JP2020057252A - Information processor and information processing program - Google Patents

Abstract

To achieve further efficient arrangement of articles.SOLUTION: An information processor 10 includes: a stock information acquisition section 111; an arrangement request acquisition section 112; a calculation section 113 and a result output section 114. The stock information acquisition section 111 acquires distances between respective storage positions of a plurality of articles, a movement start point and a movement end point in a storage place of each of the plurality of articles. The arrangement request acquisition section 112 acquires a plurality of arrangement requests with the articles designated in the storage place. The calculation section 113 generates a group by combining the arrangement requests and while making the combinations of the arrangement requests included in the group different, calculates a movement distance for executing the arrangement corresponding to the arrangement requests on the basis of the distance between the respective storage positions, the movement start point and the movement end point. A result output section 114 outputs a calculation result by the calculation section 113.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing program for performing information processing on assortment of articles.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been a demand for more efficient sorting of articles (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as "picking") in a warehouse or the like in which articles are stored.
In view of this point, a technique for improving the efficiency of picking is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. In the picking system disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a computer creates a picking list in which articles to be picked and the order of picking are listed according to an order from a customer. Then, the computer transmits the created picking list to a terminal carried by the user who actually performs the picking. The user can efficiently perform the picking by referring to the picking list transmitted to the terminal.

JP 2018-115055 A

By using a general technique such as the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, picking can be performed efficiently.
However, with a general technique such as the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1, it is considered that there is room for improvement in creating a picking list. For example, in the technology disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a picking list is created based on a predetermined route. Further, in other general techniques, for example, a picking list is created by collecting a predetermined number of items in the order of a customer order, or a picking list is created based on conditions of products in the same area. .
A picking list created by such a method may not be able to efficiently perform picking.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and an information processing program that enable more efficient assortment of articles.

In order to achieve the above object, an information processing device of one embodiment of the present invention
A first acquisition unit that acquires a distance between the storage positions of the plurality of articles, a movement start point, and a movement end point in a storage location of each of the plurality of articles;
Second acquisition means for acquiring a plurality of sorting requests specifying the articles in the storage location;
A group is generated by combining the sorting requests, and the sorting request is determined based on the distance between the storage positions, the movement start point, and the movement end point while varying the combination of the sorting requests included in the group. Calculating means for calculating a moving distance for performing sorting according to
Output means for outputting a calculation result by the calculation means,
Is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to more efficiently sort articles.

It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the state which looked down at the warehouse which is the processing target by the information processing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a picking list generation process performed by the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a first example of a sorting request in a picking list generation process. It is a schematic diagram which shows the 2nd example of a sorting request | requirement in a picking list generation process. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a third example of a sorting request in the picking list generation process. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a fourth example of a sorting request in the picking list generation process. It is a schematic diagram which shows the 1st example of calculation of the moving distance in a picking list generation process. It is a schematic diagram which shows the 1st example of calculation of the moving distance in a picking list generation process. It is a schematic diagram which shows the 1st example of calculation of the moving distance in a picking list generation process. It is a graph which shows an example of a calculation result in picking list generation processing.

Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[overall structure]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a state in which a storage location (here, a warehouse as an example) of an article to be processed by the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is overlooked. As shown in FIG. 1, an information processing apparatus 10, a plurality of shelves 20, a movement start point 31, and a movement end point 32 are arranged in a warehouse.

  The information processing apparatus 10 is an apparatus that generates a picking list in order to more efficiently sort articles.

  The shelf 20 is a shelf in which a user who manages the warehouse stores articles (for example, merchandise, parts for assembly, and the like) that can be picked. For example, the shelves 20 store a plurality of articles that can be picked (and storage containers for storing the articles, pallets on which the storage containers are loaded, and the like) in a plurality of stages. Unique identification information (for example, called by a name such as location information) is assigned to each storage position in each row of each shelf 20, and the user manages the storage state of the article using this identification information. can do.

In addition, the identification information is described as information such as a text or a two-dimensional code, for example, at a position where the user of each shelf 20 can check. Alternatively, it is transmitted by wireless communication such as RFID (Radio Frequency IDentifier). When executing the picking, the user confirms the identification information by visual observation or reading by the portable terminal, whereby the storage position to be picked can be grasped.
It should be noted that, in the figure, the respective shelves 20 are described with numbers from “1” to “28”. Also, for convenience of illustration, only one shelf 20 is denoted by a reference numeral, and the other shelf 20 is not denoted by a reference numeral.

