition with other hauling operations. In addition, the time required to move to the quay can be saved by not using a transport vehicle. Therefore, by arranging the products in each building based on (Policy 1), the operation of moving the products to the quay can be performed stably and efficiently.

  On the other hand, (Policy 2) is a policy for avoiding a loss of the balance of the number of empty storage spaces in each building due to the movement of shipping products between buildings. In particular, in a building where a large number of shipping products have been stored due to inter-building movement, the number of empty storage spaces tends to be small, and a situation may arise in which shipping products to be stored in the building cannot be stored in the building. In order to avoid such a situation, it is effective to move products other than the products to be shipped from a building having a small number of empty spaces to another building. Therefore, by arranging the products in each building based on (Policy 2), it is possible to equalize the inventory amount of the shipped products and the products other than the shipped products.

  In addition, (Policy 3) is a policy to properly balance the capacity of the loading crane and the cargo handling capacity of the overhead crane in charge of shipping products. In the present embodiment, the number of products that the overhead crane can handle in one cycle is one. Assuming that a loading crane can handle a plurality of products at the same time, an overhead crane that moves products to the quay moves one in one cycle, whereas a loading crane loads a plurality of products into a carrier at the same time. Will be. If all shipping products handled by one loading crane are in one building and the cycle time of the overhead crane is the same as the cycle time of the loading crane, the loading capacity of the loading crane will Because of this, the loading crane often waits for the product to come out on the quay (interruption occurs), which lowers the loading efficiency. If the shipping products handled by one loading crane are in more than one building and not in one building, multiple shipping products will be delivered to the quay in parallel by multiple overhead cranes, reducing the interruption of loading crane work. I do. Accordingly, the interruption of the loading operation can be suppressed by distributing and storing the products to be handled by the loading cranes in several buildings according to the number of products that can be simultaneously handled by the loading cranes and the overhead cranes based on (Policy 3).

  An example of the optimal arrangement information generation processing according to the above policies 1 to 3 is shown below. In this example, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b calculates the planned shipping time and the scheduled shipping time of the shipped product from the shipping plan information (Step S2a), allocates the unloading work to each building (stacking process) (Step S2b), and The unloading work of the ridge is leveled (mountain collapse processing) (step S2c), and the optimum arrangement information is generated (step S2c).

  Specifically, first, in the process of step S2a, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b calculates the planned shipping time of each shipped product using the shipping plan information. The shipping plan information includes, for example, the following information.

(A) Berth plan information (b) Shipping product list information

  Here, the berth planning information is information on the cargo handling work of the loading crane. A specific example is shown in FIG. The meaning of each item of the berth plan information shown in FIG. 4 is as follows.

-Target product group: A number assigned to the group to which the shipping products to be loaded in one hold of one carrier belong (one loading product group uses one loading crane continuously)
-Loading cranes used: Loading cranes used for loading products to be shipped belonging to the target product group-Quay locations: Location of quays used to load shipping products belonging to the target product group-Ideal storage building: near the quay location used A warehouse facility building (using the overhead crane of the building to put out shipping products to the quay, the loading crane used can load the shipping products from the quay to the hold without moving on the quay)
-Target carriers: Carriers that load products that belong to the target product group-Target holds: Holder numbers of target carriers that load products that belong to the target product group-Scheduled loading start time: Can start loading products that belong to the target product group Earliest time (calculated from the arrival time of the target carrier and the loading work plan of the preceding target product group. However, if the loading crane used has not completed loading of the preceding target product group at this time, the actual loading start time will be Will be later than the time)

  The shipping product list information is information on shipping products belonging to the target product group. A specific example is shown in FIG. The meaning of each item of the shipping product list information shown in FIG. 5 is as follows.

-Target product group: Same as the item of the same name in the berth planning information-Product ID: Identifier assigned for each shipping product-Shipping order: Order in which shipping products are loaded (however, assigned in order from 1 in the target product group) If the same order is applied to a plurality of shipped products within the same target product group, it means that the loading crane handles a plurality of shipped products simultaneously in one cycle.)
・ Product width: Product width ・ Product outer diameter: Product outer diameter length ・ Product weight: Product weight

  The optimal arrangement generation unit 13b calculates the scheduled shipping time of each shipping product included in the shipping product list information. Specifically, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b loads the shipping products belonging to each target product group of the berth planning information in the order of loading, based on the scheduled loading start time and the loading / unloading cycle time (setting value) of the loading crane to be used. Calculate the time. When the latest scheduled shipping time of the product of the preceding target product group is later than the scheduled shipping start time, the optimal arrangement generating unit 13b sets the latest scheduled shipping time as the scheduled shipping start time of the target product group. Calculate the estimated shipping time of the shipping products belonging to.

