JP7223951B2 - Operation management system for goods carrying equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an operation management system for transportation tools such as cage carts that are frequently used for transportation of goods from warehouses to customers.

Basket trucks are widely used to transport goods from warehouses to customers. Basket trucks, for example, are often used in offices and warehouses, and are made of steel wire lattice-shaped frames to store goods, and wheels are attached to the boxes.

From the warehouse, a large number of carts carrying various items are carried to each customer. When the basket car has finished its role, it is folded and returned to the warehouse for reuse.

However, there are cases where some basket cars are left unattended in customer warehouses for a long time. In addition, there are many cases of theft. Therefore, it is important to manage the place where the cage car is brought in and the return state. Not only basket carts but also various transportation tools that are frequently used for transportation have similar problems.

For example, it is conceivable to use the technology introduced in Patent Document 1 and the like to attach GPS transmitters to all transportation tools for confirming destinations. Tracking when theft occurs is also possible.

JP 2018-4100937 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-4100940 JP 2018-4100943 A JP 2018-4100945 A

The known prior art has the following problems to be solved.
Since the GPS transmitting device consumes a large amount of power, frequent battery replacement is required. Moreover, attaching a GPS transmitting device or the like to all of the transportation tools used for loading and unloading, assembling, and folding cargo would be uneconomical in terms of cost and management. The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above points.

The following configurations are means for solving the above problems.

<Configuration 1>
provided in a management server that operates and manages the transportation equipment used for transporting goods based on the position information transmitted by the transportation equipment ;
The identification code set for the management of the transportation equipment subject to operation management to distinguish the transportation equipment from other transportation equipment, the transportation route, and the period until the transportation is completed and returned, or a storage device for storing management data , including an appropriate storage period at a temporary storage location;
Acquire the above identification code and its position information transmitted at a predetermined timing from the position detection device attached to the above carrying tool, store it in a storage device, refer to the above management data, and confirm that the carrying tool is above Determination means for determining whether or not it is returned from the transportation destination within the range of the appropriate value of
a warning output means for outputting an identification code of the corresponding carrying tool and the acquired position information of the carrying tool as an alarm message when it is determined that the carrying tool has not been returned even after exceeding the appropriate value;
The position detection device is preset to operate the transmission/reception function for transmitting the position information to the management server for a certain period of time at a predetermined timing. An operation management system for a carrier, characterized in that an operation mode is set so as to

<Configuration 2>
A group of a plurality of transportation tools that are transported on a common transportation route is set, one of the transportation tools belonging to the group is set as a representative transportation tool, and only the representative transportation tool is equipped with a position detection device. ,
The determination means of the management server acquires the position information transmitted from the representative transportation equipment and determines whether or not all the transportation equipment of the group to which the transportation equipment belongs has been returned from the transportation destination. An operation management system for a carrier according to the configuration 1 characterized by the above.

<Configuration 3>
A group of a plurality of transportation tools that are transported on a common transportation route is set, one of the transportation tools belonging to the group is set as a representative transportation tool, and only the representative transportation tool is equipped with a position detection device. ,
The determination means of the management server is for each transport route, including the time history of the position information sent from the representative transport tool from the time it was shipped to the time it was returned , and the storage place scheduled for that transport route. 2. The operation management system for the transportation equipment according to the configuration 1, wherein the operation management evaluation data for the transportation equipment is generated.

<Configuration 4>
When the determination means of the management server determines that the transportation equipment has not been returned even after exceeding the appropriate value, the warning output means outputs an alarm message corresponding to the terminal device of the administrator of the transportation equipment. The operation management system for the carrier according to configuration 1, characterized by:

<Effect of Configuration 1>
By setting the position detection device attached to the carrying tool to operate at a predetermined timing for a certain period of time, it is possible to monitor the position information for a long time while suppressing the consumption of the battery.
<Effect of Configuration 2>
Since the position detecting device is attached to the representative carrying tool for each group instead of being attached to all the carrying tools and the position information is monitored, the monitoring can be performed more economically than if the position detecting devices are attached to all the vehicles.
<Effect of Configuration 3>
By using operation management evaluation data that associates the temporal history of the position information transmitted from the representative transportation tool with the transportation route, it is possible to plan optimum management according to the transportation route.
<Effect of Configuration 4>
It is possible to automatically output a warning message to the terminal device of the manager of the carrying equipment to prompt a prompt response.
<Effect of Configuration 5>
For example, after outputting a warning or when there is a suspicion of theft, the mode can be switched so that position information is transmitted at short intervals.

1 is a perspective view showing an example of a carrying tool used for carrying goods; FIG. It is a time chart from the start of transportation of the carrier to the return. It is a functional block diagram of the whole system for management.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail for each example.

An example of a carrier 14 that may be used to carry an item 12 is shown in FIG. Also, FIG. 2 illustrates a time chart from the start of transportation of the transportation tool 14 to its return. The functions of the entire management system will be described with reference to FIG.

