Distributing a warehouse task from a warehouse management hub to a programmable logic controller in a distributed warehouse system

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that are executable by a computer to cause the computer to:

• sending, by a warehouse management hub, an initial configuration to a warehouse management device, the initial configuration comprising routing information, the routing information including a plurality of sources and a plurality of destinations within a warehouse and at least one programmable logic controller located between each source of the plurality of sources and each destination of the plurality of destinations;
• receive, by the warehouse management hub, state information from the warehouse management device, the state information comprising one or more of:
• a state of sources and destinations within the warehouse,
• a state of positioning systems within the warehouse,
• a state of handling units within the warehouse, and
• a state of each communication point or a subset of communication points in the warehouse;
• transmit an update to the initial configuration to the warehouse management device based on the state information;
• receive a warehouse task at a warehouse management hub, the warehouse task including attributes for physically transferring at least one product into a warehouse, out of the warehouse or within the warehouse;
• determine, by the warehouse management hub and based on the attributes of the warehouse task, the warehouse management device from a plurality of warehouse management devices for processing the warehouse task, wherein the warehouse management hub is located remote from each of the warehouse management devices, the warehouse hub being communicably coupled to each of the warehouse management devices via a wide area network;
• send, by the warehouse management hub, the warehouse task to the determined warehouse management device;
• identify, by the determined warehouse management device and based on the attributes of the warehouse task and on the updated initial configuration, a first one of a plurality of programmable logic controllers, wherein the determined warehouse management device is communicably connected to each of the programmable logic controllers via a local area network;
• and
• send, by the determined warehouse management device, a message including information for carrying out the warehouse task to one of the programmable logic controllers based on the identification of the first one of the programmable logic controllers.

A distributed warehouse management system for distributing at least one warehouse task from a warehouse management hub to one of a plurality of programmable logic controllers, the system comprising:

• the warehouse management hub;
• a plurality of warehouse management devices, wherein each warehouse management device is connected to the warehouse management hub via a wide area network;
• the plurality of programmable logic controllers, wherein each programmable logic controller is connected to one of the warehouse management devices via a local area network;
• wherein the warehouse management hub is configured to:
• send an initial configuration to a warehouse management device, the initial configuration comprising routing information, the routing information including a plurality of sources and a plurality of destinations within a warehouse and at least one programmable logic controller located between each source of the plurality of sources and each destination of the plurality of destinations;
• process state information received from each of the plurality of warehouse management devices, the state information comprising one or more of:
• a state of sources and destinations within the warehouse,
• a state of positioning systems within the warehouse,
• a state of handling units within the warehouse, and
• a state of each communication point or a subset of communication points in the warehouse;
• transmit an update to the initial configuration to the warehouse management device based on the state information;
• receive the warehouse task, the warehouse task including attributes for physically transferring at least one product into a warehouse, out of the warehouse or within the warehouse;
• determine, based on the attributes of the warehouse task, the warehouse management device from the warehouse management devices for processing the warehouse task;
• send, the warehouse task to the determined warehouse management device;
• and
• wherein the determined warehouse management device is configured to:
• identify, based on the attributes of the warehouse task and on the updated initial configuration, a first one of the programmable logic controllers;
• and
• send a message including information for carrying out the warehouse task to one of the programmable logic controllers based on the identification of the first one of the programmable logic controllers.