JPH09315526A - Picking method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a mistake to be generated with picking work as well as to simplify a structure of a picking facility. SOLUTION: The specification of articles and the number of articles to be taken out are displayed by a take-out display 5 provided on a picking rack 4 for storing articles 11, a housing box 2 is display in form of a figure by a box number display 7 arranged on a temporarily placing table 6 provided on a conveying path of the housing box 2, not-housed state is displayed, the take-out display 5 is reset after the articles 11 on the picking rack 4 are previously taken and temporarily placed on the temporarily placing table 6, the articles 11 are input while confirming the number of the housing box 2 and the previously displayed box number, and the box number display of the box number display 7 is canceled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a picking method and equipment for picking up desired articles from equipment such as picking shelves storing the articles and putting them in a storage box to be conveyed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to meet diversifying consumer needs at a product distribution center, etc., various kinds of products designated by an orderer are put into a product storage box conveyed by a conveyor or the like and delivered. The picking method is used. Although there are various configurations of the picking equipment for carrying out this picking method, an outline of the "article handling device" disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-5446 will be described below as an example of a conventional example.

The above-mentioned article handling device is provided with a take-out indicator having a reset button for displaying the number of articles to be taken out on a storage rack for storing the articles and for clearing after taking out the article, and a temporary placement section in a carrying path of the storage box. And a temporary placement indicator for instructing the temporary placement of the article previously picked up in this temporary placement section,
Further, a storage indicator for instructing which storage box to put the temporarily placed article and a loading display for putting the temporarily placed article are provided. Then, when performing the picking operation of the article, the article is taken out from the storage shelf according to the instructions of the respective display devices, temporarily placed in the temporary placement section, and then put into the storage box conveyed by the conveyor as instructed. Was there.

[0004]

However, both the pre-emption indicator and the loading indicator are merely indications by the indicator lamp, and the picking operator mechanically removes the article from the storage rack based on the instruction of the indicator. It is taken in advance and placed in the storage box that is being transported. Therefore, it is easy for operators to overlook the display and mistakes in the input, and even if these accidents occur, it is not possible to confirm on the spot, and the storage box is often transported with the input incomplete. Was damaged. Further, in the above-mentioned configuration, although the picking information and the transport of the storage box are synchronized, there is also a configuration in which the picking equipment is not synchronized. Even if the above configuration is applied to such non-interlocking picking equipment, the storage box cannot be confirmed and the article cannot be put in, and therefore the application is limited and lacks versatility. Further, there are various problems such as a storage indicator and a loading indicator, which complicates the configuration of the equipment, increases the number of parts, and increases the number of steps required for installation work. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article picking method and equipment, which has a simple structure and can reduce picking mistakes.

[0005]

The object according to the present invention is achieved by the following constitution. The desired article (11) is preliminarily taken from the picking shelf (4) in which various articles (11) are individually stored, and placed on a temporary placing table (6) provided near the storage box (2) transport path,
In the picking method of loading articles into the storage box (2) after preemption for one storage box is completed, the removal indicator (5) provided on the picking shelf (4) displays the articles (1
In addition to displaying 1), the number of the articles 11 to be preliminarily displayed is displayed, and the box number indicator 7 arranged on the temporary placing table 6 is displayed to indicate that the pre-emption is not completed. The box number into which the article (11) should be placed is displayed, and the specified number of articles (1
1) is taken in advance and is temporarily placed on the temporary placing table (6), and then the take-out indicator (5) is reset, and after all the pre-takings for the corresponding box are completed, the pre-taking completion is displayed by the box number display, Next, the article (11) temporarily placed on the temporary stand (6) is put into the storage box (2) displayed on the box number display (7) to reset the box number display (7). A method for picking an article, comprising: A picking shelf (4) that stores various items individually,
A pick-up indicator (5) provided on the picking shelf for designating an article to be picked up and designating the article and displaying the number of picked-up articles, and a temporary stand (11) provided near the transport path of the storage box (2). And a box number indicator provided on the temporary placing table (11) for displaying the box number into which the pre-taken articles are put, displaying the pre-taken incomplete until it is reset, and showing the pre-taken completion after the reset ( 7) Picking equipment having and.