  It is to be noted that the scheduled loading time can be more accurately calculated by taking into account the non-operating time of the equipment and the securing work required in the transport ship. Further, a different cycle time may be set according to the number of products that the loading crane can handle at the same time, and the scheduled loading time may be calculated. When the planned shipping time of each shipping product can be calculated, the optimum arrangement generating unit 13b calculates the scheduled shipping time of each shipping product (time when the product is taken out of the warehouse by the overhead crane for shipping) based on the time information. . Since the unloading operation is performed prior to the loading operation, the time scheduled to return from the scheduled shipping time by the time (estimated value) from the time of unloading until the completion of the loading may be set as the scheduled unloading time.

  Next, in the process of step S2b, the optimum arrangement generation unit 13b determines a building where each shipping product is to be stored at the time of leaving the warehouse, based on the scheduled storage time and the ideal storage building information in the berth planning information. Here, it is assumed that the building where each shipping product should be stored at the time of leaving the warehouse is selected from the ideal storage building in the berth planning information, and in this processing, the work load of the overhead crane of the building is not taken into account at all. Allocation of shipping products to each building may be performed according to, for example, the following rules 1 and 2.

Rule 1: Shipment products currently placed in the ideal storage building are allocated to the currently stored building (the same building is not changed).
Rule 2: The delivery time is divided into a plurality of time zones, and the number of shipped products allocated to each building of the ideal storage building in each time zone is equalized as much as possible.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the optimum arrangement information in which the outgoing work of the shipping product is assigned to each building. In the optimum arrangement information shown in FIG. 6, the product ID of the shipped product assigned to each time zone of each building and the scheduled delivery time are displayed. However, at this stage, since the work load of the overhead crane is not considered, there is a possibility that the leaving work exceeding the capacity of the overhead crane may be allocated depending on the time zone. Further, in an actual operation, the overhead crane must also perform work other than the outgoing work, so that all the outgoing work shown in FIG. 6 cannot always be completed within the allocated time zone.

  Next, in the process of step S2c, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b averages outgoing work assigned beyond the capacity of the overhead crane. More specifically, first, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b allocates to each time zone and each building a work other than “shipping work for shipping products” (a work for unloading or returning to the factory) in the processing result of step S2b. Calculate the expected working time. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the estimated work time is calculated for work other than the shipping work of the shipped product. Next, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b calculates a time (work remaining capacity) in which the “shipping work of the shipped product” in each time zone and each building can be performed based on the calculation result of the scheduled work time. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of calculating the remaining work capacity. Next, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b changes the optimal arrangement information by changing the unloading work of the shipped product exceeding the available work capacity to another building. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of changing the optimal arrangement information illustrated in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 9, the processing is performed with the overhead crane handling time per product set to 5 minutes, and the outgoing work in the A01 building and the A02 building is changed to the outgoing work in the A03 building.

  In this change process, the outgoing work may be assigned to a building other than the ideal storage building. For shipping products to be allocated to buildings other than the ideal storage building, select only the minimum required from shipping products currently stored outside the ideal storage building. In other words, the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b allocates to the ideal storage building as much as possible within the range of the available work capacity, and allocates only the excess of the available work capacity to the buildings other than the ideal storage building. Also, when allocating to a building other than the ideal storage building, the optimum arrangement generating unit 13b selects the building closest to the ideal storage building (the shortest moving time). Thereby, the optimal arrangement information is generated, and the optimal arrangement generation unit 13b stores the optimal arrangement information in the optimal arrangement storage unit 13c.

[Work content generation processing]
Next, the work content generation processing in step S3 will be described in detail.

  In the work content generation processing, first, the work determination unit 13d reads each building product inventory information from the operation DB 14 and reads the optimal arrangement information stored in the optimal arrangement storage unit 13c. Next, the work determination unit 13d extracts shipping products whose buildings are different from each other in the building product inventory information and the optimum arrangement information, and arranges the extracted shipping products in order of scheduled shipping time. Next, the work determination unit 13d generates either work 1 or work 2 described below for each shipped product as work content. The work determining unit 13d does not generate the work 2 when the work 1 can be generated, and generates the work 2 when the work 1 cannot be generated.

