JP2002104632A - Article picking and inspection system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem of a conventional inspection work at an article delivery site, such as a warehouse, which takes much time since does article confirming work one by one. SOLUTION: An inspection device 9, of which a picking and inspection system consists, is so constituted that an ID tag to record information of an article is attached to an individual packed unit a commercial article 1 being a picking object, and reading part 8 for the ID tag by an antenna is situated on a conveyance route to constitute an inspection line; and information of the ID tag is read through the antenna and compared with pre-registered inspection information to effect inspection.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a picking / inspection system at a shipping site of goods such as a warehouse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, inspection of goods picked at a shipping site of goods such as a warehouse and arranged in a carton for each shipping destination is performed by the following method. 1. Visual confirmation (1): For each picked product, it is visually confirmed whether it matches the item described in the shipping instruction (delivery note) or the like. (2): For the matching items, it is visually confirmed whether the number picked and the number described in the shipping instruction document match. 2. Checking with a barcode reader (1): For each picked item, read the barcode printed on the individual package with a barcode reader and enter it into a computer to check if it matches the item specified in the shipping instructions. Let the computer judge. (2): The operation of (1) is repeated for all the picked products. (3): When the operation of (1) is completed with respect to all the picked items, when the end is input to the computer, the computer determines that the items input so far and the items described in the shipping instruction are present. The number of products is compared to determine whether there is any remaining inspection. (4): If it is determined that there is no inspection residue and picking has been performed according to the shipping instruction, the inspection ends, and if there is an inspection residue, the fact is output from the computer.

[0003]

In the above inspection work,
In each case, there is a problem that it takes time because a worker performs a checking operation for each item. Therefore, in the present invention,
An ID tag being used in various fields, that is, a card-like tag (also referred to as a radio tag or a wireless tag) having an electronic circuit such as an IC chip embedded therein and having a non-contact communication function ( An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem by applying a picking / inspection system to RF-ID).

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, an ID tag which records information on a product to be picked is attached to each packaging unit of the product to be picked, and the ID tag of the ID tag is attached by an antenna. A reading unit is provided on the transport path to configure an inspection line, and an ID is provided via the antenna.
The present invention proposes a picking / inspection system which configures an inspection device that reads tag information, compares the information with inspection information registered in advance, and performs inspection.

According to the present invention, in the above configuration,
The inspection line is proposed to have a configuration in which a carton is transported by a conveyor and passed through a reading unit provided with an antenna, or a configuration in which a carton is transported by a cart and passed through a reading unit provided with an antenna.

According to the present invention described above, after inputting and registering inspection information on a carton in which goods are packed by picking into the inspection device, and then introducing the carton into the inspection line, the inspection device allows the inspection device to read the carton. By reading the information of the ID tag attached to each product via the antenna when passing through, the information of all the products packed in the carton can be identified and obtained at once, In the inspection device, by comparing this information with inspection information registered in advance, it is possible to determine whether or not predetermined picking has been performed for each carton.

[0007]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 are explanatory views conceptually showing a first embodiment of a picking and inspection system according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a product 1 to which the present invention is applied. The product 1 is individually mounted and has an ID tag 2 attached thereto. As described above, ID tag 2
An electronic circuit such as a C chip is embedded inside and has a non-contact communication function, such as a card-shaped tag (RF-
ID), which is also called a radio tag or a wireless tag. Information about the product 1 such as a product code, a product name, a manufacturing date and time, and a lot number is recorded in the ID tag 2. I
Attachment of the D tag 2 can be performed at an appropriate time, such as at the time of packaging a product at a factory or at the time of receiving a product in a warehouse. The ID tag 2 can be attached as appropriate as long as the ID tag 2 can be retained for each individual package of the product 1, such as by sticking it to the outside of the product 1 or inserting and holding it in a holder or the like.

