JP5678960B2 - Picking system and picking method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a picking system, and more particularly to a system that can be shared by a plurality of shippers.

  Small mail order dealers, used bookstores, consignment dealers, and the like have a demand to share a picking system. This is because the efficiency of the picking system has been improved in recent years, and it has become necessary even in the industry where the amount of picking is small. On the other hand, the system has become large and difficult to introduce. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a picking system that can be shared among a plurality of shippers.

  Related prior art is shown. Patent Document 1 (JP Utility H05-86908A) discloses that the rear side of an automatic warehouse shelf viewed from a stacker crane is assigned to a picking operation. However, Patent Document 1 does not consider sharing the picking system among a plurality of shippers.

JP Utility H05-86908A

  An object of the present invention is to enable a picking system to be shared by a plurality of shippers (shippers).

The present invention is a picking system in which a shelf is provided along a traveling space of a transport vehicle, and a picking station on which an operator picks an item on the shelf under the control of a controller is provided on the back side of the shelf as viewed from the traveling space. And
The goods are contained in a carrier,
The controller stores an inventory file that stores data of inventory items on the shelf together with shipper data for each item, and an item on the shelf facing the picking station, depending on which shipper's item is picked. A function of instructing the transporter to replace the article on the outside shelf,
The controller replaces the articles so that only one shipper's goods are placed on one picking station, and grasps the picking progress at the picking station and whether the shipper of the picked goods has changed. However, when the shipper is changed, in parallel with the picking from another carrier, the carrier that has been picked is transported to a position outside the picking station of the shelf, and after the picking is completed, the carrier of the next shipper The conveyance vehicle picking is finished so as to start carrying- in.

Further, the present invention provides a picking station in which a shelf is provided along the traveling space of the transport vehicle, and a picking station on which an operator picks items on the shelf is provided on the back side of the shelf as viewed from the traveling space. A picking method using a system,
The goods are contained in a carrier,
Storing the inventory item data on the shelf together with the shipper data for each item by the controller, and grasping the picking progress at the picking station and the presence or absence of the change of the shipper of the item to be picked;
Depending of articles which shippers to either picking an article shelf article to outside the picking station shelf position facing the picking station, by switching by the guided vehicle based on the instruction of the controller, one When only the goods of a single shipper are placed on the picking station and the shipper is changed, the picking is completed and the picking is completed, and the picker is taken out of the rack to the position outside the picking station. And after starting picking, the step of starting to carry in the carrier of the next shipper is performed.

  In the present invention, since the articles in the picking station are exchanged depending on which shipper's article is picked, the picking station and therefore the picking system can be shared by a plurality of shippers. When a shipper who does not use the picking system is generated, the goods of the shipper may be removed from the system, and sharing can be easily started and released.

When the shipper is changed, the previous shipper's items may be left in the picking station. However, in the present invention, only one shipper's items are placed on one picking station, and the previous shipper's items are changed when the shipper is changed. Move the cargo of the shipper outside the picking station. The destination is a storage space in a shelf other than the picking station, or an empty picking station. In this way, articles of different shippers are not picked accidentally.

In the present invention, the article is stored in the carrier, and the controller grasps the picking progress status at the picking station and whether or not the shipper of the article to be picked has been changed. When the shipper is changed, the picking is completed. Unload from the carrier to a position outside the shelf picking station. If it does in this way, replacement time of the article accompanying change of a shipper can be shortened.

Preferably, the storage area of the article for each shipper is provided in the shelf, between the shelf position facing the storage area and picking stations are configured to switch the article by the transport vehicle. If it does in this way, picking can be started by conveying articles | goods to the shelf of the position facing the picking station from a storage area, and a picking station can be made empty by returning articles | goods to a storage area.

More preferably, the picking station provided with a plurality of the carriers for accommodating picking the article, are configured to move between picking stations by the transport vehicle. In this way, it is not necessary to pick all articles at one picking station, so that it is easy to pick many kinds of articles.

