JPH09156722A - Three-dimensional warehouse management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the vertical empty space of each shelf to the minimum by determining the height and position of a shelf to house a stock product according to stock information and empty space information, controlling the carrying by the determined stock information, and housing the stock product in an instructed position. SOLUTION: Product information is inputted to an information management means 21 for managing stock information and empty space information every shelf A-D within a three-dimensional warehouse 11. A stock position determining means 22 determines the shelf (A-D) to house a stock product and its height position (stage) on the basis of the stock information and empty space information managed by the information management means 22. A carrying control means 24 controls a carrying means 25 on the basis of the stock instruction information outputted from the stock position determining means 22 and houses the stock product in an instructed position within the three-dimensional warehouse 11. Consequently, the vertical empty space of each shelf A-D is suppressed to the minimum, and an efficient storage can be performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention divides the interior of a warehouse in the width direction by vertical partition walls, and each vertically long shelf partitioned by the vertical partition walls is partitioned by a horizontal partition plate into a plurality of small shelves. The present invention relates to a system for managing a three-dimensional warehouse having a different structure, and more particularly to a three-dimensional warehouse management system for efficiently storing a plurality of types of products having different heights.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional three-dimensional warehouse, the interior of a warehouse is partitioned by a vertical partition wall in the width direction, and each vertically long shelf partitioned by this vertical partition wall is partitioned by a horizontal partition plate into a plurality of small shelves. The horizontal partition plate is fixedly installed in the height direction of each shelf.

That is, the height of each small shelf is predetermined, and the height is set to a height at which the tallest product can be stored.

Therefore, when a short product is stored in such a small shelf, a considerable empty space is generated above the product.

That is, when the heights of the products are different and the three-dimensional warehouse can store only one product in one small shelf, the height of the products stored in the upper part of each small shelf corresponds to the height. Since there is an empty space, there is a problem that efficient storage cannot be performed.

As a means for solving such a problem, for example, a fixed shelf warehouse management system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-23103 has been proposed.

This fixed-shelf warehouse management system manages products in stages by removing the vertical partition wall. That is, the storage efficiency of each stage is improved by controlling the lateral space in the stage to be minimum.

[0008]

However, this fixed-shelf warehouse management system is an effective means for products having variations in the width direction, but is effective for products having variations in the height direction. Can not be a means.

Therefore, at present, no system has been proposed so far for efficiently storing a plurality of types of products having different heights.

The present invention was devised in view of the present situation, and an object thereof is to provide an empty space in the height direction of each shelf by providing a horizontal partition plate so that it can be attached at an arbitrary height position of each shelf. It is to provide a three-dimensional warehouse management system that can minimize

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the three-dimensional warehouse management system of the present invention, the interior of the warehouse is partitioned by the vertical partition walls at substantially constant intervals in the width direction, and the vertical partition walls also partition the warehouse. A system for managing a three-dimensional warehouse configured such that each vertically long shelf is partitioned into multiple shelves by a horizontal partition plate, and the horizontal partition plate can be mounted at any height position of each shelf. Provided in, the transportation means for mounting the horizontal partition plate on which the product that has been stored is mounted at an arbitrary height position of an arbitrary shelf, and a measuring means that measures the height of the product that has been stored, Information management means for managing inventory information and empty space information for each shelf in the warehouse, height information of stored products measured by the measuring means, and inventory information managed by the information managing means. And a storage position determining means for determining a shelf and a height position for storing the stored product based on the empty space information, and outputting the determined shelf and height position as storage instruction information, and output from the storage position determining means. By controlling the conveying means based on the received storage instruction information, a conveyance control means for storing the stored product in the designated position of the three-dimensional warehouse is provided.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a three-dimensional warehouse to which the three-dimensional warehouse management system of the present invention is applied.

This three-dimensional warehouse 11 has a vertical partition wall 1 inside the warehouse.
Each of the vertically long shelves A to D partitioned by the vertical partition walls 12, 12 ... It is designed to be divided into shelves.

The horizontal partition plate 13 is provided so that it can be mounted at an arbitrary height position on each of the shelves A to D. In this embodiment, each of the shelves A to D is divided into 10 in the height direction. It can be installed in any position. Each division position is shown as a step number on the left side of the figure by a continuous number from 1 to 10, and each step position is shown by a broken line. That is, each number indicates the number of stages, and the area surrounded by the adjacent broken line and the vertical partition wall 12 is the minimum unit of the shelves.

FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional warehouse 1 constructed as described above.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a system for managing No. 1.

In the figure, the shelves A to
The information management means 21 for managing the inventory information and empty space information for each D receives product information (information such as product number, quantity, lot number, manufacturing date, manufacturing machine, etc.) transmitted from the management computer of the preceding process (not shown). ) Is entered.

Further, the information management means 21 and the warehousing position determining means 22 are bidirectionally connected, and the warehousing position determining means 22 is provided with a measuring means 23 for measuring the height of the product 4 that has been received. The output is being guided.

The warehousing position determining means 22 stores the warehousing products based on the height information of the warehousing products measured by the measuring means 23 and the inventory information and empty space information managed by the information management means 21. This is a block for determining a shelf and its height position (tier), and outputting the determined shelf and height position to the information management means 21 and the transport control means 24 as warehousing instruction information.