  The movement start point 31 is a position where the user starts picking. On the other hand, the movement end point 32 is a position at which the user who has finished picking brings back the articles collected by picking. In the present embodiment, as an example, it is assumed that the movement start point 31 and the movement end point 32 are each one, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present embodiment can also be applied to a case where one or both of the movement start point 31 and the movement end point 32 are plural. A plurality of or a single user who performs picking executes picking based on a picking list using a picking cart or the like.

  Here, as a premise of the description of the present embodiment, picking is an operation of assembling articles stored in a storage location in accordance with an assortment request (for example, corresponding to an order from a customer or the like). As the picking method, for example, there are three methods of “single picking”, “multi-picking”, and “total picking”.

  Single picking is a method of picking from a storage location for each sorting request, with each sorting request as one unit. On the other hand, the multi-picking is a method of combining a plurality of sorting requests and simultaneously picking from a storage location. On the other hand, the total picking is a method in which a plurality of sorting requests are aggregated for each article, picking is performed, and then the sorting work of the articles is performed for each sorting request.

In the present embodiment, as an example for description, it is assumed that the user performs multi-picking exclusively. In this regard, as described above, in the general technique, it is considered that there is room for improvement in creating a picking list by combining a plurality of sorting requests, such as multi-picking. Also, with general technology, there is room for improvement in the output of the order in which the items in the picking list should be arranged.
In general technology, it is usual to output in a mechanical order such as "Area-by-area, ascending order of location numbers", and to group by "4 from the top" or "within the same area". It is.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 10 performs “predetermined arithmetic processing” to determine “the combination that minimizes the moving distance during picking”, and outputs the list in the arrangement order / grouping. Thus, the moving distance in picking is reduced.

For this purpose, the information processing device 10 performs a picking list generation process. Here, the picking list generation processing refers to a series of processing performed to shorten the moving distance in picking.
Specifically, in the picking list generation processing, the information processing apparatus 10 acquires a distance between each storage position of a plurality of articles in a storage location of each of the plurality of articles. In addition, the information processing apparatus 10 acquires a plurality of sorting requests specifying articles in the storage location. Further, the information processing apparatus 10 generates a group (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a “picking group”) by combining the sorting requests, and creates a group of the sorting requests included in the picking group while changing the combination of the sorting requests. Based on the distance, the sum of the moving distances for performing the sorting in accordance with the sorting request is calculated. In this case, the information processing apparatus 10 outputs the picking list so that the order in which the articles should be collected in the combination of the sorting requests that minimizes the total moving distance can be identified.

By performing the picking list generation processing described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a user with an appropriate picking list in consideration of both a combination of a plurality of sorting requests and an arrangement order of articles to be sorted. Can be.
That is, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to more efficiently sort articles.

  The configuration illustrated in FIG. 1 is merely an example of the present embodiment, and the present embodiment is not limited to this configuration. For example, the arrangement and number of shelves 20 are not limited to those shown in the figure, and may be any arrangement and number. Further, for example, the information processing apparatus 10 does not necessarily need to be arranged in a warehouse or the like, and may be arranged in another place or the like that can communicate with a device arranged in a warehouse or the like. Further, the storage location of the article to be processed by the information processing apparatus 10 is not limited to a warehouse, and may be, for example, a merchandise shelf of a retail store, and there is no limitation on the outdoors or indoors. Further, the picking list output according to the present embodiment may be used for picking by a user, or may be used for an apparatus to perform picking in an automatic warehouse or the like.

[Configuration of Information Processing Apparatus 10]
Next, the configuration of the information processing apparatus 10 will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the information processing apparatus 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a communication unit 14, a storage unit 15, An input unit 16 and a display unit 17 are provided. These units are bus-connected by signal lines, and mutually transmit and receive signals. The information processing device 10 having such a configuration is realized by an electronic device having an information processing function, such as a personal computer, a server device, or a device unique to the present embodiment.