  Preferably, a drawer that can be pulled out to the picking station side is provided in multiple stages on the shelf facing the picking station so as to overlap vertically in a plan view. In this way, even when there is a shelf board immediately above the article in the shelf, when the drawer is pulled out to the picking station side, the upper part of the drawer is opened and can be picked easily.

Preferably, the shelf position facing the picking station, the articles in the shelf stopper for locking so as not to protrude into the running space of the transport vehicle is provided freely release the lock from the transport vehicle side. If it does in this way, it can prevent that an article | item and a conveyance vehicle interfere with a shelf of the position facing the picking station, and since a lock | rock can be cancelled | released by a conveyance vehicle, an article | item can be replaced | exchanged easily.

Top view of the picking system of the embodiment The figure which shows the horizontal arrangement | positioning in the lower floor of the automatic warehouse in an Example The figure which shows the horizontal arrangement | positioning in the upper floor of the automatic warehouse in an Example Diagram showing inventory data management in the embodiment Block diagram of control system in the embodiment The figure which shows carrying in / out of the bucket to the picking station in an Example Flowchart showing management of a picking station in the embodiment Side view of picking station in the embodiment Front view of the picking station in the embodiment Side view of modified picking station Vertical sectional view of the stopper in the embodiment Vertical sectional view showing a state in which the stopper is retracted in the embodiment X111-X111 direction sectional view of FIG.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown. The scope of the present invention should be determined according to the understanding of those skilled in the art based on the description of the scope of the claims, taking into account the description of the specification and well-known techniques in this field.

  The picking system 2 of an Example is shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the picking system 2 is mainly composed of a flat picking area 4 for picking BC rank products and an automatic warehouse 6 for picking A rank products. Here, the A rank product refers to an article with a particularly large shipment quantity, the B rank article refers to an article with a medium shipment quantity, and the C rank article refers to an article with a small shipment quantity. The picking system 2 is shared by a plurality of shippers, and the flat picking area 4 is composed of, for example, a plurality of sub-picking areas 5 divided for each shipper. The articles picked in the flat picking area 4 are conveyed in units such as buckets to the lifting shelf 7 on the entrance side of the automatic warehouse 6 via the conveyor 9. The shipper may be a natural person or a corporation.

  The elevating shelf 7 is formed by stacking a plurality of elevating frames 8 vertically, and is connected to a conveyor 9 directed from the flat picking area 4 to the automatic warehouse 6 and a conveyor 10 in the opposite direction. The articles on the conveyor are picked up by passing upward from the bottom of the transport surface, and the articles on the lifting frame 8 are unloaded to the conveyor 9 by passing downward from the top of the conveyor 10. The flat picking area 4 and the lifting shelf 7 need not be provided.

  The automatic warehouse 6 includes a traveling space 14, and a transport vehicle 16 transports articles stored in a carrier such as a bucket 24. Further, shelves 18, 18 are provided on the left and right sides of the traveling space 14, for example. The shelf 18 is a multi-stage shelf, and a carriage 16 is provided for each stage. A conveyor 20 and a lifter 22 are provided to connect the upper and lower stages to each other. A conveyor 26 is connected to the automatic warehouse 6, and the picked bucket is transported to the packing area 28 and packed.

  FIG. 2 shows the lower layer of the automatic warehouse 6, and FIG. 3 shows the upper layer. For example, a plurality of picking stations 30 are provided below the automatic warehouse 6. At the stage in contact with the picking station 30, the carrying amount of the carrier such as the bucket 24 is large. Therefore, the traveling space 14 is divided into a plurality along the longitudinal direction, and a plurality of transporting vehicles 16 are caused to travel. The upper layer of the automatic warehouse 6 is used as a storage space 32 such as a bucket. Since the transport amount is small in the storage space 32, for example, one transport vehicle 16 is allocated to each stage with respect to the entire length of the traveling space 14.

