JP6697628B2 - Warehouse management system and warehouse management method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique effectively applied to a warehouse and a factory.

  In a warehouse or a factory, a worker collects articles stored according to an order and sorts them to a shipping destination, that is, a picking operation. Conventionally, as a method of picking work, there has been a method in which an operator walks in a warehouse where shelves storing articles are arranged and takes out a predetermined article corresponding to an order.

  On the other hand, in recent years, instead of the worker walking to take out the article, an automatic carrying device (carrying vehicle) carries the shelf to the worker, and the worker takes out the article from the carried shelf. System operation is active. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for carrying out picking by transporting a target article or a shelf in which the target article is stored to a picking operator's place in a distribution warehouse by using a transport vehicle.

  For example, articles carried into a warehouse are stored in advance in the shelves to be picked as described above. As a method of storing articles on a shelf, there is a method described in Patent Document 2, for example. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-242242 discloses that "a control unit that controls the operation of a transport unit that carries out an article loading / unloading operation between each of a plurality of storage sections that store articles and a plurality of article loading / unloading sections is provided. When the carry-in / carry-out units are grouped and managed so that the closely arranged units belong to the same group, and when the carry-out work of the goods is performed based on the work order, the goods carry-in / carry-out unit in the same group as the goods carry-in / carry-out unit When there is an article to be carried in, the article carry-in operation of the article carry-in / out section is prioritized over the carry-in / carry-out work of the article in the next work order.

  Further, as a method of selecting a shelf for storing articles in advance, there is a method described in Patent Document 3, for example. In US Pat. No. 6,037,037, regarding shelf selection, “selecting inventory holders from multiple inventory holders is at least partially based on the classification of inventory items to be stored and the inventory holders selected. A step based on the classification of one or more other inventory items currently stored, wherein the classification of the inventory items to be stored includes the frequency with which the inventory items to be stored are requested, The classification of the one or more other inventory items currently stored includes the frequency with which the inventory holder is selected. "

Patent Document 1: US Pat. No. 8,805,573 Specification Patent Document 2: JP 2000-272722 A Patent Document 3: JP 2009-096637 A

  As described above, the work of storing the article to be picked in the shelf in advance is the warehousing work. An example of the warehousing work is shown in FIG.

  In the example of FIG. 1, a plurality of target articles are temporarily placed in the temporary placement area 101. “A” and the like written on each item are item identification information (eg, product name) of each item. In the following description, for example, an item whose item is “A” is also referred to as “item A”. The same applies to articles of other items. In the example of FIG. 1, the empty storage shelves 104 and 105 are transported to the storage work place by the transport vehicles 106 and 107. The receiving workers 102 and 103 sequentially store the articles in the temporary storage area 101 in the storage shelves 104 and 105. When the warehousing work is completed, the storage shelves 104 and 105 are transported to the picking work place by the transport vehicles 106 and 107.

  Reducing the number of times a shelf is transported is one of the approaches to improve the efficiency of picking work. The picking work in a day is the sum of the time for picking up the articles and the waiting time for shelves, and if the number of articles to be shipped per day is fixed, the picking time for articles is almost fixed, but the waiting time for shelves is reduced even if the number of articles is fixed. Because there is room for For example, when creating an order set so that orders with the same storage shelf identification information belong to the same set, control the storage of goods into the storage shelf so that continuous picking work can be realized with one transfer of the storage shelf. This makes it possible to further reduce the number of times the storage shelves are transported.

  With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, a change in the number of times the storage racks are transported according to the order of storage when the number of picking workers is two will be described. Specifically, in FIGS. 2 and 3, even when articles are stored in the respective shipping boxes based on the same order, the number of times of transportation is different due to the different storage order of the articles in the storage shelves (that is, (The length of time required for picking work is different.)

  In FIG. 2, according to the order, one item A and one item B in the shipping box 201, one item A and one item in the shipping box 202, two item B in the shipping box 203, and item D in the shipping box 204. An example is shown in which a picking operation is performed to pack each of the products E and E one by one, the products D and F one by one in the shipping box 205, and the products E and F one by one in the shipping box 206. In this example, two articles A, three articles B and one article C are stored in the storage shelf 207 transported by the transport vehicle 213 to the picking work place, and two articles A are stored in the storage shelf 208 by the transport vehicle 214. Two articles D to F are stored in advance by the warehousing operation.

  In this case, the storage shelves 207 and 208 are transported to the picking operators 209 and 210, respectively, and each picking operator sorts the articles of the storage shelf 207 and the articles of the storage shelf 208 into the sorting shelves 211 and 212, respectively. The packing operation of the shipping boxes 201 to 206 can be started.

  In this example, shelves 211-1 to 211-3 included in the sorting shelf 211 correspond to shipping boxes 201 to 203, respectively, and shelves 212-1 to 212-3 included in the sorting shelf 212 respectively ship boxes 204 to 206. Therefore, all the articles stored in the storage shelves 207 are sorted into the sorting shelves 211 without excess or deficiency, and all the articles stored in the storage shelves 208 are sorted into the sorting shelves 212 without excess or deficiency.

