WO2024114890A1 - Entrepôt destiné au traitement de commandes doté d'un stockage de produit et d'au moins une zone de traitement de commandes - Google Patents

Entrepôt destiné au traitement de commandes doté d'un stockage de produit et d'au moins une zone de traitement de commandes Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2024114890A1
WO2024114890A1 PCT/EP2022/083616 EP2022083616W WO2024114890A1 WO 2024114890 A1 WO2024114890 A1 WO 2024114890A1 EP 2022083616 W EP2022083616 W EP 2022083616W WO 2024114890 A1 WO2024114890 A1 WO 2024114890A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
storage
order
product
picking
transport units
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2022/083616
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Shin Yamashita
Original Assignee
Dematic Gmbh
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Dematic Gmbh filed Critical Dematic Gmbh
Priority to PCT/EP2022/083616 priority Critical patent/WO2024114890A1/fr
Publication of WO2024114890A1 publication Critical patent/WO2024114890A1/fr

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G1/00—Storing articles, individually or in orderly arrangement, in warehouses or magazines
    • B65G1/02—Storage devices
    • B65G1/04—Storage devices mechanical
    • B65G1/137—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed
    • B65G1/1373—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed for fulfilling orders in warehouses
    • B65G1/1378—Storage devices mechanical with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed for fulfilling orders in warehouses the orders being assembled on fixed commissioning areas remote from the storage areas
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G1/00—Storing articles, individually or in orderly arrangement, in warehouses or magazines
    • B65G1/02—Storage devices
    • B65G1/04—Storage devices mechanical
    • B65G1/0485—Check-in, check-out devices
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G2209/00—Indexing codes relating to order picking devices in General
    • B65G2209/10—Partial order forming

Definitions

  • the invention relates to warehouse for order fulfillment with at least one order fulfillment area in which at least two picking stations are arranged and supplied with articles in product transport units from a product storage for picking orders into order transport units.
  • picking stations are arranged and supplied with articles from the product storage for picking orders and also with order containers.
  • each picking station is supplied with articles from the product storage by a connecting conveyor system connecting the storage and/or another operating area e. g. receiving, picking zone, order buffering and shipping with the order fulfillment area and picking stations therein.
  • a connecting conveyor system connecting the storage and/or another operating area e. g. receiving, picking zone, order buffering and shipping with the order fulfillment area and picking stations therein.
  • said front-zone including a cross-aisle conveyor running the length of the front of the storage segmenting the front-zone between the storage area and the fulfillment area.
  • the connecting conveyor system may connect to a conveyor loop transporting goods from storage to order fulfillment area and/or any conveying system irrespective of where the goods are conveyed from (originate) and transported to (dispatched).
  • the transportation of such product containers is usually implemented by a connecting conveyor system that includes bridging conveyors connecting the storage to the picking stations themselves and further includes a cross aisle conveyor running the length of the front zone of the storage past all aisles and mostly further on to a packaging area and product conveyor loop if order fulfillment areas are not located directly in front of the storage aisles and/or routing conveyor connecting each warehouse zones including order container induction area, other picking zones and order buffers.
  • This cross-aisle conveyor therefore divides the pre-zone or front zone, i. e. area between the storage and the order fulfillment area with the picking stations. In this sense the connecting conveyors must bridge to access the order fulfillment area. On the other hand, they also need to be connected to the cross-aisle conveyor for exchange therewith.
  • the cross-aisle conveyor does not only transport articles to the order fulfillment area and discharge orders therefrom directly opposite the corresponding aisle of the storage racking but also distributes articles and partial orders from and to different zones of the storage and order fulfillment area.
  • the goods or articles for an order are transported from the storage, usually a larger racking arrangement, to the respective picking station, for which purpose they are usually transported in containers (totes, trays etc.). At that location, they are removed from the so-called storage or product containers and placed into the corresponding containers of an order, so-called order containers according to the order detailed to the operator based on the list of items in the respective order list.
  • order containers are transported from order container induction, former picking zones and/or order buffer to the fulfillment area or picking stations respectively.
  • the operator or picker can be a human operator manually performing the pick and put operations at the picking station.
  • the pick and put operations at the picking station may be performed by a robotic operator in an automated fashion, using image recognition and gripping means etc.
  • a warehouse for order fulfillment with at least one order fulfillment area in which at least two picking and/or packing stations (hereafter called picking station) are arranged and supplied with articles in product transport units from a product storage for picking articles of orders into order transport units,
  • the product storage is a multi-aisle and multi-level rack storage with shuttles as rack servicing machines and includes a plurality of storage racks and storage rack levels for storage of the transport units wherein storage racks have an aisle between them.