The CPU 11 executes various processes according to a program recorded in the ROM 12 or a program loaded from the storage unit 15 into the RAM 13.
The RAM 13 also stores data and the like necessary for the CPU 11 to execute various processes.

The communication unit 14 performs communication control for the CPU 11 to perform communication with another device (not shown). The other device is, for example, an external storage device that stores information used by the information processing device 120.
The storage unit 15 is configured by a semiconductor memory such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and stores various data.

The input unit 16 includes various buttons and a touch panel, or an external input device such as a mouse and a keyboard, and inputs various information in accordance with a user's instruction operation.
The display unit 17 includes a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays an image corresponding to the image data output from the CPU 11.

When the information processing apparatus 10 operates, as shown in FIG. 2, in the CPU 11, a stock information acquisition unit 111, a stock request acquisition unit 112, a calculation unit 113, and a result output unit 114 function.
In one area of the storage unit 15, a stock information storage unit 151 and an assortment request storage unit 152 are set.

  The stock information storage unit 151 stores stock information of articles in a warehouse to be processed by the information processing device 10. This stock information is, for example, information similar to stock information managed in a general WMS (Warehouse Management System). More specifically, for example, data such as article identification information, the number of articles in stock, and identification information (location information) of each position where the articles are arranged are stored as inventory information in, for example, a table format. Further, the stock information storage unit 151 also stores the distance between the positions where the articles are arranged. This distance corresponds to the moving distance when the user performs picking. For example, it corresponds to the moving distance required when the user picks up an article from the shelf 20 with “No .: 7” shown in FIG. 1 and then picks up the article from the shelf 20 with “No .: 9”. I do. The stock information storage unit 151 stores the distance between the shelves 20 for all combinations of the shelves 20.

The assortment request storage unit 152 stores an assortment request for articles. In this assortment request, the items to be arranged and the number (or the amount to be arranged) of the items to be arranged are specified. For the items to be stocked, for example, one item is designated for each line. Also, the number (or quantity) of the articles to be arranged is specified in a corresponding row in a predetermined unit (for example, [pcs]).
The number of items of articles to be included and the number to be included included in the assortment request may be different depending on the assortment request. The assortment request corresponds to, for example, the contents of an order (order) of a customer who purchases an article stored in the warehouse.

  The stock information acquisition unit 111 includes a function of acquiring stock information and managing the stock information stored in the stock information storage unit 151. The stock information acquisition unit 111 may be, for example, a user operation received by the input unit 16 or another device used by the user (for example, a management device included in the WMS, a terminal carried by the user for stocktaking of articles, or the like). ), The inventory information is acquired based on the data and the like received via the communication unit 14, and the management is performed by updating the inventory information stored in the inventory information storage unit 151 to the latest content based on the acquired inventory information. Note that the stock information acquisition unit 111 itself may have a function as a management device included in a so-called WMS. That is, the information processing device 10 may be realized as one device included in the WMS.

  The assortment request acquiring unit 112 includes a function of acquiring an assortment request and managing the assortment request stored in the assortment request storage unit 152. The inventory information acquisition unit 111 is, for example, a user operation received by the input unit 16 or data received from another device used by the user (for example, a server device that receives an order from a customer) via the communication unit 14. The management is performed by updating the sorting request stored in the stock information storage unit 151 to the latest content based on the obtained sorting request. Note that the stock information acquisition unit 111 itself may have a function as a device for receiving an order from a customer. That is, the information processing device 10 may be realized as one device included in a system for receiving orders from customers.

The calculation unit 113 includes a function of creating a picking list by performing various calculations. Specifically, the calculation unit 113 generates a picking group by combining unprocessed assortment requests that have not yet been sorted and, while making different combinations of assortment requests included in the picking group, Based on the distance, the sum of the moving distances for performing the sorting in accordance with the sorting request is calculated. In this case, the information processing apparatus 10 outputs the picking list so that the order in which the articles should be collected in the combination of the sorting requests that minimizes the total moving distance can be identified. In this case, the assortment request in each of the generated picking groups corresponds to a list of articles that one user has at a time. The calculation performed by the calculation unit 113 will be described later in more detail with reference to specific examples after FIG.
The calculation unit 113 outputs the picking list generated in this way to the result output unit 114 as a calculation result.

