KR102575036B1 - Order mapping method for improving productivity in opt automatic sorting facility - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an order matching method or an order matching algorithm for improving the productivity of an order-to-person (OTP) automatic sorting facility, according to one aspect of the present invention
An order mapping method for improving productivity in an automatic sorting facility having a plurality of stations for each unit is provided, which includes:
Checking the number of reserved boxes for each station;
generating a load score for each station based on the number of reserved boxes for each station;
calculating a total load score for each order based on the generated load score for each station;
sorting the orders in the order list in descending order based on the total load score per order;
selecting an order having the lowest total load score from among the sorted order lists;
Mapping the selected order and departing the box to the corresponding station; and
and updating load scores for each station.

Description

Order mapping method for productivity improvement in OTP type automatic sorting equipment {ORDER MAPPING METHOD FOR IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY IN OPT AUTOMATIC SORTING FACILITY}

The present invention relates to an order matching method or an order matching algorithm for improving productivity in an order-to-person (OTP) automatic sorting facility.

Recently, in the E-Commerce industry, more and more consumers enjoy shopping easily through mobile shopping beyond internet shopping, and an era in which the needs of consumers become the basis for same-day delivery is gradually coming.

In response to this, same-day order processing is becoming the default in logistics centers that process it, and the capacity to process orders quickly on the same day is gradually increasing.

Sorting equipment can be largely divided into OTP (Order-To-Person) and GTP (Good-To-Person) according to the work method. , Person), and the work of the GTP sorting method, contrary to OPT, is a method in which the total amount of picked products (GOOD) is delivered to each work station and the final order is completed, that is, products other than BOX Refers to the way it moves.

On the other hand, facilities such as DPS (short for Digital Picking System, OPT-type sorting facility) and DAS (short for Digital Assorting System, GTP-type sorting facility) used in existing B2C logistics centers (logistics centers exclusively for online malls) have limited processing capacity. There is a limit, and an automated sorting facility (see Fig. 1) is being introduced to solve the problem of same-day order processing, but the order is randomly mapped, resulting in a situation in which boxes to be worked on by station are unbalanced. There are downsides to efficiency.

An object of the present invention is to provide an order mapping method or an order matching algorithm for improving productivity in OPT automatic sorting equipment as an invention made based on the above problems.

In order to solve the above problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, an order mapping method for improving productivity in an automatic sorting facility having a plurality of stations per unit is provided. The order matching method according to the present invention,

Checking the number of reserved boxes for each station;

generating a load score for each station based on the number of reserved boxes for each station;

calculating a total load score for each order based on the generated load score for each station;

sorting the orders in the order list in descending order based on the total load score per order;

selecting an order having the lowest total load score from among the sorted order lists;

Mapping the selected order and departing the box to the corresponding station; and

Updating the load score for each station; is included as a characteristic component.

In the foregoing aspect, the total load score per order is given by the following equation:

is calculated by

In addition, in the above-described aspect, in the step of generating the load score for each station based on the number of reserved boxes for each station, the load score for each station is calculated by adding different load scores based on the number of boxes reserved for the station.

In addition, in the above-described aspect, when the number of reserved boxes in one station is greater than or equal to the predetermined number of boxes, a large load score is added in order to prevent an order from being allocated to the corresponding station.

In addition, in the above-described aspect, each station is configured to physically enter up to 3 boxes, and is configured to reserve and allocate up to 20 boxes based on the distance from box departure to station entry.

In addition, in the above-described aspect, the step of updating the load score for each station is a + count of the reservation box count of the station to be picked for each order line of the selected order, and a - count for the reservation box for each station for which the picking has been completed to obtain a load score for each station It is configured to update.

According to the present invention, a load score is given based on the number of boxes reserved for each station, a total load score per order is calculated, and boxes are reserved and departed in order of lower total load scores, so that real-time load can be checked. Correspondingly, productivity can be improved by carrying out box input for each station.

1 is a diagram showing an example of a layout of a workshop for explaining OTP (Order-To-Person) automatic sorting equipment;
2 is a hierarchical diagram for explaining the relationship between units, stations, and cells installed in a workplace;
FIG. 3 is a view showing a process in which an ordered box is discharged on a discharging conveyor after being branched to a picking station through a supply conveyor and completing picking by an operator;
4 is a diagram for explaining the order mapping logic, a diagram for explaining the concept before/after application of the order mapping logic;
5 is a view for explaining a flow rack for high frequency SKU replenishment and a light rack for low frequency SKU replenishment;
6 is a flow chart showing the flow of the order mapping logic according to the present invention;
7 illustrates an example of order mapping logic in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 8 shows an example of order mapping logic subsequent to Figure 7;
9 is a graph in which productivity comparison is performed before and after application of the order mapping logic.

