JP3303293B2 - Automatic warehouse and its control method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse and a control method therefor, and more particularly to an efficient warehouse operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automatic warehouse, articles are transported between a loading / unloading station and a shelf by using a transport means such as a stacker crane, and the articles are stored on the shelf. By the way, in the case of a delivery center or the like, the number of stocks in the automatic warehouse is about two to three days, and in many cases, the warehouse is accepted every morning in the morning, and the warehouse is delivered from the afternoon to the evening. If the warehousing is slow, it can be dealt with by placing it flat without entering the automatic warehouse, but if the warehousing is slow,
You have to wait for trucks and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to shorten the waiting time for leaving the warehouse.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to reduce the time required for delivery from a warehouse (claims 1 to 4). An additional object of the second aspect of the present invention is to assist in predicting the number of dispatches, and to further shorten the exit time. An additional object of the third aspect of the present invention is to further shorten the exit time by allowing the automatic warehouse to predict the number of exits by itself.

[0004]

According to the automatic warehouse of the present invention, a means for allocating, to the control unit, a range near the delivery station in the shelf to the short-term zone and storing the allocated range, and a safety unit for each product number in the short-term zone A means for storing the stock quantity, a means for the user to specify a time zone for moving the shortfall in the safety stock quantity to the short-term zone in the shelf by the transport means, and a security for the stock in the short-term zone. A means is provided for obtaining a shortage from the stock quantity and transporting the shortage to the short-term zone by the transport means in a designated time zone. The terms such as the number of safety stock and the short-term zone can be called in various ways, and the terms themselves are not meaningful. Preferably, a means for storing the delivery results of each part number is provided, and a means for interactively setting the safety stock quantity via the display unit is provided, and the delivery results of each part number are displayed at the time of setting. Also preferably, a means for storing the delivery results of each product number is provided, and a means for interactively setting the safety stock quantity via the display unit is provided,
The required stock quantity based on the stored delivery results is set as a default value when the safety stock quantity is set.

According to the automatic warehouse control method of the present invention, a short-term zone is defined as a range close to a delivery station in a shelf, and the number of safety stocks for each product number is stored, and articles corresponding to the number of safety stocks are stored in the short-term zone. Store and replenish the shortage from the safety stock quantity by moving in the shelf, and let the user specify the time zone to replenish the shortage from the safety stock quantity by moving in the shelf, and in the specified time zone It is characterized in that the shortage from the safety stock number is replenished by moving in the shelf.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the area near the delivery station in the shelf is allocated to the short-term zone, and the allocated area is stored. The number of safety stocks is set for each product number, and the number of items corresponding to the number of safety stocks is stored in the short-term zone. Replenish by moving. For this reason, a range close to the retrieval station is a short-term zone, and the short-term zone stores, for example, articles of the planned retrieval quantity for the next day for each product number. The time period for replenishing the shortage from the safety stock number can be specified by the user's discretion at a time when the load is low, such as at night or during lunch breaks. Refill the short-term zone. For this reason, the waiting time until leaving the warehouse can be shortened, and the movement in the shelf for the preparation for leaving the warehouse can be efficiently performed according to the operation status of the automatic warehouse.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in order to facilitate the setting of the number of safety stocks, the delivery results of each product number are stored and displayed at the time of setting the number of safety stocks, thereby facilitating the setting of the number of safety stocks. In this way, the user can set an appropriate number of safety stocks, and accordingly, the appropriate quantity of stock is stored in the short-term zone, the short-term zone is used efficiently, and the outgoing work becomes more efficient. .

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a default value of the number of safety stocks is obtained from the delivery results for each product number, and this is used as a default value at the time of setting. For this reason, the number of safety stocks based on past shipment results becomes the default value, and it is easy to modify from the default value, an appropriate safety stock number is set, the short-term zone is used efficiently, and the shipping work is efficient become.

In the control method of the automatic warehouse according to the present invention, the area close to the retrieval station in the shelf is set as the short-term zone, and articles corresponding to the number of safety stocks are stored in the short-term zone. The shortage of safety stock is replenished at the time specified by the user by moving inside the shelf, so most of the outgoing can be covered by transport from the short-term zone to the outgoing station, reducing the waiting time for outgoing. In addition, since the user can arbitrarily specify a time zone in which the replenishment work is performed, the replenishment can be efficiently performed by using the free time such as lunch break or night.

[0010]

1 to 8 show an embodiment. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the shelf 2 of the automatic warehouse. The side closer to the retrieval station 10 is a short-term zone 4, and the side farther from the retrieval station 10 is a medium-long term zone 6, which is divided into two types. Reference numeral 8 denotes a stacker crane as a transport means.

