JPH1035834A - Automated ware house system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform direct shipment without troublesome operation. SOLUTION: When the number of a warehousing/delivery station is designated in the shelf number 111 in setting the warehousing on a warehousing setting screen 1 by operation an inventory control computer, an article can be directly shipped, and the direct shipment is also performed on the data. After the article is carried to the warehousing/delivery station designated shelf number 111 at it is when ST No.112 agrees with the shelf number 111, or by operating a stacker crane when the ST No.112 is different from the shelf number, the warehousing data and the delivery data in which the warehousing date of the warehousing data is the delivery date are recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic warehouse for storing a plurality of articles, and more particularly, to an automatic warehouse system which can easily carry out direct delivery in a short time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a factory or a warehouse, two racks having a plurality of shelves arranged side by side in a matrix for temporarily storing products and workpieces, and a loading / unloading machine arranged near an edge of the racks. 2. Description of the Related Art An automatic warehouse including a station and a stacker crane that travels and moves up and down between two racks and conveys articles, such as pallets and buckets, between a shelf and a loading / unloading station with containers are used. The operation of the stacker crane is based on a transfer command from a stock management computer on the ground. The transfer command is created based on the data of the articles stored in the respective shelves stored in the inventory management computer by operating the inventory management computer or by an instruction from a higher-level computer. For example, it is a transfer instruction that receives an article from a shelf storing articles loaded with a certain product type and leaves the article to an entry / exit station.

[0003]

When such an automatic warehouse system is combined with other equipment such as an automatic guided vehicle or a picking device to constitute a system such as a distribution center, data on arrival / shipment is obtained. Due to administrative needs,
Goods may have to go through an automated warehouse. However, as a matter of course, there are cases where goods need to be received and shipped immediately without temporary storage.In such a case, the goods cannot be avoided in the automatic warehouse, and immediately after entering the automatic warehouse. You have to take it out. Such handling of articles is called direct delivery. More specifically, in the direct delivery, articles are temporarily loaded on a loading / unloading station, and are immediately delivered from the same or different loading / unloading stations without being placed on a shelf.
In the data, the warehousing date and the warehousing date are recorded on the same day. In order to handle as direct delivery, the worker first sets the stocking on the inventory management computer,
It is necessary to input goods receipt data such as the quantity and the date of receipt, and then make the delivery setting with the same storage bin specified and the same delivery date. The stacker crane receives the transfer commands corresponding to these settings, stores the articles from the loading / unloading station on the shelf of the designated bin number, and then performs the work of releasing the same articles to the loading / unloading station. Therefore, the operation is troublesome and time-consuming, and the operation of the stacker crane takes time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an automatic warehouse system capable of processing data and articles without directing the operation of special stock management means and the unnecessary operation of a stacker crane in the case of direct shipment. is there.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic warehouse system capable of processing articles without a wasteful operation of a stacker crane in the case of direct delivery different between when the loading and unloading station is in and out of the warehouse. Is to do.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic warehouse system capable of handling a direct delivery without requiring a special operation for the inventory management means at the time of setting a warehouse.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 includes inventory management means for storing data of articles stored in each shelf and giving a transport command to a stacker crane. In the automatic warehouse system, the inventory management means, when the entry / exit station is designated as an entry destination at the time of entry setting, does not enter the article into the rack, and enters the entry data and the exit data with the entry date as the exit date. The automatic warehouse system was configured to record the data.

[0010] In the invention according to claim 2, the inventory management means conveys to the designated entry / exit station when an entry / exit station different from the entry source is designated as an entry destination when the entry is set. The automatic warehouse system according to claim 1 is configured to give a transfer command to the stacker crane.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the automatic warehousing system according to the first aspect of the present invention is such that the designation of the entry / exit station at the time of the entry setting can be performed in the same manner as the designation of the shelf number on the entry setting screen. Was configured.

Since the present invention has the above-described configuration, the following operations are provided.

[0011] In the automatic warehouse system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the inventory management means includes data of articles stored in each shelf of the automatic warehouse, that is, a storage bin number, a product type, a quantity, and the like.
Data generally including the storage date and time is stored. Receipt data is entered at the time of receipt setting. At this time, if not the shelf but the entry / exit station is designated as the entry destination, the inventory management means does not enter the article into the rack. On the data, the receipt data and the exit data with the entry date as the exit date are recorded. Thus, it is possible to perform the data processing of the direct delivery only by the setting of the warehousing without performing the setting of the warehousing, and the stacker crane does not needlessly operate. The incoming data and the outgoing data are recorded in the storage means of the inventory management means and, if necessary, transferred to a higher-level management computer for management of receipt / shipment.