According to the above-mentioned article picking method, the articles to be picked up from the picking shelf are designated by the indication of the indicator lamp of the pre-take indicator, and the number is displayed numerically. Then, it is possible to confirm the pre-taken end of one article by taking the article in advance and temporarily placing it on the temporary placing table and resetting the pre-taken indicator. In addition, the box number indicator provided on the temporary placing table blinks the indicator lamp until all the pre-fetches for one storage box are completed. Next, when the pre-fetching is completed and the reset switch is operated, only the indicator lamp is turned off while the box number is displayed. Then, after the temporarily placed article is put into the corresponding storage box, the reset switch is operated to complete the picking for one storage box. Therefore,
The picking worker puts the articles temporarily placed on the temporary placing table into the storage box while checking the designated box number, confirms the resetting and turns off the lighting, and confirms a series of picking work such as pre-taking and loading. Can be done while

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of an article picking method to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the configuration of the article merging facility, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the side configuration of the picking facility, FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing the configuration of the temporary placing table, and FIG. 4 is a box number. FIG. 5 is a front view showing the configuration of the display, and FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the picking method. In the description of the embodiments, the configuration of picking equipment for carrying out the method for picking articles will be described, and then the picking method will be described.

Picking equipment 1 according to the present embodiment
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conveyor 3 that conveys the storage box 2 in a predetermined direction X, a picking shelf 4 that stores the articles 11, and an ejection indicator 5 that is provided for each picking shelf 4.
A temporary placing table 6 for temporarily placing the articles 11 picked up (picked) from the picking shelf 4, a box number display 7 provided for each temporary placing table 6, driving of the conveyor 3 and display of the articles by the ejection display 5. Further, a computer 8 for comprehensively controlling the display of the box number by the box number display 7 and a sensor 9 for detecting the cutout of the storage box 2 are provided. And
In the picking operation, the worker 12 is arranged between the temporary placing table 6 and the picking shelf 4.

The picking rack 4 is divided into a plurality of stages in the vertical direction and a plurality of stages in the horizontal direction so that a predetermined article 11 can be taken out from each frontage. A take-out indicator 5 is provided for each frontage, as shown in FIG. The take-out indicator 5 is the article 1 taken out from the corresponding frontage.
It is provided with a number display section for displaying the number of 1 and a reset button for optically indicating that it is a frontage for taking out and for resetting after taking out. In the take-out display device 5, a display of the number of taken-out articles 11 by the take-out display section,
The lighting display by the reset button is controlled by the computer 8, and the reset operation after taking out the article is also detected by the computer 8.

The temporary placing table 6 is provided for each work range of one worker 12. Although shown in a single form in FIG. 1, in practice, as shown by reference numerals 6a, 6b, and 6c in FIG. 3, a plurality of types of articles 12 are divided into individual storage boxes 2 and temporarily placed. It is divided into about three parts so that it can be divided. Then, the box number display 7 is provided for each temporary storage section 6a, 6b,
It is provided every 6c. Box number display 7 is for item 11
For designating the number of the box into which the box is put, that is, the number of the storage box 2. For example, as shown in FIG.
And a reset button 7b operated by the worker 12 after the charging process. The reset button 7b has an optical display function. The optical display by the reset button 7b, for example, the blinking display in red and the number display on the number display portion 7a are controlled by the computer 8, and the reset operation by the reset button 7b is also detected by the computer 8.

Next, a picking method by the picking equipment 1 will be described. At the start of picking, the conveyor 3 is driven by a command from the computer 8,
The storage box 2 that was initially on the left side of the sensor 9 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow X. The numbers circled in the storage box 2 indicate the box numbers. When the top storage box 2 is detected by the sensor 9, the detection signal V1 is supplied to the computer 3, and the take-out display device 5 and the box number display device 7 perform the following display based on the command from the computer 8. .

The case where the central worker 12 stores the pre-stored articles 11 in the three storage boxes 2 from number 9 to number 11 will be explained as an example. As shown in FIG. Before the storage boxes 9, 10, 11 are transported to the storage boxes 9, 10, 11, articles 11 to be stored in the storage boxes 9, 10, 11 are picked up in advance. In this case, first, as shown in FIG. 4, the box number display 7 provided in the temporary storage section 6c displays the number 9 indicating the box number, and the reset button 7b is blinked in red or the like. On the other hand, in the picking shelf 4, the necessary articles 1
The number of taken-out items is displayed on the number-displayed part of the taken-out take-out indicator 5 storing 1 and the reset button is turned on.

The above operation corresponds to step S1 of the flow chart shown in FIG. 5, but at this time, since the box number display 7 corresponding to the temporary storage section 6c is driven, the worker 12 makes a step. The operation shifts to the operation shown in S2, that is, the picked-up articles 11 on the picking shelf 4 are picked up, that is, picked and placed on the temporary placing section 6c. Next, as shown in step S3, the article 11
Press the reset button on the front-end indicator 5 that has taken out. As a result, as shown in step S4, the reset button of the pre-take indicator 5 is turned off, and it is detected that the specified number of the specified articles 11 have been taken out from the frontage specified by the computer 8.

