JP2008174349A - Picking system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a picking system effective for reduction of a face area and improvement of picking efficiency even if the kind of articles for picking is increased. <P>SOLUTION: The picking system is equipped with the face area 20 where picking of commodities is performed by a worker, a storage area 30 for storing commodity by commodity, a stacker crane 10 for traveling between the face area and the storage area and transferring the commodity, and a management computer having the function for controlling the stacker crane. Prior to starting of picking operation, the management computer receives one day's order information including the order content showing one and more kinds of commodities prepared by a customer by receiving the order from a plurality of customers, executes a commodity allocation of which commodity is placed on which commodity placing part based on a plurality of order information, and executes, based on the commodity allocation results, the control operation for performing the transfer of the commodity between the storage area and the face area by controlling the stacker crane. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a picking system suitable for equipment for picking up an item from a plurality of types of articles such as merchandise according to an order and putting it into a container before shipping.

  There are various types of picking systems in distribution centers and distribution centers that box and ship products according to orders, including a picking device as disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. Take the form.

  The picking system has a picking zone. In the picking zone, a face area where an operator called a picker picks up products and a storage area for storing various types of products by product are constructed. The face area is composed of a plurality of stages and a plurality of rows of product placement units, and each product placement unit is provided with a display for instructing picking. The indicator has at least the following two means. The first means is a number display section for instructing the picker the number of products to be picked, and the second means is a picking completion push button operated by the picker to notify the completion of picking. The storage area is also composed of a plurality of rows and a plurality of rows of product storage units, but no indicator is installed in the product storage unit.

  The picking system also includes a management computer that functions as a control unit for overall control of the entire system. The management computer receives orders from a large number of customers and receives order information for one day including order contents indicating one or more types of products created for each customer. The management computer creates a picking plan for one day based on the received order information for a plurality of days, and performs overall control of the entire picking system.

  As control necessary for picking, the management computer turns on the number display section of the display in the corresponding product placement section based on the order contents for each customer. The picker picks up the specified number of products from the product placement section corresponding to the indicator that is lit in the face area and puts them into the container, and then the picking completion push button is pressed to complete the picking of the specified product. Inform the management computer. When the management computer is informed that picking has been completed from all of the lit indicators, it determines that the picking of the product for a certain customer has been completed, and the corresponding product placement is based on the order contents of the next customer. Turn on the number display section of the display unit. Under such control, the picking operation is performed by at least one picker.

  By the way, in this kind of picking system so far, once it is decided which product layout is to be placed on a large number of product placement parts in the face area, that is, which product placement part is placed, the product layout is fixed for a certain period of time. Fixed (usually about 3 months). However, at the time of layout, the best-selling products, that is, products with a large amount of orders, are placed on the product placement section close to the boxing work place by the picker.

  When there are no more products in the product placement section, the product placement section must be replenished with products. This replenishment operation includes a manual method and an automatic method.

  In the manual method, when the picker (or another worker) confirms the shortage of the product inventory in the product placement unit, he goes to the storage area, selects the relevant product, carries it to the face area, and moves it to the relevant product placement unit. refill. In this method, in both the face area and the storage area, the product placement unit is usually set to a height that can be reached by the picker, and a larger storage area is required as the number of types of products increases. . As for the storage area, the product placement portion can be constructed as high as a certain height by using a stepladder, but the height is limited.

  On the other hand, in the method based on automation, the height area where the picker can reach is set as a face area, and a storage area is constructed thereon. Then, the transfer (replenishment) of goods from the storage area to the face area is performed by an automatic transfer machine called a stacker crane. In other words, the management computer knows how many products are currently in which product placement unit, and when the stock quantity decreases, activates the stacker crane to the product storage unit where the corresponding product is stored. The product is taken out from there, and transferred to the product placement section where the stock quantity has decreased. As is clear from this explanation, the method based on automation can be rephrased as an automatic warehouse system.

  2 and 3 are a plan view and a side view showing a relationship between a face area and a storage area in a picking zone when automation by a stacker crane is adopted for transfer (replenishment) of goods.

  As is apparent from FIGS. 2 and 3, a product shelf group including a face area 200 and a storage area 300 is constructed on both sides of the stacker crane 100 so as to sandwich the moving space. The stacker crane's moving space and the product shelves on both sides are called islands. A plurality of islands are constructed in the picking zone and extend in one direction in parallel to each other. Between the islands, the picker 400 serves as a picking passage for performing a picking operation. Normally, only one stacker crane 100 is arranged in one island to avoid collision and interference.