FIG. 2 shows a control system of the automatic warehouse in the embodiment. Reference numeral 12 denotes a distribution computer, which is connected to a warehouse computer 14 via a LAN or the like. Warehouse computer 1
4 controls a plurality of automatic warehouses in many cases, but for the sake of simplicity in the embodiment, description will be made assuming that only one shelf 2 is managed. When the shelves 2 are provided symmetrically on both sides of the traveling route of the stacker crane 8, the short-term zone 4 may be provided for both shelves according to the distance from the delivery station 10 and the like. Also, when there are a plurality of units in the automatic warehouse, it is sufficient to store almost the same number of articles of the same product number in each unit and set a short-term zone on each shelf. Further, the retrieval station 10 may be used for both entry and exit, and when there are a plurality of retrieval stations 10 for one shelf 2, the vicinity of each retrieval station 10 is a short-term zone.

A terminal is provided in the warehouse computer 14 in the vicinity of the delivery station 10 or the like, and various setting operations are performed interactively on the terminal. The warehouse computer 14 has a large number of files, and the main files are an inventory file 15, a shelf file 16, a safety stock number file 17, a delivery result file 18, and the like. Other than this, there are a stocking record file, a stocking reservation file, and the like, but the description is omitted.

The stock file 15 is formed by using a product number as a search key, and for each product name, a product name and a stock quantity, a reserved quantity for delivery, a stock quantity converted into a pallet number as a unit of storage on the shelf 2, and the like. Is stored. As the number of pallets, three types are stored: the number of pallets in the short-term zone, the number of pallets in the medium-long term zone, and the set number of safety stock (in the embodiment, the number of pallets). Therefore, if the stock file is searched for each product number, the number of safety stocks set as the number of stocks in the short-term zone 4, the number of pallets actually existing, and the number of pallets in the spare medium- to long-term zone are found.

The shelf file 16 contains, for each address of the shelf 2, a classification of a shelf or an empty shelf, in the case of a shelf, a product number and a product name,
The storage date and time, the quantity, and whether or not the delivery has been allocated are recorded. Therefore, from the shelf file 16, for each address of the shelf 2, how many articles of which part number exist, and the storage date and time are determined.

When the articles are stored in units of pallets as in the embodiment, the safety stock number file 17 stores the number of safe stocks in pallets of each article for each product number that should exist in the short-term zone. If it is not a pallet unit, for example, the safety stock number in a unit of quantity is stored. Outgoing delivery record file 18
Records the result of delivery from the shelf 2 for each product number, and in order to facilitate the setting of the number of safety stocks, for each product number, the result of the storage at this sunrise, the result of the delivery per day in the past week, and
The average outgoing record for each week (average result per day) for about a week and the average outgoing record for each month in the past three months are stored. Such storage is performed for each product number, and serves as reference data when setting the safety stock quantity. In order to show the characteristics of the outgoing results in another form, the outgoing actual results file 18 has an average of the outgoing actual results in the past four weeks or so, and the past three months or so in each month from Monday to Saturday for one week. , The middle of the month, the end of the month, and the average of the delivery results for each period.

Reference numeral 20 is a safety stock number processing unit, 21 is a crane control unit, 22 is a warehouse allocation unit, 23 is a warehouse allocation unit, and 24 is a warehouse station control unit. The receiving allocation unit 22 checks whether or not the articles corresponding to the number of safety stocks are stored in the short-term zone 4 when the articles are received, and if not, designates the receiving shelf number as an empty area in the short-term zone. I do. When articles for the number of safety stocks are stored in the short-term zone, a storage shelf address is designated from the medium-long term zone. The retrieval assignment unit 23 searches the short-term zone 4 for the presence or absence of the corresponding article at the time of retrieval, and when inventory is present in the short-term zone, allocates the item with the oldest entry date and time to retrieval. If there is no article corresponding to the short-term zone 4, the corresponding article in the medium-long term zone 6 with the earliest entry date and time is allocated to exit. If there is no corresponding article in the short-term zone 4 or the medium-long term zone 6, an error indicating that the article cannot be taken out is made, and the taking-out work is not executed.

