JPH0745283B2 - Picking system - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a picking system for taking out a predetermined number of different kinds of articles contained in shelves divided into a plurality of articles.

(Prior Art) A shelf position that has a slanted shelf plate and faces the front thereof is set as a separate article storage position, and when the front article case is removed by using the slant of the shelf, a new case in the rear is moved forward. There is an order picking system that uses a fluidized shelf with a structure like that shown in Figure 1, arranges a large number of these in an article storage area, and a worker picks up a predetermined number of articles of a predetermined type one after another by an order list. Are known.

FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram of a fluidized shelf used in the picking system already proposed in JP-A-57-145704. In the figure, the fluidized shelf 10 has a plurality of shelves 11 inclined forward, and a case 13 in which different articles 12 are accommodated is arranged on each shelf. The necessary article 12 is taken out from the case 13 located on the front of the shelf, and when the case becomes empty, the case is removed so that the next case comes out to the front of the shelf. Such a fluidized shelf 10, as shown in FIG. 13, is arranged so as to face the belt conveyor 14, the operator puts the article taken out on the belt conveyor, the operator puts the article taken out on the belt conveyor. Place and transport to the pickup position. The reference numeral 15 designates a pallet storage shelf that stores replenishment items for the fluidized shelf.

In FIG. 12, an item indicator lamp 16 is provided for each case arrangement position of the shelf 11, and the operator is informed of the position of the shelf from which the article should be taken out by lighting the item indicator lamp 16. Further, a digital indicator 17 for displaying the number of articles to be taken out is provided at the center of the upper part of the fluidized shelf, and a push button switch 18 operated at the side of the fluidized shelf when the removal of the articles is completed.
Is provided.

In such a structure, the conventional picking system divides each of the fluidized shelves at equal intervals to set areas, and the worker is arranged in each of the determined areas to pick a required number of designated articles. And packed it in a container.

FIG. 14 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional picking system. In the figure, the fluidized shelves 10 ₁ to 10 ₆ are
It is divided into B and C areas, and each area is
a, Pb, and Pc are arranged. Containers Ca, Cb, Cc are written on the conveyor 14 conveyed in the direction of the arrow, and when picked articles are packed, they are transferred to the container collection / delivery station. The operator confirms the type and quantity of the article to be picked by the signal instructed by the computer based on the order data.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional system as described above, when the area of the fluidized shelf is set, the arrangement of the workers is also fixed correspondingly, so that the amount of work is different for each worker. There is no problem if it is evenly distributed, but there is a problem that the order data fluctuates depending on the season, day of the week, work hours, etc., resulting in an imbalance in the work volume of each worker and a decrease in the overall processing capacity. It was

Therefore, the present invention is intended to solve such a problem of the conventional technology, and an object thereof is to always equalize the work amount given to a worker who picks up an article from each work shelf in a picking system. It is intended to provide such a new picking system.

(Means for Solving the Problem) In order to solve the conventional problems as described above, the present invention provides
In a picking system in which a plurality of types of articles are arranged at a predetermined position of a fluidized shelf having a plurality of shelves, and a designated article is taken out and collected by a conveyor, a picking-up position of the article and a means for displaying the number thereof are provided. , A means for dividing the plurality of fluidized shelves into a plurality of areas, a means for displaying an identification section of each of the divided areas, and a container for accommodating the article to a position corresponding to each area. And means for controlling and driving the conveyor, means for calculating and displaying the size of the area according to the order data so that the work amount of the workers arranged in each area is averaged, and each area A picking system comprising: means for calculating and displaying the number of workers to be arranged.

(Operation) In the picking system, the amount of work given to workers picking up items from each work shelf is always equalized, and even if the order data varies depending on the season, day of the week, work hours, etc., the amount of work is different for each worker. Evenly distributed to.

(Example) Next, the Example of this invention is described in detail using drawing.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the present invention. In the figure,
The fluidized shelves 10 _{1 to} 10 n are arranged, and shelving controllers 20 _{1 to} 20 n are provided corresponding to the respective fluidized shelves. An input device 25 such as a keyboard is connected to the control device 21 using a microcomputer or the like to input data such as order information. The control device sends an output signal to the conveyor drive device 22 to move the conveyor 14 in the arrow direction. Further, on the containers C ₁ , C ₂ , ... Cn placed on the conveyor and into which the necessary articles have been put by the worker, the label issuing machine 23 prints necessary information such as date and product name. Is pasted. Further, the control device 21 sends a signal to each shelf controller via the repeater 24 to drive the indicator light of the article position picked from the fluidized shelf and the indicator of the number of picked-up articles. A display device such as a CRT displays the operation of the control device.

