WO2023002695A1

WO2023002695A1 - Transportation and delivery system

Info

Publication number: WO2023002695A1
Application number: PCT/JP2022/012505
Authority: WO
Inventors: 小原生光; 古橋正得; 野畑茂広
Original assignee: 株式会社豊田自動織機
Priority date: 2021-07-20
Filing date: 2022-03-18
Publication date: 2023-01-26
Also published as: JP2023015544A

Abstract

A transportation and delivery system (100) in physical distribution between bases, between a first physical distribution base (101) having an automated warehouse (1) for performing storage and conveyance of articles (90) and another second physical distribution base (102), comprises a transportation and delivery management unit (110) for managing transportation and delivery of the articles (90), and a shipping state optimization computation unit (120) for optimizing a shipping state of the articles (90) at the first physical distribution base, the transportation and delivery management unit (110) generating shipping instruction information on the basis of reception information that includes information relating to at least a second physical distribution base (102) for receiving articles (90) and a final delivery destination (103), and delivery information that includes information relating to at least the delivery sequence of articles (90), and the shipping state optimization computation unit (120) adjusting, on the basis of the shipping instruction information, a picking sequence of the articles (90) from the automated warehouse (1) for shipping to the second physical distribution base (102).

Description

Transportation and delivery system

The present invention relates to a transportation and delivery system.

Conventionally, the one described in Patent Document 1 is known as a transportation and delivery system. This transportation/delivery system sorts articles according to a predetermined plan in an automated warehouse, transports the sorted articles to a stowage location, and performs stowage and shipment.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-2928

Here, the transportation and delivery system described above is installed at a huge distribution base. The gigantic distribution base automatically sorts and ships goods by area using a transportation delivery system so that they are distributed and delivered to the distribution bases set up in each area. However, at the distribution base downstream of the giant distribution base, the goods delivered by the transport vehicle from the distribution base are unloaded, sorted again, and loaded into the next transport vehicle. Therefore, there arises a problem that the work time and work cost for unloading and loading goods at each physical distribution base increases.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a transportation and delivery system that can reduce the work time and work cost at each distribution base.

A transportation and delivery system according to one aspect of the present invention is a transportation and delivery system in inter-base physical distribution between a first physical distribution base having an automated warehouse for storing and transporting goods and another second physical distribution base. a transportation and delivery management unit for managing the transportation and delivery of goods; and a shipping state optimization calculation unit for optimizing the shipping state of the goods at the first physical distribution base, wherein the transportation and delivery management unit includes at least the goods shipping instruction information based on receipt information including information about the second distribution base and final delivery destination that receives the goods, and delivery information including at least information about the delivery order of the goods, and the shipping state optimization calculation unit, Based on the shipping instruction information, the delivery order of articles from the automated warehouse to be shipped to the second physical distribution base is adjusted.

The transportation/delivery management unit generates shipping instruction information based on receipt information including at least information regarding the second distribution base for receiving the item and the final delivery destination, and delivery information including at least information regarding the delivery order of the item. can be done. In this way, the transportation/delivery management department issues shipping instructions in consideration of the order in which the goods shipped from the first physical distribution base will be delivered to the second physical distribution base and the final delivery destination. Information can be generated. Therefore, based on the shipping instruction information, the shipping state optimization calculation unit determines the delivery order of articles from the automated warehouse to be shipped to the second distribution base so as to reduce the amount of work at the second distribution base. can be adjusted. As described above, the work time and work cost at each physical distribution base can be reduced.

The shipping state optimization calculation unit may have a sorting control unit that controls the shipping order by controlling the sorting work of the items in the automated warehouse based on the shipping instruction information. In this case, the shipping state optimization calculation section can optimize the sorting work of the articles in the automated warehouse so that the shipping order is such that the amount of work at the second physical distribution base can be reduced.

The first physical distribution base is equipped with a stowage device that stacks the goods taken out of the automated warehouse onto a trolley for transportation mounted on the transport vehicle. It may have a stowage control unit that controls the stowage device and controls the stowage order of the articles onto the transport carriage. In this case, the shipping state optimization calculation unit optimizes the work of loading the articles onto the transport trolley by the loading device so as to achieve a stowage order that can reduce the amount of work at the second distribution base. can be

At the first physical distribution base, the articles delivered from the automated warehouse are loaded onto the transport vehicle in a state of being stacked on the transport trolley, and the multiple transport trolleys may have a unified configuration. In this case, it is possible to efficiently load and unload the carts to and from the transport vehicles at each physical distribution base.