Advantages and features of the present invention, and methods for achieving them, will become clear with reference to the embodiments described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below and will be implemented in various different forms.

In this specification, this embodiment is provided to complete the disclosure of the present invention, and to completely inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the invention to which the present invention belongs. And the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Thus, in some embodiments, well-known components, well-known operations and well-known techniques have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the interpretation of the present invention.

Like reference numbers designate like elements throughout the specification. And, the terms used (mentioned) in this specification are for describing the embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. In this specification, singular forms also include plural forms unless specifically stated otherwise in a phrase. Also, elements and operations referred to as 'include (or include)' do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other elements and operations.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in this specification may be used in a meaning commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. In addition, terms defined in commonly used dictionaries are not interpreted ideally or excessively unless they are defined.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram showing an example of a layout of a workplace for explaining OTP (Order-To-Person) automatic sorting equipment. As shown in FIG. 1, in the OTP type automatic sorting facility, empty order containers (empty boxes) are delivered to each unit (only units 1 and 2 are shown in FIG. 1) through a transportation means such as a conveyor belt.

Such an OTP type automatic sorting facility is defined by dividing into units, stations, and cells (cell or rack), and each product stock is allocated to a cell. In general, product sorting is not required for orders consisting of one order line (ie, one SKU), but product sorting is essential for orders consisting of two or more order lines.

2 is a diagram showing a hierarchical structure of a station-station-cell in sorting equipment. As shown in FIG. 2, one unit is divided into a plurality of stations, and each station is composed of a plurality of cells in which different product inventories are stored.

In such an OTP automatic sorting facility, after leaving an empty box, the box ID and order are mapped (order assignment) to join the line, and the mapped box is automatically put into the unit for picking.

Inside the OTP-type automated sorting facility, it consists of a conveyor and a work station, and in the work station, a flow rack is installed in the front and a light rack is installed in the rear, and different SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) are replenished in the cell. According to the order, the corresponding SKU is picked and put into the box.

The mapping box introduced into the automated sorting facility is branched to the picking station through the supply conveyor (hereinafter referred to as supply CV) as shown in FIG.

The station where the worker is located is composed of a picking conveyor (hereinafter referred to as Picking CV), and is configured to enter up to 3 boxes for work and work standby.

For this reason, reducing the waiting time for station work by sending the work to the station as soon as the box exits the station after work is completed is an alternative to improving overall productivity, and the box is placed in the work waiting space (supply CV + discharge CV) in addition to the picking CV. circulates serves as a buffer for the input of picking CV, so continuously inserting boxes into the waiting space to reduce waiting time helps to improve productivity.

Semi-automation facilities such as automated sorting facilities require optimization for each facility operation process to maximize productivity. In particular, in the case of an automated sorting facility, it is one of the important factors to improve productivity by seamlessly supplying the boxes to be picked by workers to the station.

The order mapping logic (algorithm) is a logic that decides in real time which order to process first among the orders to be processed by the automated sorting facility on the same day by tracking the station load in the machine.

Figure 4 is a diagram for explaining the order mapping logic. As shown in Figure 4, when comparing the order mapping logic before and after, the order is mapped randomly in a situation where control is not possible before application, and the box to be worked for each station is There is a high possibility of an imbalanced input situation, and in order to solve this problem, the present invention applies an improved order mapping algorithm to place orders that require work in a place with a low workload by considering the real-time station-specific workload. Select and map to operate to start the box.

* Main contents of order mapping logic

In order to explain the order mapping logic of the present invention, the concept of order and order line will be described first.

1) Concept of order and order line

When a customer purchases products online through an act of shopping, one order is created for each customer, and these orders are interfaced with the center system to perform work.

An order line is defined as a product (hereinafter referred to as SKU) included in a customer's order, and is the most important factor because the minimum work unit is an order line when performing work at the center, and work is carried out based on this.

Table 2 below is a table showing an example of order data. As shown in Table 2, one order is composed of n order lines, and the center performs work for each order line.

[Table 2]

For example, it can be seen from Table 2 that one order ID 867947 is composed of two order lines.

