JPS6181303A - Classifying system in distribution center - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the process of delivering commodities to be carried out in reference to each rack, according to a method wherein each one of totes received from respective makers etc. is allows to contain only one kind of package commodity allotted thereto individually. CONSTITUTION:When various sorts and much quantities of package commodities received from each maker or the like, are shipped out after being packed in differents totes in compliance with orders from respective shops, many totes each of which contains only one kind of package commodity are thrown into respective racks of a rotary rack 2. At the same time, the kinds an quantity etc. of the commodity corresponding to said own rack address are stored in a computer 27 and in compliance with the instruction of the computer 27 in which contents of orders from respective shops have been stored in advance, the rack containing the commodity to be subjected to picking is moved to the picking position and kinds and quantities of commodities to be subjected to picking are instructed to the picker.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Purpose of the Invention] The present invention is aimed at transporting packaged products, which are small and light enough to be grasped with one hand, from various manufacturers and wholesalers, and transporting them to convenience stores, etc. This relates to a distribution center that sorts and distributes orders from each store, organizes and delivers them to each delivery destination.

Obedience! In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of community-based retail stores such as so-called convenience stores, which are open 24 hours a day and in some cases are open 24 hours a day, allowing customers living in the surrounding area to easily purchase daily necessities.

Generally, stores of this type carry a large variety of products, but are characterized by a small number of each product. In particular, for products that require freshness, it is important to sell all of them on the same day and avoid leaving unsold items as much as possible, so we are in a situation where we have to stock up on products at least once a day.

Under these circumstances, in the past, each product was individually delivered directly from each manufacturer or wholesaler to stores scattered throughout the country.

However, if each product was individually delivered directly from its manufacturer as described above, it would take time because there were many stores to be delivered to, and each store would have to The unloading volume is small, which results in poor delivery efficiency, which not only increases the cost of goods, but also has drawbacks such as overlapping delivery vehicles, leading to traffic congestion.

In order to solve this problem, a distribution center is interposed between each manufacturer or wholesaler and each store, and the products delivered from manufacturers, etc. are sorted according to the orders of each store, and then packed into separate totes and distributed to each store. However, since there are so many types and numbers of products to be processed, it was necessary to develop a system that can efficiently sort them in a short period of time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to provide a distribution center that can quickly and reliably sort and efficiently deliver a large variety of products in a short period of time. The purpose of sorting is to provide a system.

[Structure of the Invention] The sorting system at the distribution center of the present invention handles a wide variety of packaged products received in totes from various manufacturers in accordance with orders from each store. At a distribution center that ships items in different totes, a large number of totes containing the same type of packaged products are loaded into each rack of a rotating rack, and the type and quantity of the product corresponding to that rack address is etc. is stored in the computer, and the racks containing the products to be picked are moved to the picking position according to instructions from the computer, which has previously stored the order details from each store, and the type and quantity of the products to be picked. This feature is characterized in that it instructs the picker.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows packaged products such as so-called chilled foods, such as hanbeng, raw noodles, kamaboko, and soy milk, which are received from various manufacturers and wholesalers in shallow plastic containers (hereinafter referred to as -)1). , which indicates the distribution center where the orders are sorted by order from each store, organized by each delivery direction, and delivered. 1 is a long and narrow cold room whose room temperature is adjusted to about 0°C to 4°C. A rotary rack 2 consisting of, for example, 184 racks is installed in the cold room 1 and can rotate in both left and right directions. As is clear from FIG. 2, the rotary rack 2 has 12
They are installed in stages, each of which can be rotated independently.

A storage entrance 1& is opened on the left end side of the cold room 1, and a cooking machine 3 is installed outside of the entrance 1&. The cooking machine 3, as shown in FIG. This is a device in which the positions are aligned corresponding to the stages, and the materials are loaded at once as shown in FIG. 2(B). There is a row between the cooking machine 3 and loading game) A and B.
A Ritsura conveyor 4 is installed.

On the other hand, a picking frontage 1 is located on the right side of the cold room 1.
6 The picking frontage 1b where b is provided wR is the third
As shown in the figure, there are a total of 8 locations, 2 locations at the same height and 4 stages each, and as is clear from Figure 4B, each picking frontage 1b has 3 stages of rotating racks 2. It looks like this. A picking station 5 is provided outside the picking opening 1b, on which a worker called a picker P performs sorting work. Therefore, the second picker P has three stages of rotating racks 2.

