JP7517948B2 - Logistics warehouse control system and logistics warehouse control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a logistics warehouse control system and a control method for controlling a logistics system.

In a logistics system, in order to carry out work efficiently, it is important to have order work instructions that determine the order sequence in which to process orders, which represent customer orders, and instruct the picking system to pick the orders.

Patent Documents 1 to 3 are known as picking technologies. Patent Document 1 discloses technology for a schedule creation system that can switch the picking method for items included in an order for each shipping destination. Patent Document 2 discloses technology for a picking and sorting system that can create a picking schedule based on the capacity of a sorting bucket, taking into account the size of the items included in an order.

Patent document 3 discloses technology for a picking system that allows pickers to move and pick efficiently, taking into account the layout of storage shelves.

JP 2007-39181 A International Publication No. WO 2012/165070 JP 2004-231345 A

The order in which orders should be processed changes depending on order trends and the characteristics and operating status of the subsystems that make up the logistics system. However, with existing technology, methods for issuing order work instructions were designed and developed solely for the purpose of improving the productivity of a single subsystem, such as a picking system, and it was not possible to issue order work instructions that took into account the characteristics and operating status of the entire logistics system.

In the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is possible to change the picking method for each shipping destination, but it is not possible to rearrange the order in which the orders are started, and it is not possible to take into account characteristics other than those of the picking system.

In the above-mentioned patent document 2, work that is impossible due to physical constraints such as bucket size will not be instructed, but the order processing order sequence cannot be changed to improve productivity.

In the above-mentioned Patent Document 3, the work sequence can be rearranged to shorten the moving distance of the picker, but since the work sequence cannot be rearranged from other perspectives, it is not possible to give work instructions for an order that takes into account the characteristics of subsystems other than the picking system.

The present invention provides a control method that improves the performance of the entire logistics system by determining appropriate order priorities by taking into account the operating status of not only the picking system but also other subsystems when issuing work instructions for orders.

The present invention is a logistics warehouse control system having a processor and memory, and controlling multiple subsystems divided according to logistics processes, comprising an order management unit that receives orders for delivery of items, manages the multiple orders, and controls the subsystems; a feature extraction unit that acquires the operating status of at least one of the subsystems and extracts features from the operating status; and a priority determination unit that acquires the features and determines the priority of the orders in the order management unit based on the features, wherein the order management unit instructs that, of a first order and a second order included in the multiple orders, an item included in the second order, which has a higher priority than the first order, be passed from at least one of the multiple subsystems to a subsystem in a downstream process that is working later, before the item included in the first order. The logistics warehouse control system is characterized in that it has an order management unit that receives orders for delivery of items, manages the multiple orders, and controls the subsystems that receive the orders, and acquires the features from the operating status of at least one of the subsystems.

Therefore, when issuing work instructions for an order, the present invention takes into consideration the operating status of not only the subsystem for which the work instructions are being issued, but also other subsystems, thereby improving the performance of not only the subsystem to which the work instructions are being issued, but the entire logistics system.

Details of at least one implementation of the subject matter disclosed herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the disclosed subject matter will become apparent from the following disclosure, drawings, and claims.

1 is a schematic diagram of a logistics warehouse control system according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 1 is a schematic diagram of a subsystem configuration, operating state, and work instructions in a logistics warehouse control system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing performed in the logistics warehouse control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an order table according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a schematic diagram of the subsystem configuration, operating status, and work instructions in a logistics warehouse control system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a feature display screen of the logistics warehouse control system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a logistics warehouse control system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The logistics warehouse control system of the present invention is ideal for controlling a logistics warehouse made up of multiple subsystems in a way that improves the productivity of the entire logistics warehouse, rather than the productivity of a single subsystem. Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Below, a first embodiment of a logistics warehouse control system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The outline of the configuration of the logistics warehouse control system will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the logistics system 101 has a logistics warehouse control system 105, a subsystem A 102, a subsystem B 103, and a subsystem C 104.

The logistics warehouse control system 105 has an order management unit 107, a priority determination unit 106, and a feature extraction unit 108. Subsystem A 102, subsystem B 103, and subsystem C 104, which constitute the subsystems of the logistics warehouse control system 105, are a collection of areas and work entities for carrying out logistics work corresponding to a certain process in the logistics system 101, and the work entities are, for example, people or material handling equipment.