The subsystems of the safety stock processor 20 include:
Zone setting processing unit 30, movement setting processing unit 31, first safety stock setting processing unit 32, second safety stock setting processing unit 3,
3 and an in-shelf movement processing unit 34. The zone setting processing unit 30 is for setting a range to be allocated to the short-term zone 4 in the shelf 2, and the setting is performed interactively using the terminal screen of the warehouse computer 14. Instead of letting the user set the short-term zone in the zone setting processing unit 30, an appropriate margin is added to the total number of safety stocks (for each product number) set by the user, and this is set as a necessary range for the short-term zone. May be set manually. In this case, no interactive setting is required. The movement setting processing unit 31 designates a time period in which the in-shelf movement for securing the safety stock quantity in the short-term zone 4 is performed, and whether the in-shelf movement is automatically performed every day at the designated time period is designated. Set whether to perform only on the day. This setting is also made interactively through the screen.

The safety stock quantity setting unit includes a first setting processing unit 3
2 and a second setting processing unit 33. The first safety stock quantity setting processing unit 32 displays the past delivery performance of the corresponding product number on the terminal, and refers to this to determine the safety stock quantity by the user. To be set. The second safety stock quantity setting processing unit 33 uses the necessary stock quantity obtained from the delivery record file 18 as a default value and sets a correction condition for the default stock quantity. Further, of the records recorded in the retrieval record file 18, the user is allowed to set which reference value, such as the day of the week, the beginning of the month, the middle of the month, the end of the month, or the average of the past week, is used.

The in-shelf movement processing unit 34 includes a movement setting processing unit 3
In the time zone set in 1, it is checked whether the storage status of articles for each product number in the short-term zone 4 exceeds or falls short of the number of safe stocks. It requests the crane control unit 21 to move in the shelf so as to correct by moving. The stock status in the short-term zone 4 is clarified by searching the shelf file 16 for a range specified in the short-term zone 4. As for articles moving from the middle-long term zone 6 to the short-term zone 4, priority is given to the article number with the oldest entry date and time for the corresponding article number. Conversely, among the articles moving from the short-term zone 4 to the medium-long term zone 6, the articles with the latest storage date and time among the articles in the short-term zone 4 have priority.

FIG. 3 shows a movement pattern in the shelf in the embodiment. Warehousing 1 is warehousing from the station to the medium- to long-term zone, which is the basic pattern of warehousing. However, if there is no stock for the number of safety stocks in the short-term zone 4, the stock is stored in the short-term zone as in warehousing 2. Warehousing 3 is a basic warehousing pattern in which the one with the oldest warehousing date and time in the short-term zone 4 is assigned to warehousing and then warehousing. Warehousing 4 is a warehousing pattern in a case where there is no corresponding article in the short-term zone 4, and among the articles corresponding to the medium-long term zone 6, the article having the earliest entry date is delivered.

Movement 5 is an example of in-shelf movement. When the stock quantity in the short-term zone 4 falls below the safety stock quantity, the goods are transferred from the medium-long term zone 6 to the short-term zone during a designated time zone such as nighttime or lunch break. Move to 4. The movement 6 is a movement within the short-term zone. If an empty shelf address is generated in the short-term zone 4 on the side closer to the delivery station 10, the article is moved from an address far from the station 10 in the short-term zone 4. Which items are moved depends on whether the item at the shelf address farthest from the station 10 is moved in the short-term zone 4, the oldest received item is moved in the short-term zone 4, and the number of safe stocks in the short-term zone 4 is the largest. There are criteria such as giving priority to the set article with the oldest storage date and time, and it is free to use any of them.

Movement 7 is a movement within the medium to long term zone,
Similarly, the movement is performed during a designated time period such as nighttime or lunch break, and the reference for movement is the same as that for movement 6. Movement 8 is for moving to the medium- to long-term zone 6 when a stock exceeding the number of safe stocks occurs in the short-term zone 4 due to the stocking 2 or re-stocking. In addition, as is apparent from the provision of the mode of the movement 7, even in the middle-long term zone 6, the side closer to the station 10 is entered with priority.

FIG. 4 shows a terminal screen in zone setting.
At this time, the zone setting processing unit 30 displays the total number of safety stocks of all product numbers (here, 70 pallets) on the terminal screen, and the range currently allocated to the short-term zone (64 shelves).
Is displayed. By referring to these, let the user set a new short-term zone range, or propose a new range of the short-term zone on the screen by adding the margin to the total number of safety stock, and confirm the setting OK, Change and store short-term zone settings.

FIG. 5 shows a terminal screen of the movement setting by the movement setting processing section 31, in which the product number set here is a processing target of the safety stock. When all articles are set instead of product numbers, a time zone of movement is specified for all articles. By specifying the time, specify the time zone to move on the shelf such as at night or during lunch break, start condition is the start condition of moving on the shelf, if you select only today, move on the shelf only on the day you set the move on the move setting screen Is performed. If the automatic start is set every day instead, the in-shelf movement is performed every day in the designated time zone. However, these intra-shelf movements are based on the premise that there is no other transfer work for entry and exit, and if there is an entry / exit transfer operation, it is not performed until the end.