  The X mark superimposed on the article A on the storage shelf 207 in FIG. 2 indicates that although the article A was stored in the storage shelf 207 by the loading operation, it was picked by the subsequent picking operation and moved to the sorting shelf 211 ( That is, it is no longer stored in the storage shelf 207). This is the same for other articles, and the same applies to FIG.

  In the example of FIG. 3, the articles packed in the shipping boxes 201 to 206 are the same as those in FIG. 2, but the storage of the articles in the storage shelves 307 to 308 is different from that in FIG. 2. Specifically, three articles B, one article C, and two articles F are stored in the storage shelf 307, and two articles D, E, and A are stored in the storage shelf 308, respectively. Stored in advance.

  In this case, the storage shelves 307 and 308 are transported to the picking operators 209 and 210, respectively, and each picking operator only sorts the articles on the storage shelf 307 and the articles on the storage shelf 308 into the sorting shelves 211 and 212, respectively. The packing work of the shipping boxes 201 to 206 cannot be started. The storage shelves 307 do not store the articles A to be sorted on the sorting shelves 211 while the articles F remain, and the storage shelves 308 do not store the articles F to be sorted on the sorting shelves 212 while the articles F are stored. This is because A remains.

  Therefore, in order to start the packing operation of the shipping boxes 201 to 206, the storage shelves 308 and 307 are successively conveyed to the picking operators 209 and 210, and the picking operators transfer the articles on the storage shelf 308, respectively. It is necessary to sort the articles on the storage shelf 307 into the sorting shelves 211 and 212, respectively. That is, as compared with the example of FIG. 2, the number of times the storage shelves 307 and 308 are transported increases in the example of FIG.

  In the method disclosed in Patent Document 2 in which the articles arranged close to each other in the article loading / unloading section are grouped into the same group, the efficiency of the loading operation to the article loading / unloading section and the efficiency of the article storage operation to the storage shelf are improved. Although it is possible to achieve this, it is not possible to store items that reflect some policy in the output, and it does not directly contribute to reducing the number of times the storage shelves are transported.

  In the method disclosed in Patent Document 3 in which articles having similar outgoing frequencies are put into a shelf having a similar calling frequency, inventory articles having similar outgoing frequencies are collected in a specific shelf, and further, an inventory having a very high outgoing frequency. Although it is possible to increase the frequency of picking of articles at the same timing, it is not guaranteed until the frequency of picking at the same timing of stock articles that are not so frequently issued.

  A typical example of the present invention for solving the above problems is as follows. That is, in the warehouse management system, a storage unit that holds order information that associates the item, quantity, and shipping destination of the item, and inventory information that indicates the item of the item stored in each of the plurality of storage shelves, Based on the order information, a co-occurrence frequency calculation unit that calculates a co-occurrence frequency, which is a frequency with which articles of different items are shipped to the same shipping destination, and one of the co-occurrence frequency and the inventory information, When it is assumed that at least one warehousing article that is an article to be stored in the storage shelf is stored in each of the storage shelves, the warehousing article and the warehousing article already stored in each of the storage shelves are Simultaneous pick that calculates the frequency of simultaneous picking, which is the frequency at which items of different items are shipped to the same shipping destination, and preferentially selects the storage shelf with a high frequency of simultaneous picking as the storage shelf of the storage destination of the received goods. It is characterized by having a controller including a frequency evaluation unit and a warehousing instruction unit that outputs an instruction to store the warehousing article in the storage shelf of the selected storage destination.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, since the goods to be stored are stored in the shelves which are highly likely to be picked at the same timing as the stock goods, it becomes possible to carry out the goods receipt in which the information of the shipping box is reflected, and the shipment (delivery, inspection). It is possible to improve work efficiency up to (etc.). Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of the embodiments.

It is explanatory drawing of the warehousing work in a warehouse. It is explanatory drawing of the 1st example of the picking operation in a warehouse. It is explanatory drawing of the 2nd example of the picking work in a warehouse. It is a block diagram explaining the hardware constitutions of the controller of Example 1 of the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining the warehousing procedure of Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the specific example of the order data which the controller of Example 1 of this invention receives and memorize | stores in a memory. It is explanatory drawing of the specific example of the calculation which the co-occurrence frequency calculation part of the controller of Example 2 of this invention performs. It is a figure explaining an example of the warehousing work in Example 4 of the present invention.

  Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the hardware configuration of the controller 400 according to the first embodiment of this invention.

  The controller 400 that constitutes the warehouse management system of this embodiment is a general computer, and has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 401, a memory 402, an input / output device 403, a network interface 404, and an auxiliary storage device 405. The CPU 401, memory 402, input / output device 403, network interface 404, and auxiliary storage device 405 are connected to each other via a bus 406.

  The CPU 401 executes various arithmetic processes. The auxiliary storage device 405 is a non-volatile, non-temporary storage medium. The memory 402 is loaded with various programs and various data stored in the auxiliary storage device 405, and the CPU 401 is loaded with various programs. To read and write various data loaded in the memory 402.