Subsystem A102, subsystem B103, and subsystem C104 have the ability to pass items to each other. In the schematic configuration shown in FIG. 1, items are passed from subsystem A102 to subsystem B103, from subsystem A102 to subsystem C104, and from subsystem B103 to subsystem C104.

That is, it is divided into subsystem A102, subsystem B103, and subsystem C104 according to the logistics process. Subsystem A102 carries out the most upstream process, subsystem B103 carries out the process downstream of subsystem A102, and subsystem C104 carries out the process downstream of subsystem A102 or subsystem B103.

The feature extraction unit 108 receives as input values indicating the operating status from each of the subsystems A (102) to C (104) and converts (or calculates) the operating status of each subsystem into a feature that can be used by the priority determination unit 106.

The priority determination unit 106 receives features as input from the feature extraction unit 108, and also receives at least two orders as input from the order management unit 107, and determines the priority of each order. When the order management unit 107 receives a new order, it may include the new order in the multiple orders currently being managed (or being worked on) and inquire of the priority determination unit 106 about the priority of each order.

The order received by the order management unit 107 includes at least the delivery destination, the type of item, and the number of items. The number of packages to contain the items may be determined by the order management unit 107 depending on the type, size, and number of items. The order management unit 107 also assigns a unique identifier within the logistics warehouse control system to the received order. When the order management unit 107 determines the number of packages, it can assign a unique identifier to each package.

The priority is passed from the priority determination unit 106 to the order management unit 107, which instructs at least one subsystem to pass the items included in the high-priority order to a later process.

The orders output by the order management unit 107 will be explained using FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an order table 600 managed by the order management unit 107.

An order includes at least information on items and delivery destinations related to the shipment, receipt, and dispatch of various items. For example, orders 601, 602, and 603 are a set of an order ID 611, an item ID 612, a quantity 613, a delivery destination ID 614, and a packaging ID 615.

The order ID 611 is a unique identifier for the order within the logistics system 101, and is a character string or a number, etc. The item ID 612 is a name or a number indicating the type of item. The delivery destination ID 614 is the ID of the customer name, the store name, or the name or number of the delivery base, etc.

Packaging ID 615 is an identifier for the packaging material or the like that contains the item. In the illustrated example, order 601 contains an item with item ID 612 = "A" in packaging ID 615 = "BOX1" alone. Orders 602 and 603 indicate that items with item IDs 612 = "B" and "C" are to be contained together in packaging ID 615 = "BOX2".

The order table 600 is not limited to the above example, and can include, for example, items (or fields) such as the priority obtained from the priority determination unit 106 and the scheduled delivery date.

A specific example of the configuration of the logistics warehouse control system 105 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the subsystem configuration, operating status, and work instructions in the logistics warehouse control system 105.

As shown in FIG. 2, the logistics system 101 includes a logistics warehouse control system 105, an automated warehouse subsystem 202, a rotary rack subsystem 203, a packaging subsystem 204, and a shipping subsystem 205.

The automated warehouse subsystem 202 is a warehouse with the function of automatically storing and removing items. The rotary rack subsystem 203 includes a sorting shelf that has the ability to automatically switch boxes at the sorting entrance and remove items. The packaging subsystem 204 is a device that packages items so that they can be shipped. The shipping subsystem 205 is a device that temporarily holds and ships shippable items.

The logistics warehouse control system 105 is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 and includes an order management unit 107, a feature extraction unit 108, and a priority determination unit 106. Items in the logistics system 101 are passed in both directions from the automated warehouse subsystem 202 to the rotary rack subsystem 203, and from the rotary rack subsystem 203 to the automated warehouse subsystem 202. Items are also passed from the rotary rack subsystem 203 to the packaging subsystem 204, and from the packaging subsystem 204 to the shipping subsystem 205.

The processing flow of the logistics warehouse control system 105 will be explained using FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of processing performed in the logistics warehouse control system.

