JP4687147B2 - Logistics management system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for shipping management of products by destination.

  In many cases, for example, consumables such as toner cartridges in copying machines, the same product as hardware is provided to different destinations (for example, applicable model, destination country, OEM destination). Conventionally, such destination-specific products are generally packaged by packages prepared for each destination in a manufacturing factory, and are generally managed as separate products with different product numbers for each destination in the subsequent distribution process. .

  However, in such a system, the manufacturer's warehouse needs to manage the products of each destination as separate products, so the management burden is large, and it is necessary to maintain an appropriate inventory for each destination. Therefore, there is a problem that inventory is likely to be wasted.

  As a method that can be one countermeasure against this type of problem, there is a method disclosed in Patent Document 1. In this method, in the production of distribution boards that are often uniform, the standard distribution board is stored in a warehouse, and a part of the standard distribution board is rearranged and shipped according to the order. It is. In the case of this method, since it is not necessary to have stock of each individual product in the warehouse, the necessary stock number can be reduced.

  Since the method of Patent Document 1 is to create one uniform individual product by customizing one type of standard product, one type of standard product that is in stock no matter what order is placed. What is necessary is just to take out and process it. On the other hand, in inventory management of consumables such as copying machines, there are many types of products such as toner cartridges and drum cartridges, and each type of product is classified into multiple families depending on the shape and performance, Furthermore, products belonging to one family are further subdivided by destination. In such a warehouse that stocks many types of common products (family), it is important to control which common products are picked from the stock and processed by destination in order to respond to orders by individual destinations. Although it is a problem, the method of Patent Document 1 does not solve such a problem.

  Patent Documents 2 to 4 show a system for creating a list of necessary parts in order to pick up necessary parts from a parts warehouse in an assembly factory. These are necessary for a finished product. However, it cannot be applied as it is to the pick-up of a common product from which consumables for each destination are created.

JP 2003-50931 A JP 07-299680 A JP-A-10-315100 JP-A-11-300584

  The present invention is a system for stocking a common product common to a destination, and processing a package of the common product to produce a product by destination. To be able to pick up.

The system according to the present invention is installed in a manufacturing base that manufactures a common product common to a plurality of destinations, and writes common information common to the common products that does not depend on the destination to a wireless tag included in the common product. a tag writer, in the distribution centers to stock the common product, a shipping management system for shipping and generates a destination by product by applying a different processing destination for the package of the common product, and a sales unit for receiving an order of the destination by product, the shipping management system, the relative common product packaging, destination by performing processing corresponding to the destination indicated by the order in which the orders means has received There is a correspondence table of processing means, common product code and product code by destination, and the order of the product by destination received by the order acceptance means is the common product source of the product by destination according to the correspondence table. Picking list creating means for creating and outputting a picking list indicating the number of common products to be supplied from the inventory to the processing means for each destination and the information of the supply timing based on the counting result; The destination processing means includes a tag reading device that reads the common information from a wireless tag included in the common product, and a destination-specific product that is a target of the order according to the order received by the order receiving means. For each destination to obtain the artwork information which is the label display information corresponding to the label information, and generate the label print information including the obtained artwork information and the display information corresponding to the common information read by the tag reader The label printing information generated by the processing control device and the destination-specific processing control device is printed on the common product or a label attached to the common product. Comprising a printing device for the, characterized in that.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a distribution management system for destination-specific products according to the present invention. In the following, a case where the present invention is applied to the distribution of consumables 10 such as copying machines will be described as an example.

  The physical distribution management system in the illustrated example includes a system in a manufacturing factory 100 that manufactures consumables 10, a system in a central warehouse 200 that stores consumables 10 manufactured in the manufacturing factory 100, and an order management system 300. Yes.

  The order management system 300 accepts an order for the consumable 10 and issues a shipping instruction for the consumable according to the order to the central warehouse 200 or creates a production plan based on the order record and the like to the manufacturing factory 100. Or give instructions. Orders come from direct customers, sales companies and distributors in each country and region, and OEM (production by original brand) counterpart companies.