  • the storage racks not arranged on the outside are each arranged in pairs adjoining one another and have a racking storage aisle on one side i. e. between pairs.
  • the warehouse includes at least one storage-entry feeding line; at least one removal- from storage feeding line; at least one removal-from-storage lift used to transfer the transport units to the removal-from-storage feeding line and at least one supply-to- storage lift used to transfer the transport units from the at least one storage-entry feeding line.
  • Several shuttles travel along the storage racking aisle(s) and have means for carrying transport units and for displacing these to and from the storage racks for placing the transport units into the storage rack, and removal from the storage rack via a load handling means and for discharging to and supplying from the at least one removal-from-storage lift and the at least one supply-to-storage lift.
  • a connecting conveyor system is arranged between the product storage and the order fulfillment area and the picking stations therein, and connected to the at least one removal-from storage feeding line and the at least one storage-entry feeding line on the product storage side.
  • Each picking station is supplied with donor or product transport units by the connecting conveyor system and said connecting conveyor system also supplying and returning order transport units and being used for discharge of emptied product transport units and partial orders or finished orders from the respective picking station.
  • the connecting conveyor system includes a cross-aisle conveyor running the width of the front of the product storage across the aisles and segmenting the pre-zone between the product storage and the fulfillment area.
  • a control is operable to assign orders for at least partial fulfillment to a respective picking station for items that are only pickable at such a picking station.
  • the invention is based on the idea that it is necessary to route articles to a certain picking station in a controlled manner based on the possibility that the picking of those items is only possible at the destination (target) picking station.
  • criteria for assigning items to certain picking stations based on the possibility to be picked at such will be described below.
  • Shuttles as AS/RS are single-level racking serving units.
  • shuttles or satellite vehicles are preferred. These will feature a load carrying area between two load handling devices, that will usually be telescopic arms using at least two contact elements that are movable between an item engaging and a non-engaging position to push/pull items off or onto the load carrying area.
  • the shuttles move along rails attached to the forefront of the racking in a level of an aisle and are also provided with electricity and data via the rails.
  • shuttles with a stacked arrangement of two load handling platforms or an elevating platform are to be used in connection with the invention for handling several levels from a single rail.
  • Transport units may be totes, containers, trays, boxes etc. It is understood that where the term “transporting units” or likewise “storage units” is used, it is not to be interpreted as limiting, in fact other types of transport (e. g. trays, pallets etc.) can also be used equally effectively within the scope of the invention.
  • the term “transporting units” also includes totes, trays, containers, paperboard containers, carton boxes, packaging units, i. e. combined individual articles, etc. and individual articles. These units can either be donor transport units, from which a picker takes articles for fulfilling an order, so that these function as a donor (often also called product units), or these units can be order transport units for collecting articles of an order.
  • the racking will be a usual racking that allows for single deep, double deep or multiple deep storage of the transport units by the shuttles.
  • the shuttles load handling devices are implemented to allow such deep storage and retrieval by having a respective extension length.
  • the feeding line(s) may be implemented as conveyors, e. g. roller or belt conveyors and may also be of the accumulation type. They may implement an interface to the lift(s), so that transport units may be selectively loaded onto the lift platforms or discharged from them, all under the control of the control.
  • the control may be a central control for the whole system or also comprise central and local controls that operate together.
  • the control will receive input and data from the sensors and drives and machines of the warehouse or system and in turn control these, also based on information received from an order fulfillment database system.
  • the control will not only have the capability of a warehouse management system but also have the capability of a warehouse control system and will be interfaced with the order fulfillment tracking system.
  • the connecting conveyor system can be implemented in any fashion suitable. It will usually be implemented as a conveyor, e. g. roller or belt conveyor.
  • the cross-aisle conveyor can be implemented in any fashion suitable. It will usually be implemented as a conveyor, e. g. roller or belt conveyor. It can be a two or multiplestory conveyor with one level performing transportation in a first direction and the second level in a direction opposite to that first direction or one for product containers and another for order containers.
  • the cross-aisle conveyor will be connected to the picking stations by at least one dedicated conveyor, preferably two; one for supply and one for discharge.
  • At least one picking station is a robotic picking station, wherein the control is operable to assign orders for at least partial fulfillment to the robotic picking station for items that are robotically pickable and to assign orders for at least partial fulfillment to the manually operated picking station for items that are only manually pickable.