First, the feature extraction unit 108 receives the operating status as an input from the rotary rack subsystem 203 (S401). Next, the feature extraction unit 108 extracts features (S402). This feature extraction may also include conversion to a data format that can be accepted by the priority determination unit 106, and simple aggregation processing.

The feature extraction unit 108 receives information such as the type (ID) and number of items waiting at the sorting entrance as the operating status obtained from the rotary rack subsystem 203. The feature extraction unit 108 tallies the type and number of items waiting at each of the multiple entrances of the rotary rack subsystem 203, and outputs the type and number of items required by the entire rotary rack subsystem 203 as features to the priority determination unit 106.

In addition, if the priority determination unit 106 can use the operating status acquired from the rotary rack subsystem 203, the feature extraction unit 108 can output the information regarding the operating status acquired from the rotary rack subsystem 203 without processing it.

Next, the priority determination unit 106 receives the orders from the order management unit 107 and receives the features from the feature extraction unit 108 as inputs (S403). The priority determination unit 106 determines a priority for each order from the order and the features, and outputs the priority to the order management unit 107.

Next, the order management unit 107 sends work instructions to the automated warehouse subsystem 202 based on the priority of the order received from the priority determination unit 106 (S404).

The work instruction from the order management unit 107 instructs the removal of an item from the automated warehouse subsystem 202. The automated warehouse subsystem 202 is an automated warehouse that stores containers that hold multiple specific items, as well as multiple types of specific items.

This container is then handed over to the rotary rack subsystem 203 for the next operation. In this embodiment, the rotary rack subsystem 203 is equipped with multiple rotary racks, each of which has an opening for sorting the items. There may be only one rotary rack.

The items stored in the containers delivered from the automated warehouse subsystem 202 are picked by workers or material handling equipment such as piece-picking robots and sorted into frontages. Once sorting is complete, the sorted items are delivered from the rotary rack subsystem 203 to the packaging subsystem 204.

On the other hand, containers that contain items for which picking has temporarily finished in the rotary rack subsystem 203, i.e., containers for which sorting has been completed and there is no longer any space available for sorting, are returned to the automated warehouse subsystem 202.

The packaging subsystem 204 packages the sorted items so that they are ready for shipment, and passes them on to the shipping subsystem 205, which operates downstream. The shipping subsystem 205 temporarily holds the items packaged in a ready-to-ship state, and when the items are ready to ship, for example when a truck for delivery arrives, they are shipped out of the logistics system 101.

The operating status of the rotary rack subsystem 203 is information about orders being processed on the rotary rack. The logistics warehouse control system 105 issues an instruction to hand over an item based on the operating status of the subsystem, and the feature extraction unit 108 extracts information about the order being processed on the rotary rack (for example, information about an order that includes an item identical to order ID = "OD0001").

Then, when the priority determination unit 106 receives the information (or features) extracted by the feature extraction unit 108, it sets the priority of order ID 611 = "OD0001" (601) higher than other orders.

Based on the priority set by the priority determination unit 106, the order management unit 107 instructs the automated warehouse subsystem 202 to deliver the container containing item A included in the order ID 611 = "OD0001" (601) to the rotary rack subsystem 203. This has the effect of enabling a large number of items placed in a container to be sorted at one time, and can have the effect of improving the productivity of the logistics system 101.

That is, the order management unit 107 of the logistics warehouse control system 105 rearranges the order processing order according to the order priority determined by the priority determination unit 106, determines the items to be transported from the automated warehouse subsystem 202 to the rotary rack subsystem 203, and issues a command to the automated warehouse subsystem 202.

In this way, the logistics warehouse control system 105 takes into consideration the operating status of not only the automated warehouse subsystem 202 to which the work instructions are sent, but also another subsystem, the rotary rack subsystem 203, thereby improving the efficiency and performance of not only the automated warehouse subsystem 202 to which the work instructions are sent, but also the entire logistics system 101.

Figure 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the logistics warehouse control system 105. The logistics warehouse control system 105 has a computing device 700, a communication unit 701 that communicates with each subsystem via a network, and an input/output unit 702 that performs input/output with external devices.

The computing device 700 is composed of a well-known computer, such as a PC, that is composed of a CPU, ROM, RAM, I/O, and buses connecting these, and processes according to programs stored in the ROM and programs loaded into the RAM. The order table 600 shown in FIG. 4 is stored in the RAM.