FIG. 6 shows a first safety stock quantity setting processing section 32.
Is shown on the screen for setting the number of safety stocks, and is set in pallet units in the embodiment. When a product number is specified on this screen, the corresponding product name is displayed, and the current safety stock quantity is displayed. Now, the delivery record file 18 contains the number of pallets per day in the past week, such as the number of pallets in this sunrise, the number of warehousing in the previous sun, the average number of warehousing by week, the average number of warehousing by month, etc. Is stored. Then, the statistical data is displayed on the screen, and the user can set the safety stock quantity by referring to the statistical data. That is, if the user displays the past delivery results, it is easy to predict the delivery performance on the next day or the next two days, and the accurate safety stock quantity can be set.

FIG. 7 shows a second safety stock quantity setting processing section 33.
Is shown on the screen for setting the number of safety stocks, and the setting is similarly performed in pallet units. In this setting, the delivery record file 18
Inquiry as to which criterion, such as the beginning of the month or the end of the month, or the day of the week such as Friday, Thursday, etc., is used to determine the default value with respect to the past delivery results. For example, for a screen,
Since the user has specified Friday, the average of the delivery results on Friday for the past four weeks or so is set as the default value. Correction rate for default value (110% in this case)
Let the user set For this reason, in the screen of FIG. 7, the safety stock quantity is obtained by multiplying the average of the delivery results for each product number on Friday for the past four weeks by 110%.

The setting in FIG. 7 may be performed for each product number.
Here, all the product numbers are set collectively. That is, for all product numbers, 110% of the average of four weeks of the past delivery results of past product numbers on Friday is the safety stock number, and the corresponding number of articles are stored in the short-term zone 4.

FIG. 8 shows records in the retrieval result file 18 for the setting of FIG. This record is provided for each product number. For example, the average number of outgoing pallets in the past four weeks for each day of the working day of the delivery center from Monday to Saturday, and the number of pallets per day at the beginning of the month in the past three months The average outgoing stock, the average outgoing stock per day during the month, the outgoing average at the end of the month, and the like are recorded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a shelf configuration of an automatic warehouse in an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a control system of an automatic warehouse in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing movement in a shelf in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a setting screen of a short-term zone in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a movement setting in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a setting screen of the number of safety stocks in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another safety stock quantity setting in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a delivery result file in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Shelf 4 Short-term zone 6 Medium-long term zone 8 Stacker crane 10 Departure station 12 Distribution computer 14 Warehouse computer 15-18 File 20 Safety stock quantity processing part 21 Crane control part 22 Entry reservation part 23 Departure reservation part 24 Entry / exit station control part 30 Zone setting processing unit 31 Movement setting processing unit 32 First safety stock setting processing unit 33 Second safety stock setting processing unit 34 In-shelf movement processing unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 1/137 G06F 17/60 116

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An automatic warehouse provided with shelves, transport means, a delivery station, and a control unit for managing them, wherein the control unit allocates a range close to the delivery station in the shelf to a short-term zone, The means for storing the range, the means for storing the number of safety stocks for each product number in the short-term zone, and the time period for moving the shortage to the number of safety stocks in the shelf to the short-term zone by the transport means. Means for the user to specify, and means for determining the shortage of the stock in the short-term zone from the number of safety stock, and transporting the shortage to the short-term zone by the transport means during the designated time zone. An automatic warehouse, which is provided. 2. A means for storing the delivery results of each part number and a means for interactively setting the safety stock quantity via a display unit are provided, and the delivery results of each part number are displayed at the time of setting. 2. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the automatic storage is performed. 3. A means for storing the delivery record of each part number, and a means for interactively setting the safety stock quantity via a display unit are provided, and the necessary stock quantity based on the stored delivery record is provided. 2. The automatic warehouse according to claim 1, wherein is a default value when the safety stock quantity is set. 4. A method for controlling an automatic warehouse comprising a shelf, a transporting means, an outgoing station, and a control section for managing the shelves, wherein an area near the outgoing station in the shelf is set as a short-term zone, and safety for each product number is set. Store the number of items in stock, store the items in the short-term zone for the number of safety stocks, and let the user specify the time zone for replenishing the shortage from the number of safety stocks by moving in the shelf. A method for controlling an automatic warehouse, characterized in that a shortage of the number of safety stocks is replenished to the belt by moving in a shelf.