There are various types of transportation tools such as box-shaped, bag-shaped, and wheeled items. The carrying tool 14 shown in FIG. 1 is called a basket car, which is frequently used in convenience stores, supermarkets, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1, the carrier 14 loaded with the goods 12 is unloaded at the customer 16, folded and returned to the carrier by a truck or the like (not shown).

A position detection device 18 is attached to the carrier 14 . As shown in FIG. 3, the position detection device 18 calls the management server 22 via the base station 20 using a position detection device 54 such as GPS, Wifi, and a mobile phone network or LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) network. and an operation control device 58 for controlling the operation timing.

Under the control of the operation control device 58, the position detection device 18 operates, for example, once or twice a day for a certain period of time, and then stops or pauses the transmission/reception operation. This is so that the management server 22 can acquire the location information for a long period of time while suppressing battery consumption.

As shown in FIG. 3, the transporting tool 14 to be operated and managed includes management data 34, an identification code 36 for distinguishing the transporting tool 14 from other transporting tools 14, a transport route 38, and a transporting tool 38. A proper value 40 is set for the period from the end to the return.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the location information 42 received and acquired by the management server 22 is recorded in chronological order from the time when the transportation tool 14 is shipped until it is returned. Also included in the management data 34 is an operation mode 44 that determines the operation timing of the position detection device 18 attached to each carrier 14 . The management data 34 also includes a temporary storage location 48 at the customer 16, a shipping date 50, a scheduled return date 52, and the like.

The management data 34 generated in this manner is stored in the storage device 24 of the management server 22 as shown in FIG. From the position detecting device 18 attached to the carrying tool 14, the identification code 36 of the carrying tool 14 and its position information 42 are transmitted at a predetermined timing. The management server 22 receives this and includes it in the management data 34 .

The arithmetic processing unit 26 of the management server 22 incorporates determination means 28 , warning output means 30 and position detection control means 32 . The judging means 28 has a function of referring to the management data 34 and judging whether or not the carrying tool 14 has been returned from the destination within the range of the proper value.

The warning output means 30 has a function of outputting the identification code 36 of the corresponding transporting tool 14 and the acquired position information 42 of the transporting tool 14 when it is determined that the transporting tool 14 has not been returned even after exceeding the appropriate value. have.

Once the carrier 14 has been unloaded and has served its purpose, it is typically stored in a temporary storage location. When frequently delivering items 12 to a certain customer, the carrier 14 may accumulate in this storage area. In that case, if the return work is done when the carrying tools 14 have accumulated to some extent, the carrying tools 14 are returned without exceeding the proper value 40 of the return period.

In such a case, a group of multiple transport tools 14 transported on a common transport route 38 is set. Then, one of the carrying tools 14 belonging to that group is set as the representative carrying tool 14 . The number of representative carriers 14 is arbitrary. The position detection device 18 is attached only to the representative carrier 14, and the history of the position information 42 is confirmed.

If the history of the location information 42 originating from the representative vehicle 14 is almost normal and does not exceed the appropriate return period value 40, all the vehicles 14 in the group to which the vehicle 14 belongs can be determined to have been returned normally from the transportation destination. It is more economical than installing the position detection device 18 on all vehicles. As the number of representative carrying tools 14 increases, the accuracy of determination increases.

In addition, by associating the temporal history of the position information 42 transmitted from the representative transport tool 14 with the transport route 38, operation management evaluation data 46 of the transport tool 14 for each transport route 38 is generated. be able to. It is possible to optimize evaluation values such as the maximum value, minimum value, and appropriate value of the time until return.

Depending on the customer 16 and the transportation route 38, the temporary storage form of the transportation tool 14 differs. It is possible to acquire data such as how many items must be collected before being returned, and to plan optimal management according to the transportation route 38. - 特許庁Work procedures can also be improved. That is, this management data 34 can be effectively utilized.

Next, a simpler management of cage cars will be explained. In this embodiment, a mobile phone network or an LPWA network is used for position information management of cage cars. This is because rough position information can be obtained by transmitting minute radio waves. An electric wave transmitter attached to a cage car calls a cage management server through a line, and the data received by the management server is analyzed by a known method.

The data received by the management server includes information such as the identification code of the relay base station and the transmission time of the transmitter, in addition to the terminal identification number of the transmitter. Therefore, the position estimated by using the radio wave intensity of the relay base station is used as the position information of the basket car.

The cart is moved from the warehouse to deliver the goods to the customer, and then returned to the warehouse. Moreover, it is not something that is frequently moved at the customer's site. Therefore, for example, it is sufficient to detect position information about 2-3 times a day. This reduces the communication power consumption of the transmitter. This control is similar to the above embodiment.

The position information 42 of the cage car to be managed is recorded in the management data 34, and its history is managed. If the location information 42 of a location different from the planned location is obtained, it can be determined that there has been an unexpected movement such as theft or disposal. As for the planned location, the temporary storage location 48 may be recorded according to the transportation route 38 .

By examining the update history of the position information 42 received from the basket car since leaving the garage, it is possible to determine how it was handled and how it moved. In addition, it is possible to detect a caged truck left at a customer's site, collect it early, prevent it from being discarded or stolen, and operate the caged truck economically.