2) The concept of replenishment

The automated sorting facility is operated in the OTP (Order to Person) method. When the order box enters the work station, the operator picks the SKUs replenished in the replenishment cell into the order box.

5 is a view for explaining a flow rack for high frequency SKU replenishment and a light rack for low frequency SKU replenishment. As shown in FIG. 5 for each work station, a flow rack for high frequency SKU replenishment and a light rack for low frequency SKU replenishment are installed.

In the case of flow racks, since high-frequency SKUs are replenished, they are usually used as fixed locations (1SKU 1Location).

3) Detailed description of order mapping logic

In the work station of the automated sorting facility, box input and output occurs in seconds, and at the same time, a worker performs a picking operation at the work station, so many variables exist.

Here, the various variables mean that unexpected work delays occur frequently, which can be caused by the uncertainty of the picking time, cleaning up the surroundings of workers, and unexpected toilets during work.

Since these variables can cause a decrease in productivity when responding with static logic, in the present invention, dynamic logic-based order mapping logic that can respond by checking the station load in real time to provide.

In the present invention, when mapping an order to an empty box, an order is searched according to the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, and an order to be mapped is determined and then mapped.

① Checking the number of reserved boxes for each station: Each station can physically enter up to 3 boxes, but due to the distance from the departure of the box to entering the station, 20 boxes (1 box for work + 2 boxes for work + 17 reserved boxes) box), and in this step, the number of reserved boxes for each station is counted.

② Score creation step for each station: Score for each station = number of reserved boxes, and if the number of reserved boxes is 20 or more in a station, the score is set as high as 100.0 to prevent orders from being allocated to the station.

[Table 3]

Table 3 above shows an example of assigning scores for each station. Different scores are given to each station according to the number of reservation boxes, but in the case of a station with more than 20 reservation boxes (No. 8), 100 points are awarded and another order is assigned to that station. prevented from becoming

③ Step of applying the total score calculation formula for each order: In this step, the total score for each order is calculated based on the score for each station created. Here, adding +1 to the score is a measure to prevent 0 from appearing because 0 is multiplied or divided by any number in the case of 0 (if the same station is assigned to each order line, duplicate scores are excluded)

④ Sorting order list in descending order of total score by order: In this step, the total score of orders in the order list is calculated through the total score calculation formula and sorted in order of lowest score.

⑤ Lowest total score order selection step: In this step, the order with the lowest total score among the entire order list is selected.

⑥ Box departure step after order mapping: In this step, the box is departed after mapping the selected order to the box ID and order ID.

⑦ Score update step for each station: In this step, the number of reservation boxes of stations to be picked for each order line of the selected order is counted + , Return to the first step, the step of checking the number of reserved boxes for each station.

7 is a diagram illustrating an example of order mapping logic. As shown in ① of FIG. 7, the total score is calculated by reflecting the score of each order line of the order list based on the score of each station.

In a later step, the order with the lowest total score in the order list is selected and mapped to the order. In this example, order ID 866633 was ordered mapped with a score of 15.

In a subsequent step, the number of reserved boxes and scores of the work stations (stations 1, 4, and 6) for each order line of the selected order are updated as shown in ② of FIG.

8 is a diagram showing an example following the example of the order mapping logic of FIG. 7, and the order mapping logic is applied to select the next order based on the score of ② updated in the example of the order mapping logic of FIG. 7, As shown in FIG. 8, the order with the lowest total score is selected. In the example of FIG. 8 , order ID 867991 was selected as the order with the lowest score of 16.5.

In a subsequent step, the number of reservation boxes and scores of the work stations (stations 2 and 5) for each order line of the selected order are updated as shown in ③ of FIG.

* Result of order mapping logic

The productivity of automated sorting equipment is affected by the number of touches per order, and as the number of touches per order increases, the total productivity decreases because the number of work stations that need to be lifted increases as the number of touches per order increases.

For this reason, when comparing productivity by the order mapping logic according to the present invention, the comparison was performed by selecting a date with the same level of touches per order.

As shown in Table 4 below, 1,094 cases per hour on average were processed with the automated sorting facility before application of order mapping, and 1,198 cases per hour were processed on average after application of order mapping, resulting in a productivity improvement of about 9.6%.

[Table 4]

9 is a graph comparing productivity by time before and after application of the order mapping logic. When comparing productivity per hour for each day, there is a deviation in productivity by time period, but productivity is leveled upward, so that the average hourly productivity is up to about 12%. An improvement of at least 7% was confirmed.