  The result output unit 114 includes a function of outputting a calculation result by the calculation unit 113 (typically, a picking list created by the calculation unit 113). The output of the calculation result is realized by, for example, display on the display unit 17, transmission of a portable terminal (not shown) of the user who performs picking, or printing on a paper medium using a printer (not shown). By referring to the picking list, the user can efficiently perform picking with a short moving distance.

[Picking list generation processing]
Next, a flow of a picking list generation process executed by the information processing apparatus 10 will be described with reference to a sequence diagram of FIG. As described above, the picking list generation processing refers to a series of processing performed to shorten the moving distance in picking.
The picking list generation processing is performed, for example, when a start operation from a user is received by the input unit 16, when a predetermined time comes, or when data is stored at a predetermined address. As a premise of the picking list generation processing, management of information stored in the inventory information storage unit 151 and the inventory request storage unit 152 by the inventory information acquisition unit 111 and the inventory request acquisition unit 112 is also performed periodically.

  In step S11, the stock information acquisition unit 111 acquires the latest stock information stored in the stock information storage unit 151. Then, the inventory information acquisition unit 111 outputs the acquired inventory information to the calculation unit 113.

  In step S12, the assortment request acquisition unit 112 acquires an unprocessed assortment request stored in the assortment request storage unit 152 that has not yet been assorted. Then, the sorting request obtaining unit 112 outputs the obtained sorting request to the calculating unit 113. Here, an example of the sorting request will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4D. Note that the assortment request shown in these figures is merely an example for explanation, and does not limit the use of the present embodiment.

  In this case, it is assumed that there are four assortment requests from the A-th order request to the D-th order request as unprocessed assortment requests that have not yet been sorted. Assume that these assortment requests include assortment requests for three different items. Next, FIGS. 4A to 4D show storage positions of articles corresponding to the sorting request (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as “picking points”).

  First, as shown in FIG. 4A, the picking points corresponding to the A-th sorting request are the picking points Pa1 (corresponding to the shelf 20 with “No .: 2”) and the picking points Pa2 (“No .: 13”). And a picking point Pa3 (corresponding to the shelf 20 with “No .: 26”).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, the picking points corresponding to the B-th sorting request are the picking points Pb1 (corresponding to the shelf 20 with “No .: 8”) and the picking points Pb2 (“No .: 6”). ) And a picking point Pb3 (corresponding to the shelf 20 with “number: 24”).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, the picking points corresponding to the C-th sorting request are the picking points Pc1 (corresponding to the shelf 20 with “No .: 4”) and the picking points Pc2 (“No .: 21”). ) And a picking point Pc3 (corresponding to the shelf 20 with “number: 15”).

  Finally, as shown in FIG. 4D, the picking points corresponding to the D-th sorting request are the picking points Pd1 (corresponding to the shelf 20 with “No .: 10”) and the picking points Pd2 (“No .: 18”). ) And a picking point Pd3 (corresponding to the shelf 20 with “No .: 20”).

  In step S13, the calculation unit 113 creates a picking group by combining unsorted unprocessed sorting requests that have not been sorted yet. For example, the calculation unit 113 creates a picking group by combining the A-th sorting request and the B-th sorting request.

  In step S14, the calculation unit 113 calculates the shortest moving distance for performing sorting in accordance with the sorting request included in the picking group created in step S13. For example, as described above with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, in order to perform the sorting in accordance with the A-th sorting request and the B-th sorting request, the picking point Pa1, the picking point Pa2, the picking point Pa3, and the picking point Pb1 are used. , The picking point Pb2, and the picking point Pb3. Therefore, the calculating unit 113 calculates the shortest distance when picking up an article from these six places, based on the distance between the respective storage positions included in the stock information. Here, the moving distance differs depending on the order in which the picking points are moved.