A plurality of articles shipped from a first distribution base are delivered to a plurality of second distribution bases by a carrier vehicle, and are unloaded and loaded in order at each of the second distribution bases, and the shipping state optimization calculation unit may adjust the delivery order of the goods so that the goods are loaded onto the transport vehicle in the reverse order of the unloading order at the plurality of second distribution points. In this case, in the automated warehouse, it is possible to load the articles in an order that facilitates the unloading operation at the second distribution base on the downstream side.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a transportation and delivery system capable of reducing work hours and work costs at each distribution base.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a transportation and delivery system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing in detail each component of a giant physical distribution base; FIG. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the flow of transportation and delivery until an article is delivered from a huge physical distribution base to a customer; It is a schematic diagram showing an example of a cart for transportation. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of an automated warehouse. It is a schematic diagram showing the state of the incoming side and the outgoing side of the automatic warehouse. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of a stowage device.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a transportation/delivery system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The transport/delivery system 100 is a system that supports transport/delivery in inter-base physical distribution between a giant physical distribution base 101 (first physical distribution base) and another physical distribution base 102 (second physical distribution base). The gigantic physical distribution base 101 is a base having an automated warehouse 1 that stores and transports goods, and a stowage device 2 that stacks the goods on a cart for shipping. The huge distribution base 101 is a management area managed by the transportation and delivery system 100. In this embodiment, goods to be transported and delivered are distributed as distribution bases 102, and distribution bases 102A exist in each area of the management area. There are further subdivided sales branches 102B. The sales branch 102B is a base that deals with so-called "last one mile" distribution of goods to customers who are final delivery destinations. The form of the distribution base 102 other than the gigantic distribution base 101 is not particularly limited, and the distribution base of the sales branch 102B may be omitted, and the distribution base 102A may serve as a base for "last one mile" correspondence. Alternatively, an intermediate layer distribution base may exist between the distribution base 102A and the sales branch 102B.

The goods sorted by the gigantic distribution base 101 are loaded onto the transport vehicle 104A and delivered to each distribution base 102A. At the physical distribution base 102A, the articles are unloaded from the transport vehicle 104A to the transport vehicle 104B and delivered to each sales branch 102B. At the sales branch, the articles are unloaded from the carrier vehicle 104B to the carrier vehicle 104C and delivered to each customer 103. FIG. It should be noted that each transport vehicle 104 unloads and loads the articles 90 from the rear of the vehicle, but may also unload and load from the side.

The gigantic distribution base 101 includes a transportation and delivery management unit 110, a shipping state optimization calculation unit 120, an automated warehouse 1, and a stowage device 2. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 and the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 are composed of a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and the like. The transportation and delivery management unit 110 and the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 can be configured as circuits including one or more processors operating according to programs, one or more dedicated hardware circuits such as ASICs, or a combination thereof. . The processor has a CPU and memory such as RAM and ROM. Various programs for processing information are stored in the memory, and the CPU performs calculations by reading out the various programs.

Each component of the gigantic distribution base 101 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 is a unit that manages the transportation/delivery of goods. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 generates shipping instruction information based on the receipt information and the delivery information. Receipt information is information that includes at least information on the distribution center 102 that receives the goods and the final delivery destination (customer 103). The received information also includes information relating to the manner in which the goods are stowed, such as the packing size of the goods. The information on the distribution base 102 that receives the goods and the final delivery destination is destination information that indicates to which customer 103 the goods will be delivered via which distribution base 102A and sales branch 102B. Here, for example, the giant distribution base 101 is located in each region or administrative division, and transported goods received from customers in other regions, administrative divisions, and the same administrative division are sent there and delivered to customers under that region or administrative division. transported to Therefore, the transportation and delivery management unit 110 acquires receipt information from, for example, the gigantic distribution bases 101 in other regions or administrative divisions and the distribution bases 102 in the same administrative divisions. The delivery information is information including at least information regarding the delivery order of the articles. The information about the order of delivery of goods is information indicating in what order the goods are to be delivered when a plurality of goods are to be delivered from one physical distribution center to another physical distribution center (or the customer 103). In addition, the delivery information includes a plan (vehicle allocation plan) indicating which delivery vehicle should be used to deliver each item and in what delivery order. The delivery information is information that is set based on the destination information described above. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 acquires delivery information from each physical distribution base 102 that plays a role in considering a delivery plan (route and order).