Techniques for locating a terminal through a mobile phone line or LPWA network are well known. A unique operating method is required for the management of cage cars. Specifically, for example, the system is operated as follows.

First, a manager from when the cage truck is shipped until it is returned is determined and registered in advance for each cage truck. Managers may be replaced according to time and place. A terminal device for each manager is used to notify the manager.

By continuously monitoring the position information 42 of all cage cars acquired by the management server 22 and the time of the call, it is possible to calculate the time that each cage car stays at any place. It is preferable to generate a list in which the position information 42 and the residence time are associated with each other.

From the result of this calculation processing, it is detected that the basket car that has already finished its role and should be returned stays in one place for a longer time than necessary. The upper limit of the residence time should be determined and compared with this. The upper limit can be freely set for each place or each time.

In the above embodiment, the appropriate value of the period from shipment to return was used as an object of comparison, but a method of detecting that a product remains in one place for a longer time than necessary is also effective.

If it is detected that a certain basket car has stayed in one place for a time equal to or longer than the upper limit, for example, an alarm message may be sent to the terminal device of the manager of that basket car. Also, when it is detected that the cage car to be returned is placed in a place other than the place where it can be kept, an alarm message is sent to the manager's terminal device.

Whether or not to send an alarm message may be determined by an administrator determined on the server side, or may be determined automatically by a computer program that has been trained by enumerating various cases.

Here, if it is determined that there is a suspicion that the basket car has been stolen, the operation mode 44 described in the above embodiment is switched. For example, in the abnormality monitoring mode, the call frequency from the oscillator of the car is doubled by remote control.

For example, the position detection device 18 is set so as to stop or pause the transmission/reception operation after a certain period of time after calling the management server 22 . The position detection control means 32 of the management server 22 preferably executes operation mode switching control before stopping the transmission/reception operation immediately after receiving the call.

Furthermore, if the car is equipped with a GPS function and a Wifi function, the GPS function and the Wifi function should be turned off at all times, and in the abnormality monitoring mode, the GPS function and the Wifi function should be turned on by remote control. It is possible to accurately grasp the position accuracy in the event of an abnormality.

For example, when the cart is placed in a basement, the back of a warehouse, a chilled room, or the like, position detection data by GPS cannot be received. In some cases, even calls cannot be received. It can also be used as information.

By collecting the operation history of a large number of caged trucks over a long period of time and enumerating various cases and letting the computer learn, it is possible to optimize the optimal management method for caged trucks and the tracking and countermeasures in the event of suspected theft. it becomes possible to

12 Goods 14 Transportation equipment 16 Customer 18 Position detection device 20 Base station 22 Management server 24 Storage device 26 Arithmetic processing device 28 Judgment means 30 Warning output means 32 Position detection control means 34 Management data 36 Identification code 38 Transportation route 40 Return period Appropriate value 42 Location information 44 Operation mode 46 Operation management evaluation data 48 Temporary storage location 50 Shipment date 52 Scheduled return date 54 Position detection device 56 Transmitter 58 Operation control device

Claims (4)

provided in a management server that operates and manages the transportation equipment used for transporting goods based on the position information transmitted by the transportation equipment;
The identification code set for the management of the transportation equipment subject to operation management to distinguish the transportation equipment from other transportation equipment, the transportation route, and the period until the transportation is completed and returned, or a storage device for storing management data, including an appropriate storage period at a temporary storage location;
The identification code and its position information transmitted at a predetermined timing from the position detection device attached to the carrying tool are acquired and stored in a storage device. Determination means for determining whether or not it is returned from the transportation destination within the range of the appropriate value of
A warning output means for outputting an identification code of the corresponding carrying tool and the acquired position information of the carrying tool as an alarm message when it is determined that the carrying tool has not been returned even after exceeding the appropriate value,
The position detection device is set in advance so that the transmission/reception function for transmitting the position information to the management server is operated at a predetermined timing for a certain period of time. An operation management system for a carrier, characterized in that an operation mode is set so as to A group of a plurality of transportation tools that are transported on a common transportation route is set, one of the transportation tools belonging to the group is set as a representative transportation tool, and only the representative transportation tool is equipped with a position detection device. ,
The determination means of the management server acquires the position information transmitted from the representative transportation tool and determines whether or not all the transportation tools of the group to which the transportation tool belongs have been returned from the destination. The operation management system for a carrying tool according to claim 1. A group of a plurality of transportation tools that are transported on a common transportation route is set, one of the transportation tools belonging to the group is set as a representative transportation tool, and only the representative transportation tool is equipped with a position detection device. ,
The determination means of the management server is a transportation route including the time history of the position information sent from the representative transportation tool from the time it was shipped until the time it was returned , and the storage place scheduled for the transportation route. 2. The operation management system for transportation equipment according to claim 1, wherein data for operation management evaluation of each transportation equipment is generated. When the determination means of the management server determines that the transportation equipment has not been returned even after exceeding the appropriate value, the warning output means outputs an alarm message corresponding to the terminal device of the administrator of the transportation equipment. The operation management system for a carrying tool according to claim 1, characterized in that:

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