  Here, in recent years, the consumable 10 holds parameter data read from the copying machine when mounted on the copying machine main body, and holds data (for example, usage count value) written from the copying machine. More and more memory units are often installed. Recently, a system that uses a wireless tag (RFID tag) 12 as such a memory unit and wirelessly reads and writes data from a copying machine has been proposed. The wireless tag 12 is attached to the main body of the consumable 10, but may also be attached to a package (for example, an individual packaging box) of the consumable.

  Consumables 10 such as toner cartridges are often provided with the same hardware structure to a plurality of copying machine models, a plurality of countries, OEM partners, and the like. Hereinafter, the model to which the consumable 10 is applied, the country of the supplier, the OEM partner, and the like are collectively referred to as “destination”. Even if the hardware itself is the same, the information such as the usage parameters of the consumables stored in the memory unit (wireless tag 12) should be individual data suitable for each model, destination country, and OEM destination. Thus, it is possible to make consumables suitable for each destination.

  In the present embodiment, a group of consumables having a hardware configuration common to a plurality of destinations is regarded as one family, and a unique family code is assigned thereto. On the other hand, a commodity code, which is individual identification information, is assigned to each consumable 10 adjusted for each destination. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, consumables having a hardware configuration represented by a family code “A” are divided into N types of product codes “a1” to “aN” according to destinations. The manufacturing factory 100 and the central warehouse 200 will generally manufacture and store consumables of a plurality of families A, B,... With different hardware configurations.

  In the present embodiment, in the manufacturing factory 100, the consumables 10 are delivered to the central warehouse 200 after finishing the portions common to a plurality of destinations in the configuration of the consumables 10. The common part of the destination includes, for example, the main body hardware (including the wireless tag 12) of the consumable 10 and common items that do not depend on the destination among the data provided to the wireless tag 12. Common items of data that do not depend on the destination include, for example, the family code of the consumable, the identification code of the manufacturing factory or production line that manufactured the consumable, the date of manufacture, and the lot number. In addition, various information related to manufacturing (for example, including the identification number of the above-mentioned factory, etc.) may be registered in the traceability management system as a part of the traceability information. In this case, a traceability code for specifying the traceability information is provided. Therefore, the traceability code may be written in the manufacturing factory 100 as data independent of the destination. Information such as the recommended expiration date of the consumable 10 can also be written in the manufacturing plant 100. Further, in the manufacturing plant 100, the main body of the consumable 10 is packaged in a common package for a plurality of destinations, and this package also corresponds to the above-described common part. The common package may be a plain box on which nothing is printed, or may be printed with a common design that does not depend on the destination.

  In the manufacturing factory 100, the manufacturing management apparatus 110 performs a known production management process according to the production plan information from the order management system 300 or the like. Under this management, the consumables 10 are assembled and boxed on the production line 130. Then, the production management apparatus 110 controls the tag writer 120 provided on the production line 130 and depends on the destination determined at the present stage for the wireless tag 12 of the consumable 10 flowing on the line 130. Write information that does not (specific example is described above). The consumables 10 in a destination-independent state made in this way are sent to the central warehouse 200 and stored.

  Thus, the consumables are stocked and managed in the central warehouse 200 in a destination-independent state, that is, in units of families. On the other hand, the order data input to the order management system 300 is from individual destinations, and the order target is specified by a product code that is further divided into family codes by destination. The order data includes items such as the product code of the target consumable, the order quantity, the delivery date, and the delivery destination. In addition, while the destination is an organization such as a sales district or an OEM company, the delivery destination is a specific location within the destination, such as a specific dealer in the sales district or a specific sales office of the OEM company. It is.

  The management system of the central warehouse 200 includes an inventory management device 210, a picking instruction device 220, a destination-specific processing control device 240, an artwork database 250, a reader / writer 260, and a labeling processing device (labeler) 270.