  For example, assuming that three picking points are moved for the sake of simplicity, the movement starts from the movement start point 31 and moves in the order of “picking point Pa1 → picking point Pa2 → picking point Pa3”. The case of moving to the movement end point 32 and the case of moving from the movement start point 31 and moving in the order of “picking point Pa2 → picking point Pa1 → picking point Pa3” and then moving to the movement end point 32 The moving distance is different. Therefore, the calculating unit 113 calculates the moving distance for all the arrangement orders in the moving order. Thereby, the shortest moving distance for performing the sorting in accordance with the A-th sorting request and the B-th sorting request can be calculated. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, when moving from the movement start point 31 and moving to the movement end point 32, the route with the shortest moving distance is “Picking point Pa 1 → Picking point Pb 1 → Picking point Pb 2 → Picking”. It is the moving route R1 that has moved in the order of the point Pa2 → the picking point Pa3 → the picking point Pb3, and the length can be calculated to be, for example, 34 [m].

In step S15, the calculation unit 113 determines whether the shortest moving distance has been calculated in step S14 for all combinations of the sorting request.
If the calculation has not been performed for all combinations yet, it is determined as No in step S15, and the process proceeds to step S13. In this case, the calculation unit 113 creates a new picking group with a combination that has not been calculated yet (step S13). Then, the calculating unit 113 calculates the shortest moving distance for the new picking group (step S14).

Then, the calculation unit 113 repeats the processing of step S13 and step S14 until it is determined to be Yes in step S13.
Thereby, for example, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the picking group is created from the A-ordering request and the C-ordering request, the movement starts from the movement start point 31, The route with the short moving distance is the shortest moving route R2 that moves in the order of “picking point Pa1 → picking point Pc1 → picking point Pa2 → picking point Pc2 → picking point Pa3 → picking point Pc3”, and its length is, for example, It can be calculated that the length is 30 [m].

  Also, for example, as shown in FIG. 5C, when the picking group is created from the A-ordering request and the D-ordering request, the movement starts from the movement start point 31 and moves most when the movement to the movement end point 32 is completed. The shortest route is the shortest moving route R3 that moves in the order of “picking point Pa1 → picking point Pd1 → picking point Pd2 → picking point Pa2 → picking point Pa3 → picking point Pd3” and has a length of, for example, 32. It can be calculated to be the length of [m].

  When the calculation has been performed for all the combinations in this manner, Yes is determined in step S15, and the process proceeds to step S16. Note that, as described above, all combinations refer to not only the case where one picking group is created by two combination requests, but also the case where one picking group is created by one sorting request or three or more All combinations include the case where one picking group is created in response to a stocking request.

  In step S16, the calculation unit 113 specifies a combination having the smallest total sum of the moving distances calculated in step S14. That is, calculation unit 113 specifies a combination of sorting requests that minimizes the moving distance for sorting according to all sorting requests.

  For example, the calculation unit 113 calculates the sum of the shortest moving distance of the picking group including the A-ordering request and the B-th sorting request and the shortest moving distance of the picking group including the C-ordering request and the D-sorting request. I do. Further, the calculation unit 113 calculates the sum of the shortest moving distance of the picking group including the A-ordering request and the C-ordering request and the shortest moving distance of the picking group including the B-ordering request and the D-ordering request. I do. In this way, the calculation unit 113 makes the picking group having the shortest moving distance for performing the sorting in accordance with all the sorting requests while making each picking group combination different (that is, making the combination of the sorting requests different). Identify request combinations.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a calculation result by the calculation unit 113. FIG. 6 is a graph showing the calculation result by the calculation unit 113 as a graph. The horizontal axis indicates the combination of the picking groups, and the vertical axis indicates the sum of the moving distances.
As shown in the leftmost part of FIG. 6, when the single picking is performed (that is, when one picking request is included in each picking group), the sum of the moving distances is 109 [m]. As shown on the right, a picking group consisting of two sorting requests, ie, an A-ordering request and a B-ordering request, and a picking group consisting of two sorting requests, a C-ordering request and a D-ordering request. When the two picking groups are combined, the total sum of the moving distances is 68 [m].

  Similarly, when the calculation is performed for a case where a picking group including two sorting requests is combined, a picking group including two sorting requests of the Ath sorting request and the Cth sorting request, and a Bth sorting request and a Dth sorting request It can be seen that when two picking groups including a request and two picking groups consisting of assortment requests are combined, the total sum of the moving distances is a minimum of 61 [m]. In addition, as shown in the rightmost part of FIG. 6, when all four sorting requests are combined into one picking group, the sum of the moving distances is 42 [m], which is the minimum.