As is clear from FIG. 4B, on the opposite side of the picking frontage 11) with the picker P in between, there is a roller conveyor 6 for delivering food assortment totes from above, and a roller conveyor 2 for feeding totes in the assortment layer. A conveyor 7 and a roller conveyor 8 for collecting used empty totes are arranged.

As shown in FIG. 3, the upper delivery roller conveyor 6 (
The slat elevators 9 are connected to the slat elevator 9 located at the left end, and the food assortment totes t transported from each picking station 5 are sequentially lowered by the slat elevator 9 to its lower end. .

(See Fig. 5) As shown in Fig. 6, a roller conveyor 10 is connected to the lower end of the slat elevator 9, and the lowered slat elevator 9 is sequentially conveyed to the lower part of the slat elevator 11 on the left. It's getting crowded.

Four stages of sorter conveyors 12a to 12d each consisting of a roller conveyor are connected in parallel to the slat elevator 11, and the other end thereof is connected to another slat elevator 13. A roller conveyor 14 is connected to the lower end of the slat elevator 13, and a roller conveyor 14 is connected to shipping stations C and D, and a palletizer 15 is disposed in the middle thereof. The palletizer 15 is a device that piles up totes that have been flowing one tote at a time in 12 stages.

Furthermore, the lower collection roller conveyors 8 (total of 4) shown in Figures 4^ and 4B are collected from the rotary rack 2 by the slat elevator van 5 located at the right end, as is clear from Figure 3. Used empties transported by
1 is lowered to its lower end by the slat elevator 16. A roller conveyor 17 is connected to the lower end of the slat elevator 16 to send the unloaded tows 1 to a washer 18 and a dryer 19.

As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 7, roller conveyors 20 and 20' are connected to the outlet of the dryer 19, and fresh washed and dried empty air is conveyed to the lower end of the slat elevator 21. supply. The slat elevator 21 raises the supplied empty totes N and distributes them to the empty tote supplying roller conveyors 7 in the middle stages, as shown in Fig. ftrJ3.

22 is a stockyard for storing empty)-)1, and is equipped with five roller conveyors 23 that can move in both directions. A depalletizer 24 is disposed at the replenishment port 22a of the stockyard 22, and is configured to send out the empty ()-)1 piled up in the stockyard 22 one by one to the roller conveyor 20'. still,
Empty from the stockyard 22)-)1 is the washing machine 18
The slat elevator 21 is replenished only when the dryer (empty)-)1 is preferentially supplied from the dryer 19 during the holidays.

In Figure 1, E and F are the sky brought back from each store)
-) This is the date to import 1. The empties ()-)1 carried in from the dais E and F are transferred to the washer 18 through the roller conveyor 25. In addition, when the picking operation is stopped, the empty toe 1 ton from the washer 18 does not flow toward the slat elevator 21, but instead goes to the stockyard 22.
sent within.

On the opposite side of the stockyard 22 is a tote outlet 22.
b is provided and communicated with the roller conveyor 14 through a roller conveyor 26.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a computer-controlled system configuration, and 27 is a minicomputer installed in the office of the distribution center, which controls peripheral devices such as a CRT display, keyboard, printer, floppy disk, and fixed desk. We are prepared.

28 is Mark League and date A for arrival.

It is installed at position B, and the arrival information is sent to the mini computer 2 mentioned above.
7.

29 is a barcode league, which is installed in the above-mentioned shoe-making machine 3, the roller conveyor 6 at the picking station position, the slat elevator 11, etc., and reads the barcode No. of )-)1 during transportation. Tote information for control by the minicomputer 27 is input.

30 is a CRT display for picking,
Reference numeral 31 denotes a printer for printing shipping slips, and 32 a seven-way switch, one of which is provided at each picking station position, and connected to the mini-computer 27 via a link 33.

34 is a microcontroller, which is connected to each actuator of the 12 stages of rotary racks 2, slat elevators 11 and 13, etc., and is connected to a minicomputer 27.
Each of the actuators is driven and controlled by commands from the controller.

35 is a guide display.

11=2□-1□-ノ]J-- Next, the work of sorting chilled foods using the equipment of the above embodiment and arranging the assortment totes according to the delivery direction of each store will be described.