  The face area 200 is constructed in a large number of rows so that a plurality of (three in this case) product placement units 210 that are within the reach of the picker reach the almost entire length in one direction, and the storage area 300 is a product placement. A product storage unit 310 having the same size as the placement unit 210 is constructed on the face area 200 so as to form a multi-stage and a multi-row.

  The picking system as described above is applied to a distribution center for mail order, for example.

  Mail order sales are classified into a catalog system using a catalog as a medium and an Internet system using the Internet as a medium. The Internet method is superior to the catalog method in the following points. In the catalog system, it is necessary to send a catalog to a customer, select a product, and apply by mail. On the other hand, when the Internet is used as a medium, it is not necessary to send a catalog, and a very wide variety of products is possible. In other words, it is possible to easily search for and apply for a desired product without feeling the thickness of a medium such as a catalog.

  On the other hand, when building a picking system suitable for catalog-based mail order sales, it is common to have a face area that can handle most of the products listed in the catalog, and when it is replenished, it is received manually from the storage area. A method of replenishing on a case-by-case basis (that is, the aforementioned manual method) is used. In this case, as described above, the product allocated to each product placement unit in the face area is fixed, and the product replacement is performed at the time of catalog switching.

  When Internet-based mail order sales are applied to the above picking system, the above-mentioned automatic warehouse system is adopted, with the lower side as the face area and the upper side as the storage area. When the stock runs out, the product is automatically selected from the storage area by the stacker crane and the product is replenished to the corresponding product placement unit. In FIG. 3, the movement of the stacker crane 100 at this time is indicated by a thick solid line. However, in this case as well, the products allocated to the face area are fixed for a certain period.

JP-A-8-244920

  The picking system used so far, which is applied to mail order sales via the Internet method, uses the method of fixedly allocating products to the face area for a fixed period of time as described above. Indeed, the face area becomes wider.

  In addition, the more types of products, the more products that do not ship when viewed on a daily basis. Reserving the face area for all products that do not generate shipments is a waste of space for products that are less frequently generated. Moreover, picking efficiency also falls because the walk distance of the picker accompanying picking work becomes long because a face area spreads.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a picking system that is effective in reducing the face area and improving the picking efficiency even if the number of types of articles to be picked increases.

  The present invention has a multi-stage, multi-row product placement section, a face area where the product is picked by an operator, and a multi-stage, multi-row product storage section for storing multiple types of products by product. A stacking crane for traveling between the face area and the storage area and transferring a product between the product placement unit and the product storage unit, and a stacker crane A picking system including a control device having a control function, wherein the control device indicates one or more types of products created for each customer by receiving orders from a plurality of customers prior to the start of picking work. Receives order information for one day including order contents, and implements product allocation based on the plurality of order information, which product is placed in which product placement section in the plurality of rows and columns. And, and executes a control operation of causing the transfer of goods between that allocation result to the storage area by controlling the stacker crane on the basis with the face area.

  In the picking system according to the present invention, the control device performs the control operation every day, and before the picking work on the next day starts, a product for which an order has occurred on the previous day but an order for the day does not occur is received from the product placement unit. Returning to the storage area to create an empty product placement unit, and controlling the stacker crane to transfer the product that was ordered on the day but was not ordered the day before to the empty product placement unit Is desirable.

  In the picking system according to the present invention, it is preferable that the control device allocates a product having a larger number of orders to the product placement unit closer to a product boxing work place by an operator when the product is allocated.

  In the picking system according to the present invention, the storage area is constructed above the face area, a combination of the face area and the storage area is constructed at intervals of two sets, and the stacker crane has two face areas The vehicle is preferably configured to travel between combinations of storage areas and transfer products between the same set of face areas and storage areas and between different sets of face areas and storage areas.

  According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

  In general, in the case of a picking system applied to Internet-based mail order sales, the target products are 10000 items, and on the other hand, about 1000 items are shipping target products. When the present invention is applied to such a picking system, the face area can be reduced by making the allocation of products to the product placement section in the face area variable rather than fixed, so that By using it for the storage area, the building area can be effectively used, and the productivity per unit area (number of shipments / area) can be improved.

  The picker walking distance can be reduced and the picking efficiency can be improved by reducing the face area.