  Then, the calculation unit 113 creates a picking list according to these calculation results. For example, in this example, when all four assortment requests are combined into one picking group, the items and quantities of the articles to be picked included in each assortment request are listed in the order in which the articles should be arranged. Create a picking list so that it can be identified.

  In step S17, the result output unit 114 outputs the picking list created by the calculation unit 113 in step S16. In this case, the result output unit 114 outputs, as a picking list, the order in which the articles should be collected in the combination of the sorting requests that minimizes the total sum of the moving distances. Thus, the present process ends.

By performing the picking list generation processing described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to provide a user with an appropriate picking list in consideration of both a combination of a plurality of sorting requests and an arrangement order of articles to be sorted. Can be.
That is, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to more efficiently sort articles.

Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are merely examples and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention. The present invention can take various other embodiments, and various changes such as omissions and substitutions can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention described in this specification and the like, and are also included in the invention described in the claims and their equivalents.
For example, the embodiment of the present invention may be modified as in the following modified examples.

<First Modification>
In the above-described embodiment, the calculation unit 113 creates the picking groups for all combinations of the assortment requests in steps S13, S14, and S15, and calculates the shortest moving distances for all the picking groups. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and when creating a picking group, the amount of computation in the entire process may be suppressed by limiting the combination of the sorting requests.

  For example, the calculation unit 113 may determine the number of sorting requests included in the picking group based on the specification of the article in the sorting request. Here, as described above, the stocking request specifies the articles to be stocked and the number (or the quantity to be stocked) of such articles. For the items to be stocked, for example, one item is designated for each line. Also, the number (or quantity) of the articles to be arranged is specified in a corresponding row in a predetermined unit (for example, [pcs]).

  For example, the calculation unit 113 classifies each sorting request into one of the following three specified groups (1) to (3) according to the specified content.

(1) First designated group (single item order / multi-picking): For example, an assortment request in which only one item is designated and the quantity to be arranged is designated by 1 pcs.
(2) Second designated group (small order multi-picking): For example, an assortment request with less than 11 items designated.
(3) Third designated group (normal / multi-picking): For example, an assortment request that is not classified into any of the above (1) and (2).

  Then, when creating a picking group based on the sorting request classified into (1), the calculating unit 113 creates one picking group based on the 80 sorting requests. If a picking group is created by collecting a small number of such single item ordering requests, picking is performed only for a small number of articles, and realistic constraints (for example, loading on one picking cart simultaneously) And the number of possible products, etc.) can be calculated.

  Further, when creating a picking group based on a sorting request classified into (2), the calculating unit 113 creates one picking group based on eight sorting requests. For such a small-volume order assortment request, as in the case of (1) above, a combination having a higher expected effect in consideration of realistic constraint conditions (for example, the number of baskets that can be simultaneously loaded on one picking cart). Can be calculated.

  On the other hand, when creating a picking group based on a sorting request classified into (3), the calculating unit 113 creates one picking group based on two sorting requests. This is because if a picking group is created by collecting such a large number of non-small order assortment requests, the quantity of articles cannot be transported by a single picking, which is not practical.

  As described above, when the calculation unit 113 creates a picking group, it classifies based on realistic conditions and limits the combination of the sorting requests, thereby suppressing the amount of calculation processing in the entire process. it can.

In the present modification, the above numerical values used for the division of the designated group are merely examples, and can be appropriately changed according to the environment in which the present embodiment is implemented. Similarly, the number of designated groups can be appropriately changed in the same manner.
Further, the number of sorting requests included in the picking group may be limited by a method that does not use the designated group. For example, if the number of items to be stocked or the number of items exceeds the threshold value in the stocking request currently included in the picking group, do not add more stocking requests to this picking group. You may do so.

<Second modification>
In the above-described embodiment, the result output unit 114 outputs the picking list exclusively in step S17. The invention is not limited to this, and the result output unit 114 may output, for example, information indicating a calculation process in addition to the picking list itself created by the calculation unit 113. For example, a graph as shown in FIG. 6 may be output. Furthermore, for example, when a plurality of picking groups are included in the picking list, the result output unit 114 may output a picking list for each of the plurality of picking groups.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes modifications and improvements as long as the object of the present invention can be achieved.