  4 and 5 show the controller 36 of the picking system 2, FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the flat picking control unit 40 and the automatic warehouse picking control unit 44, and FIG. 5 shows the overall configuration of the controller 36. The flat picking control unit 40 controls picking in the flat picking area 4, and includes an inventory file 41 for each shipper (the owner of the article and a shipper of the picked article), and a picking file 42 for each shipper. And. The stock file 41 stores the name of the shipper or its ID, the product number of the product, and the quantity and location (stock position) of the product for each product number. Also, the picking file 42 describes the shipper and the shipping destination as the shipper, and describes the item number of the item to be shipped for each shipping destination, the quantity and location for each item number. The automatic warehouse picking control unit 44 includes a stock file 45 for each shipper and a picking file 46 for each shipper. The stock file 45 includes the name of the shipper or its ID, the product number of the stock in the automatic warehouse 6, and the product number. The quantity and location of each item is described. The picking file 46 also describes the product number, quantity, and location for each shipping destination.

  In the flat picking control unit 40, inventory is managed by the inventory file 41, picking is instructed based on the picking file 42, an operator (not shown) picks from the sub-picking area 5 or the like, and conveys the bucket containing the picked articles to the conveyor. 9 is carried to the lifting shelf 7 side. The elevating shelf control unit 50 controls the elevating shelf 7, and specifically controls the elevating and lowering of the elevating frame 8 and its timing. The conveyance vehicle control unit 51 controls the plurality of conveyance vehicles 16, detects that a bucket or a human hand is protruding from the traveling space 14 by the protrusion sensor 52, and restricts the traveling of the conveyance vehicle 16. And a bucket is conveyed between the raising / lowering shelf 7 and the automatic warehouse 6 by the conveyance vehicle 16, and in the automatic warehouse 6. FIG. The lifter control unit 53 controls the conveyor 20 and the lifter 22, and controls the conveyance of the bucket in the vertical direction in the automatic warehouse 6.

  The automatic warehouse picking control unit 44 controls picking in the automatic warehouse, and loads and unloads the bucket to be picked into the picking station 30 by the transport vehicle control unit 51, the lifter control unit 53, etc. Whether to pick from the bucket is instructed, and the completion switch 55 can input that the picking is completed. The packing control unit 56 controls packing of the picked article.

  FIG. 6 shows the movement of the bucket in the automatic warehouse 6. The shelf 18 of the automatic warehouse is divided into a picking area 30 and a storage space 32 other than the picking area 30, and an inventory area 60 for each shipper is provided in the storage space 32. The allocation of the stock area 60 may be fixed or variable. A part of the storage space 32 is allocated to the empty bucket area 61 and the buffer area 62. There are a plurality of picking stations 30, for example. During picking, the bucket that stores the picked article and the bucket that contains the picked article are exchanged with the buffer area 62. From the lifting rack 7, buckets with picked BC rank products (partially picked buckets) are supplied to the picking area 30 via the buffer area 62. If picking is not completed within one picking station 30, the bucket containing the picked articles is moved between the picking stations 30 to complete the picking. Hereinafter, a bucket containing an article to be picked is referred to as an original bucket, and a bucket of an article accommodated by picking is referred to as a picking destination bucket.

  Since a plurality of shippers share the automatic warehouse 6, when the shippers change, the articles in the picking station 30 are first carried out to the shipper's stock area 60 and then the next shipper's goods are picked up from the stock area 60 to the picking station 30. Carry in. After the replacement of the bucket is completed in this way, the picking of the next shipper's article is started. Further, in order to shorten the replacement time of the bucket after the completion of picking, the picking station 30 returns the picked original bucket to the stock area 60 in parallel with the picking from other original buckets. Also, until the picking of one shipper is completed, the buckets of the other shippers are not carried into the same picking station so that items of different shippers are not mixed.

  FIG. 7 shows a picking algorithm of the embodiment, and the original bucket and the picking destination bucket are carried in and out of the picking station as preparation before picking. Picking stations are allocated in units of shippers, and picking until one shipper is changed for one picking station is called one batch. An operator (not shown) picks the bucket carried in and out of the picking station, returns the bucket from the original bucket that has been picked up to the stocker's inventory area, and shortens the preparation time when changing the shipper.