The transfer control means 24 is a storage position determining means 2
2 based on the storage instruction information output from the transport means 25
Is a block for controlling the product and storing the stored product in the designated position of the three-dimensional warehouse 11.

The transfer means 25 is realized by, for example, a stacker crane, supports the horizontal partition plate 13 on which the product waiting at the storage waiting position X is placed, and supports each of the shelves A to.
It is provided so as to be movable up and down and left and right along D (indicated by a white arrow in FIG. 1). Then, under the control of the transport control means 24, the horizontal partition plate 13 on which the product is placed is attached to the designated height position (step) of the designated shelves A to D.

Next, the operation of the above-structured three-dimensional warehouse management system will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the three-dimensional warehouse 11 stores the products 14a and 14b on the A shelf, and the horizontal partition plate 13b on which the product 14b is placed is the product 1
Since the height of 4a is lower than the height of two steps (that is, higher than step 1 and lower than step 2 when viewed with reference to step 0 which is the base position), it is attached to step 2 of the A shelf.
In addition, the product 14c is stored on the B shelf.
The height of c is higher than step 2 and lower than step 3 when viewed with reference to step 0 which is the base position. Further, the height of the product 14b is higher than the step 4 and lower than the step 5 when viewed from the step 2.

Therefore, in the information management means 21, the products 14a and 14b are stored in the A shelf and the empty space is information for 5 shelves, and the product 14c is stored in the B shelf, and the empty space is 7 shelves. , The C shelf and the D shelf are both empty, and the empty space has information of 10 levels.

In such a storage condition of the three-dimensional warehouse 11, information management of the information of the product 14d (product number, quantity, lot number, manufacturing date, manufacturing machine, etc.) next conveyed from the management computer of the previous process is managed. When input to the means 21,
The information management means 21 outputs the managed inventory information and empty space information to the storage position determination means 22.

When the conveyed product 14d is placed at the storage standby position X, the measuring means 23 measures the height of the product 14d and outputs the measurement result to the storage position determining means 22.

The warehousing position determination means 22 stores the warehousing products 14d on the basis of the height information of the warehousing products 14d measured by the measuring means 23 and the inventory information and empty space information from the information management means 21. And its height position.

Here, since it is known from the empty space information that there is a sufficient empty space on the B shelf, the storage on the B shelf is decided. Then, since it can be seen from the inventory information that the product 14c lower than the height of three stages is stored in the B shelf, the storage position of the horizontal partition plate 13d on which the product 14d is placed is determined to be stage 3.

Then, the storage instruction information indicating the rack and the height position thus determined is output to the information management means 21 and the transport control means 24. The transportation control means 24 controls the transportation means 25 based on this warehousing support information, and the product 1
The horizontal partition plate 13d on which 4d is placed is attached to the designated height position (step 3) of the designated shelf B (see FIG. 3).

Further, the information management means 21 updates the stock information and empty space information of the corresponding shelf B based on the storage support information from the storage position determination means 22. That is, the products 14c and 14d are stored on the B shelf, and the empty space is updated to information such as four levels.

By sequentially performing the above-mentioned processing on the products sequentially conveyed from the previous process, it is possible to perform efficient storage while minimizing the useless empty space in the storage warehouse 11. .

In the above embodiment, the case where the transported product 14d is stored on the B shelf has been described, but various methods can be used as the method for determining the storage shelf of the product in the storage position determining means 22. Is possible.

For example, the storage shelves may be determined so that the shelves A are sequentially filled, or the storage shelves A to D may be evenly stored, and products of the same type may be the same as possible. It may be decided to store on shelves, and products of the same height may be decided to be stored on the same shelves as much as possible.

[0034]

According to the three-dimensional warehouse management system of the present invention, the horizontal partition plate is provided so that it can be mounted at an arbitrary height position on each shelf, and the mounting position of the horizontal partition plate is determined according to the height of the product. As a result, the empty space in the height direction of each shelf is minimized, and efficient storage can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a three-dimensional warehouse management system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a three-dimensional warehouse to which the three-dimensional warehouse management system of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a state in which a new product is stored in a three-dimensional warehouse.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 three-dimensional warehouse 12 vertical partition wall 13 horizontal partition plate 14 product 21 information management means 22 warehousing position determining means 23 measuring means 24 transport control means 25 transport means A to D shelves

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vertical partition wall divides the interior of the warehouse at substantially regular intervals, and each vertically long shelf partitioned by the vertical partition wall is partitioned by a horizontal partition plate into a plurality of small shelves. A system for managing a three-dimensional warehouse configured, wherein the horizontal partition plate is provided so as to be attachable to an arbitrary height position of each of the shelves, and the horizontal partition plate on which the loaded product is placed is optional. Conveying means to be installed at any height position on the shelves, measuring means for measuring the height of the received products, and information management for managing inventory information and empty space information for each shelf in the warehouse Means, the height information of the stored products measured by the measuring means, and the shelf and the height position for storing the stored products based on the inventory information and the empty space information managed by the information management means. Then, the storage position determining means for outputting the determined shelf and height position as the storage instruction information, and the transfer means based on the storage instruction information output from the storage position determining means, thereby storing the stored products. A three-dimensional warehouse management system, comprising: a transfer control unit for storing the three-dimensional warehouse at a designated position.