  The inventory management device 210 is a device that manages the consumables 10 received from the manufacturing factory 100. The picking instruction apparatus 220 is an apparatus for instructing picking work to be taken out from a storage place for consumables to be shipped and put on the shipping work line 230. The destination-specific processing control device 240 performs control when performing processing (adjustment) according to the destination on the consumable 10 in the destination-independent state taken out from the storage location. The processing according to the destination includes writing information specific to the destination to the wireless tag 12 by the reader / writer 260 and adding a label for each destination by the labeling processing device 270.

  The destination-dependent information written in the wireless tag 12 includes, for example, a product code of the consumable 10 determined according to the destination, various control parameter data according to the destination.

  Further, the destination-specific label 20 is as shown in FIG. 3, for example. Here, the label 20 is roughly composed of two parts.

  One is an artwork part which is display information about consumables by destination. As shown in FIG. 4, the artwork portion 20 a includes a company logo 22 of a company that provides the consumable 10, a name portion 24 that indicates the type of consumable 10, a model name to which the consumable 10 is applied, and the consumable 10. A product code 26 and a distribution bar code 28 representing the product code are included. The artwork portion 20a is uniquely determined by the combination of the consumable 10 family and the destination. Print information necessary for printing the artwork portion 20 a is registered in the artwork database 250.

  Another information displayed on the label 20 is information read from the wireless tag 12 of the consumable 10 such as traceability and expiration date. In the example of FIG. 3, the traceability code and the recommended expiration date code shown in the area 30 below the distribution barcode 28 are examples.

  Roughly speaking, the central warehouse 200 stocks the destination-independent consumables 10 received from the manufacturing factory 100, and the system of the central warehouse 200 described above stores the consumables in stock. Ship after adjusting (processing) to consumables for the destination. The flow of shipping work by such a system of the central warehouse 200 will be described below.

  The inventory management apparatus 210 of the central warehouse 200 receives a shipping instruction corresponding to the order from the order management system 300 as needed. This shipping instruction shows the same contents as the order data, for example, information such as the product code and number of consumables to be shipped, the delivery date, and the delivery destination. The product code is determined by the combination of the consumables family and the destination, and conversely, the family code of the family to which the consumables belong can be specified from this product code. The identification of the family code corresponding to the product code to be ordered may be performed with reference to the table illustrated in FIG. The inventory management apparatus 210 counts the number of consumables for each product code indicated in the shipping instruction in units of families. In this aggregation, for each family, how many consumables for that family are needed (delivery date). Then, based on the tabulated result, the timing for picking the consumables of each family from the inventory shelf and putting them into the shipping work line and the input schedule indicating the number of the input are determined, and the input schedule is picked up by the picking instruction device 220. To instruct. The input timing may be specified in the form of the start time of input, or may be specified in the form of a time zone in which the input number flows through the shipping work line. For example, when the picking instruction device 220 displays the input schedule on the screen or prints it out, the picking worker recognizes the input schedule, and the specified number of consumables of the family specified in the schedule is obtained. The product is taken out from the storage location in the warehouse and placed on the designated shipping work line 230. The input schedule functions as a list of consumables to be targeted when picking up (removing) consumables (in a destination-independent state, that is, in a common product state) from a storage location in a warehouse. When there are a plurality of shipping work lines (and a reader / writer 260 and a labeling processing device 270 for each line), an input schedule is created for each shipping work line. Of course, an automated system that automatically performs the picking operation may be used. That is, in this case, the automatic picking system picks stock according to the input schedule and places it on the shipping work line.

  The consumables 10 placed on the shipping work line 230 are transported to the reader / writer 260 and the labeling processing device 270, where necessary processing is performed to become a destination-specific product. This processing is executed under the control of the destination-specific processing control device 240. This procedure will be described with reference to FIG.