The transportation and delivery management unit 110 aggregates product information for each customer based on the receipt information and delivery information. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 collects customer delivery plans at the destination of each item based on the receipt information and delivery information. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 calculates the order of loading onto the transport vehicle based on the receipt information and the delivery information. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 adds up the packing size of each item in order, calculates the size and number of cargo beds required for the vehicle to be dispatched, and makes arrangements. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 generates these processing results as shipping instruction information. The transportation/delivery management unit 110 transmits the generated shipping instruction information to the optimization calculation unit 121 of the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 .

The shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 is a unit that optimizes the shipping state of goods at the gigantic distribution base 101 . The shipping state is information indicating what state (shipping order, stowage state on the carrier) the goods are in when they are shipped from the gigantic physical distribution base 101 . The shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 adjusts the shipping order of articles from the automated warehouse based on the shipping instruction information, and optimizes shipping to the physical distribution base 102A. The shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 has an optimization calculation unit 121 , a sorting control unit 122 and a stowage control unit 123 .

The optimization calculation unit 121 is a unit that performs calculations for optimizing the shipping state based on the shipping instruction information. The optimization calculation unit 121 calculates shipping order instruction information that indicates the shipping order in the automated warehouse 1 based on the shipping instruction information. Moreover, the optimization calculation part 121 calculates the stowage order instruction information which instruct|indicates the stowage order in the stowage device 2 based on shipping instruction information. The optimization calculation unit 121 outputs shipping order instruction information to the sorting control unit 122 and outputs stowage order instruction information to the stowage control unit 123 .

The sorting control unit 122 controls the shipping order by controlling the sorting work of the articles in the automated warehouse 1 based on the shipping instruction information. Based on the shipping order instruction information calculated from the shipping instruction information, the sorting control unit 122 outputs a control signal to the automated warehouse 1 so that the automatic warehouse 1 ships the articles in the order according to the shipping order instruction. The stowage control unit 123 controls the stowage device 2 based on the shipping instruction information to control the stowage order of the articles. Based on the stowage order instruction information calculated from the shipping instruction information, the stowage control unit 123 causes the stowage device 2 to stow the articles on the transport vehicle in the order according to the stowage order instruction. A control signal is output to the device 2 .

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, an example of the flow of transportation and delivery until the goods 90 are delivered from the huge physical distribution base 101 to the customer 103 will be described. For the sake of explanation, FIG. 3 shows distribution bases 102Aa and 102Ab as the distribution base 102A, and sales branches 102Ba, 102Bb and 102Bc as the sales branch 102B. However, there may be many more logistics locations 102A and sales branches 102B. As shown in FIG. 3 , in the gigantic physical distribution base 101 , articles 90 that have been sorted and shipped from the automated warehouse 1 are stacked on a carrier truck 91 by the loading device 2 . The stacked articles 90 are mounted on the transport vehicle 104A together with the transport carriage 91 . Here, the articles 90 numbered "1 to 9" and the articles 90 numbered "A, B, C, M, L, N, X, Y, Z" are transported by the transport vehicle 104A. installed in the Three articles 90 are stacked on one carrier 91 . It should be noted that the manner of stacking the articles 90 on the carrier 91 shown in FIG. 3 is a schematic one.

The conveying vehicle 104A delivers the loaded articles 90 together with the conveying cart 91 in the order of "distribution base 102Aa, distribution base 102Ab". At the physical distribution base 102Aa, "1 to 9" articles 90 are unloaded from the carrier vehicle 104A, and "1 to 9" articles 90 are unloaded onto the carrier vehicle 104Ba. At the distribution base 102Ab, the articles 90 of "A, B, C, M, L, N, X, Y, Z" are unloaded from the carrier vehicle 104A, and transferred to the carrier vehicle 104Bb by "A, B, C, M, L, N, X, Y, Z" items 90 are unloaded.

The transport vehicle 104Bb delivers the goods 90 loaded in the order of "sales branch 102Ba, sales branch 102Bb, sales branch 102Bc" together with the transport carriage 91. At the sales branch 102Ba, the "M, L, N" articles 90 are unloaded from the carrier vehicle 104Bb, and the "M, L, N" articles 90 are unloaded onto the carrier vehicle 104Ca. At the sales branch 102Bb, the goods 90 of "A, B, C" are unloaded from the carrier vehicle 104Bb, and the goods 90 of "A, B, C" are unloaded onto the carrier vehicle 104Cb. At the sales branch 102Bc, the "X, Y, Z" articles 90 are unloaded from the carrier vehicle 104Bb, and the "X, Y, Z" articles 90 are unloaded onto the carrier vehicle 104Cc.