The computing device 700 also has a calculation processing unit 700A and a memory unit 700B. The calculation processing unit 700A includes a processor and has functions such as performing calculation processing. The calculation processing unit 700A and the memory unit 700B also exchange information with each other. The memory unit 700B may be used as a ROM.

The communication unit 701 communicates with each subsystem through the network. The communication unit 701 transmits information to the calculation processing unit 700A. The input/output unit 702 is connected to at least one of an input device such as a keyboard or mouse, and a display device such as a liquid crystal display that displays various information, and may output the display screen shown in FIG. 6, which will be described later, to the display device.

The functional units of the logistics warehouse control system 105, namely the order management unit 107, the priority determination unit 106, and the feature extraction unit 108, are loaded into the RAM as programs.

The calculation processing unit 700A operates as a functional unit that provides a specified function by executing processing according to the program of each functional unit. For example, the calculation processing unit 700A functions as the order management unit 107 by executing processing according to the order management program. The same applies to other programs. Furthermore, the calculation processing unit 700A also operates as a functional unit that provides each function of the multiple processes executed by each program. Computers and computer systems are devices and systems that include these functional units.

The invention made by the inventor has been specifically described above based on the embodiment of the invention, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment of the invention and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

A second embodiment of the logistics warehouse control system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The configuration of the logistics warehouse control system that operates in the logistics system will be described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the subsystem configuration, operating status, and work instructions in the logistics warehouse control system of the second embodiment.

In the second embodiment, the automated warehouse subsystem 202 and rotary rack subsystem 203 of the first embodiment are replaced with an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) picking subsystem 302, a DPS (Digital Picking System) picking subsystem 304, and a forward-assembly warehouse subsystem 303, and the other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 5, the logistics system 101 includes a logistics warehouse control system 105, an AGV picking subsystem 302, a DPS picking subsystem 304, a sequential warehouse subsystem 303, a packaging subsystem 204, and a shipping subsystem 205.

The logistics warehouse control system 105 also has a feature extraction unit 108, a priority determination unit 106, and an order management unit 107.

The feature extraction unit 108 receives as input the operation status from the sequential warehouse subsystem 303, the shipping subsystem 305, the AGV picking subsystem 302, and the DPS picking subsystem 304. The feature extraction unit 108 extracts features from the operation status in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and outputs the features to the priority determination unit 106.

As in the first embodiment, the priority determination unit 106 sets the priority of the order based on the order received from the order management unit 107 and the features received from the feature extraction unit 108, and outputs the priority to the order management unit 107.

The order management unit 107 sends work instructions to the AGV picking subsystem 302 and the DPS picking subsystem 304 based on the priority of the order received from the priority determination unit 106. The AGV picking subsystem 302 is a picking system in which an AGV transports shelves storing items to a worker or robot performing the picking, and the worker or robot picks and sorts the items from the transported shelves. The AGV picking subsystem 302 has the characteristic of being able to store many types of items.

The DPS picking subsystem 304 is a picking system that has a function of displaying information about the picking on a display device (not shown) installed at the entrance of the picking worker or robot, etc., and picks and sorts items from storage shelves where the items are stored.

The DPS picking subsystem 304 can hold a smaller number of items than the AGV picking subsystem 302, but has the characteristic of being able to perform picking operations faster than the AGV picking subsystem 302, making it suitable for picking items that are frequently released from the warehouse.

The sequential warehouse subsystem 303 is a warehouse that has the function of automatically storing and removing items, and the function of selecting and removing the items once the combination of items specified in the order is complete.

In this embodiment, the items held by the AGV picking subsystem 302 and the DPS picking subsystem 304 are of different types. Therefore, when items held by the AGV picking subsystem 302 and items held by the DPS picking subsystem are placed in a box to be shipped, a situation called load splitting occurs, in which items required for one shipping box are each picked by two or more picking systems.

The number of picking systems may be three or more. Furthermore, two of the multiple picking systems may be AGV picking subsystems 302. Furthermore, the multiple picking systems may be picking subsystems other than the AGV picking subsystem or the DPS picking subsystem.