In this way, when all the articles 11 on the designated picking shelf 4 are placed on the front temporary placing section 6c, that is, at the stage where they are temporarily placed, all the reset buttons of the take-out display device 5 are pressed and the computer Article 1 related to box number 9 by 8
Pre-completion of 1 is detected (step S5). At this stage, if there is a failure to pre-take the article 11, the pre-take indicator 5 will not be reset, and the reset button will continue to light up, and the worker 12 can easily recognize it. If there is a pre-emption, the process proceeds to step S2 and pre-emption is performed. On the other hand, if all the reset buttons of the pre-take indicator 5 are off, the worker 12 takes the step S
As shown in 6, the box number indicator 7 provided on the temporary stand 6c
Then press the reset button 7b. As a result, the reset button 7b, which has been flashing in red until then, goes out, but the number display unit 7a continues to display the box number (step S).
7).

Next, as shown in step S8, the worker 12 puts the article 11 temporarily placed on the temporary placing table 6c into the article storage box 2 of the box number 9 which has been transported.
This loading is performed when the article storage box 2 with the box number 9 enters the range of action of the worker. That is, FIG. 1 and FIG.
It is not necessary to wait until the article storage box 2 with the box number 9 arrives in front of the temporary storage section 6c as shown in FIG. Then, after all the articles 11 temporarily placed on the temporary placing table 6c are put into the article storage box 2, the reset button 7b of the box number display 7 is pressed again as shown in step S10. As a result, as shown in step S11, the box number displayed on the number display portion 7a is deleted, and this deletion is detected by the computer 8. If the loading of the article 11 is not completed, the loading operation shown in step S8 is continued again.

When the reset button 7b of the box number indicator 7 is operated twice in this way, the computer 8 considers that the picking work is completed, and the step S12 is performed.
Send data about the next picking operation as shown in. When this data is transmitted, the picking work shown in and after step S1 is repeatedly performed, and when there is no data transmission, the operation shifts to the work standby. The above-described picking work is similarly performed for the adjacent worker 12.

By the way, in this embodiment, one worker 1
For No. 2, temporary placement parts 6a to 6c obtained by dividing the temporary placement table 6 into three parts are provided, and the picking work is performed for each of the temporary placement parts 6a to 6c. However, even if the temporary placement of the article 11 for one temporary placement section 6c is completed as described above, the article does not immediately shift to the article loading when there is a margin for loading the article, and for example, the other temporary placement sections 6b, 6a. There is also a case of shifting to temporary placement work. That is, the step S
The picking shelf 4 is preliminarily taken again without shifting from 7 to S8.

In this case, when the temporary placement of the article 11 on the temporary placement section 6c is completed, all the ejection indicators 5 are reset, and the reset button 7b of the box number indicator 7 is reset. In response to the command, for example, the box number is displayed on the box number display 7 provided in the temporary storage section 6b, and the reset button 7b blinks in red. Also, regarding the picking shelf 4, each pre-take indicator 5 displays the number of articles, and the reset button is turned on. That is, the operation of step S1 shown in FIG. 5 is performed, and in response to this, the worker 12 performs the picking work shown in steps S2 to S7. Then, for example, if the temporary placement of the article 11 with respect to the temporary placement section 6a is prioritized due to the transportation status of the article storage box 2 or the like, the preparatory work shown in step S1 and subsequent steps is again performed by a command from the computer 8.

In this way, the temporary placement portions 6a, 6b, 6c
After the article 11 is temporarily placed on the article 11, the article 11 is put into the conveyed article storage box 2. At this time, each of the temporary storage portions 6a to 6c
The box number is displayed on the box number display 7 provided for
Moreover, since the articles 11 are sorted and temporarily placed in the temporary placement sections 6a to 6c, the worker 12 can sequentially load the articles while checking the box numbers, and the loading operation can be performed efficiently and the loading operation can be performed. It is possible to prevent mistakes, in other words, picking mistakes.

Further, for example, when the article storage box 2 having the number 9 approaches the position of the number 11 shown in FIG. 1, the worker 12 can put the article storage box 2 into the article storage box 2 so that the operator 12 can reach for it. Further, for example, even when the article storage box 2 with the number 9 is conveyed to the extent that it is out of the work range S, it can be inserted by chasing it, and the insertion timing becomes situation-dependent, so voluntary picking work is performed. I will get it. Then, for each article storage box 2, the article 1
By pressing the reset button 7b every time 1 is thrown in, the box number is erased and the progress and completion of the throwing work are detected by the computer 8, and the operation shown in step S12 is performed upon completion of throwing.

