JP2526354B2 - Product sorting system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product sorting system, and is particularly suitable for simplifying the process of sorting and shipping a large number of products to a large number of stores and users at a distribution center. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the distribution of products, it is extremely important to sort the products delivered from a maker by store or user. In order to cope with the recent large amount of consumption, in order to facilitate the distribution of products from manufacturers to retailers (supermarkets, department stores, retail stores, etc.), a distribution center has been set up, and the products delivered from manufacturers are Confirm the contents and quantity (inspection), sort the contents and quantity according to the order of the delivery destination (sorting),
After confirming (shipment inspection) again, the product is shipped.

On the other hand, at the delivery destination that has received the delivery, the delivery inspection is carried out again to check whether the delivery contents and quantity are correct.

An automatic sorting sorter is usually used for this sorting operation. To use such an automatic sorting sorter, send sorting information for each store and user to the sorter, read the cardboard box of the product or the bar code attached to each product, and use the sorting information. And sort.

[0005] This sorting work includes a random loading method for sorting randomly-distributed products while confirming the type of each product, and a batch loading method for sending products of the same type all at once and sorting them.

[0006]

However, the former requires only the loading operator to read the bar code for each product as the loading work, so the load of the loading work is small, but accurate identification is required for each product. However, since it is necessary to accurately distribute the system, the system size becomes large.
On the other hand, in the latter, the same product type is sent, so the system scale can be small, but since the input operator needs to pay attention so that mixed input does not occur especially when switching product types, the load of the input work is large. There is a problem.

In the actual shipping process, particularly when handling a large number of various products such as supermarkets, many kinds of products are often received from many suppliers at almost the same time zone, and the products are sorted after the arrival inspection. When dividing into zones, it is necessary to wait until all the unloading from the truck is completed in order to put the products of the same type into the sorter all at once, and at the same time, to convey them all at once to the sorting zone. In addition to having to secure space, waiting time is increased and efficiency is impaired. Therefore, batch injection becomes practically difficult, and the random injection method is often used, and the system scale tends to increase.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sorting system in which the burden on the throwing operator is small and the products can be sorted efficiently with a small-scale structure.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a product sorting system having a plurality of sorters and sorting the received products by the sorter in the item and quantity designated for each shipping destination, Sorting residual data storage means for storing the unsorted commodity items and quantity, shipping data storage means for storing the planned shipping item and quantity for each shipping destination, and a storage container for storing the volume of the storage container used for shipping A volume storage means, a product volume storage means for storing the volume of each item of a product, a quantity and a load for allocating a product for each shipping destination from the receipt data, the stored contents of the sorting residual data storage means, and the contents of the shipping data storage means. Allocation content determination means for deciding to assign the same unit to the same shipping destination while maintaining the appearance of the packaging unit as much as possible, and the receipt data and the sorting The item and quantity of the product to be sorted are obtained from the storage content of the data storage means and the storage content of the shipping data storage means, and the storage content of the storage container volume storage means, the storage content of the product volume storage means, and the allocation content. A storage container number calculation means for calculating the required number of storage containers from the allocation content by the determination means, and an allocation by the allocation content determination means for the storage container prepared based on the calculation result of the storage container number calculation means. And a control means for controlling the plurality of sorters so as to store the received commodities identified according to the contents in the storage containers corresponding to the shipping destinations.

Further, the plurality of sorters have a plurality of sort boxes for shipping destinations respectively provided at corresponding positions, and a bar code reader for reading a bar code attached to a product is provided in the product input section. It is characterized in that each of them is provided and the put-in goods are distributed to the corresponding sort box by the control means.

[0011]

[Operation] In this product sorting system, the allocation content determining means receives the quantity and packing form of the products to be assigned by the shipping destination from the sorting residual data, the receipt data for each product, and the shipping schedule information for each shipping destination such as a customer or a store. It is decided to maintain the packaging unit at that time as much as possible and assign it to the same shipping destination. Also, based on this allocation content, the volume of each product, and the volume of the storage container, the number of storage containers is determined by the number of storage containers. The sorter is controlled by the control unit so that the product is stored in the storage container according to the content of the allocation already determined by the calculation unit.