Once sorting has been completed in the AGV picking subsystem 302 and DPS picking subsystem 304, the items are passed to and stored in the orderly warehouse subsystem 303. When all the stored items that belong to a specific group to which multiple orders belong are collected, for example, when all the items to be placed in one shipping box (or package) are collected, the orderly warehouse subsystem 303 passes the items to the downstream packaging subsystem 204 for subsequent processing.

The packaging subsystem 204 packages the items so that they are ready for shipment, and passes the packaged items to the shipping subsystem 205, which performs the work later. The shipping subsystem 205 temporarily holds the items ready for shipment in a buffer corresponding to the shipping destination, and ships the items when they are ready for shipment, for example, when a shipping truck arrives.

The operation status that the feature extraction unit 108 receives as input is information on orders being worked on in each subsystem among a specific group of orders to which multiple orders belong. For example, the operation status from the sequential warehouse subsystem 303 includes at least information such as the item ID 612 and the number of items 613 stored in the sequential warehouse subsystem 303 among items corresponding to orders belonging to a specific group, such as a shipping box (or packaging ID 615), (hereinafter referred to as operation status A).

The operational status that the logistics warehouse control system 105 receives from the shipping subsystem 205 is information about orders that have items stored in a buffer corresponding to the shipping destination (or delivery destination ID 614), that is, information that includes at least information about orders that correspond to items stored in the buffer of the shipping subsystem 205 among the orders of a specific group called the shipping destination (hereinafter referred to as operational status B).

In addition, in the AGV picking subsystem 302 and the DPS picking subsystem 304, the operating status (hereinafter referred to as operating status C) includes at least information on orders currently being picked, i.e., orders that belong to a specific group for which shipping work has already started, and that are being worked on by the two picking subsystems.

The logistics warehouse control system 105 accepts information on orders being worked on in a subsystem among a specific group of orders that includes multiple orders as the operation status, and by using operation status A and operation status C, can give priority to instructing the picking of items required for a certain shipping box.

The logistics warehouse control system 105 can improve the productivity of the logistics system 101 by speeding up the transfer of goods from the sequential warehouse subsystem 303 to subsequent (downstream) processes.

In addition, by making the picking system the subsystem that issues instructions, the logistics warehouse control system 105 can control the orders issued to the picking system, which is the starting point of the shipping work of the logistics system 101, thereby improving the work efficiency of subsequent processes, and can achieve the effect of improving the productivity of the logistics system 101.

In addition, by using the operation status B from the shipping subsystem 205 for the orders of a specific group to which multiple orders belong, the logistics warehouse control system 105 can issue work instructions to upstream subsystems so that the items stored in the buffer of the shipping subsystem 205 do not exceed the buffer capacity.

When the number of items handed over to the shipping subsystem 205 exceeds the buffer capacity, it may be necessary to temporarily stop work before the shipping subsystem 205 (upstream).

Therefore, the logistics warehouse control system 105 can achieve the effect of avoiding work stoppages that would reduce the productivity of the logistics system 101 by issuing work instructions to subsystems upstream of the shipping subsystem 205 so as not to exceed the buffer capacity of the shipping subsystem 205.

In addition, by having multiple picking subsystems, such as the AGV picking subsystem 302 and the DPS picking subsystem 304, it is possible to respond to the needs of various logistics systems 101 by using picking subsystems with different work contents and characteristics in parallel.

In addition, when there are multiple picking systems, the logistics warehouse control system 105 determines the priority using the operation status of picking systems other than the picking system that issues the work instructions, which can have the effect of improving the productivity of the subsystem of the process that will be performed later and the logistics system 101, as described in the above method of using operation status C.

The operation status A, operation status B, and operation status C received by the logistics warehouse control system 105 include a lot of information regarding the state of each subsystem. For example, operation status A includes information such as how many containers are stored in the sequential warehouse subsystem 303 and what percentage of the containers scheduled to be stored that day are stored in the sequential warehouse subsystem 303.

For example, operation status B includes information such as the remaining time until each individual shipping box stored in the shipping subsystem 205 is shipped, and what percentage of the shipping boxes to be sent to each individual shipping destination are stored in the shipping subsystem 205.