In the present invention, using the computer-configured control device, the area division of the floating shelf is changed according to the order data,
By moving the work position of the worker according to the area division, it is possible to balance the work amount of the worker and improve the work efficiency as a whole.

A. Next, in the present invention, a method for equalizing the work load of the worker will be described.

I, a method of adjusting the size of each area while keeping the number of workers in each area constant (1) It is assumed that each shelf stores a plurality of different types of articles.

(2) First, before work, the work areas A to C of each worker are determined using a computer. For example, divide the total amount of work on the day by the number of workers to determine the amount of work per person,
Based on this, the area is adjusted so that the work amount of each area becomes equal, and this is displayed.

(3) As a method of partitioning each area, a, for example, a method of physically partitioning by providing a partition at the boundary of each area.

b. A method of marking the boundary line of each area with tape or the like.

c. A method of installing lamps on the boundary line of each area for classification.

d. A method of identifying each area by color coding of a multicolor lamp.

Etc. are possible.

(4) One area for picking articles
Picking is promoted by being assigned to one store. That is, taking the example of FIG. 2, first, A of the first store a ₁
The ordered merchandise (article) related to the area is read, the indicator of the corresponding ordered merchandise and the number of taken out products are displayed, and the ordered merchandise of the first store a ₁ in the A area is picked. When this is finished, for the A area, the ordered products related to the A area of the second store a ₂ are read out, the indicator of the corresponding product and the number of taken out items (the ordered number) are displayed, and the A area is displayed. The second store a ₂ is picked. In addition, in parallel with this, the ordered product of the second store a ₂ related to the B area is read, and similarly, the ordered product of the first store a ₁ in the B area is picked. In this way, picking in all areas A to C is sequentially performed for each shop a ₁ to an while one shop corresponds to one area.

In this case, in the middle of the work, the work amount of each area A, B, and C varies depending on the product order amount in each area of each store, but is almost equal on average.

II, Next, a method of adjusting the number of workers in each area while keeping the size of each area constant will be described.

(1) In the case of this example, each area is fixed.

(2) First, before the work, the total work amount of all areas is obtained, and the total work amount is divided by the number of workers who use it to obtain the average work amount per one worker. Then, the work amount of each area is divided by the average work amount to calculate the number of required workers. In this case, the calculated number of workers is not necessarily an integer, so it must be rounded to an integer. As a method, for example, a method by rounding off, or in some cases,
Round off to the nearest whole number and round up to 0.5 for fractions that cannot be rounded up.
Rounding to 0.5 is done when the number of workers in the adjacent area also has a fraction of 0.5, and in this case,
Have one worker hang on both areas and work (Fig. 3).

III. A method which is a combination of the methods shown in Sections I and II above will be described.

In the case of the above item I, if the area in charge of one worker becomes extremely large, the movement distance of the worker also becomes large, which may rather reduce the work efficiency. In addition,
In the case of Section II, even if there is some variation in the work amount of each area, the number of workers can only be an integer, so it is not possible to completely eliminate the variation of each work amount (excluding the case of multi-handling). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, a method combining the methods of the above-mentioned items I and II is adopted.

According to this, the variation in the size of the area can be reduced, and the workers P _{1 to} P ₄ can be determined to be approximately equal.

B, a method of calculating the work amount will be described next.

I, the picked products are light, heavy,
It includes various things such as small things and those requiring careful handling. Therefore, the picking work time varies depending on their characteristics.
Further, the work time required for picking varies depending on the difference between the upper and lower shelves. Therefore, when averaging the amount of work per worker, the characteristics of these working times (work amount) are taken into consideration and the overall work amount and the work amount of each area are quantitatively grasped. There is a need.

II and FIG. 5 are work difficulty tables for quantitatively grasping the work amount of picking products. The fifth
The work difficulty levels in the work difficulty level table shown in the figure are calculated empirically or from past work results.

III, based on the work difficulty table of each product like this,
For example, the work difficulty levels of all the products stored in the picking shelf as shown in FIG. 6 are registered in the computer in advance. Then, when the picking data for one day is registered, in the case of the above item I, the work difficulty of each picking product is multiplied by the number to calculate the total work amount for one day, and calculate it. Calculate the amount of work per person by dividing by the number of workers. Then, based on the calculated work amount, the area corresponding to the work amount is determined.

The total amount of work for one day is calculated by the first formula by adding the amount of work for picking products in each section.

Total amount of work for one day = ΣPk ··· (1) However, Pk: amount of work for one product per day (number of ordered products × difficulty) n: number of types of products to be picked Next, one person The work amount B per hit is calculated by the equation (2).