  • Picking by only multiple manual pick or robotic stations with different operation or attribute can also be another embodiment.
  • the items requiring counting by weight and bagging e.g. bolts and nuts
  • the pick station with weigh scale and bagging facility but general items are routed to simple pick stations and order to be routed among those pick stations.
  • Robotic stations with different payload or type of gripper can be another example.
  • a robotic picking station will not only have fully automated supply and discharge and presentation of the product and order units but also a robotic tool for fully automated picking and placing items.
  • the robotic tool will be implemented to feature a multi axis arm with an end of arm tool to grip the respective articles. This can be performed under the control of the control and based on input of a vision system to identify and localize the article to be picked according to the instructions based on the order.
  • control is operable to reassign orders for final fulfillment to the manually operated picking station from the robotic picking station in case of pick failures via the cross-aisle conveyor of the connecting conveyor system.
  • this embodiment of the invention it is possible to effectively deal with operational errors of robotic picking stations, while allowing uninterrupted order fulfillment.
  • Pick failure means that the picking and/or packing process could not be completed successfully. This will often be but not limited to, due to errors in gripping the item to be picked by the robotic tool.
  • the order transport units are conveyed in a first row through a picking station, articles are presented in product transport units and picking is carried out therefrom, and in that, the product transport units are also conveyed in a second row through the picking station, the second row being arranged at an angle to the first row and picking taking place from a flow of product and order transport units which are simultaneously conveyed through the picking station, and in that the order transport units and product transport units share a common take away after picking, and in that the common take away is in-line with the first row of the order transport units; and the picking stations are connected to the cross-aisle conveyor of the connecting conveyor system by the inbound first row, by the inbound second row and outbound by the common take away.
  • the parallel arrangement of inbound order load carrier conveyor sections allows an exchange between the two in a manner controlled by the control such that in case of pick failures at the robotic picking station, both the product container and the order container can be reassigned to the manually operated picking station together.
  • inbound order load carrier conveyor sections allows an exchange between the two in a manner controlled by the control such that in case of pick failures at the robotic picking station, the order container can be shuffled to finalize further picks of the order before both the product container and the order container being reassigned to the manually operated picking station together for repicking the faulty pick.
  • An exchange between parallel arrangement of inbound order transport unit conveyor sections can be performed manually or automatically.
  • the operator can for example manually push a transport unit from one conveyor section to the other.
  • RATs right angle transfers
  • These may be driven and/or automated under the control of the control. For example, the operator may press a button to instigate the exchange or the exchange may be started by sensor.
  • the product transport unit may be transferred to the product storage, preferably into the aisle directly sourcing the reassigned manually operated picking station.
  • both the product transport unit and the order transport unit may be routed to inbound order transport unit conveyor of the reassigned manually operated picking station.
  • the product transport unit may be routed to the inbound product transport unit conveyor and the order transport unit may be routed to the inbound order transport unit conveyor of the reassigned manually operated picking station, while optionally buffering the transport units at the reassigned manually operated picking station.
  • the control may be operable to allow emptied product transport units to be reused as order transport units at the respective picking station or to be routed to another picking station depending on timing of presentation and order fulfillment needs.
  • control is operable to match the timing of arrival of product transport units for order fulfillment at a certain picking station by means of order container buffering and/or order transport unit re-sequencing and/or order transport unit circulation this is preferably achieved using the above features of the parallel conveyor sections.
  • orders are released to a picking station once all donors/products assigned to an order are fully consolidated to or in a destination aisle that directly sources the respective picking station.
  • donor transport units for orders may be released earlier before a full consolidation of all donors for an order has taken place.
  • Present donors may then be buffered at the picking station until the missing ones have all been released later (two or multi stage release) or this cycle can be repeated several times if consolidation is slow or if the order is big (multiple stage release).
  • a similar strategy can be used in case the part of storage and retrieval system is failed. Products stored in the failed part of storage can no longer be retrievable until failure is fixed holding rest of the products requiring the order and locked till such failure is fixed and all products for the order are released. Under such situation, retrievable products can be released first then products within the failed part of storage system can be released once the failure is fixed.
  • orders partially picked at a picking station may be circled back to the order transport unit conveyor and consolidated additional donor transport unit(s) will be released based on the newly created order sequence and/or order buffering/re- sequencing. Adding these functions can be used to match the timing of arrival of the donor transport units with the orders.
  • iAT means inter aisle transfer, i. e. transfer of transport units from one storage rack to an adjacent storage rack, that are arranged back-to-back (no space in between), by pushing the respective transport unit deeper (than for storage) through the source rack into the destination rack within cross-exchange positions (transverse conveyance locations) by using the load handling devices of the ASRS or shuttle.