In the automatic warehousing system according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the case of direct delivery, if a storage / unloading station different from the storage source is designated as a storage destination, the stacker crane is operated in accordance with a transfer command of the inventory management means. The goods are transported to the designated loading / unloading station. If the storage destination and the storage source are the same storage and retrieval station, it goes without saying that no transfer command is created. Thus, the time for the stacker crane to perform the article transfer operation with the shelf can be omitted.

[0013] In the automatic warehouse system according to the third aspect of the present invention, the entry / exit station can be designated by the same operation as the designation of the normal storage bin on the entry setting screen. Thus, it is possible to execute handling of data and articles directly sent without any special operation.

[0014]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a storage setting screen displayed on the display of the inventory management means in one embodiment of the automatic warehouse system according to the present invention. Receiving setting screen 1
This is a screen displayed on the display 33 of the inventory management computer 3 to be described later, and is a screen for setting entry data of articles to be entered. In this automatic warehouse system, articles are placed on pallets, and data is managed in pallet units. A plurality of types of articles or a single type of article is placed on the pallet.

A description will now be given of a conventional normal storage setting. The operator designates a shelf number 111 to be stored on the storage setting screen 1. For example, in the case of two columns, three stations, and six stages, the input is performed as “2-3-6”. Of course, the inventory management computer 3 accepts only empty shelf numbers based on the stored data. If it is a space, the inventory management computer performs automatic allocation and storage by selecting from empty shelves and displaying. Next, the operator inputs the number of the station for storing the new article into STNo. 112, and further inputs the product number 114. Enter product number and product name 11
5 is read from the master data and displayed. In the following, the number of storages 116 and the storage date and time 118 are input. When the function key F9 of the confirmation 13 is pressed, the above-mentioned warehousing data is displayed in the data table 14, the input warehousing data is stored in the inventory management computer 3, a new warehousing command is created, and a new warehousing operation is started. Is done. Before confirmation, No. in the data table 14 can be selected by input number 15 below the data table 14 to add or correct data. Other function keys include a receipt 161 for displaying a receipt detail column, a product number 162 for searching for a product number, a label 163 for reissuing a label, a monitor 164 for displaying a tracking monitor, a cancel 165 for clearing a screen during input or when setting is completed, and a main function. Menu 1 to return to menu
66 are assigned.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a part of the automatic warehouse of the same automatic warehouse system. The automatic warehouse 2 transports a plurality of racks 22, 22 each having a plurality of shelves 21 arranged in a matrix, and a plurality of articles W placed on a pallet P by traveling / elevating between the racks 22, 22. Stacker crane 23, and loading / unloading stations 24, 25 arranged near the ends of the racks 22, 22. The operation of the stacker crane 23 is controlled by an on-crane machine control panel 26 mounted on the stacker crane 23.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the inventory management computer 3 of the same automatic warehouse system. The inventory management computer 3 is a personal computer,
It comprises a keyboard 32 and a display 33, and the display 33 displays a storage setting screen 1. Body 3
In the external storage device 1, each of the shelves 21 of the racks 22
The data on each of the articles stored in the storage area is stored. The inventory management computer 3 is connected to the on-crane machine control panel 26 via optical communication, and transmits a transfer command and receives a work status. The transport command is
It is created based on stored article data by operating the keyboard 32 or by an instruction from a higher-level computer (not shown). For example, when receiving an instruction to pick a certain type of product in a certain number, a transfer command starting from the shelf 21 in which the articles W including the required number of products of the type are stored and ending at the loading / unloading station 25 is sent to the crane. It is given to the onboard control panel 26.
When the inventory management computer 3 receives the operation result from the on-crane machine control panel 26, it updates the inventory management data and transmits the result data to a host computer.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

As described above, when articles W are stored in the automatic warehouse, the keyboard 32 is operated to display the storage setting screen 1 (step S1). As described above, input setting is performed on the warehousing setting screen 1 (step S2), and when the input is completed, the function key of the confirm 13 is pressed (step S3). Next, the inventory management computer 3 determines whether or not the storage destination specified on the storage setting screen 1 is a storage and retrieval station (step S4). If the receiving destination is not the loading / unloading station, the stacker crane 23 stores the articles W on the shelf of the receiving destination according to the transfer command of the inventory management computer 3 as usual (step S5). The inventory management computer 3 receiving the work result from 26 updates the data for inventory management (step S6), and records the incoming data (step S7).