(Work 1) A work is generated in which the building currently stored is the transfer source, and the building assigned by the optimal arrangement information is the transfer destination. However, if there is not more than the set number of empty storage spaces where products can be stored at the transfer destination, the operation 1 is not generated.
(Operation 2) An operation for transporting products other than the shipped products stored at the transport destination to another building is generated. However, the product to be transported is a product that satisfies the following conditions 1 and 2. The work 2 is to be transported to the building that has the largest number of empty storage spaces among buildings that satisfy Condition 2.

(Condition 1) The shipping product can be stored in an empty storage space created by loading the product, or an empty storage space where the shipping product can be stored can be easily created by mounting the product.
(Condition 2) There is a ridge having more than a set number of empty storage spaces (but no storage products below) as a destination of the product.

  And finally, the work determination unit 13d executes the following processes (1) to (4) in order from the top for the created work contents (only work 1 or work 2) of each shipping product, Allocate work contents to the target transport equipment.

(1) When the current position (building) of the target transport facility is the same as the transport source (building) of the target work content, the target work content is assigned to the target transport facility, and the processing is completed.
(2) If the current position (building) of the target transport facility is different from the transport source (building) of the target work content, the transfer destination (building) in another transport facility (transportation facility to which the work content is not temporarily assigned) ) Is not the same as the transfer source (building) of the target work content, the target work content is assigned to the target transport equipment, and the processing ends.
(3) In the process of (2), if the destination (building) of another transport facility is the same as the transport source (building) of the target work content, the target work content is temporarily transferred to another transport facility. Assign.
(4) Change the contents of the target work (move down by one) and return to the process of (1).

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the control system 10 of the warehouse equipment 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the products between the buildings are taken into consideration in consideration of the inventory amount of each building and the leveling of the facility work load. Since the arrangement is optimized, the shipping operation can be executed efficiently without delay. For example, when the berth plan is changed, there is not enough time to change the product arrangement in all buildings according to the berth plan, and as a result, the loading work is interrupted and the loading efficiency is often greatly reduced. . However, according to the control system 10 of the warehouse equipment 1 which is one embodiment of the present invention, since the product arrangement can be changed promptly in response to the change of the berth plan, it is possible to prevent the efficiency of the loading operation from lowering. In other words, in the conventional equipment, the berth plan could not be freely changed due to the possibility of a reduction in the loading efficiency, but according to the control system 10 of the warehouse equipment 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention, the operation status The berth plan can be flexibly changed in response to the above, so that the berth can be operated efficiently.

  As described above, the embodiment to which the invention made by the present inventors is applied has been described. However, the present invention is not limited by the description and the drawings that constitute a part of the disclosure of the present invention according to the present embodiment. That is, other embodiments, examples, operation techniques, and the like performed by those skilled in the art based on this embodiment are all included in the scope of the present invention.

Reference Signs List 1 warehouse equipment 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d building 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d overhead crane 3a, 3b transport vehicle 4a, 4b loading crane 5 transport ship 6a, 6b inter-building transfer equipment 10 control system 11 communication device 12 control device 13 work Decision device 13a Input unit 13b Optimal arrangement generation unit 13c Optimal arrangement storage unit 13d Work determination unit 13e Output unit 14 Operation database (operation DB)
C products

Claims (2)

A plurality of buildings for storing products, a cargo handling facility provided for each building for loading and unloading the products, and a building having a transport function for transporting the products between the buildings and a cargo handling function for the products. A moving facility, and a warehouse system control system comprising:
Optimum layout including information indicating the building where the product should be stored at the time of unloading, while leveling the load of the unloading work of each building and the number of products shipped, based on the product entry / exit planning information and stock information in each building. A work determination device that generates information, and determines a work content to be executed by the building-based cargo handling equipment and the inter-building moving equipment based on the stock information and the optimal arrangement information;
A control device that controls the wing-specific cargo handling equipment and the inter-building transfer equipment to execute the work content determined by the work determination device,
A storage system control system, comprising: A plurality of buildings for storing products, a cargo handling facility provided for each building for loading and unloading the products, and a building having a transport function for transporting the products between the buildings and a cargo handling function for the products. A moving facility, and a method of controlling a warehouse facility comprising:
Optimum layout including information indicating the building where the product should be stored at the time of unloading, while leveling the load of the unloading work of each building and the number of products shipped, based on the product entry / exit planning information and stock information in each building. Generating information and, based on the stock information and the optimal arrangement information, a work determination step of determining work content to be executed by the wing-specific cargo handling equipment and the inter-building transfer equipment;
A control step of controlling the wing-specific cargo handling equipment and the inter-building transfer equipment so as to execute the work content determined in the work determination step;
A method for controlling warehouse equipment, comprising:

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