  In order to execute this procedure, the inventory management apparatus 210 creates a consumable shipment schedule based on the shipment instruction from the order management system 300 and provides it to the destination-specific processing control apparatus 240. That is, the shipment schedule indicates how many consumables of which product code are produced at what timing and to which delivery destination. The shipment timing of consumables for each product code is determined in conjunction with the input timing of family products in the input schedule for inventory picking. The destination-specific processing control device 240 processes destination-specific processing (labeling in this embodiment) in accordance with this shipping schedule for consumable packages (packaging) in a destination-independent state that flow from the upstream of the shipping work line. ) To produce consumables by destination.

  In this process, first, the destination-specific processing control device 240 acquires the product code of the consumable by destination to be created from the shipment schedule (S10), and artwork information corresponding to this product code (that is, the label). Information to be displayed) is acquired from the artwork database 250 (S12). Then, it waits for the wireless tag 12 of the consumable 10 flowing through the shipping work line 230 to be read by the reader / writer 260 (S14), and when read, the family code included in the read information and the product acquired in S10. The code is matched and it is determined whether or not the two match (S16). This determination may be performed using, for example, a table as shown in FIG. If the two do not match, it means that the consumable 10 cannot be a consumable for the destination corresponding to the product code (that is, the wrong product is mixed in the shipping work line 230). Predetermined error processing such as temporarily stopping the line 230 and notifying the work manager of the occurrence of an error is executed (S22). If the family code and the product code match in the determination of S16, the destination-specific processing control device 240 sends the destination-dependent data such as the product code described above to the wireless tag 12 via the reader / writer 260. Write. The destination-specific processing control device 240 generates an image indicating predetermined information to be displayed on the label 20 such as a traceability code from the information read from the wireless tag 12, and acquires this image in S12. The synthesized artwork image is combined (S18). Then, the synthesized image is transferred to the labeling processing device 270, printed on a label, and pasted on a predetermined place of the package of the consumable 10 (S20). As described above, by writing destination-dependent information to the wireless tab 12 and pasting a label for the destination incorporating information such as a traceability code generated in the manufacturing process at the manufacturing factory 100 on the consumable 10, The consumable 10 becomes a product that can be provided to the destination, and is delivered to the delivery destination indicated in the shipping schedule.

  The inventory management device 210 manages the inventory quantity of each family, and updates the inventory quantity as needed based on the input schedule and its digestion status. When the stock quantity of a family falls below the specified stock quantity of the family, order data for ordering a predetermined number of consumables for that family is created, and this order data is transmitted to the manufacturing management device 110. The manufacturing management apparatus 110 controls the system in the manufacturing factory 100 so as to manufacture the consumables of the family according to the order data.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the central warehouse 200 can store the consumables 10 in the state of a common product whose destination is undecided, so that it is more appropriate than having individual inventory for each destination. The number of inventory can be reduced.

  Further, in the present embodiment, information such as traceability information and expiration date that must be displayed on the package of the consumable 10 generated in the manufacturing factory 100 is once written in the wireless tag 12 together with other information. When the consumable 10 is processed into a destination-specific product in the central warehouse 200, information generated in the manufacturing process is combined with the artwork image of the label for the destination and printed. As described above, in this embodiment, information that is not directly related to the destination, such as traceability information, is synthesized and printed on the label for the destination, so that various information is displayed on the consumable 10. There is a merit that the work of applying a label (seal) for can be simplified. For example, work such as sticking of traceability information that has been conventionally performed in the manufacturing factory 100 is unnecessary because the label sticking process is integrated in the central warehouse 200. Thereby, man-hours can be reduced.

  In the present invention, information to be incorporated in the label 20 to be attached to each consumable 10 is written in the wireless tag 12 attached to the consumable 10 and the information is read from the wireless tag 12 when the label 20 is generated. Is incorporated into the label 20, it is not necessary to manage the association between the consumable 10 and the information to be incorporated into the label, and the management burden can be reduced. Note that the traceability information of the consumable 10 between the manufacturing factory 100 and the central warehouse 200 can be acquired by reading the wireless tag 12.