For example, the operation status C received from the AGV picking subsystem 302 or the DPS picking subsystem 304 includes information on the order currently being picked, as well as information on the degree of overlap of products with individual orders for which picking has not yet begun, whether there are overlaps in shipping destinations, etc.

The priority determination unit 106 receives a large amount of information as input, and the process of determining priorities by considering all of that information can be computationally expensive. For this reason, the feature extraction unit 108 quantizes the range of values indicating the received operating status, and passes the quantized discrete values to the priority determination unit 106.

For example, in the forward-order warehouse subsystem 303, the percentage of containers scheduled to be stored that day that are stored in the forward-order warehouse subsystem 303 is calculated as a percentage value from 0 to 100, but this range can be quantized in increments of 0 to 20 points. This can have the effect of reducing calculation costs. As an example of a means of determining priority, it is possible to experimentally display, for example, what the productivity will be when processing an order containing certain characteristics when the degree value is taken.

Alternatively, a method could be considered in which sampling is performed using a simulator and order priorities are determined based on the results of the sampling. In this case, it is not realistic to obtain sufficient samples for all possible real values between 0 and 100, and the computational costs would be extremely high.

However, by quantizing as described above and obtaining samples for each quantization range, it is possible to reduce the computational costs involved in sampling. In addition, the process of obtaining samples involves, for example, measuring and recording the productivity of the logistics system after processing an order with a high priority when the priority of the order is increased during a certain operating state.

In addition, when quantizing the specified range of values indicating the operating status, the range is determined randomly. This has the effect of reducing development costs for developers who design the logistics warehouse control system 105.

The logistics warehouse control system 105 also has a function for displaying the features on a display device. Figure 6 shows an example of a feature display screen 500 output to a display device. In the figure, 505 to 508 are axes showing the values of feature values A to D.

By visualizing the discretely extracted values, the logistics warehouse control system 105 can have the effect of helping the business operator that owns the logistics system 101 understand how the logistics warehouse control system 105 is operating.

In addition, by allowing the user of the logistics warehouse control system 105 to change the quantization range displayed on the display device, it is possible to obtain the effect of enabling control of the logistics warehouse in accordance with the user's requirements and taking advantage of the user's knowledge.

For example, feature A is a flag indicating whether products included in an order are unbundled, and quantization range 501 indicates the range in which this value is true. For example, feature B is the remaining time until the shipment of products included in an order, and quantization range 502 and quantization range 503 indicate specific ranges of the remaining time, for example ranges in which the remaining time is short.

For example, feature C indicates the amount of time that has elapsed since the start of the out-of-stock operation, and quantization range 501 indicates a range where not much time has elapsed. For example, feature D indicates the degree of overlap between the items included in a certain order and the items currently being picked, and quantization range 504 indicates a range where that degree is medium.

In the illustrated example, the quantization range 501 is set to span feature A and feature C. In this case, the quantization range 501 is obtained by quantizing the value of feature A that is within the quantization range 501 and the value of feature C that is within the quantization range 501. Setting the quantization range in this manner is effective when the combination of feature values is important.

As described above, the logistics warehouse control system 105 takes into consideration the operating status of not only the AGV picking subsystem 302 and DPS picking subsystem 304, which are the targets of the work instructions, but also other subsystems such as the orderly warehouse subsystem 303 and the shipping subsystem 205, thereby improving the efficiency and performance of not only the picking subsystem to which the work instructions are sent, but also the entire logistics system 101.

<Conclusion>
As described above, the logistics warehouse control system 105 of the above embodiment can be configured as follows.

(1) A logistics warehouse control system having a processor (calculation processing unit 700A) and a memory (memory unit 700B) and controlling a plurality of subsystems (102 to 104) divided according to the logistics process, comprising an order management unit (107) that receives orders (601 to 603) for delivering goods, manages the plurality of orders, and controls the subsystems (102 to 104), a feature extraction unit (108) that acquires the operating status of at least one of the subsystems (102 to 104) and extracts feature values from the operating status, and a feature extraction unit (109) that acquires the feature values and extracts feature values from the operating status. and a priority determination unit (106) that determines the priority of the orders of the reader management unit (107) based on the feature amount, and the order management unit (107) instructs that, of a first order and a second order included in the multiple orders, an item included in the second order, which has a higher priority than the first order, be handed over from at least one of the multiple subsystems (102-104) to a downstream process subsystem (103, 104) that performs the work later than the item included in the first order.