  • This may be triggered by a number of criteria e. g.
  • the criteria applied can each be weighted within a holistic decision making process if a product is released partially or if it is “yes” when it is released. This process is beneficial in conjunction with approximate order consolidation strategy. Such is the case, if the real arrival time of a donor transport unit is falling behind scheduled arrival time, then the donor transport unit may either be transported to its destination (full consolidation) if possible within a given minor time lag or consolidation will be used for speedup and a retrieval is chosen via the cross-aisle conveyor to the destination.
  • control is operable to route a product transport unit directly to an assigned picking station for order fulfillment via the cross-aisle conveyor irrespective of storage aisle.
  • the control may be operable to route a product transport unit within the product storage to a destination aisle for consolidation of product transport units in that aisle for order fulfillment at a directly connected and assigned picking station.
  • this will also take the mentioned criteria for determining the picking station into account.
  • Such routing within the storage i. e. without leaving the storage may be performed as described in EP 2 741 977 A1, using a direct exchange of transport units takes place from one storage racking aisle to an adjacent storage racking aisle via transverse conveyance locations in the storage racks (so-called iAT or inter aisle transfer), it is possible to dispense with the distribution and/or complex sorting in the pre-zone, since the transport units are already sorted when removed from storage, even if initially they were not arranged in a common racking aisle, as they are stored in the meantime in the removal-from-storage aisle, even if initially they were stored somewhere else.
  • the storage-entry and removal- from-storage apparatus serves to move the transport units in the transverse conveyance locations, i.e. there is no further drive technology in the rack, but the storage-entry and removal-from-storage apparatus itself is the only active mechanism involved in the transverse displacement.
  • the storage-entry and removal-from-storage apparatus places the transport units from the source aisle directly into the transverse conveyance locations of the target aisle (by means of multiple-depth storage entry), which means that the storage-entry and removal-from-storage apparatus of the adjacent target aisle simply has access thereto.
  • This especially relates to a fully automated storage facility.
  • racking storage locations of abutting racks are used for passing transport units from one side of the rack to the next, so that the transport units can be transferred from one rack to the next as in the case of a hatch.
  • transverse conveyance or sorting are possible within the racks themselves and "transverse conveyance" in the pre-zone can be dispensed with accordingly.
  • transverse conveyance locations are provided on each level of the storage racks or on selected levels.
  • transverse conveyance locations are arranged centrally or more closely to the removal-from- storage lift or the storage-entry lift in the longitudinal direction of the rack. It is likewise possible to provide a plurality of transverse conveyance locations on the respective level and optionally at different positions.
  • the transverse conveyance locations can also be used as temporary storage areas, i. e. the transport units remain therein until they are actually required or removed from storage. This is particularly expedient if the transverse conveyance locations are associated with the final target aisle of the transport unit.
  • the exchange can be affected actively or passively with regard to the storage-entry or removal-from-storage apparatus, i. e. on the one hand, the transverse conveyance location can simply be a passive storing location, in which the storage-entry and removal-from-storage apparatus of one aisle stores transport units (quasi places them into storage) and from which the racking serving unit of the adjacent aisle receives transport units (quasi removes them from storage). This procedure can be performed for each racking storage location or transverse conveyance location always only in one direction or in both directions.
  • the transverse conveyance location can be configured as conventional storage locations, live storage racks inclined or not inclined, with or without an active or passive drive, as roller conveyors, belt conveyors etc.
  • the transverse conveyance locations can also comprise a pushing mechanism for the transport units. The simplicity of the transverse conveyance locations also permits subsequent retrofitting and conversion of transverse conveyance locations and flexible adaptation to the required capacity of the storage system.
  • the transverse conveyance locations can thus optionally be configured for bidirectional or unidirectional exchange and/or for active or passive exchange.
  • the storage-entry and removal-from-storage apparatuses can likewise place the transport units into storage at double depth or multiple depths in the transverse conveyance locations for exchange purposes.
  • the storage-entry and removal-from- storage apparatuses of one aisle can thus place into storage the transport units in the transverse conveyance locations at such a depth that they are all ready to be assigned to the adjacent rack and can be reached "normally” by the corresponding storage-entry and removal-from-storage apparatus.
  • the load picking-up means of the storage-entry and removal-from- storage apparatuses can have an extended reach.
  • transport units it is likewise feasible for the transport units to be stored in a stacked manner.