In terms of the structure of the picking equipment 1, only the box number display 7 is provided on the temporary placing table 6, and the display for instructing the insertion is unnecessary. Therefore, the structure is simple, the number of parts is small, and the number of wirings can be reduced during the installation work, which can achieve cost reduction and various advantages such as good usability. In addition, the box number display 7 displays the box number unless the worker 12 confirms the completion of loading and resets, that is, while the article is not loaded. It is not necessary to synchronize the work and the transportation of the storage box, and it can be applied to various picking equipment.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The structural difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is that a loading completion button 15 is newly added as shown in FIG. 6 and is pushed after loading the article. That is, in the first embodiment, after all the articles 11 temporarily placed on the temporary placing table 6c are loaded, the reset button 7b of the box number display 7 is pressed to display the box displayed on the box number display portion 7a. I was erasing the number.
However, in this embodiment, since the addition completion button 15 is added, the picking work is partially changed as follows.

Also in this embodiment, the picking work from step S1 to step S9 is similarly performed.
However, after the article loading shown in step S9 is executed,
As added as step S21 in FIG. 5, instead of operating the reset button 7b, the loading completion button 15 is pressed to erase the box number. This reset operation is detected by the computer 8, and similarly to the above, the process shifts to step S12 to transmit the next picking data or to shift to the picking standby.

Further, also in this embodiment, step S
The operation of 7 does not shift to step S8, and the picking shelf 4
It is possible to shift to the article pre-taking from the above, to temporarily place the article 11 in each of the temporary placement sections 6a to 6c, and then to shift to the article loading. Also in the present embodiment, the display by the picking data and the conveyance of the article storage box 2 by the conveyor may be interlocked or non-interlocked, and depending on the picking work capability of the operator, waiting for the loading instruction. Instead, the article 11 can be loaded into the article storage box 2 within the work zone S of the user or beyond the work zone S. In any case, the worker 12 follows the loading completion button 15 after loading the article.
Since pressing is performed, there is no erroneous operation as compared with the case where the reset button 7b is pressed twice, and it is possible to prevent confusion in the picking work.

[0025]

As described above, the method of picking articles according to the present invention is such that the pick-up indicator provided on the picking shelf storing the articles displays the designation and the number of articles and pre-takes them and temporarily places them on the temporary stand. And then reset with confirmation. In addition, a temporary placement table is provided along the transportation path of the storage box, and the temporary placement table is provided with a box number indicator that numerically displays the storage box and indicates that it has not been inserted. The item is thrown in while confirming the display number and the box number, and after the item is thrown in, the item number is reset to erase the box number and the non-input display. Therefore, a series of picking operations from preemption of articles to loading into the storage box are all performed with confirmation, and reliability of the picking operation is dramatically improved. In addition, the structure is simple, and the number of parts and the work man-hours at the time of installation can be reduced, which enables low-cost production. In addition, the preparatory work of the article can be performed asynchronously with the transportation of the storage box, and the range of application to the picking equipment is expanded and the versatility is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing picking equipment for carrying out an article picking method to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a side configuration of an article picking facility.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a main part showing an installation configuration of a temporary table and a box number indicator.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a configuration of a box number indicator.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a picking method.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of a main part of the picking equipment showing the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Picking Equipment for Goods 2 Goods Storage Box 4 Picking Shelf 5 Ejection Indicator 6 Temporary Stand 6a to 6c Temporary Place 7 Box Number Indicator 7a Number Display 7b Reset Button 11 Goods 12 Worker 15 Input Finish Button

(72) Inventor Akio Osawa 8-19-20 Higashisuna, Koto-ku, Tokyo Toyo Kanetsu Co., Ltd. (72) Kenji Watanabe 8-19-20 Higashisuna, Koto-ku, Tokyo Toyo Kanetsu Co., Ltd. Within

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A temporary placing table (6) provided near a transfer path of a storage box (2) by picking up the desired article (11) from a picking shelf (4) in which various articles (11) are individually stored.
In the picking method of placing the articles on the storage box (1) and inserting the articles into the storage box (2) after the preemption for one storage box is completed, the article (11) is designated on the ejection indicator (5) provided on the picking shelf (4). In addition to displaying the number of the articles (11) to be pre-empted, the box number indicator (7) arranged on the temporary placing table (6) indicates that the pre-preparation is not completed and the articles (11). The box number to be loaded is displayed, and the picking shelf (4)
From the specified number of articles (11) in advance to the temporary placing table (6), after the take-out indicator (5) is reset, after all the pre-taking for the corresponding box is completed, by the box number indicator The pre-take completion is displayed, and then the article (11) temporarily placed on the temporary stand (6) is put into the storage box (2) displayed on the box number display (7) and the box number display is displayed. An article picking method, characterized in that (7) is reset. 2. A picking shelf (4) in which various articles are individually stored, and a pick-up indicator (5) provided on the picking shelf for designating an article to be pre-empted, designating the article, and displaying the number of picked-up articles. Temporary stand (1 provided near the transfer path of the storage box (2)
1) and a box number display provided on the temporary placing table (11) for displaying the box number into which the pre-taken articles are put, and showing the pre-taken incomplete until reset and showing the pre-taken completion after the reset Picking equipment having a container (7).