With the above configuration, when issuing work instructions for an order to a subsystem, the logistics warehouse control system takes into consideration the operating status of not only the subsystem to which the work instructions are being sent, but also other subsystems, thereby improving the performance of not only the subsystem to which the work instructions are sent, but the entire logistics system.

(2) A logistics warehouse control system as described in (1) above, characterized in that the plurality of subsystems (102-104) includes a first subsystem (102) that constitutes the plurality of subsystems, and the first subsystem is composed of a picking subsystem (302, 304).

With the above configuration, the logistics warehouse control system 105 has a picking subsystem as the subsystem that issues instructions, and can control the order that is instructed to the picking subsystem, which is the starting point of the outbound work of the logistics system 101, thereby improving the work efficiency of subsequent processes, thereby achieving the effect of improving the productivity of the logistics system 101.

(3) The logistics warehouse control system according to (1) above, wherein the plurality of subsystems (102-104) include a first subsystem (102) and a second subsystem (103, 104) that performs a process downstream of the first subsystem, the feature extraction unit (108) extracts features from the operation status of the second subsystem (103, 104), the priority determination unit (106) determines the priority of the order from the features of the second subsystem (103, 104), and the order management unit (107) issues a command for the order to be executed by the first subsystem (102) according to the priority based on the operation status of the second subsystem (103, 104) acquired from the priority determination unit (106).

With the above configuration, the logistics warehouse control system 105 can improve the efficiency and performance of not only the picking subsystem to which the work instruction is sent, but also the entire logistics system 101 by considering the operating status of other subsystems as well as the picking subsystem to which the work instruction is sent.

(4) A logistics warehouse control system according to (2) or (3) above, characterized in that the first subsystem is composed of multiple types of picking subsystems (302, 304), and the multiple types of picking subsystems include a first picking subsystem (302) and a second picking subsystem (304).

With the above configuration, the logistics warehouse control system 105 can improve the efficiency and performance of not only the picking subsystem to which the work instruction is sent, but also the entire logistics system 101 by considering the operating status of not only the AGV picking subsystem 302 and the DPS picking subsystem 304, which are the targets of the work instruction, but also other subsystems such as the orderly warehouse subsystem 303 and the shipping subsystem 205.

(5) A logistics warehouse control system as described in (1) above, characterized in that the feature extraction unit (108) acquires the operational status of orders being worked on in the subsystem among the orders of a predetermined group to which each of the multiple orders belongs.

The above configuration enables the logistics warehouse control system 105 to rearrange the execution order of information on orders currently being picked, i.e., orders that belong to a specific group for which shipping work has already started.

(6) A logistics warehouse control system as described in (1) above, characterized in that the feature extraction unit (108) quantizes the range of values (501 to 504) indicating the operating status of the subsystem to extract discrete features.

With the above configuration, the logistics warehouse control system 105 can achieve the effect of reducing calculation costs by quantizing the range of values indicating the operating status of each subsystem.

(7) A logistics warehouse control system as described in (6) above, characterized in that the feature extraction unit (108) randomly determines the range of values (501-504) indicating the operating status of the subsystems (102-104).

With the above configuration, when quantizing a predetermined range of values indicating operating status, the logistics warehouse control system 105 randomly determines the range, thereby achieving the effect of reducing development costs for developers who design the logistics warehouse control system 105.

(8) A logistics warehouse control system according to (6) above, characterized in that the feature extraction unit (108) outputs the discrete features to a display device.

By visualizing the discretely extracted values, the logistics warehouse control system 105 can assist the business operator that owns the logistics system 101 in understanding how the logistics warehouse control system 105 is operating.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modified examples. For example, the above-described embodiments are described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and are not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described. It is also possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. In addition, the addition, deletion, or replacement of part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations can be applied alone or in combination.