  The CPU 401 includes a co-occurrence frequency calculation unit 407, a storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408, and a storage instruction unit 409. The memory 402 includes programs corresponding to the co-occurrence frequency calculation unit 407, the storage shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408, and the storage instruction unit 409, as well as storeable article information 410, inventory information 411 for each storage shelf, and order data 412. Is memorized. By the CPU 401 executing these programs stored in the memory 402, the functions of the co-occurrence frequency calculation unit 407, the storage shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408, and the storage instruction unit 409 are realized.

  In the stockable goods information 410 stored in the memory 402, the identification information of the stockable goods and the quantity of stocked goods are registered. An article that can be stored is an article that can be a target of a storage operation to be performed, for example, an article placed in the temporary storage area 101 shown in FIG.

  In the inventory information 411 for each storage shelf stored in the memory 402, the identification number of the storage shelf, the item of the stock article stored in the storage shelf, and the stock quantity of each are registered. When the order data 412 includes information indicating the category of the article as described later, the inventory information 411 may further include information indicating the category of the article in inventory.

  In the order data 412 stored in the memory 402, identification information of delivered items, the number of delivered items, delivery destinations, and the like are registered. Details of the order data 412 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The network interface 404 is an interface for communicating data with a customer system (not shown) or the like via the network 413, an interface for communicating data with a work instruction device (not shown) installed in a work station, and a carrier vehicle 414 and data. Is an interface for communicating. Note that the controller 400 and the work instruction device may be connected by wire or wirelessly, and the controller 400 and the transport vehicle 414 are connected by wireless. Although one transport vehicle 414 is shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of transport vehicles 414 may actually be connected to the network 413, and these transport vehicles 414 are the transport vehicles 106 and 107 shown in FIGS. , 213 and 214.

  FIG. 5: is a flowchart explaining the warehousing procedure of Example 1 of this invention.

  First, the controller 400 receives the stockable goods information 410, the stock information 411 of each storage shelf, and the order data 412, and stores them in the memory 402 (step 501).

  Next, the controller 400 picks up the co-occurrence frequency for each item pair, that is, the item pair at the same timing from the order data 412 and the inventory information 411 stored in the memory 402 by the function of the co-occurrence frequency calculation unit 407. Frequency is calculated based on the item and quantity of the item stored in each shipping box (that is, shipped to each shipping destination) or the item previously stored in the shipping box (step 502). Details of this calculation will be described later (see Example 2).

  It should be noted that in all the embodiments of the present invention, picking two articles stored in the same shipping box (that is, shipped to the same shipping destination) at the same timing (that is, at the same time). Expressed as being done. That is, in all the embodiments of the present invention, “same timing” and “simultaneous” do not necessarily mean temporally identical.

  Next, the controller 400 uses the function of the simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 from the calculation result of the co-occurrence frequency for each item pair to determine the simultaneous pick frequency of any of the stockable articles and the stocked articles in the storage shelf. , All the storage shelves with space are evaluated in advance (step 504). Here, the simultaneous picking frequency of a certain storage shelf is such that when the stored goods are stored in the storage shelf, the stored goods and the stocked goods of the storage shelf of different items are shipped to the same shipping destination. Frequency. The simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 calculates the simultaneous pick frequency when it is assumed that the stored goods are stored in the respective storage shelves. Details of this evaluation will be described later (see Example 3).

  Next, the controller 400 selects a shelf into which the article is to be stored, based on the frequency of simultaneous picking of any of the stockable articles evaluated in advance in step 504 and any of the inventory articles in the storage shelf (step 505).

  Next, the controller 400 instructs the system to store the product on the selected shelf through the work instruction device having the function of the storage instruction unit 409 (step 506). Specifically, the controller 400 gives priority to a storage shelf that stores a stored article (for example, at least one article that is a target of a storage operation to be performed in the future) and that has a high simultaneous pick frequency. May be output via the input / output device 403 or via the terminal device (not shown) of the warehousing worker connected from the network interface 404 to the network 413.

  Further, in step 506, the controller 400 may transmit an instruction to the transport vehicle 414 to transport the selected storage shelf to the storage work location. According to this instruction, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, the carrier 106 or the like conveys the storage shelf 104 or the like, and the storage operator 102 or the like can start the storage operation using the storage shelf 104 or the like.

  Steps 504 to 506 are repeated until there are no scanned articles that can be stored (loop starting from step 503). It is also possible to newly add a scanned item that can be stored during the storage operation.

  Next, the order data 412 of the first embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the order data 412 received by the controller 400 according to the first embodiment of the present invention and stored in the memory 402.

  The order data 412 includes an ID 601, an item 602, a quantity 603, a delivery destination 604, a shipping work date 605, and an article category 606. Identification information of each line (order line) of the order data 412 is registered in the ID 601. Identification information of an item to be delivered is registered in the item 602. The item identification information is information for identifying the type (item) of the item. In the number 603, the number (quantity) of the delivered items is registered. In the delivery destination 604, the delivery destination of the article (for example, a shipping destination when the handled article is an article to be shipped to a store) is registered. In the delivery work date 605, the implementation date of the delivery work of the delivered item is registered.

