Picking and assorting system
AssigneeMurata Machinery, Ltd.
InventorsHirofumi Segawa, Tsuyoshi Kakinuki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a picking and assorting system, a control unit makes, based on a volume of buckets, a picking schedule for one batch to be picked from article racks into the buckets. If there are articles that have been loaded into the buckets based on the picking schedule for one batch but remain in trays after sorting, then a warehouse control unit causes carriers to move work-in-progress trays from work shelves to a third tray storage space.
Claims14
A picking and assorting system for use with a plurality of picking zones, each of the picking zones including an article rack including plural kinds of articles, the article racks being utilized to perform total picking by using first containers, the picking and assorting system comprising:
- a picking schedule making unit configured and programmed to make a picking schedule for one batch of the articles to perform total picking to pick the articles from the article racks and place the articles in the first containers, based on a workload in each of the picking zones;
- an automatic storage system configured and programmed to facilitate assorting articles from the first containers to second containers after the total picking, the automatic storage system including an assorting station including a placement portion onto which the first containers are placed and a work shelf onto which the second containers are placed such that the articles are arranged to be assorted from the first containers to the second containers, a storage shelf onto which the second containers are stored, and a moving device configured to move the second containers between the work shelf and the storage shelf;
- and
- a controller configured and programmed to, if an article placed into the first containers according to the picking schedule for the one batch remains in the second container after assorting is done but before the second container has been completely filled, order the moving device to move the second container in a work-in-progress state from the work shelf to the storage shelf.
A picking and assorting system comprising:
- a plurality of picking zones, each of the picking zones including an article rack including plural kinds of articles, total picking being performed from the article racks to first containers;
- a picking schedule making unit configured and programmed to make a picking schedule for one batch of the articles to perform total picking to pick the articles from the article racks and place the articles in the first containers, based on a workload in each of the picking zones;
- an automatic storage system configured and programmed to facilitate assorting articles from the first containers to second containers after the total picking, the automatic storage system including an assorting station including a placement portion onto which the first containers are placed and a work shelf onto which the second containers are placed such that the articles are arranged to be assorted from the first containers to the second containers, a storage shelf onto which the first containers are stored, and a moving device configured to move the first containers between the placement portion and the storage shelf;
- and
- a controller configured and programmed to, if some of the articles picked and placed into the first container according to the picking schedule for the one batch cannot be assorted to the second containers, order the moving device to move the first container containing the articles from the placement portion to the storage shelf.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.