JP2000318811A - Picking and sorting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To extremely simplify a work, to cause an error to hardly occur, to reduce the number of workers and a working time, and to eliminate the need for an inspection work. SOLUTION: A reading part 6 for a discrimination code classified by a commodity 4 and a weight measuring part 7 are installed at a conveying line 3 extending from a picking part 1 to a sorting part 2. A quantity of each of commodities classified by a merchandise is picked and conveyed in one lot by the conveying line. A discrimination code for commodities in one lot is read and discriminated and a weight of one lot is measured. From the weight and a pre-registered weight per piece, a quantity of one lot is determined, from the quantity, and a corresponding order is discriminated for sorting.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a picking and sorting system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following two types of picking / sorting systems have been generally used as a picking / sorting system at a shipping site of various commodities. 1. Order-based picking method This method is a method of picking goods from a product shelf in which goods are stored into a transport container such as a bucket for each shipping order. 2. Total Picking Method This method is a method in which products for a plurality of orders are collectively picked from a product shelf, and the picked products are sorted for each order by a sorting machine or manually.

[0003]

However, such a conventional system has the following problems. 1. Picking method by order a. In this system, it is not necessary to sort the picked products further as in the total picking system, but since the picking operation is originally not simple, it takes time and labor. b. Further, in this method, since the picking operation is not simple, the probability of picking error is high, and an inspection operation is required. 2. Total picking method a. This method can reduce picking labor,
Instead, sorting requires labor. b. Although it is conceivable to introduce a sorter, usually, products are put into the sorter one by one and sorted, so that a sorter with a high processing capacity is required and equipment installation costs are a problem. . c. Since a plurality of orders are collectively picked, it is difficult to respond to an urgent shipment to a certain order. An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a transport line from a picking section to a sorting section is formed, and an identification code attached to an appropriate position of the transport line for each product is provided. The reading unit and the weight measuring unit that read the data are installed, and in the picking unit, the quantity of each order is picked for each product, and the whole is conveyed by the conveyer line.In the sorting unit, the unit is conveyed from the picking unit. The identification code of a group of commodities is read by the reading unit to identify the commodities, and the collective weight is measured by the weight measuring unit, and the mass is collected from the measured weight and the weight per unit of the commodities registered in advance. Picking / specifying is configured to determine the applicable order from the determined quantity, and sort the batch of products by order. It is intended to propose a system.

According to the present invention, in the above configuration,
It is suggested that the identification code be attached to a transport container that transports the goods collectively.

According to the present invention, in the picking section, the quantity of each order may be picked up for each product and conveyed collectively by the transfer line, so that the picking operation is greatly simplified. . The bundle of goods conveyed to the sorting unit is identified by reading the identification code by the reading unit, and the bundle of weights is measured by the weight measuring unit. Therefore, this is divided by the weight per product. Thus, the quantity of a group of commodities can be obtained, and the corresponding order can be determined from the quantity of each product obtained in this way. In this way, by discriminating and sorting the order of a group of products for each product sequentially transported from the picking unit, it is possible to pick and sort each of a plurality of types of products constituting the order.

[0007]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system diagram schematically showing the configuration of the picking / sorting system of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numerals 1 and 2 which are separated by a two-dot chain line indicate a picking section and a sorting section, respectively, for the sake of convenience.
In the sorting section 2, a conveyor line 3 such as a belt conveyor is formed. The goods 4 picked by the picking unit 1 are transported in a state of being collectively stored in a transport container (not shown) such as a bucket or a container for each product. The sorting section 2 has an appropriate number of branch transport lines 5 (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e) for sorting and transporting the commodities 4 transported on the transport line 3. An identification code such as a bar code is attached to the product 4 or a transport container for storing and transporting the product 4 in a lump, and an identification code of the product 4 to be transported is provided in front of the sorting section 2 of the transport line 3. A reading unit 6 such as a barcode reader for reading a code and a weight measuring unit 7 for measuring the weight of the product 4 are provided. Reference numeral 8 denotes control means, which collectively indicates a computer for managing the entire system, a control means for controlling each of the picking unit 1 and the sorting unit 2, and the like.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
First, in the control means 8, correspondence data between the identification code of each product to be handled and the weight per product is registered. First, for an order for shipping goods, the control means 8 summarizes the quantity of each goods in each order for each goods. To illustrate this, for example, the types of products are A, B,
When C, D, and orders are V, W, X, Y, and Z, the respective orders V, W, X, Y, and Z are as follows. In addition, in the notation of each order, the alphabet in parentheses indicates the product, and the number indicates the quantity. V: (A, 3), (B, 5), (C, 5), ... W: (A, 1), (B, 4), (D, 5), ... X: (C, 3) ), (D, 2), ... Y: (D, 4), (B, 6), ... Z: (C, 4), (A, 5), ... Quantity of each product in these orders By summarizing by product,
As shown below, it is the correspondence data between the quantity of each product and the order. At this time, the quantity data for each product may be sorted by quantity as shown in the figure. In this notation, alphabets in parentheses indicate orders, and numbers indicate quantities. A: (W, 1), (V, 3), (Z, 5), ... B: (W, 4), (V, 5), (Y, 6), ... C: (X, 3) ), (Z, 4), (V, 5),... D: (X, 2), (Y, 4), (W, 5),.