  The item category 606 is a classification of the items of the delivered item, and the category to which each item belongs is determined in advance. Although the method of determining the category to which an article belongs is arbitrary, it is desirable to determine that the articles having similar tendency of the shipped quantity belong to the same category. For example, articles having the same attribute such as food and clothing, or articles that are mutually replaceable may be determined to belong to the same category.

  Note that FIG. 6 is merely a specific example, and the order data 412 may not include all of the ID 601 to the article category 606. For example, order data 412 may not include item category 606.

  Here, one order is associated with one delivery destination, identification information of at least one item to be delivered to the delivery destination, and the number of the items, but in each row of the order data 412, one order is associated with one item. Since one line is set for one article, one order may be registered in multiple lines. For example, one order for the delivery destination “C2” is registered in the two rows with the ID 601 shown in FIG. 6 of “2” and “3”.

  According to the invention described in Patent Document 2, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the work of loading into and out of the goods and the efficiency of the work of storing goods in the storage rack, but it is necessary to store goods that reflect some policy. I can't do it. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, it is possible to reflect the order data, that is, the information relating to the correspondence between the delivery destination and the article at the time of receipt, so that the work efficiency up to shipping (delivery, inspection, etc.) can be improved. ..

  According to the invention described in Patent Document 3, it is not considered to increase the frequency of picking at the same timing the stocked goods whose shipping frequency is not so high. On the other hand, in this embodiment, since articles that are frequently picked at the same timing are likely to be stored in the same storage shelf regardless of the shipping frequency, the articles stored in one storage shelf in the subsequent picking work. The frequency of picking at the same time increases. This makes it possible to improve work efficiency up to shipping.

  Note that, in the present embodiment, in addition to a physical distribution warehouse that stores and sorts the articles shipped to each store, for example, a warehouse that stores the articles that are brought into the factory and delivers them to the factory, or is shipped from the factory. The present invention can be applied to any kind of warehouse as long as it is a warehouse that stores goods, sorts them, and ships them. The same applies to Examples 2 to 4 described later.

  In the present embodiment, as a specific example of the co-occurrence frequency for each item pair, a method of calculating the co-occurrence frequency calculated from the order data when all the order data of the day is known will be described. Unless otherwise specified in the following description, each part of the system of the second embodiment has the same function as each part of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. Is omitted.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of calculation executed by the co-occurrence frequency calculation unit 407 of the controller 400 according to the second embodiment of this invention.

  This process is executed in step 502 of FIG. This example shows the co-occurrence frequency when the order data 412 shown in FIG. 6 is read in step 501. The shipping boxes 701 to 706 in FIG. 7 correspond to the delivery destinations C1 to C6 in FIG. 6, respectively. In this example, the shipping boxes in which the article A and the article B are bundled are three shipping boxes 702, 705, and 706 out of the six shipping boxes 701 to 706, so P (A, B) = P It can be calculated that (B, A) = 3/6. Similarly, the co-occurrence frequency P (B, C) = P (C, B) = 4/6 of the combination of the article B and the article C, and the co-occurrence frequency P (C, A) = of the combination of the article C and the article A = It can be calculated as P (A, C) = 2/6.

  The co-occurrence frequency for each item pair is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are included. In addition, not all order data used to calculate the co-occurrence frequency is known. For example, if it is necessary to calculate the co-occurrence frequency when at least a part of the order data on the same day (that is, the day when the goods are shipped out) is unknown, use only the known part of the order data. Then, the co-occurrence frequency may be calculated, or the co-occurrence frequency may be calculated using the estimated order data.

  Specifically, for example, when a part of the order data for the day is known and the rest is unknown, the co-occurrence frequency may be calculated from the content of the item in the shipping box composed of the known order data. . When all the order data of the day is unknown, the item content of the shipping box may be configured from the order data older than the shipping work date, and the co-occurrence frequency may be calculated from the item content. In this case, the past order data corresponds to the estimated value of unknown order data of the shipping work date. The controller 400 may estimate the unknown order data by a method other than the above.

  If all order data of the day can be obtained (that is, all order data of the day is known), it is possible to improve the work efficiency of the day by calculating the co-occurrence frequency using the order data. In addition, if it is assumed that the co-occurrence frequencies tend to be similar even if the shipping dates are different, in addition to (or instead of) past data even if at least a part of the order data for the current day is insufficient. By using the order data to calculate the co-occurrence frequency, it is possible to improve work efficiency on the day.

  In this embodiment, as a specific example of the simultaneous pick frequency evaluation executed by the storage shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408, an evaluation method of the simultaneous pick frequency of one article A and one of the stock articles in the storage shelf will be described. This embodiment is an example in which the scanned ready-to-go item has a special condition of only one item A. In other words, when the article A is placed in the temporary storage area 101, regardless of whether other articles are also placed in the temporary storage area 101, the storage shelf for storing the article A is selected. The evaluation of this embodiment can be performed. Unless otherwise specified in the following description, each part of the system of the third embodiment has the same function as each part of the first and second embodiments illustrated in FIGS. Since they have, the description thereof will be omitted.