The above configurations, functions, processing units, and processing means may be realized in part or in whole in hardware, for example by designing them as integrated circuits. The above configurations and functions may be realized in software by a processor interpreting and executing a program that realizes each function. Information on the programs, tables, files, etc. that realize each function may be stored in a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk or SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those considered necessary for the explanation, and not all control lines and information lines on the product are necessarily shown. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected.

101 Logistics system 102 to 104 Subsystem 105 Logistics warehouse control system 106 Priority determination unit 107 Order management unit 108 Feature extraction unit 601 Order 202 Automated warehouse subsystem 203 Rotary rack subsystem 204 Packing subsystem 205 Shipping subsystem 302 Subsystem for picking using AGV 302 AGV picking subsystem 304 DPS picking subsystem 303 Order-built warehouse subsystem

Claims (4)

A logistics warehouse control system having a processor and a memory, and controlling a plurality of subsystems divided according to logistics processes,
an order management unit that receives orders for delivery of items, manages a plurality of said orders, and controls said subsystem;
a feature extraction unit that acquires an operation status of at least one of the subsystems and extracts a feature from the operation status;
a priority determination unit that acquires the characteristic amount and determines a priority of the order of the order management unit based on the characteristic amount;
having
The order management unit
instructing that an item included in the second order, which has a higher priority than the first order, of a first order and a second order included in the plurality of orders be delivered from at least one of the plurality of subsystems to a downstream process subsystem performing a subsequent operation prior to the item included in the first order ;
The plurality of subsystems include:
A plurality of picking subsystems;
A sequential warehouse subsystem subsequent to the plurality of picking subsystems;
A shipping subsystem, which is a process subsequent to the sequential warehouse subsystem;
The operational status from the plurality of picking subsystems includes information of orders being worked on;
The operation status from the order-ordered warehouse subsystem includes information on the item ID and the number of items stored in the order-ordered warehouse subsystem among the items corresponding to the orders belonging to the same shipping box;
The operation status from the shipping subsystem includes information on orders of items held in a buffer of the shipping subsystem among orders to the same shipping destination;
the feature extraction unit quantizes a range of values indicating the operation status of each of the plurality of subsystems to extract a discrete feature, and randomly determines the range of values;
a priority determination unit that determines the priority of orders from the order management unit so that the items placed in the buffer do not exceed the buffer capacity and so that picking of items required for the same shipping box is prioritized. The logistics warehouse control system according to claim 1,
The feature extraction unit is
A logistics warehouse control system characterized in that the discrete feature quantities are output to a display device. A method for controlling a logistics warehouse, in which a computer having a processor and a memory controls a plurality of subsystems divided according to logistics processes, comprising the steps of:
an order management step in which the computer receives orders for delivery of articles, manages a plurality of the orders, and controls the subsystem;
a feature extraction step in which the computer acquires an operation status of at least one of the subsystems and extracts a feature from the operation status;
a priority determination step in which the computer acquires the feature amount and determines a priority of the order based on the feature amount;
Including,
In the order management step,
instructing that an item included in the second order, which has a higher priority than the first order, of a first order and a second order included in the plurality of orders be delivered from at least one of the plurality of subsystems to a downstream process subsystem performing a subsequent operation prior to the item included in the first order;
The plurality of subsystems include:
A plurality of picking subsystems;
A sequential warehouse subsystem subsequent to the plurality of picking subsystems;
A shipping subsystem, which is a process subsequent to the sequential warehouse subsystem;
The operational status from the plurality of picking subsystems includes information of orders being worked on;
The operation status from the order-ordered warehouse subsystem includes information on the item ID and the number of items stored in the order-ordered warehouse subsystem among the items corresponding to the orders belonging to the same shipping box;
The operation status from the shipping subsystem includes information on orders of items held in a buffer of the shipping subsystem among orders to the same shipping destination;
In the feature extraction step, a range of values indicating the operation status of each of the plurality of subsystems is quantized to extract a discrete feature, and the range of values is randomly determined;
a first order management step for managing orders from the first order to the second order; a second order management step for managing orders from the first order to the second order; The logistics warehouse control method according to claim 3,
A logistics warehouse control method, wherein in the feature extraction step, the discrete feature is output to a display device.

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