For example, the series of processes described above can be executed by hardware or can be executed by software. Further, each of the functional blocks described above may be configured by hardware alone, may be configured by software alone, or may be configured by a combination thereof.
In other words, the functional configuration illustrated in FIG. 2 is merely an example and is not particularly limited. That is, it is sufficient that the information processing apparatus 10 has a function capable of executing the above-described series of processing as a whole, and what kind of functional blocks are used to realize this function is particularly described in the example illustrated in FIG. Not limited.

  For example, the functional configuration included in the present embodiment can be realized by a processor that executes arithmetic processing, and a processor that can be used in the present embodiment includes various types of processors such as a single processor, a multiprocessor, and a multicore processor. In addition to those constituted by a single processing device, the present invention also includes a combination of these various processing devices and a processing circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array).

When a series of processing is executed by software, a program constituting the software is installed in a computer or the like from a network or a recording medium.
The computer may be a computer embedded in dedicated hardware. Further, the computer may be a computer that can execute various functions by installing various programs, for example, a general-purpose personal computer.

  A recording medium including such a program may be provided to the user by being distributed separately from the apparatus main body in order to provide the program to the user, or provided to the user in a state where the recording medium is incorporated in the apparatus main body in advance. Is also good. The storage medium distributed separately from the apparatus main body is composed of, for example, a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk), an optical disk, or a magneto-optical disk. The optical disk includes, for example, a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), a Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc (Blu-ray Disc), and the like. The magneto-optical disk is composed of an MD (Mini-Disk) or the like. Further, the recording medium provided to the user in a state of being preinstalled in the apparatus main body is included in, for example, a main storage device such as the ROM 12 in FIG. 2 in which the program is recorded and / or the storage unit 15 in FIG. And an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk.

In this specification, the steps of describing a program recorded on a recording medium may be performed in chronological order according to the order, or in parallel or individually, even if not necessarily performed in chronological order. This also includes the processing to be executed.
Also, in this specification, the term system refers to an entire device including a plurality of devices and a plurality of means.

10 information processing device 11 CPU
12 ROM
13 RAM
14 Communication Unit 15 Storage Unit 16 Input Unit 17 Display Unit 20 Shelf 31 Movement Start Point 32 Movement End Point 111 Inventory Information Acquisition Unit 112 Sorting Request Acquisition Unit 113 Calculation Unit 114 Result Output Unit 151 Inventory Information Storage Unit 152 Sorting Request Storage Unit

Claims (6)

A first acquisition unit that acquires a distance between the storage positions of the plurality of articles, a movement start point, and a movement end point in a storage location of each of the plurality of articles;
Second acquisition means for acquiring a plurality of sorting requests specifying the articles in the storage location;
A group is generated by combining the sorting requests, and the sorting request is determined based on the distance between the storage positions, the movement start point, and the movement end point while varying the combination of the sorting requests included in the group. Calculating means for calculating a moving distance for performing sorting according to
Output means for outputting a calculation result by the calculation means,
An information processing apparatus comprising: The calculating means generates a plurality of the groups, and calculates the sum of the travel distances for all the plurality of groups, thereby specifying a combination of sorting requests that minimizes the sum of the travel distances.
The information processing device according to claim 1. The output unit, in the combination of the sorting request that the sum of the movement distance specified by the calculating unit is the minimum, in order to identifiably output the arrangement order of the order to order the articles,
The information processing device according to claim 2. The calculating means determines the number of sorting requests included in the group, based on the specification of the article in the sorting request,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. The group corresponds to articles that one subject has in one sorting operation,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. An information processing program that causes a computer to function as an information processing device,
A first acquisition unit that acquires a distance between the storage positions of the plurality of articles, a movement start point, and a movement end point in a storage location of each of the plurality of articles;
Second acquisition means for acquiring a plurality of sorting requests specifying the articles in the storage location;
While generating a plurality of groups by combining the sorting request, while varying the combination of sorting requests included in the group, based on the distance between the storage positions, the movement start point, and the movement end point, Calculating means for calculating a moving distance for performing sorting according to the sorting request;
Output means for outputting a calculation result by the calculation means,
An information processing program that causes the computer to function as an information processing device including:

Images