  8 and 9 show the configuration of the picking station 30. The area below the dashed line in FIGS. 8 and 9 is the picking station 30, and the upper area is the storage space 32. For example, a plurality of upper and lower shelf plates 80 are provided in the picking station 30, and a plurality of buckets 24 are disposed on each shelf plate 80, for example. The shelf plate 80 is provided with a display 54 and a completion switch 55 for each placement position of the bucket 24, and a stopper 81 is provided near the boundary between the shelf plate 80 and the traveling space 14, so that the bucket 24 is inadvertently arranged. Protruding to the traveling space 14 side is prohibited. Further, an overhang sensor 52 composed of a photoelectric sensor or the like monitors the vicinity of the boundary between the shelf 18 and the traveling space 14 and detects a human hand or an overhanging article. When the protrusion sensor 52 detects a human hand or the like, the traveling of the transport vehicle 16 to the corresponding address is prohibited. Reference numeral 82 denotes a traveling rail, which is provided for each stage of the shelf 18. The transport vehicle 16 delivers the bucket 24 by, for example, the arm 84 in FIG. 8.

  In the case of FIGS. 8 and 9, for example, one bucket in the picking station 30 is a picking destination bucket, and the other one or two is the next picking destination bucket. The other buckets are original buckets, and each bucket is carried in and out by the transport vehicle 16. The picking destination bucket may be placed on a place other than the shelf for picking, or the picking destination bucket may be carried out by means other than the transport vehicle 16 such as a conveyor or a handcart.

  In the picking station 30 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, there is a problem that the housing efficiency is lowered if the vertical distance between the buckets 24 and 24 is made large in order to facilitate picking. Therefore, in the picking station 92 of FIG. 10, the bucket 90 is accommodated in the drawer 95, and the drawer 95 is moved forward and backward in the horizontal direction by the handle 96. A plurality of drawers 95 are arranged so as to overlap each other in a plan view, and preferably, the distance at which the drawer 95 can be pulled out toward the picking station 92 is increased as the drawer is drawn downward. FIG. 10 shows a state in which the drawer is pulled out in this manner. Since the upper part of the lower drawer is partially opened, the operator can easily pick. The other points are the same as those of the picking station of FIGS.

  In FIG. 10, the drawer 95 is pulled out in the horizontal direction. However, if the drawer 95 is pulled out obliquely downward, for example, the article in the bucket 90 can be picked more easily. In this case, since the return of the drawer becomes difficult, it is preferable to urge the drawer in the return direction by an elastic body such as a gas spring (not shown).

  The structure of the stopper 81 is shown in FIGS. The pin 100 is provided on the shelf plate 80 so as to be able to appear and retract, and is urged in the outward direction by a washer 101 and an elastic body 102. Reference numeral 104 denotes a case of the elastic body 102. For example, a roller 106 is provided in the lower part of the pin 100, and the pin 100 is moved backward by a pressing piece 108 that moves horizontally from the side of the transport vehicle 16 or the like. In this way, when the bucket 24 and the like are carried into and out of the shelf plate 80, the push piece 108 provided on the shelf 18 side of the transport vehicle 16 can be moved forward and backward to allow the pin 100 to appear and retract. The mechanism of the stopper 81 is arbitrary, and a lid that opens and closes under the control of the controller may be used instead of the mechanical stopper. The stopper locks the article or the hand of the operator from protruding into the traveling space of the transport vehicle. It is preferable that the stopper can be mechanically unlocked by the transport vehicle, or can be unlocked by a signal from the transport vehicle, and is automatically locked when the unlocking operation or release signal disappears.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The picking system 2 can be shared among multiple shippers.
(2) When the shipper is changed, the goods of the previous shipper are moved from the picking station 30 or the like to the inventory area 60 and exchanged with the goods of the new shipper. Therefore, the confusion of the goods between shippers does not occur.
(3) When the shipper changes, the original bucket that has been picked is returned to the inventory area 60 in parallel with the picking, so that the time for replacing the bucket can be shortened.
(4) By providing a transport vehicle 16 for each stage of the automatic warehouse 6, the bucket can be transported at high speed. In particular, by providing a plurality of transport vehicles 16 per stage at the stage in contact with the picking station 30, the speed of transportation can be increased.
(5) The conveyance in the automatic warehouse 6 is performed by the conveyance vehicle 16 and does not require a conveyor or the like for conveying articles in a direction parallel to the conveyance vehicle 16.