  The storage shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 inputs the co-occurrence frequency P (.,.) For each item pair, the information for identifying the storage shelf, and the inventory information of the storage shelf as input, and calculates the “article shown in Expression (1). The simultaneous pick frequency of A and one of the stocked items in the storage shelf is evaluated. This evaluation is performed for all storage shelves that can store one or more items.

  The storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 evaluates the expression (1) for all the storage racks that can store one or more stored articles, and then selects the storage rack having a large evaluation value in step 505.

  Here, a specific example of simultaneous pick frequency evaluation will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In this example, in the order data 412, as shown in FIG. 2 and the like, information instructing to sort the articles A to F into the shipping boxes 201 to 206 is registered. As an example, three articles B and one article C are stored in the storage shelf 207, two articles D and two articles E are stored in the storage shelf 208, and the articles A and F are still stored in both storage shelves. Simultaneous pick frequency evaluation in the case of selecting a storage shelf for storing the article A at a time when the article A is not stored will be described.

  In this example, the co-occurrence frequency P (A, B) of the article A and the article B is 1/6. Similarly, P (A, C) is 1/6, and P (A, D), P (A, E) and P (A, F) are all 0. Since the article B and the article C are already stored in the storage shelf 207, the simultaneous pick frequency calculated by the equation (1) for the set of the article A and the storage shelf 207 is 1- (1-1 / 6). ) × (1-1 / 6) × (1-0) × (1-0) × (1-0) = 11/36. On the other hand, the simultaneous pick frequency calculated by the equation (1) for the set of the article A and the storage shelf 208 is 1- (1-0) * (1-0) * (1-0) * (1-0). X (1-0) = 0.

  In this case, the storage shelf 207 with a higher simultaneous pick frequency is preferentially selected as the storage shelf to store the article A (step 505), and the article storage instruction is transmitted to store the article A in the storage shelf 207. (Step 506). As a result, the article (the article A in the above example) whose storage destination is to be selected is already stored with an article having a higher probability of being packed in the same shipping box as the article (that is, shipped to the same shipping destination). The storage shelves (the storage shelves 207 in which the articles B and C are stored in the above example) are easily stored, and the transportation for replacing the storage shelves as shown in FIG. 3 is less likely to occur. , Work efficiency is improved.

  Note that the evaluation method of the “simultaneous pick frequency of the item A and any of the inventory items in the storage shelf” is not limited to the above formula (1), and various modified examples are included. The second term of the equation (1) is a product of probability values, and since the number of items in inventory increases, that is, the probability value accumulated in the equation (1) increases, the accumulated result information may vary depending on the processing system. (Specifically, the value of the second term is treated as 0 as a result of becoming too small to be represented by the number of significant digits of the processing system). Therefore, the expression (2) corresponding to the logarithmic value of the second item of the expression (1) may be used to evaluate the simultaneous pick frequency. In this case, since the magnitude relationship between Expression (1) and Expression (2) is reversed, it is necessary to select a storage rack with a small evaluation value in step 505. This makes it possible to select an appropriate storage destination even when the number of items in stock is large.

In addition, the storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408, for the purpose of changing the weight depending on the number of stored goods A, for example, P (A, X) in Expression (1) or Expression (2) is changed to P (A, X) ^{n (A)} (However, n (A) may be changed to the storage quantity of the article A) and evaluated. Specifically, the stockable product information 410 acquired in step 501 includes the stocked quantity of the product A (for example, the quantity of the stockable product A placed in the temporary storage area 101). When all of the items are to be stored, the storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 can perform weighting with the above information. Under the condition that the item A may be shipped to the same shipping destination as various other items, if the number of goods in the item A is large, the item may be shipped to the same shipping destination. It is considered that when the articles A are stored in the storage shelves in which more items are stored, the frequency of simultaneous picking in the actual work is improved. Therefore, by weighting the stocked quantity of the article A as described above, the more the stocked quantity of the article A increases, the more the articles of the items that may be shipped to the same shipping destination as the article A increase. Since the evaluation value of the stored shelves is high, the work efficiency is improved.

Further, the storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 stores the threshold value of the difference in the storage date for each article pair in the system in advance for the purpose of adjusting the shipping timing, and uses the threshold value to calculate the expression (1). Alternatively, P (A, X) in equation (2) may be corrected. Specifically, for example, in the inventory information of each storage shelf acquired in step 501, information on the actual storage date of the stocked article already stored in each storage shelf (that is, the date stored in each storage shelf). May be included. The storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 sets the threshold value of the difference between the receipt date of the receipt item A and the receipt date of the inventory item X to T _SH (A, X), and the actual receipt date of the receipt item A and the inventory item X of the inventory item X. When the difference from the actual storage date is represented as T (A, X), the co-occurrence frequency P (A, X) of the stocked article A and the stocked article X in the formula (1) or (2) is calculated as, for example, P (A, X) (Arctan (50 (T _SH (A, X) −T (A, X))) / π + 0.5) may be corrected. In this case, the corrected co-occurrence frequency of the stored goods A and the stocked goods X approaches P (A, X) when the difference T (A, X) between the storage days becomes smaller than T _SH (A, X), and T (a, X) is abruptly reduced near the _T SH (a, X), closer to T (a, X) is _T SH (a, X) from the increases as 0.