On the basis of the above data, the control means 8 instructs the picker (operator) on the picking quantity for each product and for each order, by means of a display section provided at an appropriate position of the picking section 1. The display of the picking quantity is, for example,
(A, 1), (A, 3), (A, 5), ..., (B,
4), (B, 5), (B, 6), ..., (C, 3),
(C, 4), (C, 5), ..., (D, 2), (D,
4), (D, 5),..., The goods to be picked and their quantities are sequentially displayed. At this time, the following display is
Confirm that the picking for the product and quantity displayed earlier has been completed. Note that this display is an example in the case of a single display unit, but it goes without saying that it can be appropriately displayed on a plurality of display units so as not to overlap. In response to the picking instruction from such a display unit, the picker picks the indicated quantity of each product, puts the picked quantity into a transport container such as a bucket (not shown), and puts them on the transport line 3 as a whole. In this manner, the products are conveyed to the sorting unit 2 through the conveyance line 3 by combining the quantity of each order for each product in the picking unit 1. In the picking unit 1, the picker may sequentially pick the quantity specified for each product and combine them into one,
The picking operation is greatly simplified and errors are less likely to occur.

[0010] As for a group of commodities conveyed from the picking unit 1 to the sorting unit 2, an identification code assigned to each commodities is read by the reading unit 6. As described above, the identification code read by the reading unit 6 for product identification may be the identification code given to the product itself or the identification code given to the transport container. In addition, a set of products,
The weight measuring unit 7 measures the total weight, and subtracts the weight of the transport container from the measured value to measure the weight of only the collective product. Next, the control means 8 derives the weight per unit of the identified product from the correspondence data registered in advance, obtains the quantity of the grouped products by dividing the grouped weight by using this as a divisor, Next, the order corresponding to the group of products is determined from the correspondence data between the quantity of each product and the order.
The control means 8 determines the order as described above and sorts the order.
And a predetermined branch transport line 5 (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e) corresponding to an order for a group of commodities.
Transport to In this way, each product in each order
The goods are transported from the picking unit 1 to the sorting unit 2 for each product, and are automatically sorted and collected by the order in the sorting unit 2.

For example, the product (C, 4) described on the rightmost side of the figure, that is, a product in which four products C are grouped together, has a quantity and order correspondence data C: (X, 3), (Z, 4), (V, 5),..., (Z, 4) among them, the control means 8 determines that the group of products is a product for the order Z. , The sorting unit 2 is controlled, and the product is transferred to the branch transfer line 5e corresponding to the order Z. In addition, in the branch transport line 5e, as shown in the order Z,
Goods such as (A, 5) are conveyed and collected. Similarly,
The product of (C, 3) is (X, 3) in the above correspondence data.
Is determined to be a product for X, the sorting unit 2 is controlled, and the product is transported to the branch transport line 5c corresponding to the order X. In addition, (D,
Items such as 2) are conveyed and collected. The products of the other orders V, W, and Y are collected in the corresponding branch transport lines 5a, 5b, and 5d by the same operation.

[0012]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. a. Since the work in the picking section is picking by quantity, which sequentially picks up the specified quantity for each product, the work is greatly simplified as compared with picking by order, and errors are less likely to occur. And the working time can be reduced. b. Since the identification of the product and the detection of the quantity are performed automatically, the inspection work is not required. c. Because it is a configuration that sorts a group of products by product,
The number of sorting can be reduced as compared with a configuration in which sorting is performed for each product, and a sorting machine having a low capacity can be used as a sorting machine constituting a sorting unit, thereby greatly reducing equipment costs. d. The process from picking to sorting can be shortened, and the number of workers can be reduced as a whole.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram schematically showing a configuration of a picking / sorting system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Picking part 2 Sorting part 3 Transport line 4 Merchandise 5 Branch transport line 6 Reading part 7 Weight measuring part 8 Control means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transport line from a picking section to a sorting section is configured, and a reading section for reading an identification code assigned to each product and a weight measuring section are installed at an appropriate position on the transport line. The quantity of each order is picked for each product, and the products are conveyed collectively by the transport line. In the sorting unit, the reading unit reads the identification code of the commodities conveyed from the picking unit by the reading unit to identify the products. Together with the weight measuring unit to measure the collective weight, obtain the collective quantity from the measured weight and the weight per piece of the product registered in advance, and determine the corresponding order from the obtained quantity. Picking / sorting system characterized in that a set of products is sorted by order. 2. The picking / sorting system according to claim 1, wherein the identification code is attached to a transport container that transports the goods collectively.