Pick-to-tote optimization
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsPaul N. Haake, Sarah T. Rowe, Sean Joseph Henry Oczkowski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Technologies are described herein for optimizing pick-to-tote operations. Each pick location for items in an inventory picking area is assigned a sequence number representing a relative position along a pick path through the inventory picking area. A number of tote pick lists are selected from a set of pending pick lists for the pick-to-tote operation, such that the range of sequence numbers across all the pick locations identified in the selected pick list is minimized. In this way, the required distance inventory personnel must travel along the pick path while picking the specified items and placing them into totes is reduced.
Claims20
A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
- receive a tote count indicating a number of tote pick lists for selection;
- select a first tote pick list having a narrowest sequence number range from a set of pending pick lists, wherein the sequence number range of a tote pick list represents a maximum distance along a pick path between pick locations for items identified in the tote pick list;
- select an additional tote pick list adding the least to an overall sequence number range of the selected pick lists from the set of pending pick lists;
- and
- repeat the selection of additional tote pick lists until the number of the selected pick lists equals the tote count.
A computer-implemented method of optimizing pick-to-tote operations, the method comprising executing instructions in a computer system to perform the operations of:
- receiving a tote count at the computer system;
- selecting a first tote pick list at the computer system from a set of pending pick lists;
- selecting an additional tote pick list at the computer system adding the least to an overall sequence number range of the selected pick lists from the set of pending pick lists, wherein the sequence number range of the selected pick lists represents a maximum distance along a pick path between pick locations for items identified in the selected picks lists;
- and
- repeating the selection of additional tote pick lists at the computer system until the number of the selected pick lists equals the tote count.
A system for optimizing a pick-to-tote operation, the system comprising:
- a merchant system comprising one or more application servers;
- and
- a pick-to-tote optimization module executing on the one or more application servers and configured to select a plurality of tote pick lists for the pick-to-tote operation from a set of pending pick lists such that a range of sequence numbers assigned to the pick locations for the items identified in the selected plurality of tote pick lists is minimized, wherein the sequence number assigned to each pick location represents a relative position of the pick location along a pick path through the inventory picking area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.