Table 5 shows the details of the number of orders, the number of order lines, and the SKU per order on the date the productivity per hour was compared in the graph shown in FIG. Productivity comparison was conducted after selection.

[Table 5]

As a result of comparing picking time per touch among the factors affecting productivity, as shown in Table 6, productivity increased by 9.6% with an average of 10 to 12 seconds per touch before and after applying the order mapping logic, but the picking time per touch increased by 9.6%. It was analyzed that the influence of the picking time was not significant because the variation was not large.

[Table 6]

As a result of analyzing the total box waiting time for each work station, as shown in Table 7, it was reduced by about 14% before and after applying the order mapping logic.

[Table 7]

The devices described above may be implemented as hardware components, software components, and/or a combination of hardware components and software components. For example, devices and components described in the embodiments may include, for example, a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) , a programmable logic unit (PLU), microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions. A processing device may run an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the operating system. A processing device may also access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to execution of software. For convenience of understanding, there are cases in which one processing device is used, but those skilled in the art will understand that the processing device includes a plurality of processing elements and/or a plurality of types of processing elements. It can be seen that it can include. For example, a processing device may include a plurality of processors or a processor and a controller. Other processing configurations are also possible, such as parallel processors.

Software may include a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more of the foregoing, which configures a processing device to operate as desired or processes independently or collectively. You can command the device. Software and/or data may be any tangible machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage medium or device, intended to be interpreted by or to provide instructions or data to a processing device. can be embodied in Software may be distributed on networked computer systems and stored or executed in a distributed manner. Software and data may be stored on one or more computer readable media.

The method according to the embodiment may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer means and recorded on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. Program commands recorded on the medium may be specially designed and configured for the embodiment or may be known and usable to those skilled in computer software. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tapes, optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic media such as floptical disks. - includes hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as magneto-optical media, and ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter, as well as machine language codes such as those produced by a compiler.

As described above, although the embodiments have been described with limited examples and drawings, those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations from the above description. For example, the described techniques may be performed in an order different from the method described, and/or components of the described system, structure, device, circuit, etc. may be combined or combined in a different form than the method described, or other components may be used. Or even if it is replaced or substituted by equivalents, appropriate results can be achieved.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents of the claims should be construed as falling within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (6)

In a recording medium on which an order mapping method is recorded that is executed on a computer that manages an automatic sorting facility for productivity improvement in an automatic sorting facility having a plurality of stations for each unit,
The order mapping method, which runs on a computer,
Checking the number of reserved boxes for each station;
generating a load score for each station based on the number of reserved boxes for each station;
calculating a total load score for each order based on the generated load score for each station;
sorting the orders in the order list in descending order based on the total load score per order;
selecting an order having the lowest total load score from among the sorted order lists;
Mapping the selected order and departing the box to the corresponding station; and
updating a load score for each station;
including,
The total load score per order is given by the following formula:
characterized in that calculated by
A recording medium on which an order mapping method executed in a computer managing an automatic sorting facility for productivity improvement in an automatic sorting facility having a plurality of stations per unit is recorded.
delete According to claim 1,
In the step of generating a load score for each station based on the number of reserved boxes for each station, the load score for each station is characterized in that a different load score is added based on the number of boxes reserved for the station
A recording medium on which an order mapping method executed in a computer managing an automatic sorting facility for productivity improvement in an automatic sorting facility having a plurality of stations per unit is recorded.
According to claim 3,
Characterized in that if the number of reserved boxes in one station is more than a predetermined maximum number of boxes, a large load score is given to prevent an order from being assigned to the station
A recording medium on which an order mapping method executed in a computer managing an automatic sorting facility for productivity improvement in an automatic sorting facility having a plurality of stations per unit is recorded.
According to claim 1,
Each station is configured to physically enter up to 3 boxes, and is configured to reserve and allocate up to 20 boxes based on the distance from the box departure to the station entry
A recording medium on which an order mapping method executed in a computer managing an automatic sorting facility for productivity improvement in an automatic sorting facility having a plurality of stations per unit is recorded.
According to claim 3,
The step of updating the load score for each station is
Characterized in that the load score for each station is updated by counting + counting the reservation box count of the station to be picked for each order line of the selected order and - counting the reservation box for each station that has completed picking.
A recording medium on which an order mapping method executed in a computer managing an automatic sorting facility for productivity improvement in an automatic sorting facility having a plurality of stations per unit is recorded.