  • transverse conveyance locations are subject to very considerable loads, it is expedient if the transverse conveyance locations have a friction-reducing surface and/or structural reinforcement is undertaken. Therefore, damage to the transport units is also reduced or even completely prevented.
  • the control may also be operable assign orders to a certain picking station and route all necessary product transport units to this picking station irrespective of storage aisle in the product storage using the connecting conveyor system in an any-to-any manner.
  • the control may also be operable to perform order approximate consolidation by assigning product transport units to the picking stations from a destination aisle directly connected to the respective picking station and also assigning product transport units to the picking stations from an adjacent destination aisle connected indirectly by the the cross-aisle conveyor of the connecting conveyor system.
  • Approximate consolidation does not require full consolidation or order e. g. when the donor arrives to an adjacent aisle, system says it is close enough then order is retrieved from destination aisle and adjacent aisle toward pick station connected to the destination aisle.
  • the product transport units retrieved from the adjacent aisle have to travel through cross aisle conveyor but since the distance is minor, it will not entirely increase the conveyor traffic.
  • the amount of iAT is significantly reduced as many of product transport units may be sourced from adjacent aisles and order consolidation time is reduced by one aisle as order is regarded as consolidated as the product transport unit arrives in the adjacent aisle (right or left side of destination aisle depending on where those are coming from).
  • Figure 1 shows a schematic top view of a warehouse having a product storage area and an order fulfillment area with robotic and manual picking stations;
  • Figure 2 shows a schematic perspective view of figure 1 ;
  • Figure 3 - 5 show a schematic top view of transport unit routing between a robotic and a manual picking station of figure 1 for error handling of pick failures;
  • Figure 6 shows a schematic perspective view of a variant of figure 1 having a two-level cross-aisle and connecting conveyor system for transport unit routing to robotic and manual picking stations;
  • Figure 7 shows a schematic top view of transport unit routing to picking stations of figure 1 for order fulfillment
  • Figure 8 shows a schematic top view of picking station of figure 1 during order transport unit buffering, order transport unit re-sequencing and order transport unit circulation.
  • a warehouse 1 having a product storage area A and an order fulfillment area B with robotic picking stations 2R and manual picking stations 2M that are connected to a racking 3 by conveyors 4 is shown.
  • this can also be interpreted as two different versions of picking stations that differ in their attributes or properties (manual pick stations only or robotic pick stations only with different picking attributes), which define the range of products can that can be optimally picked at the respective stations.
  • Each picking station 2 corresponds to an aisle 5 of the racking 3 with the racks 6 neighboring the aisle 5 in between and is connected to a vertical conveyor 7 (e. g. a lift or elevator) arranged within the footprint of each rack 6 at its front end via the conveyors 4.
  • the racks are serviced by ASRS machines, e. g. shuttles S, that drop off loads to the vertical conveyors 7 and/or conveyors 4.
  • Conveyor 4a is a storage-entry feeding line and conveyor 4b is a removal-from storage feeding line. They are respectively connected to the racks 6 of an aisle 5, interfacing with the vertical conveyors 7.
  • Vertical conveyors 7 include at least one removal-from-storage lift 7b which is used to transfer the transport units T to the removal-from-storage feeding line 4b and at least one supply-to-storage lift 7a is used to transfer the transport units T from the at least one storage-entry feeding line 4a.
  • shuttles S travel along storage racking aisle 5 and have means for carrying transport units T and for displacing these to and from the storage racks 6 for placing the transport units T into and removal from the storage rack via load handling means and for discharging to and supplying from the at least one removal-from-storage lift 7b and the at least one supply-to-storage lift 7a or alternatively the conveyors 4a, b directly, depending on the level.
  • Conveyor 4c is a connecting conveyor system in the form of a cross aisle conveyor running the length of the front of the racking 3 across all aisles 5 and possibly on to a not shown packaging area. Conveyor 4c is arranged between the product storage area A and the order fulfillment area B and the picking stations 2 therein and connected to the at least one removal-from storage feeding line 4b and the at least one storage-entry feeding line 4a on the product storage side.
  • Each picking station 2 is supplied with product transport units T by the connecting conveyor system 4 and said connecting conveyor system 4 also supplies and returns order transport units O and is used for discharge of emptied product transport units T and partial orders or finished orders from the respective picking station.
  • a control 15 is operable to assign orders for at least partial fulfillment to a respective picking station 2 for items that are only pickable at such a picking station.
  • the control 15 is operable to assign orders for at least partial fulfillment to the robotic picking station 2R for items that are robotically pickable and to assign orders for at least partial fulfillment to the manually operated picking station 2M for items that are only manually pickable.