The transport vehicle 104Cb delivers the goods 90 of "A, B, C" to each customer 103 who is a recipient. Note that the other transport vehicles 104Ca and 104Cc also deliver the articles 90 of "M, L, N" and "X, Y, Z" to each customer 103 to be received. Also, the transport vehicle 104Ba from the physical distribution base 102Aa delivers the articles 90 of "1 to 9" to the other business branch 102B.

As described above, a plurality of items 90 shipped from the gigantic distribution base 101 are delivered to the plurality of distribution bases 102A by the transport vehicle 104A, and are unloaded and loaded in order at each distribution base 102A. Also, a plurality of articles 90 shipped from each physical distribution base 102A are delivered to a plurality of business branches 102B by a carrier vehicle 104B, and are sequentially unloaded and loaded at each business branch 102B. A plurality of articles 90 shipped from each sales branch 102B are then delivered to a plurality of customers 103 in order by a carrier vehicle 104C. On the other hand, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 determines the delivery order of the goods 90 so that the goods 90 are loaded onto the transport vehicle 104A in the reverse order of the unloading order at the plurality of physical distribution bases 102A. to adjust. In addition, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 adjusts the shipping order of the goods 90 so that the goods 90 are loaded onto the transport vehicle 104B in the reverse order of the unloading order at the multiple sales branches 102B. . The shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 adjusts the shipping order of the articles 90 so that the articles 90 are loaded onto the carrier vehicle 104C in the order reversed from the order of delivery to the plurality of customers 103 .

Specifically, the transport vehicle 104Cb delivers the articles 90 to each customer 103 in the order of "A, B, C". Therefore, if the articles 90 are stacked in the order of "A, B, C" from the top inside the transport vehicle 104Cb, the worker can easily take out the articles 90 in order from the top according to the order of delivery. Here, the goods 90 of "A, B, and C" are loaded on the same carriage 91 until they are unloaded onto the transport vehicle 104Cb at the sales branch 102Bb after being shipped from the huge physical distribution base 101. In such a state, delivery is performed together with the carriage 91 for transportation. Therefore, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 controls the automated warehouse 1 so that the articles 90 are delivered in the order of “C, B, A”, which is the reverse order of the delivery order to the customer 103 . In addition, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 stacks the articles 90 on the carrier 91 so that the articles 90 are stacked in the order of "C, B, A", which is the reverse order of the delivery order to the customer 103. to control. It should be noted that the articles 90 for the other transport carts 91 are similarly delivered and stacked in the order opposite to the delivery order to the customer 103 .

The transport vehicle 104Bb delivers the articles 90 to each sales branch 102B in the order of "M, L, N", "A, B, C", and "X, Y, Z". Therefore, in the carrier vehicle 104Bb, if the articles 90 are stacked in the order of "X, Y, Z", "A, B, C", and "M, L, N" from the back side of the carrier, each sales branch 102B , the worker can easily take out the carrier 91 sequentially from the front side of the carrier according to the order of delivery. Further, in the carrier vehicle 104A, if the articles 90 are loaded in the order of "M, L, N", "A, B, C", and "X, Y, Z" from the back side of the carrier, the physical distribution base At 102Ab, the operator can easily take out the transport carriages 91 in order from the front side of the loading platform according to the order of delivery. From the above, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 determines that the loading device 2 is "M, L, N", "A, B, C", "X , Y, and Z”, and controls the delivery order from the automated warehouse 1 so that the articles 90 can be loaded onto the carrier 91 in the order. It should be noted that the articles "1 to 9" are similarly unloaded and stacked in the reverse order of the unloading order at the physical distribution base 102Aa.

The transport vehicle 104A delivers the articles 90 to each physical distribution base 102A in the order of "1 to 9" and "A to Z". Therefore, if the articles 90 are loaded in the order of "A to Z" and "1 to 9" from the back side of the loading platform in the transport vehicle 104A, the operator will load the loading platform in the order of delivery at each physical distribution base 102A. The carriage 91 for transportation can be easily taken out in order from the front side. As described above, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 determines that the order of delivery to the distribution base 102A is reversed, and the order of the stowage devices 2 is "A to Z" and then "1 to 9". The delivery order from the automatic warehouse 1 is controlled so that the carts 91 can be stowed.