  In this embodiment, orders in product code units are aggregated in units of families, and based on the aggregation results, a consumable (common item) input (picking) schedule is created from inventory to the shipping work line. The input schedule was presented to the worker or provided to the automatic picking system. As a result, the picking process to respond to the order can be executed appropriately, and the consumables (common products) can be processed efficiently in batches by processing in units of product codes (by destination). Can be produced.

  The above embodiments are merely examples, and various modifications can be considered within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above example, in order to make consumables whose destinations are undecided for each destination, the label 20 is printed and pasted on the consumables. Instead, an image to be displayed on the label 20 is displayed. An image equivalent to the above may be directly printed on a consumable package (for example, a packaging box).

  In the above example, information such as traceability generated in the process at the manufacturing factory 100 is synthesized with the basic image (artwork) of the label for each destination, but the distribution from the manufacturing factory 100 to the central warehouse 200 is performed. The data generated at each stage (or processing that may be performed at a certain stage in between) is written to the wireless tag 12 of the consumable 10 at each stage, and the data is combined into labels for each destination. It is also possible to do.

  In the above, the system in the central warehouse 200 and the order management system 300 have been described separately. However, this is an example for convenience of explanation, and the actual system configuration has the functions of the above-described embodiment. Various variations can be made within the range to fulfill. Of these systems and their components, those that purely process information may be physically present on any location or hardware. For example, the order management system 300 may be installed in the central warehouse 200, or may be mounted on the same computer device as the inventory management device 210, for example. Conversely, a system configuration may be adopted in which each function performed by the inventory management apparatus 210 is mounted on a separate computer apparatus, and these cooperate with each other via a network. The same applies to other systems 300 and devices 110 and 240.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structure of the delivery management system which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the table of the relationship between the family of a product (consumables) and the product according to each destination. It is a figure which shows the example of the label affixed on the consumable goods according to destination. It is a figure which shows the example of the basic image (artwork) of the label classified by destination. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the process control part classified by destination.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Consumables, 12 Wireless tag, 100 Manufacturing factory, 110 Manufacturing management apparatus, 120 Tag writer, 130 Manufacturing line, 200 Central warehouse, 210 Inventory management apparatus, 220 Picking instruction apparatus, 230 Shipment work line, 240 Processing control apparatus according to destination 250 artwork database, 260 reader / writer, 270 labeling processing device, 300 order management system.

Claims (2)

A tag writing device that is installed at a manufacturing base that manufactures a common product common to a plurality of destinations, and writes common information common to the common products that does not depend on the destination for a wireless tag included in the common products;
In distribution centers for inventory the common product, a shipping management system for shipping and generates a destination by product by applying a different processing destination for the package of the common product,
And orders means for receiving the order of the destination by product,
The shipping management system comprises:
The relative common product packaging, and destination-specific processing means for performing processing corresponding to the destination indicated by the order in which the orders means has received,
It has a correspondence table of common product codes and product codes by destination, and totals orders of products by destination received by the order receiving means for each common product that is the source of products by destination according to the correspondence table. Based on the result, a picking list creating means for creating and outputting a picking list indicating the number of each common product to be supplied from the stock to the processing means for each destination and the information of the supply timing;
Equipped with a,
The destination processing means is:
A tag reading device that reads the common information from a wireless tag included in the common product;
In response to the order received by the order receiving means, artwork information that is label display information corresponding to a destination-specific product that is the target of the order is acquired, and the acquired artwork information and the tag reading device read A destination-specific processing control device that generates label printing information including display information according to the common information;
A printing apparatus for printing the label printing information generated by the destination-specific processing control apparatus on the common product or a label attached to the common product;
Logistics management system with, you characterized in that the. The shipping management system manages the number of stocks of each common product at the distribution base, and issues a manufacturing instruction for the common product to the manufacturing management system that manages the manufacturing of the common product according to the number of stocks of the common product. The physical distribution management system according to claim 1, further comprising inventory management means.

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