With respect to the received goods, the contents of the allocation are determined by the allocation content determining means, and the sorter is controlled while the number of the storage containers is calculated. Even if the sorters are randomly loaded into the sorter in the order of unloading after inspection, the sorter is controlled and assigned so as to surely reach the assigned amount set by the shipping destination. At this time, the allocation content deciding means decides to keep the packing unit at the time of arrival within the possible range and allocate it to the same shipping destination. It suffices to confirm the sorter insertion with only one bar code reader.

[0013]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a product sorting system according to the present invention. A receiving conveyor 1 that conveys the received goods to a sorting space, a discharging conveyor 4 that conveys the sorted products, and a sorter 2 provided in a space between the receiving conveyor 1 and the discharging conveyor 4.
It has. This sorter 2 has a conveyor 2a provided at the center and inclined plates provided on both sides of the conveyor 2a,
The commodities flowing through the conveyor 2a are slid down by opening a gate (not shown) at the corresponding position, and the sort box 3
It is supposed to be charged to. The driving of the warehousing conveyor 1, the sorter 2 and the warehousing conveyor 4 is controlled by the controller 10.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a product sorting system according to the present invention centering on a control device 10. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a product sorting system according to the present invention.

The shipping command receiving unit receives a shipping command from the headquarters or the center via a communication line and transfers the command to the control device 10.

The control device 10 is a workstation or a high-level personal computer and has the following function realizing means. First, the sorting residual data storage means 11 stores the items and the quantity of the products remaining in the previous sorting work. Next, shipping data storage means 1
Reference numeral 2 is for receiving and storing the data forming part of the shipping instruction or the data separately stored in the floppy disk or the like. The storage container volume storage means 13 stores the volume data of the storage container for shipping selected in advance.
The product volume storage means 14 stores the volume data of each product. In this case, the volume may be one for each product, or if the packaging unit is, for example, a dozen units, that unit is also stored.

As will be described later, the storage container number calculating means 15 determines a necessary storage container based on the item and quantity of the product to be sorted, the storage content of the storage container volume storage means and the storage content of the product volume storage means. Is calculated. This container is generally a box, and is called an Oricon in a person skilled in the art as an abbreviation for folded packaging. Depending on the type of product, a special storage container may be used due to the peculiarity of the product, and in that case, the fact is specified.

The sorter control means 16 controls the opening and closing of the gate of the sorter 2 in accordance with the shipping data of the shipping destination so that the conveyor 2a can move in order to slide the product to a desired location.

The allocation content deciding means 17 decides the merchandise by customer or store from the receipt data after inspection, the sorting residual data stored in the sorting residual data storage means 11 and the shipping data stored in the shipping data storage means 12. Determine the shipping amount and packing form (packing style) to be assigned to each shipping destination. At this time, the allocation is determined so that the packing unit at the time of arrival is maintained within a possible range and is allocated to the same shipping destination. In addition, in this allocation, the most efficient sorting allocation is determined with respect to the priority order by shipping destination for giving priority to a specific shipping destination and the distinction of even allocation, priority allocation, wrinkle allocation, etc. . Here, the equal allocation is a method of allocating an equal number to a plurality of shipping destinations, the priority allocation is a method of preferentially allocating to a specific shipping destination according to a certain standard, and the wrinkled allocation is also called reverse priority allocation. For example, it is an allocation method that reduces the amount allocated to stores with low sales.

The operation of such a product sorting system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, it is assumed that the product is socks, and there are 100 leftovers from the previous sorting.
The shipping instruction is 800 for store A, store B, and store C, respectively.
It is assumed that the numbers are 700 and 400.

First, when the shipping instruction is received by the shipping instruction receiving unit 20, the quantity of goods received from the manufacturer is confirmed (step S101). In the case of this example, it is confirmed that 6 boxes of 300 carton cases have been received. It should be noted that when the quantity of goods received does not reach the planned quantity, the center is notified as a missing item.

Next, it is checked whether there is a sorting residue (step S102). When there is no sorting residue, the allocated quantity is equal to the arrival quantity (step S103), and when there is a sorting residue, the allocation quantity is the arrival quantity and the sorting remaining quantity. (Step S104). In the case of this embodiment, since there are 100 sorting remainders, the allocated quantity is 1900.