  • the conveyors 4a, b bridge or connect the racking 3 and the picking stations 2, connecting to an inbound product transport unit conveyor 8a, b and an inbound order transport unit conveyor 9a, b and a common take away discharge conveyor 10.
  • the transport units themselves can for example be standard containers or trays.
  • Inbound product transport unit conveyor 8 has a first conveying section 8a leading into the station in extension of the aisle direction and a second conveying section 8b oriented 90 degrees thereto forming the actual conveying system within the station for presentation of the transport unit with products to the manual operator 11a or robotic operator 11b, allowing them to perform picking.
  • Inbound order transport unit conveyor 9 has a first inbound conveying section 9a leading into the station in extension of the aisle direction and a second conveying section 9b which is arranged in parallel thereto connected by a right-angle-transfer (RAT) 9c.
  • RAT right-angle-transfer
  • Product transport unit conveyor section 8b and transport unit conveyor section 9b intersect each other forming an operating position 13 for the operator and intersection 14.
  • the intersection can be formed in a wide range of angles, but usually will be in the range between 60 and 120 degrees, preferably 90 degrees.
  • Common take away discharge conveyor 10 is arranged in direct extension of order transport unit conveyor section 9b and starts at the intersection 14 with product transport unit conveyor section 8b.
  • a typical flow or routing of order transport units O from one station to another is indicated by the block arrows and the flow of the product transport units T is indicated by the hashed arrows in figure 1.
  • the hashed lines indicate an indirect routing of order transport units O by temporary storage of such in the racking 3 and deferred discharge to the respective picking station 2 at a later point in time, for example when the needed product is available.
  • Each pick station 2M may include a display and controls 12 for information of and control by the operator 11a.
  • the operator may also be guided by other means, like pick-by-voice and virtual reality etc.
  • the picking station may also not have any such means and picking may be performed based on “paper.”
  • Product transport unit conveyor section 8b as a whole may be tilted towards the operating position 13 allowing better access.
  • Tilting of the donor position is done by means of tilting conveyor 8b itself allowing the product transport unit to be tilted when it is transferred from 8a to 8b.
  • Tilting of order positions can be done by means of active tilting mechanism e. g. tilted RAT (Right Angle Transfer) and only the corresponding put position can be tilted (adaptive tilting) providing operator a distinct indication where the picked items are put to.
  • active tilting mechanism e. g. tilted RAT (Right Angle Transfer) and only the corresponding put position can be tilted (adaptive tilting) providing operator a distinct indication where the picked items are put to.
  • the conveyors are controlled by controller 15 to provide a simultaneous and continuous conveyance flow of product and order carriers through the picking station 2 on the respective conveyors 8, 9 and 10 in accordance with the needs for order fulfillment, which in turn is managed by an overall warehouse management system (WMS) interacting and interfaced with an order tracking system.
  • WMS warehouse management system
  • the controller is used to control overall material flow within the racking 3 and aisle 5 and from there to the picking stations 2.
  • the order fulfillment area B is shown in an embodiment according to the invention.
  • the racking 3 is only schematically indicated with the racking 3 and the picking stations 2 are manually or robotically operated.
  • a connecting conveyor system 4 with cross aisle conveyor 4c runs the length of the front of the racking 3 across all aisles 5 and possibly on to a not shown packaging area with conveyors 4a, b bridging the racking 3 and the picking stations 2, connecting to an inbound product transport unit conveyor 8a, b and an inbound order transport unit conveyor 9a, b and a common take away discharge conveyor 10.
  • Figures 3 - 5 show a schematic top view of transport unit routing between a robotic picking station 2R and a manual picking station 2M of figure 1 for error handling of pick failures.
  • the respective order transport unit O is transferred to the order transport unit conveyor 9 of a manual picking station 2M as indicated by the hash-dot-dot-hash arrow F in figure 3.
  • the product transport unit T may be also directly transferred to the inbound product transport unit conveyor 8 of the manual picking station 2M as indicated by the hashed arrow T.
  • the manual operator 11 can then re-perform the failed pick.
  • the product transport unit T may be temporarily stored in the racking 3, if the timing does not match or the manual picking station 2M is busy or if further product transport units are needed at the manual picking station 2M. This is indicated by the hash-dot-hash arrow T+ in figure 3.
  • the respective order transport unit O and the product transport unit T may alternatively both be transferred to the order transport unit conveyor 9 of the manual picking station 2M as indicated by the arrow F1 , F2 in figure 4. This lowers interference with the normal supply of product transport units T to the inbound product transport unit conveyor 8 of the manual picking station 2M.