Here, with reference to FIG. 4, the transport carriage 91 will be described in detail. The carrier 91 includes a frame structure 93 having an internal space SP in which a plurality of articles 90 can be stowed, and wheels 94 that allow the frame structure 93 to travel. Here, as described above, at each physical distribution base 102A and sales branch 102B, the articles 90 delivered from the automated warehouse 1 are loaded onto the

transport vehicles

104B and 104C while being stacked on the transport cart 91. be. Therefore, it is preferable that the plurality of carriages 91 have a unified configuration. The transport trolley 91 having a unified configuration is a transport trolley 91 standardized according to a unified standard. The standardized carriage 91 has a standardized loading capacity and can perform unloading work in a standardized manner. Each standardized transport trolley 91 has a similarly configured frame structure 93 and wheels 94 . Note that FIG. 4 exemplifies a roll box as the transport cart 91, but when the customer 103 is a supermarket or the like, a six-wheeled cart or the like may be adopted.

Next, an example of the configuration of the automated warehouse 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing the automated warehouse 1. FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the automated warehouse 1 is a system capable of receiving and storing a plurality of articles 90, and of the stored articles 90, those to be taken out. The automated warehouse 1 includes an automated warehouse 10, an incoming elevator 14, an outgoing elevator 15, an incoming lane 21, and an outgoing lane 22. - 特許庁The automated warehouse 1 is a warehouse that stores articles 90 . The automated warehouse 1 includes a warehouse main body 11, an incoming transit passage 12, and an outgoing transit passage 13. - 特許庁The warehouse body 11 has a plurality of shelves 16 . The shelf 16 extends from one end of the warehouse body 11 to the other end. On the shelf 16 , the transfer device 17 performs the transfer operation of the articles from the incoming route to the outgoing route. The warehousing crossing passage 12 is provided at one end of the warehouse main body 11 and is a mechanism for warehousing articles 90 to the shelves 16 of each stage. The delivery crossing passage 13 is provided at the other end of the warehouse body 11 and is a mechanism for delivering articles 90 from the shelves 16 of each stage. The storage elevator 14 raises and lowers the articles 90 stored from the storage lane 21 and supplies the articles 90 to the storage passage 12 of the stage corresponding to the desired shelf 16 . The unloading elevator 15 receives an article 90 to be unloaded from the shelf 16 and the unloading passageway 13 and moves it up and down to an unillustrated unloading opening. Articles 90 delivered from the delivery elevator 15 are carried out to the delivery lane 22 .

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the specific configuration of the incoming side and the outgoing side of the automated warehouse 1. As shown in FIG. Here, the entrance lane 21, the entrance passage 12, the exit lane, and the exit passage 13 each have a conveyor.

The incoming elevator 14 and the outgoing elevator 15 have horizontal movement means (for example, conveyors) and vertical movement means, and have devices for moving the articles 90 vertically and horizontally. As a result, the entry elevator 14 can receive each article 90 from the entry lane 21 and deliver it to the entry passageway 12 of the desired floor. In addition, the delivery elevator 15 can receive each article 90 from the delivery passage 13 from each floor and deliver it to the delivery lane 22 in a desired order.

The entrance elevator 14 and the exit elevator 15 are alternately operated elevators, and have

conveyor racks

14A and 15A on the side of the

lanes

21 and 22 and

conveyor racks

14B and 15B on the side of the connecting

passages

12 and 13. . Each of the

transport racks

14A, 14B, 15A, and 15B has a storable area CE corresponding to the number of storable areas corresponding to "the number of storable areas obtained by adding one floor to the number of floors of the automated warehouse". Then, it has the

transport boxes

14a and 15a that are continuous with the number of stages corresponding to "the number of floors of the automated warehouse" (five stages in this case).

