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US 12,646,016 B2Granted
Warehouse order picking optimization system and method
AssigneeExel Oy
InventorsManjeet Singh, Siqiang Guo, Bocheng Yu, Adrian Kumar, Saman Saiy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Exemplary system and method embodiments described and shown herein are directed to optimizing warehouse picking operations. Exemplary system and method embodiments employ order allocation optimization and/or order grouping optimization that are individually or collectively usable to allocate and group warehouse orders in a manner that minimizes picker travel and maximizes labor productivity.
Claims20
A method of optimizing the picking of open orders in a warehouse divided into zones, each order including one or more items and each item associated with a particular location in the warehouse, the method comprising:
- storing in one or more memories an active inventory information file indicating the quantity of all items in the warehouse by physical location, and an open order file indicating the quantity of each item required by each order in an order queue;
- retrieving, via one or more processors, item inventory, item location, and open order item information from the one or more memories;
- generating, with the one or more processors, pick assignments whose items are located as close as possible to each other so as to minimize picking travel distance, by:
- (a) determining the frequency that each location of items to be picked will need to be visited to pick all of the individual open orders,
- (b) determining the location that will be the most frequently visited pick location,
- (c) after determining the most frequently visited pick location, generating a vector that calculates the additional travel distance required to visit any new pick location as a result of adding a new order to a current pick assignment,
- (d) scoring each order by evaluating the additional travel distance resulting from adding the new order to the current pick assignment,
- (e) subsequent to scoring each order, selecting the order that results in the minimum travel distance and adding it to the current pick assignment,
- (f) updating the required location visits of the pick assignment each time an order is added to the current pick assignment,
- (g) each time a new order is added to the current pick assignment, updating the vector used to calculate the additional travel distance required for any new location visit resulting from adding the new order, and
- repeating steps (d)-(g) until the criteria of generating one order picking task has been met;
- generating, with the one or more processors, an order picking task for automated picking equipment, the task including picking instructions for the group of eligible open orders, the picking instructions identifying each of the product storage locations that must be picked in order to fulfill the eligible open orders associated with the task;
- transmitting order picking task information to automated picking equipment;
- and
- commanding the automated picking equipment to undertake an order picking operation using the optimized order picking instructions.
12 more elements
A system for optimizing the picking of open orders of items located within a warehouse divided into zones, comprising:
- one or memories storing:
- an active inventory file indicating the quantity of all items in the warehouse by location, and
- an open order file indicating the quantity of each item required by each order in an order queue;
- one or more processors in communication with the one or more memories, the one or more processors including computer-executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:
- perform order allocation optimization by:
- (a) determining the frequency that each location of items to be picked will need to be visited to pick all of the individual open orders,
- (b) determining the location that will be the most frequently visited pick location,
- (c) after determining the most frequently visited pick location, generating a vector that calculates the additional travel distance required to visit any new pick location as a result of adding a new order to a current pick assignment,
- (d) scoring each order by evaluating the additional travel distance resulting from adding the new order to the current pick assignment,
- (e) subsequent to scoring each order, selecting the order that results in the minimum travel distance and adding it to the current pick assignment,
- (f) updating the required location visits of the pick assignment each time an order is added to the current pick assignment,
- (g) each time a new order is added to the current pick assignment, updating the vector used to calculate the additional travel distance required for any new location visit resulting from adding the new order, and
- repeating steps (d)-(g) until the criteria of generating one order picking task has been met;
- generate an order picking task for automated picking equipment, the task including picking instructions for the open orders to which order grouping optimization has been applied, the picking instructions identifying each of the product storage locations that must be picked in order to fulfill the open orders associated with the one or more tasks and useable by the automated picking equipment to fulfill the open orders;
- a warehouse management system that is interposed in a communication path between the one or more memories and the one or more processors, wherein the warehouse management system is configured to transmit a command that causes the automated equipment to undertake an order picking operation using the optimized order picking instructions.
12 more elements
A system for optimizing the picking of open orders of items located within a warehouse divided into zones, comprising:
- one or memories storing:
- an active inventory file indicating the quantity of all items in the warehouse by location, and
- an open order file indicating the quantity of each item required by each order in an order queue;
- one or more processors in communication with the one or more memories, the one or more processors including computer-executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:
- perform order allocation optimization by:
- (a) determining the frequency that each location of items to be picked will need to be visited to pick all of the individual open orders,
- (b) determining the location that will be the most frequently visited pick location,
- (c) after determining the most frequently visited pick location, generating a vector that calculates the additional travel distance required to visit any new pick location as a result of adding a new order to a current pick assignment,
- (d) scoring each order by evaluating the additional travel distance resulting from adding the new order to the current pick assignment,
- (e) subsequent to scoring each order, selecting the order that results in the minimum travel distance and adding it to the current pick assignment,
- (f) updating the required location visits of the pick assignment each time an order is added to the current pick assignment,
- (g) each time a new order is added to the current pick assignment, updating the vector used to calculate the additional travel distance required for any new location visit resulting from adding the new order, and
- repeating steps (d)-(g) until the criteria of generating one order picking task has been met;
- generate an order picking task for automated picking equipment, the task including picking instructions for the open orders to which order grouping optimization has been applied, the picking instructions identifying each of the product storage locations that must be picked in order to fulfill the open orders associated with the one or more tasks and useable by the automated picking equipment to fulfill the open orders;
- and
- transmit order picking task information to the automated picking equipment, the order picking task information including a command that causes the automated equipment to undertake an order picking operation using the optimized order picking instructions.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.