  • Figure 5 details that if the control 15 determines that the pick failure occurred while picking the last item of an order and that the control 15 determines that timing does match, the product transport unit T is routed to inbound product transport unit conveyor 8 (line T1) and the order transport unit O is routed to inbound order transport unit conveyor 9 (line F) of the reassigned manually operated picking station 2M.
  • FIG. 6 a variant of figure 1 having a two-level cross-aisle 4C and connecting conveyor system for transport unit routing to robotic picking stations 2R and manual picking stations 2M is shown.
  • This is typical layout that has a staggered arrangement of picking stations 2.
  • a robotic picking station 2R is arranged in an upper level, which has difficult access for manual personnel or operators and is therefore seen as an ideal place for a robot.
  • It is also a typical layout where orders are routed between manual pick stations 2M1, 2M2, 2M3, each having different attributes.
  • the control can allocate orders consisting of product transport units T becoming empty to a pick station 2M2 that has a decant-on-the-fly attribute, as it has a lower ground floor space SP that allows buffering of incoming products.
  • the routing can be changed dynamically by the control 15 depending on the timing of 2nd consolidation. If timing matches, order transport units O are routed directly to the respective picking station 2. If timing does not match order transport units O can be buffered to storage 3, similar to figure 2 and 3 above.
  • the parallel arrangement of inbound order transport unit conveyor sections (9a, 9b) allows an exchange between the two in a manner controlled by the control such that in case of pick failures at the robotic picking station, the order transport unit can be shuffled to finalize further picks of the order before both the product container and the order transport unit being reassigned to the manually operated picking station together for the faulty pick, all under the control of control 15.
  • the right-angle-transfer (RAT) 9c is used as a buffer zone and other incoming order transport units O may be routed by short-cutting 9c and directly moving incoming order transport units O from conveyor 9a to 9b.
  • incoming order transport units O may recirculated using the right-angle- transfer (RAT) 9c and the conveyors 9a, 9b as well as conveyor 4C, to avoid stalling the system.
  • RAT right-angle- transfer
  • the ugly order transport units O* are allowed to move on past the station 2 so that it can queue again at the back of the order conveyor 9. This allows to "select" only the ugly order transport units O* for which the donor transport units have been consolidated to the corresponding aisle.
  • This line of reasoning assumes that all the donor transport units must be consolidated before release.
  • Order transport units O that are partially filled at the picking station 2 can be circled back to order conveyor and consolidated remaining product transport units T will be released based on new order sequence and/or order buffering I re-sequencing function can be used to match the timing. This shortens order lead time and prevents product transport units T from being booked/reserved too long if those products contained in them are fast movers, which would cause order conflicts resulting in order delays.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un entrepôt destiné au traitement de commandes doté d'au moins une zone de traitement de commandes dans laquelle au moins deux stations de prélèvement sont disposées et approvisionnées en articles dans des unités de transport de produit depuis un stockage de produit pour le prélèvement d'articles de commandes dans des unités de transport de commande, le stockage de produit étant un stockage à étagères à plusieurs travées et plusieurs niveaux doté de navettes (S) en tant que machines d'entretien d'étagères et comprenant une pluralité d'étagères de stockage (3) et de niveaux d'étagères de stockage pour le stockage des unités de transport (T), les étagères de stockage (3) comportant une travée (5) entre elles, un système de convoyeur de liaison (4) étant disposé entre le stockage de produit et la zone de traitement de commandes et les stations de prélèvement (2) qui s'y trouvent, et relié à au moins une ligne d'alimentation de sortie de stockage (4b) et au moins une ligne d'alimentation d'entrée de stockage (4a) sur le côté stockage de produit ; chaque station de prélèvement (2) est alimentée par des unités de transport donneuses par le système de convoyeur de liaison (4), ledit système de convoyeur de liaison alimentant également et retournant les unités de transport de commande et étant utilisé pour l'évacuation des unités de transport vides et des commandes partielles ou des commandes terminées depuis la station de prélèvement respective ; le système de convoyeur de liaison inclut un convoyeur de traversée de travées (4c) fonctionnant sur la largeur de l'avant du stockage de produit à travers les travées et segmentant la prézone entre le stockage de produit et la zone de traitement, une unité de commande (15) étant opérationnelle pour attribuer des commandes pour un traitement au moins partiel à une station de prélèvement respective (2) pour des articles qui ne peuvent être prélevés qu'à une telle station de prélèvement.