  This facilitates the storage of articles whose storage dates are close to each other in the same storage shelf. In general, the articles stored in the storage shelves are preferentially delivered (shipped) from the earliest receipt date. By storing items with similar storage dates in the same storage shelf as described above, it is possible to increase the frequency of picking items stored in the same storage shelf at the same time (that is, to put them in the same shipping box) in the actual picking operation. It is possible to improve work efficiency.

  In the above example, an example of the correction based on the difference of the warehousing date is shown, but if the difference is the time of warehousing, for example, the difference of the warehousing time can be used for the correction.

  Alternatively, the storage-shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 uses Expression (1) or Expression (2) using the product filling rate of the storage shelves for the purpose of suppressing distribution of the stored products to many storage shelves. You may correct P (A, X) in. When the product filling rate of the storage shelf S is expressed as R (S) (0 ≦ R (S) ≦ 1), the co-occurrence frequency P of the received article A and the inventory article X in the formula (1) or the formula (2) is P. For example, (A, X) may be corrected as P (A, X) (1-R (S)). In this case, the corrected co-occurrence frequency of the stored goods A and the stocked goods X approaches P (A, X) as the product filling rate R (S) is smaller, and approaches 0 as R (S) is larger.

  Specifically, for example, the inventory information of each storage shelf acquired in step 501 may include information indicating the product filling rate of each storage shelf. Alternatively, the controller 400 holds information indicating the total capacity of each storage shelf and information indicating the size of each article per unit quantity, and the inventory information of each storage shelf acquired in step 501 indicates each storage shelf. The controller 400 may include the information indicating the quantity of the stocked items, and calculate the product filling rate of each storage shelf based on the information. As a result, it becomes easier for the received goods to be stored in the storage shelves with a small product filling rate (that is, there is a large amount of empty space), and it is possible to prevent the received goods from being distributed to many storage shelves. The frequency can be increased and the work efficiency is improved.

  When there are a plurality of storage shelves having the maximum evaluation value of the expression (1) (or the minimum evaluation value of the expression (2)), which storage shelf is selected from the plurality of storage shelves is arbitrary. For example, the storage shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 may randomly select a storage shelf from the plurality of storage shelves, or may use another evaluation value for the plurality of storage shelves to select.

  The storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 may employ the number of types of stocked products in the storage rack as the above “other evaluation value”. Specifically, the storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 calculates the evaluation value such that the storage rack having a larger number of items already stored has a higher evaluation value, and selects the storage rack having the largest evaluation value. Good. As more items are stored in one storage shelf, it is considered that replacement of the storage shelves as shown in FIG. 3 is less likely to occur, and thus work efficiency is improved.

  Alternatively, when the order data 412 includes the article category 606 and the inventory information 411 also includes the information of the article category, the storage shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 determines the expression (1) (evaluation value) for the article category. The calculation may be performed by using a formula equivalent to the maximum storage rack) or the formula (2) (selecting the minimum evaluation value storage rack), and the result may be adopted. Specifically, the storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408, instead of the co-occurrence frequency P (A, X) of the article A and the article X, the article of the article category to which the article A belongs and the article category to which the article X belongs. The simultaneous pick frequency obtained by calculating the frequency of co-occurrence with the article and calculating Equation (1) or Equation (2) using it may be used as the evaluation value.

  Thus, for example, when trying to select a storage shelf for storing the article A, the article A is stored in any of the storage shelves because the article A is a new product that has never been shipped. Even if it is not, the evaluation value of the simultaneous pick frequency of the article A and the article of a different category can be calculated.

  In the present embodiment, as a specific example of the simultaneous pick frequency evaluation executed by the storage shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408, a method for evaluating the simultaneous pick frequency of any of a plurality of stockable articles and any of the stock articles in the storage shelf will be described. explain. The third embodiment is under a special condition that there is only one scanned article A that can be stored (in other words, when the article A is placed in the temporary storage area 101, other articles are also stored in the temporary storage area). The calculation is performed to select the storage shelf for storing the article A regardless of whether it is placed in 101) or not. This embodiment is a generalized example. The plurality of items that can be stored after scanning are assumed to be, for example, items within a predetermined work area, or one group obtained by dividing the items to be stored into groups in advance. Unless otherwise specified in the following description, each part of the system according to the fourth embodiment has the same function as each part denoted by the same reference numeral in the first to third embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 7. Since they have, the description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 8: is a figure explaining an example of the warehousing operation in Example 4 of this invention.

  The difference from FIG. 1 is that the goods to be stored are moved to a position before a predetermined work area (for example, the temporary storage area 101) by the belt conveyor 801, and the worker 802 moves the goods to be stored from the belt conveyor to the temporary storage area 101. In addition, a scanner 803 is provided in the middle of the belt conveyor 801 for notifying the system of the stored goods.