  A preferred embodiment of a picking system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 shows, from the side, an island in which a product shelf group including a face area 20 and a storage area 30 is constructed on both sides of the movement space of the stacker crane 10 as in FIG. That is, the product placement unit 21 constituting the face area 20 and the merchandise storage unit 31 itself constituting the storage area 30 may be the same as those described in FIG.

  The picking system according to the present invention is greatly different from the conventional one in that the operation of the stacker crane 10 is controlled based on the picking plan for one day created in advance by the management computer, and the product placement unit in the face area 20 is controlled. The product allocation is not fixed but can be changed freely every day. This point will be described in detail later. Note that the picking system requires various control operations in addition to the control described so far, and functions as a host device when it is difficult to execute these control operations with a single management computer. By placing a computer and a plurality of subordinate devices under which the control is distributed and executed under the control of the host device, the host device and the plurality of subordinate devices are made to function as a single management computer. Also good.

  As described with reference to FIG. 2, a plurality of islands are constructed in the picking zone, and extend in parallel in one direction. Between islands is a picking path for pickers to perform picking operations. Usually, only one stacker crane 10 is arranged in one island.

  The face area 20 has a plurality of rows (three in this case) of product placement units 21 that are within the reach of the picker, and the storage area 30 is a product having the same size as the product placement unit 21. The storage unit 31 is constructed on the face area 20 so as to have a large number of rows and a large number of rows. According to the picking system of the present invention, the face area can be reduced for the reasons described later, so that a storage area can be constructed in the area that has been used as the face area, and the area of the island is reduced accordingly. can do. However, the reduced part of the face area is the one far from the boxing work place by the picker.

  A display (not shown) for instructing the picker to pick is provided on the front side of each product placement unit 21. As described above, the display device includes at least a number display unit that indicates the number of products to be picked, and a picking completion push button that notifies the management computer of completion of picking.

  The picking system also includes a management computer (not shown) that functions as a main control unit. The management computer receives order information for one day including order contents indicating one or more types of products created for each customer by receiving orders from a large number of customers at an order receiving center or the like. The management computer creates a picking plan for one day based on the received order information and performs overall control of the entire picking system.

  As control necessary for picking, the management computer turns on the number display section of the display in the corresponding product placement section 21 based on the order contents for each customer. The picker picks up the number of products designated by the product placement unit 21 corresponding to the indicator that is lit in the face area and puts it into the container, and then the picking completion push button is pressed to complete the picking of the designated product. Inform the management computer that this has been done. When the management computer is informed that picking has been completed from all of the lit indicators, it determines that the picking of the product for a certain customer has been completed, and the corresponding product placement is based on the order contents of the next customer. The number display section of the display unit 21 is turned on. Under such control, the picking operation is performed by at least one picker.

  In the conventional picking system described with reference to FIG. 3, once it is determined which product layout is to be placed on a number of product placement units in the face area, that is, which product placement unit is to be placed, the product layout is fixed for a certain period of time. Fixed (usually about 3 months). For example, the number of items of products stored in the storage area is about 10,000, and the number of items of products stored in the face area is about 1000.

  On the other hand, in the picking system according to the present invention, before starting the picking work, the management computer executes the product allocation work for the face area 20 based on the picking plan created in advance, and the stacker crane 10 is based on the result. And only products that are scheduled to be shipped on the day are transferred to the product placement unit 21 in the face area 20. Of course, the management computer allocates a product with a larger order quantity (number of orders) to the product placement unit closer to the boxing work place by the picker, and allocates each product placement unit 21 on the day and the allocation to the product placement unit. Correspondence with the selected product is stored in the storage device.

  In this way, picking work by the picker is performed after all the products scheduled to be shipped on that day have been allocated to each product placement unit 21. The management computer knows how many products are currently in which product placement unit 21, and when the stock quantity decreases, the product storage unit 31 in which the stacker crane 10 is activated and the corresponding product is stored. The product is taken out from there and transferred to the product placement unit 21 whose inventory quantity has decreased.

  In order to allocate to the product placement unit 21 closer to the boxing work place by the picker, the product placement units in the initial state before the start of the picking operation are allocated in the control form as described above, in particular, the products with larger orders received. It is desirable that 21 is empty. This can be realized by returning all of the products remaining in the product placement unit 21 to the storage area 30 when the picking operation on that day is completed.