Consecutive transport boxes

14a and 15a move up and down at the same time. When the

continuous transport boxes

14a and 15a move downward, the

transport boxes

14a and 15a are arranged in the first to fifth storable areas CE from the bottom. When the

continuous transport boxes

14a and 15a move upward, the

transport boxes

14a and 15a are arranged in the second to sixth storable areas CE from the bottom. Further, the

transport boxes

14a, 15a of the

transport shelves

14A, 15A and the

transport boxes

14a, 15a of the

transport shelves

14B, 15B alternately move up and down. That is, when the

transport boxes

14a and 15a of the

transport shelves

14A and 15A move upward, the

transport boxes

14a and 15a of the

transport shelves

14B and 15B move downward, and the

transport boxes

14a and 15a of the

transport shelves

14A and 15A move downward. When it moves to the side, the

transport boxes

14a and 15a of the

transport racks

14B and 15B move upward. In addition, in the same number of stages, the article 90 can be horizontally moved between the

transport boxes

14a, 15a of the

transport shelves

14A, 15B and the

transport boxes

14a, 15a of the transport shelves 14B, 15B. 90 can be delivered and received.

The shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 (see FIG. 2) controls the automated warehouse 1 so that the articles 90 transported from the warehousing lane 21 are received and stored in the automated warehouse 1 in a desired warehousing order. . In addition, the shipping state optimization calculation section 120 controls the automated warehouse 1 so that the goods are delivered from the automated warehouse 1 to the delivery lane 22 in a desired delivery order. As a result, when a plurality of types of articles 90 are randomly transported from the warehousing lane 21, the automated warehouse 1 can take out the articles 90 of the same type in an aligned state. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the automated warehouse 1 can deliver the articles 90 in an order that facilitates unloading and delivery at each physical distribution base. When sorting the articles 90 in the automated warehouse 1, the shipping state optimization calculation section 120 performs route search so that the articles 90 move along the optimum route in the incoming elevator 14 and outgoing elevator 15. For example, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 searches for the route of each article 90 using a shortest route search method (eg, Aster algorithm) using each part of the incoming elevator 14 and the outgoing elevator 15 as search nodes.

Next, an example of a specific configuration of the stowage device 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 7( a ), the stowage device 2 has a vehicle-type stowage robot 50 . The stacking robot 50 includes a vehicle body portion 51 and a transport portion 52 . The conveying portion 52 is provided in an upper portion of the vehicle body portion 51 so as to extend in the vehicle front-rear direction. The conveying section 52 includes a receiving section 53 that receives the delivered articles 90 on the rear end side, and a stacking section 54 that stacks the articles 90 on the conveying cart 91 on the front end side. The shipping condition optimization calculation unit 120 (see FIG. 2) controls the stowage device 2 to arrange the goods 90 so that the goods 90 are stowed in a manner that facilitates unloading at the distribution base 102 and delivery to the customer 103. It is loaded on a carriage 91 for transportation. At this time, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 calculates the accommodation rate in the carrier 91, the center of gravity position, and the like, thereby performing calculations for optimizing the stowage mode.

In the example shown in FIG. 7(b), the stowage device 2 has a robot hand type stowage robot 60. In the example shown in FIG. The stacking robot 60 includes a body portion 61 installed on the ground, a plurality of articulated arm portions 63, and a stacking portion 62 that holds and stacks the articles 90. As shown in FIG. The stowage robot 60 grips the articles 90 unloaded by the conveyor 64 , rotates the stowage section, and stacks them on the carriage 91 for transportation.

In the example shown in FIG. 7(c), the stowage device 2 has a vertical movement type stowage robot 70. In the example shown in FIG. The stacking robot 70 includes a stacking unit 71 that moves up and down while holding the articles 90 , and an elevating unit 72 that moves the stacking unit 71 up and down. A conveyer 73 for conveying the shipped articles 90 is provided on one side of the stacking section 71 (here, the front side of the paper surface of FIG. 7(c)), and the other side of the stacking section 71 (here, , the back side of the paper surface of FIG. 7(c)). The stowage section 71 receives the articles 90 conveyed by the conveyor 73 , rises to a desired stowage height, and stacks them on the carriage 91 for conveyance.

Next, the actions and effects of the transportation and delivery system 100 according to this embodiment will be described.

The transportation/delivery management unit 110 issues shipping instructions based on receipt information including at least information about the distribution center 102 and the customer 103 (final delivery destination) that receives the goods 90 and delivery information including at least information about the delivery order of the goods 90. Information can be generated. In this way, the transportation/delivery management unit 110 determines the shipping instruction information in consideration of the order in which the goods 90 shipped from the huge physical distribution base 101 are delivered to the physical distribution base 102 and the customer 103. can be generated. Therefore, based on the shipping instruction information, the shipping condition optimization calculation unit 120 adjusts the delivery order of the articles 90 from the automated warehouse 1 so as to reduce the amount of work at the distribution base 102 , and delivers the goods to the distribution base 102 . shipments can be optimized. As described above, the work time and work cost at each distribution base 102 can be reduced.

The shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 may have a sorting control unit 122 that controls the shipping order by controlling the sorting work of the articles 90 in the automated warehouse 1 based on the shipping instruction information. In this case, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 can optimize the sorting work of the articles in the automated warehouse 1 so that the shipping order is such that the amount of work at the distribution base 102 can be reduced.

The gigantic distribution base 101 includes a stowage device 2 that stacks the goods 90 delivered from the automated warehouse 1 onto a carriage 91 mounted on a transport vehicle 104. The stowage control unit 123 may be provided for controlling the stowage device 2 based on the above to control the order of stowage of the articles 90 onto the transport carriage 91 . In this case, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 performs the work of loading the articles 90 onto the carriage 91 by the stowage device 2 so as to achieve a stowage order that can reduce the amount of work at the distribution base 102. can be optimized.

In the gigantic physical distribution base 101, the articles 90 delivered from the automated warehouse 1 are loaded onto the carrier vehicle 104 in a state of being stacked on the carrier carrier 91, and the plurality of carrier carriers 91 have a unified configuration. you can In this case, it is possible to efficiently load and unload the carrier 91 onto and from the carrier vehicle 104 at each physical distribution base 102 .

A plurality of goods 90 shipped from a huge distribution base 101 are delivered to a plurality of distribution bases 102 by a transport vehicle 104, and are unloaded and loaded at each distribution base 102 in order. The delivery order of the articles 90 may be adjusted so that the articles 90 are loaded onto the transport vehicle 104 in an order that is reversed from the order of unloading at the plurality of physical distribution sites 102 . In this case, in the automated warehouse 1, it is possible to load the articles 90 in an order that facilitates the unloading operation at the distribution base 102 on the downstream side.

As a comparative example, a conventional transportation and delivery system will be explained. In the conventional transportation and delivery system, the control unit of the gigantic distribution base 101 receives "destination of which distribution base to go" and "packing size" as receipt information, but does not cooperate with the sender of the delivery information. , was generating shipping plans without obtaining delivery information. Therefore, at the gigantic physical distribution base 101, shipping is performed by simply loading the articles into the transport vehicle 104A according to the physical distribution base 102 of the destination in random order. Therefore, at each physical distribution base 102, all the articles 90 loaded on the carrier 91 are unloaded and re-shipped to another carrier 91 to the next delivery destination. As a result, an increase in work hours and an increase in the number of required workers have occurred at each distribution base 102 .

On the other hand, in the transportation/delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment, the problem of the conventional transportation/delivery system as described above is comprehensively dealt with from a wide range of perspectives, from the giant physical distribution base 101 to the customer 103 who is the final delivery destination. Improvement is possible. In the transportation and delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment, at the gigantic physical distribution base 101, the order of the goods 90 including the customer 103 of the final delivery destination is incorporated, and then the goods 90 are stowed on the carriage 91. there is Therefore, in the distribution bases 102 after the huge distribution base 101, it is only necessary to replace the transfer carts 91 between the transfer vehicles 104 according to the order of the transfer carts 91 loaded on the transfer vehicles 104. FIG. At the final delivery destination, the articles 90 stacked on the carrier 91 can be taken out in order while being transported in order of the delivery route, and delivered to the customer 103 .

In the transportation/delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 follows the delivery plan from the huge physical distribution base 101 to the final delivery destination, and orders the items 90 of each sales branch 102B in units of groups. It has an algorithm for calculating a detailed order configuration in two configurations of the order of picking up from the transport cart 91 in the order of the route. In addition, in the transportation/delivery system 100, the order of loading onto the transport vehicles 104 is taken into account in order to pass through the exchange between the transport vehicles 104 at each physical distribution base 102 (unloading of the transport cart 91). The order of shipment from the giant physical distribution base 101 is devised to be forward or reverse depending on the number of connections. The transportation/delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment adds, in real time, "receipt information" and "delivery information" formulated at each distribution base 102 to the shipping plan normally formulated at the huge distribution base 101, thereby making the calculation algorithm Optimization accuracy can be improved.