  The combination of the belt conveyor 801, the worker 802, and the scanner 803 is an example of a method of moving a stored product to a predetermined work area and notifying the system, and is used for material handling other than the belt conveyor such as an automatic storage machine. Equipment and methods for detecting stored items may be used. Further, the moving order of the stored articles by the belt conveyor 801 is arbitrary. For example, the articles to be stored may be divided into groups in advance, and the articles to be stored may be moved by the belt conveyor 801 in group units. Further, the worker 802 that moves the stored article that has moved to the position before the predetermined temporary storage area 101 to the temporary storage area 101 may be a robot instead of a person.

  Further, the goods stored in the temporary storage area 101 may be the goods stored in the automatic warehouse. In that case, when the automated warehouse moves the stored goods to the temporary storage area 101, priority is given to an article having a high simultaneous picking frequency with any of the stored goods that have been moved to the temporary storage area 101. The order of moving to the temporary storage area 101 may be determined.

  In the case of the present embodiment, the storage shelf simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408 inputs the co-occurrence frequency P (.,.) For each item pair, the information for identifying the storage shelf, and the inventory information of the storage shelf as an input, and the expression ( The “simultaneous picking frequency of any of the articles included in the set G including the stockable articles and any of the inventory articles in the storage shelf” shown in 3) is evaluated. This evaluation is performed for all storage shelves that can store one or more stored goods.

  After evaluating the expression (1) for all storage shelves capable of storing one or more stored articles, a storage rack having a large evaluation value is selected in step 505.

  It should be noted that the evaluation method of “simultaneous pick frequency of any of a plurality of warehousing items and any of inventory items in the storage shelf” is not limited to the above formula (3), and various modified examples are included. .. The second term of the formula (3) is a product of probability values, and like the formula (1) described above, the number of articles, that is, the probability value to be accumulated increases, so that the information of the accumulated result is dropped depending on the processing system. There is a risk. Therefore, the expression (4) corresponding to the logarithmic value of the second item of the expression (3) may be used for the evaluation of the simultaneous pick frequency. In this case, since the magnitude relationship between the formula (3) and the formula (4) is reversed, it is necessary to select the storage rack with a small evaluation value in step 505.

Further, as in the case of the third embodiment, the storage rack simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit 408, for example, uses P (A, X in Expression (3) or Expression (4)) for the purpose of changing the weight depending on the number of articles stored. ) May be changed to P (A, X) ^{n (A)} (however, n (A) is the quantity of goods A stored) for evaluation.

  For example, when Embodiments 1 to 3 are applied in a situation where a plurality of items of articles are placed in the temporary storage area 101 as shown in FIG. 8, the controller 400 sets the items of the articles placed in the temporary storage area 101. The processing described in Examples 1 to 3 is executed for each item to calculate the evaluation value of each storage rack corresponding to each article. However, in that case, different storage shelves may be selected as storage destinations for each item, and therefore the worker needs to perform work while confirming the storage destination corresponding to the item. On the other hand, according to the fourth embodiment, the evaluation value of the storage shelf that the frequency of simultaneous picking when storing the articles of all the items placed in the temporary storage area 101 becomes high becomes high. Therefore, by selecting a storage shelf having a high evaluation value as the storage destination, the worker can store the article placed in the temporary storage area 101 in the selected storage shelf without checking the items. Work efficiency is improved.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail for better understanding of the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those including all the configurations of the description. Further, a part of the configuration of one embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Further, with respect to a part of the configuration of each embodiment, other configurations can be added / deleted / replaced.

  Further, the above-mentioned respective configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be realized by hardware by designing a part or all of them with, for example, an integrated circuit. Further, each of the above-described configurations, functions and the like may be realized by software by a processor interpreting and executing a program for realizing each function. Information such as a program, a table, and a file that realizes each function is stored in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, a hard disk drive, a storage device such as SSD (Solid State Drive), or a computer-readable non-readable memory such as an IC card, an SD card, or a DVD. It can be stored on a temporary data storage medium.

  Further, the control lines and the information lines are shown as those which are considered necessary for explanation, and not all the control lines and the information lines in the product are necessarily shown. In practice, it may be considered that almost all configurations are connected to each other.

Claims (15)