  In the embodiment, the flat picking area 4 is provided in addition to the automatic warehouse 6, but the flat picking area 4 may not be provided. Moreover, although the lower part of the shelf 18 is assigned to the picking station 30 and the upper part is assigned to the storage space 32, this assignment may be reversed. Further, one of the pair of shelves 18, 18 may be assigned to the picking station 30 and the other to the storage space 32. Although both the picking source and the picking destination are buckets, one may be a bucket and the other may be a tray.

2 Picking System 4 Flat Picking Area 5 Sub Picking Area 6 Automatic Warehouse 7 Lifting Rack 8 Lifting Frame 9, 10 Conveyor 14 Traveling Space 16 Transport Vehicle 18 Shelf 20 Conveyor 22 Lifter 24, 90 Bucket 26 Conveyor 28 Packing Area
30, 92 Picking station 32 Storage space 36 Controller 40 Flat picking control unit 41, 45 Inventory file 44 Automatic warehouse picking control unit 42, 46 Picking file 50 Lifting shelf control unit 51 Transport vehicle control unit 52 Projection sensor 53 Lifter control unit 54 Display 55 Completion switch 56 Packing control unit 60 Stock area 61 Empty bucket area 62 Buffer area 80 Shelf plate 81 Stopper 82 Traveling rail 84 Arm 94 Guide rail 95 Drawer 96 Handle 100 Pin 101 Washer 102 Elastic body 104 Case 106 Roller 108 Pressing piece

Claims (6)

A picking system in which a shelf is provided along a traveling space of a transport vehicle, and a picking station on which an operator picks items on the shelf under the control of a controller is provided on the back side of the shelf as viewed from the traveling space,
The goods are contained in a carrier,
The controller stores an inventory file that stores data of inventory items on the shelf together with shipper data for each item, and an item on the shelf facing the picking station, depending on which shipper's item is picked. A function of instructing the transporter to replace the article on the outside shelf,
The controller replaces the articles so that only one shipper's goods are placed on one picking station, and grasps the picking progress at the picking station and whether the shipper of the picked goods has changed. However, when the shipper is changed, in parallel with the picking from another carrier, the carrier that has been picked is transported to a position outside the picking station of the shelf, and after the picking is completed, the carrier of the next shipper The picking system characterized by controlling the said conveyance vehicle so that carrying in may be started . Storage areas of the article for each shipper is provided in the shelf, between the shelf position facing the storage area and picking station, characterized in that it is configured to replace the article by the transport vehicle, wherein Item 1. Picking system. The picking system according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of picking stations are provided, and a carrier that accommodates the picked article is configured to move between the picking stations by the transport vehicle. The shelf position facing the picking station, a stopper for locking as articles in the shelf does not protrude into the running space of the transport vehicle, characterized in that provided freely release the lock from the transport vehicle side The picking system of claim 2.   3. The picking system according to claim 2, wherein drawers that can be pulled out toward the picking station are provided in multiple stages on the shelf facing the picking station so as to overlap vertically in a plan view. Picking using a picking system in which a shelf is provided along the traveling space of the transport vehicle, and a picking station is provided on the back side of the shelf as viewed from the traveling space, where a picking station where the operator picks the items on the shelf under the control of the controller A method,
The goods are contained in a carrier,
Storing the inventory item data on the shelf together with the shipper data for each item by the controller, and grasping the picking progress at the picking station and the presence or absence of the change of the shipper of the item to be picked;
Depending of articles which shippers to either picking an article shelf article to outside the picking station shelf position facing the picking station, by switching by the guided vehicle based on the instruction of the controller, one When only the goods of a single shipper are placed on the picking station and the shipper is changed, the picking is completed and the picking is completed, and the picker is taken out of the rack to the position outside the picking station. And a step of starting to carry in the carrier of the next shipper after the picking is completed.

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