Here, normally, when automatically delivering goods from the automated warehouse 1 in the desired order in the shortest time, the optimum solution is obtained by calculating and comparing all patterns of infinite combinations. However, such optimization processing requires a huge amount of time (for example, several days) even with a high-performance computer. In that case, there are many cases in which a method of covering by a combination of specific rules is taken, but there are problems such as lack of required performance or variation in the performance of the automated warehouse 1 that delivers the goods 90 . In the transportation delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment, in order to solve such a problem, the shipping state optimization calculation unit 120 uses each part of the incoming elevator 14 and the outgoing elevator 15 as search nodes, and uses the shortest path search method. is used to search for the route of each article 90 .

The transportation and delivery system 100 according to this embodiment employs stacking

robots

50, 60, and 70 as shown in FIG. 91 can be stowed smoothly. The transportation/delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment, even with complete order control for each item 90, delivers items in a continuous state (a state in which the intervals between the items 90 being transported are close together). In addition, the transport/delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment can use the stowage device 2 to realize automatic stowage in which the goods 90 are stowed on the carrier 91 at high speed in a narrow space. The transport/delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment employs a compact direct axis transfer, and has a technique for realizing stowage position control without using image processing.

In the transportation and delivery system 100 according to this embodiment, it is possible to reduce the delivery lead time and work personnel costs (mainly personnel costs) over the entire large range from the huge distribution base 101 to the final delivery destination. becomes. In addition, a huge computing system (for example, a quantum computer, etc.) for speeding up the optimization search is not necessary for the algorithm in the transportation and delivery system 100 according to the present embodiment, which contributes to a significant reduction in capital investment. can do.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments.

In the above-described embodiment, the object is the final delivery destination from the gigantic distribution base 101, but the distribution base also exists while the goods 90 are being transported from the sender to the gigantic distribution base 101. In particular, the gigantic distribution base 101 is the "arrival distribution base" from the "giant distribution base" that exists in each area. It is possible to expand the range of utilization of the transportation and delivery system according to the present invention to distribution transportation as well. As described above, according to the transportation and delivery system according to the modified example, it is possible to exhibit the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment even in the preceding process close to the sender. In addition, the present invention has the effect of "shortening the lead time by high-speed orderly transportation", but by linking with a platform that can accurately prepare for the receiving time information of the recipient, "time to the final delivery destination" It is also possible to build a transportation delivery system that delivers to Lee. According to the transportation/delivery system according to the modified example, by linking with other systems (information sources), it is possible to ship from a gigantic physical distribution base in consideration of even less wasteful transportation/delivery.

1 automated warehouse 2 stowage device 100 transportation delivery system 101 gigantic physical distribution base (first physical distribution base)
102 distribution base (second distribution base)
110 transportation and delivery management unit 120 shipping state optimization calculation unit 122 sorting control unit 123 stowage control unit

Claims

A transportation and delivery system in inter-base distribution between a first distribution base having an automated warehouse for storing and transporting goods and another second distribution base,
a transportation and delivery management unit that manages the transportation and delivery of the goods;
a shipping state optimization calculation unit that optimizes the shipping state of the goods at the first distribution base;
The transportation/delivery management unit provides shipping instruction information based on receipt information including at least information regarding the second distribution base and final delivery destination for receiving the item, and delivery information including at least information regarding the delivery order of the item. to generate
The transportation/delivery system, wherein the shipping state optimization calculation unit adjusts the shipping order of the articles from the automated warehouse to be shipped to the second physical distribution base, based on the shipping instruction information.
2. The transportation and delivery according to claim 1, wherein said shipping state optimization calculation unit has a sorting control unit that controls a shipping order by controlling sorting work of said articles in said automated warehouse based on said shipping instruction information. system.
The first physical distribution base comprises a stowage device that stacks the articles taken out from the automated warehouse onto a carrier truck mounted on a carrier vehicle,
3. The shipping state optimization calculation unit has a stowage control unit that controls the stowage device based on the shipping instruction information to control the order of stowage of the articles onto the transport vehicle. 3. The transportation and delivery system according to 1 or 2.
At the first physical distribution base, the articles delivered from the automated warehouse are loaded onto a transport vehicle in a state of being stacked on a transport cart,
4. The transportation and delivery system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of carriages for transportation have a unified configuration.
The plurality of articles shipped from the first distribution base are delivered to the plurality of second distribution bases by a transport vehicle, and are unloaded and loaded in order at each of the second distribution bases,
The shipping state optimization calculation unit adjusts the delivery order of the goods so that the goods are loaded onto the transport vehicle in an order reversed from the order of unloading at the plurality of second physical distribution bases. 5. The transportation and delivery system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.