First, the center receives orders from each store. As for the contents of the order, the customer receives the store name, code numbers of chilled foods such as hanpen, fresh noodles, kamaboko, and soy milk, and their quantities over the phone, and immediately inputs them into the mini-computer 27. Once all order data has been entered, each chilled food item is classified and aggregated by each wholesaler and manufacturer to which it is delivered, and the order is placed over the phone and an order slip is printed out at the same time.

Each wholesaler or manufacturer that receives an order prepares or manufactures the necessary types and quantities of chilled foods, and produces one )-)
1 is packed and delivered with the same type of chilled food. At this time, a mark sheet is used for the delivery slip, and the code number of the chilled food that corresponds to the wholesaler's or manufacturer's code number, )-)1 code number, the quantity, and the date of shipment are manually recorded on the mark sheet. Fill out. Tote 1 is loaded onto a truck with 12 tiers as one stack and shipped to the center. The above mark sheet must be brought by the driver.

When the truck arrives at the center, follow the information display 35 when the reception starts and arrive at date A for arrival.

The mark sheet brought by the driver is inserted into the mark reader 28, and the corresponding sheets )-)1 are sent from the roller conveyor 4 to the stacking machine 3 in units of 12 stages. The stacking machine 3 is the second
Lift each )-)1 vertically as shown in figure (A),
The heights of the rotary racks 2 corresponding to each stage are matched, and the materials are loaded at once as shown in FIG. 2(B). The stacking machine 3 is equipped with 12 stages of barcode leagues 29, and each code No.)-)1 is read and the minicomputer 27 stores the position on the rotary rack 2 at which the barcode league is loaded. In addition, when this )-)1 is inserted, 12
All the racks of the tiered rotating racks 2 are arranged to rotate synchronously in the same vertical direction.

In this way, when all actual images)-)1 have been inputted, the computer 27 shows which rack 2 of the rotary rack has which)-)1 placed therein, and which)-)1.
The number and type of chilled foods contained in the container are all stored in memory in the mini-computer 27. still,
The unloaded truck moves to Day)C and D, loads the same number of empty picture totes as the number of delivered totes)-)1, and returns to the wholesaler or manufacturer.

When the loading into the rotating rack 3 is completed, the next step is picking work. As mentioned above, three stages of rotary racks 2 face each picking frontage 1b, and the third picker P holds the rotary racks 2. First, when the picker P transfers the cleaned empty )-) 1 supplied by the roller conveyor 7 onto the roller conveyor 6, the washed empty )-) 1 is transferred onto the roller conveyor 6.
) 1 is read by the barcode league 29 and stored in the minicomputer 27.

On the other hand, the rotary rack 2 is rotationally driven by instructions from the minicomputer 27 and the microcontroller 34,
At the same time that the actual picture containing the chilled foods outside the picking area is transferred to the picking frontage 11) and picked, the type and number of chilled foods to be picked is displayed on the picking instruction CRT display 30. According to this instruction, the picker P picks the required number of chilled foods and packs them into the empty tote 7 on the roller conveyor 6, and when finished, presses the 7 switch 32 and waits for the next instruction. During this picking operation, the mini-computer 27 has already rotated the rotary rack 2 on another stage, and moved the actual picture ()-)1 containing the chilled foods to be picked next to the picking frontage 1b in advance. This makes the work more efficient. Therefore, at the same time as pressing the 7-way switch 32 or without waiting for much time, the picker P receives instructions on the type and number of foods to be picked on the CRT display 30 and can pick them immediately. In this way, after completing the first assortment of ()-)1 according to the instructions from the CRT display 30, a shipping slip is printed out on the printer 31, and the picker P tears it up and performs the above-mentioned assortment)-)1. and sent out by the roller conveyor 6.

The picker P takes out the next empty tote 1 from the roller conveyor 7, places it on the roller conveyor 6 again, prepares for the next stuffing, and repeats the same picking operation as above according to instructions from the minicomputer 27. If the rotating racks 2 )-)1 become empty during the picking operation, the picker P takes them out at any time, transfers them onto the roller conveyor 8, and sends them to the washing machine 18.

-) 1 (in some cases, all chilled foods of the same type are packed together) are once lowered by a six-rat elevator 9 and then transported via a roller conveyor 10. However, on the roller conveyor 10, the )-)1 from the eight pickers P are sent at any time, so each assortment)-)1 is sorted by store and delivery direction. It comes in an unorganized and random state. Therefore, a barcode league 29 is provided at the lower end of the slat elevator 11 to read the bar food of t-)t. According to instructions, the items are sorted to one of the four sorter conveyors 12a to 12d according to the store to be delivered.