  On the other hand, when the type of goods to be shipped does not vary greatly from day to day, the following is performed. When the picking work on the day is completed, the state is left as it is, and before the next day's picking work is started, a product that has been shipped (ordered) on the previous day but not shipped on the day is returned from the product placement unit 21 to the storage area 30. An empty product placement portion 21 is created (indicated by a thick solid line in FIG. 1). Then, a product that has not been shipped on the previous day but has been shipped on the day is transferred to an empty product placement unit 21 (indicated by a thick broken line in FIG. 1). In this case, it may be assumed that there are more types of products that have been shipped on the day than the number of empty product placement units 21, so some empty product placement units 21 may be set in advance. good. As is clear from this, the stacker crane 10 is not only between the face area 20 and the storage area 30 on the same side, but also between the face area 20 and the storage area 30 on the opposite side with the traveling space in between. You can also transfer products at

  As can be understood from the above description, the picking system according to the present embodiment is greatly different from the conventional picking system in that only the products that are shipped on the day are transferred to the face area 20 and the day before shipment occurs, The goods that are not shipped are returned to the storage area 30. In other words, in the conventional picking system, the product allocation to each product placement unit 210 in the face area 200 is fixed for a certain period, and only the product placement unit 210 that has been in stock is replenished with the stacker crane 100. ing. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the product placement unit 21 is allocated to the products that are shipped on the day, and only the products to be shipped are arranged in the face area 20.

  As a result, the following effects can be obtained.

  In general, in the case of a picking system applied to Internet-based mail order sales, the target products are 10000 items, and on the other hand, about 1000 items are shipping target products. When the present invention is applied to such a picking system, the face area can be reduced, and the use of that amount for the storage area enables effective use of the building area, resulting in productivity per unit area. An improvement in (number of shipments / area) can be realized.

  The picker walking distance can be reduced and the picking efficiency can be improved by reducing the face area.

  Optimizing product allocation (face location) for multiple product placement units according to daily shipments, that is, placing products with higher shipment frequency closer to the picker boxing work area, Reduction and improvement in picking efficiency can be realized.

  In the above description, the form in which the picker performs the picking operation based on the picking instruction by the display for picking instruction installed in each product placement unit has been described, but other forms are also applicable. For example, instead of the indicator installed in each product placement unit, a terminal device with a display is installed in one or more pickers per picker, and the picker displays a picking instruction displayed on the display. It can also be applied to a picking system in which picking is performed based on the above.

  The picking system according to the present invention is suitable for distribution centers and distribution centers that have many kinds of products with low shipment frequency, such as mail order sales using the Internet method. It can be applied to distribution centers and distribution centers where products are picked and put into containers for shipment.

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining the relationship between a face area, a storage area, and a stacker crane in a picking system according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between a face area, a storage area, and a stacker crane in a conventional picking system. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a picking zone in which a plurality of combinations of the face area, the storage area, and the stacker crane shown in FIG. 2 are arranged.

Explanation of symbols

10, 100 Stacker crane 20, 200 Face area 21, 210 Product placement unit 30, 300 Storage area 31, 310 Product storage unit 400 Picker

Claims (4)

A face area where products are picked up by workers with multiple stages and multiple rows of product placement units, and a storage for storing multiple types of products by product with multiple stages and multiple rows of product storage units An area, a stacker crane for traveling between the face area and the storage area and transferring a product between the product placement unit and the product storage unit, and a function of controlling the stacker crane A picking system comprising a control device having
Prior to the start of picking work, the control device receives order information for one day including order contents indicating one or more types of products created for each customer by receiving orders from a plurality of customers. Based on the information, execute a product allocation of which product placement unit in which the plurality of rows and columns of the product placement unit, and control the stacker crane based on the allocation result to control the storage area and the storage area A picking system that performs a control operation of transferring a product to and from a face area.   The control device executes the control operation every day, and before starting picking work on the next day, a product that has been ordered on the previous day but has not been ordered on the same day is returned from the product placement unit to the storage area to be an empty product. 2. The stacker crane is controlled by making a placement unit and controlling the stacker crane to transfer a product for which an order has occurred on the day but an order has not occurred the day before to the empty product placement unit. The picking system described.   3. The picking system according to claim 1, wherein, when the product is allocated, a product with a larger number of orders is allocated to the product placement unit closer to a product boxing work place by an operator. 4. .   The storage area is constructed above the face area, and a combination of the face area and the storage area is constructed at intervals of two sets, and the stacker crane runs between the combination of the two sets of the face area and the storage area. The product is transferred between the same set of face areas and storage areas and between different sets of face areas and storage areas. The picking system described in.

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