A storage unit that holds order information that associates the item, quantity, and shipping destination of the item, and inventory information that indicates the item of the item stored in each of the plurality of storage shelves,
A co-occurrence frequency calculation unit that calculates a co-occurrence frequency that is the frequency with which articles of different items are shipped to the same shipping destination based on the order information.
Based on the co-occurrence frequency and the inventory information, if it is assumed that at least one stored article, which is an article to be stored in any of the storage shelves, is stored in each of the storage shelves, and The simultaneous pick frequency, which is the frequency at which the goods of different items from the received goods already stored in the respective storage shelves are shipped to the same shipping destination, is calculated, and the storage shelves having the high simultaneous pick frequency are prioritized. And a simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit that is selected as a storage shelf of the storage destination of the received goods,
A warehouse management system, comprising: a controller including a storage instruction unit that outputs an instruction to store the stored article on the storage shelf of the selected storage destination. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit calculates the sum of powers of values obtained by subtracting from 1 the co-occurrence frequency of each of the articles and the stored articles that are different from the stored articles already stored in each of the storage shelves. A warehouse management system, wherein a subtracted value is calculated as an evaluation value of the simultaneous pick frequency, and a storage shelf having a large evaluation value is preferentially selected as a storage shelf of the storage destination. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit calculates a sum of logarithms of values obtained by subtracting from 1 the co-occurrence frequency of each of the articles of the article different from the received article already stored in each of the storage shelves and the received article. A warehouse management system, which is calculated as an evaluation value of the simultaneous pick frequency, and preferentially selects a storage shelf having the smaller evaluation value as the storage shelf of the storage destination. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The storage unit further holds information indicating the number of stored goods,
The warehouse management system, wherein the simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit selects the storage shelf of the storage destination based on the co-occurrence frequency weighted according to the number of stored goods. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The warehouse management system, wherein the order information is information associating an item, a quantity, and a shipping destination of an item to be shipped on the day when the received item is shipped. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The said order information contains the information which matches the item, quantity, and shipping destination of the goods shipped on the day before the said goods received are shipped, The warehouse management system characterized by the above-mentioned. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The warehouse management system, wherein the stored goods are goods placed in a predetermined work area. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The at least one stored article includes a plurality of items of articles,
The simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit is a frequency at which the stored goods of the plurality of items and the goods of different items from the stored goods already stored in each of the storage shelves are shipped to the same shipping destination. Warehouse management system characterized by calculating frequency. The warehouse management system according to claim 8, wherein
The simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit calculates the sum of powers of values obtained by subtracting from 1 the co-occurrence frequency of each of the articles and the stored articles that are different from the stored articles already stored in each of the storage shelves. The subtracted value is calculated for each item of the received goods, the total power thereof is calculated as the evaluation value of the simultaneous pick frequency, and the storage rack with the large evaluation value is preferentially selected as the storage rack of the storage destination. A warehouse management system characterized by that. The warehouse management system according to claim 8, wherein
The simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit calculates a sum of logarithms of values obtained by subtracting from 1 the co-occurrence frequency of each of the articles of the article different from the received article already stored in each of the storage shelves and the received article. A warehouse characterized in that it is calculated for each item of received goods, the sum of them is calculated as an evaluation value of the simultaneous pick frequency, and a storage shelf having a smaller evaluation value is preferentially selected as the storage shelf of the storage destination. Management system. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
Further comprising a plurality of transport vehicles that communicate with the controller and transport the storage shelves in accordance with instructions received from the controller,
The warehousing instruction unit instructs the transport vehicle, which transports the storage rack selected by the simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit, to transport the selected storage rack to a predetermined place where the work of storing the stored goods is performed. Warehouse management system characterized by sending. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The order information and the inventory information further include information indicating a category to which the item of each article belongs,
The co-occurrence frequency calculation unit calculates, as the co-occurrence frequency, a frequency with which articles of items belonging to different categories are shipped to the same shipping destination,
As the simultaneous pick frequency, the simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit ships the received goods and the goods belonging to different categories from the goods already stored in the storage shelves to the same shipping destination. Warehouse management system characterized by calculating frequency. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The inventory information further includes information indicating a time point at which an item already stored in each of the storage shelves is stored in each of the storage shelves,
The simultaneous pick frequency evaluation unit decreases as the difference between the time when the stored articles are stored in the storage shelves and the time when the articles already stored in the storage shelves are stored in the storage shelves is smaller. A warehouse management system, characterized in that the simultaneous pick frequency is calculated based on the co-occurrence frequency corrected as described above. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein
The inventory information further includes information indicating a filling rate of the articles already stored in each of the storage shelves,
The said simultaneous pick frequency evaluation part calculates the said simultaneous pick frequency based on the said co-occurrence frequency corrected so that it may become small so that the said filling rate becomes large, The warehouse management system characterized by the above-mentioned. A warehouse management method executed by a warehouse management system comprising a processor and a storage unit connected to the processor,
The storage unit holds order information that associates the item, quantity, and shipping destination of the item, and inventory information that indicates the item of the item stored in each of the plurality of storage shelves,
The warehouse management method is
The processor calculates a co-occurrence frequency, which is the frequency with which articles of different items are shipped to the same shipping destination based on the order information.
In the case where the processor assumes that at least one received article, which is an article to be stored in any of the storage shelves, is stored in each of the storage shelves based on the co-occurrence frequency and the inventory information, A procedure for calculating a simultaneous pick frequency, which is the frequency at which the goods received and the goods different from the goods already stored in each of the storage shelves are shipped to the same shipping destination,
A step in which the processor preferentially selects the storage shelf with the high simultaneous pick frequency as the storage shelf of the storage destination of the stored article;
And a procedure for the processor to output an instruction to store the stored article in the storage shelf of the selected storage destination.

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