Work amount per person B = total work amount for one day ÷ number of workers Equation (2) Next, an area corresponding to this average work amount B is determined.

As an example of determining the area, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure for adjusting the size of each area while keeping the number of workers in each area constant.

When the amount of work actually calculated for each shelf is, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, the area in which each worker is in charge is as shown in the lower part of FIG.

The case where the number of workers is adjusted while the IV and area are fixed (the above-mentioned items A and II) will be described.

"No. 1" ... ・ Rounding method (Working amount in one area ÷ average working amount per worker = number of workers) is rounded off to an integer (see Fig. 9).

“Part 2” ··· Method by rounding off (same for rounding off) Round the calculated number of workers (quotient) as shown in Fig. 10.

However, the value A after the decimal point of the calculated number of workers is 0.3 <A
When it is within the range of <0.7, before rounding the quotient,
Sum the amount of work in the area and the amount of work in the next area,
The total value is divided by the average amount of work to calculate the number of workers in the two areas, and if the calculated value is the rounded value, the worker who carries out crossover work across both the area and the next area Place one person.

For example, when the number of calculation workers for the first area is 1.47 and the number of calculation workers for both the first area and the second area is 4.14, there are four workers for both areas. It will be work, but one of them is
Stretch it across both areas to work (see Fig. 11).

If the total number of workers in adjacent areas cannot be rounded to an integer, for example, in the above example, the calculated number of workers in both the first and second areas is 4.57. When you are a person, the first area (first area)
Number of calculation workers is rounded off and rounded to an integer, and the number of calculation workers in the next area (second area) (4.57-1.47 = 3.1)
Is rounded to the nearest whole number.

V, and then the case of adjusting both the area and the number of workers will be described.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, even when adjusting the size of each area while keeping the number of workers in each area constant, it is difficult to make the work amount of each area uniform. In such a case, for example, taking FIG. 8 as an example, the second area and the third area, or the third area and the fourth area are set as one area, and two workers are arranged there. To do. This allows
It is possible to further reduce the variation in the work amount of each worker.

(Effect of the invention) According to the present invention, it has means for displaying the take-out position and the number of articles, and means for dividing the plurality of fluidized shelves into a plurality of areas, and identification of each of the divided areas. Means for displaying the division, means for controlling and driving the conveyor so as to convey the storage container for storing the article to a position corresponding to each area, and the work amount of the worker arranged in each area. Since the means for calculating and displaying the size of the area according to the order data so as to be averaged and the means for calculating and displaying the number of workers to be arranged in each area are provided, each work in the picking system is performed. The amount of work given to the workers picking up items from the shelves is always equalized, and even if the order data changes due to the season, day of the week, work hours, etc., the amount of work is evenly distributed to each worker, The processing efficiency does not decrease.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a picking system according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic configuration diagrams showing a positional relationship between a fluidized shelf and a conveyor, and FIG. 4 is a layout relationship of workers in respective areas. Explanatory diagram for explaining, FIG. 5 is a table showing the work difficulty level of picking products, FIG. 6 is a table showing the work amount for picking products, FIG. 7 is a flowchart, and FIG. 8 is the work amount of each area. 9 to 11 are charts for explaining rounding of the calculated number of workers, FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a floating shelf, FIG. 13 is a top view of the entire picking system layout, and FIG. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the arrangement of the fluidized shelves, the feed conveyor, and the workers in the conventional system. 10 to 10n …… Floating shelf, 14 …… Feed conveyor, 20 to 20n ……
Shelf controller, 21 ... Control device, 22 ... Conveyor drive device, 23 ... Label issuing machine, 24 ... Repeater, 25 ... Input device, 26 ... Display device.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --Continued from the front page (56) Reference JP-A-57-145704 (JP, A) JP-A-59-217503 (JP, A) JP-A-59-128104 (JP, A) JP-A-57- 137203 (JP, A) JP 61-30366 (JP, A) JP 60-20844 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A picking system in which a plurality of types of articles are placed at a predetermined position of a fluidized shelf having a plurality of shelves, and a designated article is taken out and collected by a conveyor, and the take-out position of the article and the number thereof are displayed. Means for dividing the plurality of fluidized shelves into a plurality of areas, means for displaying an identification division of each of the divided areas, and a container for accommodating the article corresponding to each area. Means for controlling and driving the conveyor so as to convey the area to the position, and means for calculating and displaying the size of the area according to the order data so that the work amount of the workers arranged in each area is averaged. And a means for calculating and displaying the number of workers to be arranged in each of the areas, a picking system. 2. The picking system according to claim 1, wherein the fluidized shelf is one fluidized shelf. 3. The picking system according to claim 1, wherein the fluidized shelves are a plurality of fluidized shelves.