PCT/EP2022/083616 2022-11-29 2022-11-29 Entrepôt destiné au traitement de commandes doté d'un stockage de produit et d'au moins une zone de traitement de commandes WO2024114890A1 (fr)

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PCT/EP2022/083616 WO2024114890A1 (fr) 2022-11-29 2022-11-29 Entrepôt destiné au traitement de commandes doté d'un stockage de produit et d'au moins une zone de traitement de commandes

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PCT/EP2022/083616 WO2024114890A1 (fr) 2022-11-29 2022-11-29 Entrepôt destiné au traitement de commandes doté d'un stockage de produit et d'au moins une zone de traitement de commandes

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Citations (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1331179B1 (fr) * 2002-01-29 2004-10-20 SWISSLOG ITALIA S.p.A. Dispositif et méthode pour composer un ensemble de merchandises
EP2741977A1 (fr) 2012-08-06 2014-06-18 Dematic Accounting Services GmbH Procédé pour extraire des unités de transport d'un magasin
US20160229634A1 (en) * 2013-10-18 2016-08-11 Dematic Systems Gmbh Method of Order Fulfilling by Making Storage Units Available from a Storage Facility in a Desired Sequence at a Pack Station
WO2018006112A1 (fr) * 2016-07-08 2018-01-11 Tgw Logistics Group Gmbh Procédé de préparation de commandes d'articles et poste de préparation de commandes
WO2018185231A1 (fr) * 2017-04-07 2018-10-11 Dematic Gmbh Procédé et système de transport d'unités au sein d'une installation de stockage
WO2019120584A1 (fr) * 2017-12-22 2019-06-27 Dematic Gmbh Procédé de satisfaction de commandes en rendant des unités de stockage disponibles parmi une installation de stockage selon une séquence désirée dans une station de paquets
WO2020113249A1 (fr) * 2018-12-07 2020-06-11 Tgw Mechanics Gmbh Arrangement de stockage et système de préparation avec mise en stock et sortie de stock améliorées des marchandises chargées et procédé d'exploitation associé
WO2021223881A1 (fr) * 2020-05-08 2021-11-11 Dematic Gmbh Procédé et poste de prélèvement d'articles selon le principe de la marchandise vers l'homme
WO2021223885A1 (fr) * 2020-05-08 2021-11-11 Dematic Gmbh Entrepôt pour traitement de commandes avec stockage de produits et au moins une zone de traitement de commandes
US20220017302A1 (en) * 2018-10-23 2022-01-20 Tgw Logistics Group Gmbh Storage and picking system and picking method for automatically and manually picking goods

Patent Citations (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1331179B1 (fr) * 2002-01-29 2004-10-20 SWISSLOG ITALIA S.p.A. Dispositif et méthode pour composer un ensemble de merchandises
EP2741977A1 (fr) 2012-08-06 2014-06-18 Dematic Accounting Services GmbH Procédé pour extraire des unités de transport d'un magasin
US20160229634A1 (en) * 2013-10-18 2016-08-11 Dematic Systems Gmbh Method of Order Fulfilling by Making Storage Units Available from a Storage Facility in a Desired Sequence at a Pack Station
WO2018006112A1 (fr) * 2016-07-08 2018-01-11 Tgw Logistics Group Gmbh Procédé de préparation de commandes d'articles et poste de préparation de commandes
WO2018185231A1 (fr) * 2017-04-07 2018-10-11 Dematic Gmbh Procédé et système de transport d'unités au sein d'une installation de stockage
WO2019120584A1 (fr) * 2017-12-22 2019-06-27 Dematic Gmbh Procédé de satisfaction de commandes en rendant des unités de stockage disponibles parmi une installation de stockage selon une séquence désirée dans une station de paquets
US20220017302A1 (en) * 2018-10-23 2022-01-20 Tgw Logistics Group Gmbh Storage and picking system and picking method for automatically and manually picking goods
WO2020113249A1 (fr) * 2018-12-07 2020-06-11 Tgw Mechanics Gmbh Arrangement de stockage et système de préparation avec mise en stock et sortie de stock améliorées des marchandises chargées et procédé d'exploitation associé
WO2021223881A1 (fr) * 2020-05-08 2021-11-11 Dematic Gmbh Procédé et poste de prélèvement d'articles selon le principe de la marchandise vers l'homme
WO2021223885A1 (fr) * 2020-05-08 2021-11-11 Dematic Gmbh Entrepôt pour traitement de commandes avec stockage de produits et au moins une zone de traitement de commandes

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