Article Shipment System

An article shipment system for shipping articles of specified types and specified quantities based on order information, the specified types and the specified quantities being specified by the order information, the specified types being types of articles specified for each shipping destination, the specified quantities each being a quantity of articles specified for each of the specified types, the article shipment system comprising:

• an automated warehouse configured to store a plurality of first mounts each loaded with a plurality of articles;
• a picking area in which a picking operation is performed, the picking operation being an operation of retrieving, based on the order information, articles of specified types and specified quantities indicated by respective pieces of article-specific order information from the plurality of first mounts and loading the articles onto second mounts corresponding to the respective pieces of article-specific order information, each of the pieces of article-specific order information being information about a single specified type and a specified quantity for the single specified type included in a single piece of order information;
• a consolidation area in which a consolidation operation is performed, the consolidation operation being an operation of collecting, onto a third mount corresponding to a shipping destination, articles loaded on second mounts associated with all pieces of article-specific order information included in a single piece of order information;
• and
• a control system configured to control the automated warehouse,
• wherein the control system is configured to alternately provide, to the automated warehouse, a transfer command to transfer a target mount with a higher picking workload from the automated warehouse and a transfer command to transfer a target mount with a lower picking workload from the automated warehouse to transport the plurality of first mounts to the picking area, the picking workload being a workload for retrieving, from a first mount among the plurality of first mounts, articles in specified quantities indicated by pieces of article-specific order information included in a plurality of pieces of order information in the picking operation, the target mount being a first mount, among the plurality of first mounts, loaded with articles of a specified type included in a target article-specific order information group, the target article-specific order information group being a group of pieces of article-specific order information included in part of the plurality of pieces of order information among pieces of article-specific order information included in the plurality of pieces of order information.