The two totoshi bags separated by store are collectively taken in by a subsequent slat elevator 13 to stores along a predetermined delivery route, and then sent to a roller conveyor 14. For example, if a delivery truck is designed to deliver in the order of store b → store d → store a → store C, first, the second stage where the trucks 1 for store b are lined up. The totes on the sorter conveyor 12b are taken in, followed by the totes for the eight stores on the bottom tier, the totes for store A on the upper tier, and the totes for store C on the third tier.

Note that when loading from the back of the delivery truck bed and unloading from the front, it may be better to do it the other way. A palletizer 15 is provided in the middle of the roller conveyor 14, and the palletizers (1) and (1) arranged by store and area are stacked in 12 stages, and the palletizers are placed on standby at shipping dates (C and D) according to the instructions on the guide display device 35. loaded onto a truck.

[19] Although chilled foods were described in the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be frozen foods, room temperature foods, high temperature foods, etc. In addition, when handling packaged foods with different insulating temperatures at the same time, divide the warehouse containing the rotating racks (cold room 1 in the above example) with partition walls to create multiple rooms, and separate each room from each other. It is recommended that the temperature be maintained at an appropriate temperature for the food.

The rotating rack may be of a vertical type, and the number of racks and the number of stages may be appropriately set depending on the scale of the distribution center. Therefore, the number of rotary racks that one picker has can be set according to the scale.

Further, in the above embodiment, the means for instructing the picker is a CRT display, but the contents of the instruction may be transmitted to the picker by an instruction by voice, a printout, or a combination of these, in short, an instruction from a minicomputer. It is fine as long as it is something.

Further, the number of sorter conveyors is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be set depending on the number of stores to be delivered and the amount of totes to be processed.

[Effect of the invention 1 (1) One tote received from each manufacturer, etc. contains only the same type of packaged products, and since these are put into each rotating rack, the products can be distributed according to each rack. can be stored, and the command control for sorting by computer is simple.

(2) Since a wide variety of packaged products received from various manufacturers etc. are loaded in a rotating manner, the loading and picking positions are fixed, which not only makes loading and picking operations easier, but also makes it easier to load them. The FPI structure and arrangement of related conveyor systems etc. can be configured to be simple and compact.

(3) Picking instructions can be given without controlling the rotation of the rotating racks using a computer that stores the order details of each store in advance and remembers which racks contain what kind of packaged products and how much. ,
The picker only has to perform the picking operation according to these instructions, and the picking operation can be performed accurately and quickly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

#S1 is a plan layout of a distribution center showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a front view of the entire picking station, and Figure 8 is an enlarged front view of the picking station, Figure 4B is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in Figure 4A, Figure 5 is a perspective view of the slat elevator, Figure 6 is a side view of the sorter system, and Figure 7 is a side view of the sorter system. The figure shows a plan view of the empty tote supply station, tJ
&8 Figure is a diagram showing a system configuration controlled by a computer. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Cold room, 1a... Storage entrance, 1b... Picking frontage, 2... Rotary rack, 3... Stacking machine, 5... Picking station, 6... Outgoing roller conveyor , 7... supply roller conveyor,
8... Collection roller conveyor, 9... Slat elevator, 10... Roller conveyor, 11... Slat elevator, 12a=12b+12cm12cL...
Sorter conveyor, 13...Slat elevator, 15
...Palletizer, 18...Wash? lJ, 21...Slat elevator, 22...Stockyard, 24.
...Depalletizer-127...Mini computer, 2
8... Mark I7-g, 29... Barcode league, 30... CRT display, 33... Microcontroller, A, B, C, D, E, F... Gate,
P...picker, t...tote.

Claims (1)

[Claims] At a distribution center where a large variety of packaged products arrived in totes from various manufacturers etc. are packed into different totes according to orders from each store and shipped, a large quantity of packaged products of the same kind in one tote is shipped. The totes are placed in each rack of the carousel, and the type and quantity of the product corresponding to that rack address are stored in the computer, and the picking is carried out according to instructions from the computer, which has previously stored the order details from each store. A sorting system characterized by moving a rack containing products to be picked to a picking position and instructing a picker about the type and quantity of the products to be picked.