Next, the number of storage containers for each shipping destination is calculated based on this allocated quantity (step S105). In this calculation, the required number of storage containers is calculated from the item and quantity of the product to be sorted calculated in the previous step, and the storage content of the storage container volume storage means and the storage content of the product volume storage means. . In the case of this embodiment, the volume of the standard container is divided by the volume occupied by the socks to obtain 250. Therefore, the required number of storage containers is A store, B store,
There are 4 pieces, 3 pieces, and 2 pieces, respectively, for store C, and this storage container is prepared.

Subsequently, the bar code attached to the product is read to perform an inspection to confirm the contents of the received product (step S106). In this case, it is not necessary to read all the products for each product, but the first product in the arrival lot may be read and the quantity may be input. The reading of the barcode may be reading the barcode attached to the cardboard box or reading the barcode attached to a single product taken out of the cardboard box.

Next, allocation processing using a sorter is performed (step S107). The sorter shown in FIG. 2 is provided for three rows, which will be referred to as I, II, and III. The sort boxes are in order from the top of FIG.
It is for stores. This state is schematically shown in FIG.

5 and 6 show the state of sorting, and FIG. 5 is a table showing the relationship between the number of treatments and the number of remaining treatments at each stage of the sorting treatment, the sorter and the storage container, and FIG. It is the chart which showed the mode of this processing as a graph.

In the following sorting work, the basic rules are to preferentially allocate stores with a large reserve amount and to allocate products in cardboard box units to the same store as much as possible.

In the sorting operation in the embodiment, 6 cardboard boxes each of which is a packaging unit for receiving 6
Pieces (for new arrivals) and 1 piece for 100 pieces (for assigned remaining quantity)
Exists. Further, the order of priority in the sort box is A store, B store, and C store. In the initial stage, as described above, A store, B store, and C store are respectively 800,
There will be 700 and 400 sorting residues (Fig. 6).
(See (1)). The number in parentheses written under the store name in FIG. 6 indicates the number of storage containers.

In procedure 1, the largest sorting residue is 8 in store A.
Since there are 00, 300 items in the first cardboard box are sorted into the sort box for store A by using the sorter I.
In FIG. 5, the number of sorting processes performed in the future will be displayed in parentheses. As mentioned above, the storage container has 250
Only one cardboard box can hold 250 items.
It is divided into groups of 50 and 50 pieces. Therefore, the number of storage containers to be used is two, and 50 containers are allocated to the second storage container. As a result, the sorting residue of store A becomes 500 (see FIG. 6 (2)).

In the procedure 2, the largest sorting residue is 7 in B store.
Since it is 00, 300 items in the second cardboard box are sorted into the sort box for store B using the sorter II. Also in this case, as in the procedure 1, two storage containers are provided, and 50 storage containers are allocated to the second storage container. As a result, the sorting residue of the B store becomes 400 (see FIG. 6C).

In step 3, the largest sorting residue is 5 in store A.
Since there are 00, 300 items in the third cardboard box are sorted into the sort box of store A using the sorter III. In this sort box, the products are divided into groups of 250 pieces and 50 pieces. Of these, 50 can be stored in the same storage container together with the 50 generated in step 1, so the number of storage containers required at this stage is 3, and the third storage container The assigned number is 100. And the sorting residue of store A becomes 200 (FIG. 6).
(See (4)).

In the procedure 4, the largest sorting residue is 400 in the B store and the C store, but since the B store has a high priority, the B-th product in the fourth cardboard box is sorted using the sorter II.
Sort into store sort boxes. In this case, the merchandise is divided into groups of 250 pieces and 50 pieces as described above, and 50 pieces are combined with the pieces allocated in step 2 for 50 pieces and are allocated as 100 pieces. As a result,
The remaining number is 100, and three storage containers will be used (see FIG. 6 (5)).

In step 5, the sorter 1 is used to sort the products in the C store. 300 pieces of the fifth corrugated cardboard box are assigned to two storage containers with 250 pieces and 50 pieces in the same manner as described above (see FIG. 6 (6)).

In step 6, looking at the remaining allocation, it is 20 at store A.
Since there are 0 pieces and 100 pieces at the B store, it is possible to allocate the full amount of the sixth cardboard. So, using Sorter III, 200 pieces are allocated for store A. Of these 200 pieces, 150 pieces are totaled with 100 pieces already allocated, and the third storage container becomes full, and the remaining A fourth storage container is prepared for 50 pieces. It is possible to store 100 pieces for store B in the same storage container together with 100 pieces already allocated,
The assignment is completed with three storage containers (see FIG. 6 (7)).