FIG. 2 shows the picking operation, and FIG. 3 shows the appearance of the carton after the picking. The picking operation is performed in the same manner as in the prior art. Picking the goods 1 stored on the shelf 3, and picking up a carton 4 for each shipping destination
It is packed within. At this time, if the ID tags 2 attached to the individual packages of the products 1 are packed together toward the upper surface or the like, it is suitable for reading the ID tags 2 described later.
Reference numeral 5 denotes a cart for transporting the carton 4. The picked carton 4 is placed on the cart 5 and transported to an inspection line described later.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the configuration of the inspection line. Reference numeral 6 denotes a conveyor for transporting the carton 4, which can communicate with the ID tag 2 above a transport path constituted by the conveyor 6. The reading unit 8 of the ID tag 2 is configured by installing the antenna 7. Reference numeral 9 denotes an inspection device configured by a computer device or the like. The inspection device 9 has a function of reading information of the ID tag 2 via the antenna 7 and has inspection information such as a shipping destination, A function to register information such as assortment item, number of shipments, lot number, etc., registered inspection information,
A function of comparing the information of the ID tag 2 obtained via the antenna 7 and performing inspection is provided. In the figure, reference numeral 1
0 is a barcode reader, and in this embodiment,
Although the inspection information is input and registered by the barcode reader 10, the inspection information can be input using an appropriate input device such as a keyboard.

In the above configuration, before carrying out the inspection by placing the picked carton 4 on the conveyor 6 of the inspection line, the inspection information of the carton 4 to be inspected, for example, shipping destination, assortment items, number of shipments, lots, etc. Is input to the inspection device 9 by the input device as described above and registered. The inspection information may be input and registered at any time before the inspection. In this embodiment, the carton 4 is conveyed to the inspection line, and before being put on the conveyor 6, the shipping instruction (delivery note) 11 is displayed on the shipping instruction (delivery sheet) 11 or the like. The inspection information represented by the code is read by the barcode reader 10 and input to the inspection device 9.

When the carton 4 placed on the conveyor 6 constituting the inspection line is conveyed and passes below the antenna of the reading unit 7, the inspection device 9
Communicates with the ID tag 2 attached to each product 1 via the. That is, the inspection device 9
Is the information of the ID tag 2 attached to each product 1,
In this embodiment, information such as a product code, a product name, a production date and a lot number can be identified and taken in for each product 1, so that each product packed in the carton 4 and its lot number , The number of them can be detected.

In this way, the inspection device 9 can obtain information of all the commodities 1 packed in the carton 4 at a time by identifying each of them. Therefore, as described above, this information can be obtained by the barcode reader 10. By comparing the inspection information with the inspection information input in advance, it is possible to determine whether or not predetermined picking has been performed in the carton 4.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the configuration of the inspection line according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the inspection line carries a carton 4 by a carriage 5 and a reading device provided with an antenna 7. It is configured to pass through the section 8. The other configuration is the same as the configuration in FIG. 4, and therefore, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted. In this embodiment, there is no need to install a conveyor or the like on the inspection line, so that the system of the present invention can be configured simply.

[0015]

As described above, the present invention is as described above. By introducing picked cartons into an inspection line, batch inspection can be performed, so that inspection time is shortened and inspection work is made more efficient. There is an effect that can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view conceptually showing the appearance of a product to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a picking operation.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the carton after picking.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of an inspection line configuration and an inspection operation using the inspection line.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the configuration of the inspection line and an inspection operation using the inspection line.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Commodity 2 ID tag 3 Storage shelf 4 Carton 5 cart 6 Conveyor 7 Antenna 8 Reading part 9 Inspection device 10 Barcode reader 11 Shipping instruction (delivery note)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An inspection line is configured by attaching an ID tag recording information of a product to an individual packaging unit of the product to be picked and providing a reading section of the ID tag by an antenna on a transport path. A picking / inspection system comprising an inspection device which reads information of an ID tag via an antenna and compares the information with inspection information registered in advance to perform inspection; 2. The picking / inspection system according to claim 1, wherein the inspection line is configured such that the carton is conveyed by a conveyor and passes through a reading unit provided with an antenna. 3. The picking / inspection system according to claim 1, wherein the inspection line is configured to convey a carton by a cart and pass through a reading unit provided with an antenna.