The determination as to whether or not the storage destination is the storage / delivery station is made based on the number input to the shelf number 111. In this embodiment, the loading / unloading station 2
4 and 25 show 2 rows, 3 rows and 6 steps “2-3-
Three numbers similar to the shelf number such as “6” are assigned. For example, the loading / unloading station 25 is represented by “1-0-1” as shown in FIG. This is determined in terms of one row, zero station, and one step according to the actual position of the loading / unloading station 25 so that the operator can easily understand and memorize the information. The entry / exit station 24 is "2-0-1" because it is near the end of the second row.

If it is determined whether or not the storage destination is the storage station (step S4), it is determined that the storage destination is the storage station and the article is handled directly.
Next, it is determined whether the entry / exit station that is the entry destination is the entry source (step S8). In the storage setting screen of FIG. 1, the shelf number 111 and the ST No. 112 are "1-0-
1 ". In such a case, the storage destination is the storage source. When the entry / exit station different from the entry source is designated as the entry destination, the inventory management computer 3 gives a transport command to the stacker crane 23 to transport the articles to the entry / exit station at the entry destination (step S9). There is no need to carry out the work of transferring articles to and from the shelves during this conveyance. When the same entry / exit station as the entry source is designated as the entry destination, the inventory management computer 3 does not give a transport command to the stacker crane 23. After the article is conveyed to the storage / delivery station of the storage destination, or after it is determined that the same storage / delivery station as the storage source is designated as the storage destination, the storage data is recorded in the inventory management computer 3 (step S10). ), Exit data with the entry date as the exit date is recorded (step S11). The incoming data and the outgoing data are recorded in the inventory management computer 3 and used as data for inventory management, and further transferred and recorded to a host computer in order to manage the incoming / outgoing shipment.

According to the above-described embodiment, at the time of setting the storage, only the entry / exit station is designated as the destination, no operation of the special inventory management computer 3 is required, and the wasteful operation of the stacker crane is involved. Data and articles can be processed as direct shipments without the need. Also,
Even when the entry / exit station is different between the case of entry and the exit, it does not involve useless stacker crane transfer operations. Furthermore, since the designation of the entry / exit station is performed in the same way as the designation of the storage bin on the entry setting screen,
It is possible to cause the inventory management computer to handle the direct delivery without requiring any special operation. Furthermore, it is only necessary to register a station number without having to change the layout of the warehousing setting screen and to send the station directly when the number is specified. It's easy to do.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be appropriately modified and implemented within the scope of the present invention.

[0025]

As described above, according to the automatic warehouse system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the articles are handled as direct shipment only by specifying the entry / exit station as the entry destination when the entry is set. That is, the article is not stored in the rack, and the outgoing data having the outgoing date on the same day as the incoming date of the incoming data is recorded together with the incoming data.

According to the automatic warehousing system according to the second aspect of the present invention, even if the warehousing station is different from the warehousing destination and the warehousing source, it is simply transported to the designated warehousing station, resulting in unnecessary transfer. No loading operation is involved.

According to the automatic warehousing system according to the third aspect of the present invention, a special operation is required because the entry / exit station can be designated by the same operation as the designation of the shelf number on the entry setting screen. It is possible to handle direct shipment without having to do so.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a storage setting screen in one embodiment of an automatic warehouse system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a part of an automatic warehouse of the same automatic warehouse system as FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an inventory management computer of the same automatic warehouse system as in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process of setting a warehouse by the inventory management computer of the same automatic warehouse system as in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Receiving setting screen 111 Storage bin 112 STNo. 14 Data table

Claims (3)

[Claims] In an automatic warehouse system including an inventory management means for storing data of articles stored in each shelf and giving a transport command to a stacker crane, the inventory management means includes a storage station as a storage destination when a storage is set. When specified, an automatic warehouse system that records the incoming data and the outgoing data with the incoming date as the outgoing date without storing the article in the rack. 2. The stock management means sends a transfer command to a stacker crane to transfer to a designated entry / exit station when an entry / exit station different from the entry source is designated as an entry destination at the time of entry setting. Claim 1 to give
Automatic warehouse system as described in. 3. The automatic warehousing system according to claim 1, wherein the designation of the entry / exit station at the time of the entry setting can be performed in the same manner as the designation of the shelf number on the entry setting screen.