In step 7, 100 pieces of the last cardboard box are assigned to the store C by using the sorter 1, and 50 pieces in step 5 are set.
The allocation is completed by placing the pieces together with the second storage container.

After the sorting is completed, the already prepared storage container is carried to the sorter box of the sorter and transferred from the sorter box to the corresponding storage container of the store (step S108). Then, the already printed label is attached to the storage container (step S109), whereby the sorting operation is completed.

Although the sorter uses a sensor to detect a product, when an error occurs such as when the sensor does not respond to the product even though there is a product, the product is saved in an error sort box (not shown). After that, the inspection can be performed again and it can be put into the sorter.

In the above embodiment, the receiving form (cardboard box)
The items were allocated in order from the largest number of items to be shipped by store, but they can also be allocated in the smallest number.

Further, when the arrival amount is excessive or insufficient with respect to the allocated amount, the allocated amount can be changed (proportional) according to the transaction amount.

When sorting one product, sorter I,
For II and III, the products do not necessarily have to be loaded in the order shown in FIG. 5, and they can be sorted even if they are randomly loaded.

Further, in the embodiment, the example of the sorting method is shown for one product, but the sorting can be carried out without any problem even if the products of various kinds are simultaneously put into a large number of sorters.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, the allocation content determining means assigns the quantity and the packing appearance of the goods for each shipping destination from the sorting residual data, the goods receipt data for each goods, and the shipping schedule information for each shipment destination. We have decided to maintain the packing unit at the time of arrival as much as possible and assign it to the same shipping destination,
In addition, the number of storage containers is calculated from the storage contents, the volume of each product, and the volume of the storage container by the storage container number calculating means, and the products are stored in the storage container according to the already determined allocation contents. Since the sorter is configured to be controlled by the control means, the sorting worker only has to put the delivered products into the sorter in the unloading order after the inspection, and the work load is reduced. In addition, efficient product sorting is possible with a small-scale configuration. further,
For items that received the same product in multiple bundles,
Since the items are assigned to the same shipping destination as much as possible, the checking work by the barcode reader at the time of sorting is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of control in a product sorting system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a product sorting system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation in the product sorting system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a relationship between a sorter and a sorter box.

FIG. 5 is a chart showing the relationship between the number of processes and the number of remaining processes at each stage of the sorting process, and the sorter and the storage container.

6 is a chart showing a state of the processing shown in FIG. 5 as a graph.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Storage Conveyor 2 Sorter 3 Sort Box 10 Control Device 11 Sorting Residual Data Storage Means 12 Shipping Data Storage Means 13 Storage Container Storage Means 14 Merchandise Volume Storage Means 15 Storage Container Number Calculation Means 16 Sorter Control Means 17 Allocation Content Determining Means 20 Shipment Command Reception part 30 Bar code reader 40 Label printer

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A product which has a plurality of sorters and which is received,
In the product sorting system that uses the sorter to sort the items and quantities specified for each shipping destination, the sorting residual data storage means that stores the items and quantities of the unsorted items, and the items and quantities of the items to be shipped for each shipping destination Data storage means for storing the storage capacity, storage container volume storage means for storing the volume of the storage container used for shipping, product volume storage means for storing the volume of each product item, receipt data and the sorting residual data storage Based on the storage contents of the means and the contents of the shipping data storage means, the allocation quantity determination for deciding the quantity and the packing style for allocating the goods for each shipping destination to the same shipping destination while maintaining the packing unit at the time of receiving as much as possible Means, a storage content of the arrival data, the sorting residual data storage means, and a storage content of the shipping data storage means The number and the number of storage containers required to obtain the item and quantity of the product, and calculate the required number of storage containers from the storage contents of the storage container volume storage means, the storage contents of the product volume storage means, and the allocation contents by the allocation content determination means. A calculating means and a storage container prepared based on the calculation result of the storage container number calculating means, in order to store the received goods identified according to the allocation content by the allocation content determining means in the storage container corresponding to the shipping destination. A product sorting system comprising: a control unit that controls the plurality of sorters. 2. The product sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of sorters have a plurality of sort boxes for shipping destinations provided at corresponding positions, respectively.
The product sorting system is equipped with bar code readers for reading the bar codes attached to the products in the product loading section, and the loaded incoming products are sorted into the corresponding sort boxes by the control means. .