An inventory management system and inventory management method

Abstract

This specification discloses an inventory management system and an inventory management method. For each inventory container, the control center can determine the current location of the inventory container in the warehouse as the first inventory location, and determine the location that the inventory container needs to be moved to in the warehouse as the second inventory location based on the current inventory information of each item stored in the inventory container. Based on the first and second inventory locations, the control center sends a handling instruction to the handling equipment, so that the handling equipment can move the inventory container from the first inventory location to the second inventory location according to the handling instruction, thereby improving the handling efficiency of the handling equipment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This specification relates to the field of warehousing technology, and in particular to an inventory management system and inventory management method. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid development of information technology, the warehousing and logistics industry can use intelligent handling equipment to move goods, shelves, etc., which greatly saves human resources.

[0003] In practical applications, goods in a warehouse are stored on various shelves. After goods enter the warehouse, they need to be placed on the shelves and then moved to a specific location within the warehouse by handling equipment. In existing technologies, the location of a shelf in the warehouse is related to the probability of each item on that shelf leaving the warehouse. The higher the sum of the probabilities of each item leaving the warehouse, the closer the shelf is to the workstation, and the more efficient the handling equipment is in moving the goods from that shelf to the workstation. The probability of leaving the warehouse mentioned here can be used to represent the likelihood of a item leaving the warehouse. For example, mineral water has a relatively high daily outbound volume, so its probability of leaving the warehouse is also relatively high. However, for medical devices, compared to mineral water, the daily outbound volume is relatively low, therefore, the probability of leaving the warehouse for medical devices is lower than that for mineral water.

[0004] However, in existing technologies, if a large quantity of a certain type of goods with a high probability of being shipped out is in stock, all of this inventory is likely to be placed close to the workstations. This would occupy a large portion of the warehouse area near the workstations, leaving goods with a low probability of being shipped out likely to be placed further away. Therefore, once a low-probability item needs to be shipped out, the handling equipment must travel a considerable distance, resulting in low overall efficiency for goods handling within the warehouse.

[0005] Therefore, how to improve the handling efficiency of handling equipment is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This specification provides an inventory management system and inventory management method to partially solve the aforementioned problems existing in the prior art.

[0007] The following technical solution is adopted in this specification:

[0008] This specification provides an inventory management system, including: at least one control center, several inventory containers, and at least one handling device;

[0009] The control center is configured to, for each inventory container, determine the current position of the inventory container in the warehouse as the first inventory position, determine the position that the inventory container needs to be adjusted to in the warehouse as the second inventory position based on the current inventory information of each item stored on the inventory container, and send a handling instruction to the handling equipment based on the first inventory position and the second inventory position.

[0010] The handling equipment is configured to receive a handling instruction sent by the control center, and according to the handling instruction, move the inventory container from the first inventory location to the second inventory location.

[0011] Optionally, the control center is further configured to: determine the basic goods heat corresponding to each item on the inventory container; for each item stored on the inventory container, determine the current outbound priority corresponding to the item based on the current inventory information of the item; determine the current goods heat corresponding to the item based on the basic goods heat corresponding to the item and the current outbound priority; determine the container heat corresponding to the inventory container based on the current goods heat corresponding to each item on the inventory container; and determine the position that the inventory container needs to be adjusted to in the warehouse based on the container heat, as the second inventory position.

[0012] Optionally, the higher the container popularity of the inventory container, the closer the distance between the second inventory location and the work area corresponding to the warehouse.

[0013] Optionally, the control center is further configured to determine, based on the current inventory information of the goods, the inventory interval into which the goods fall from the pre-divided inventory intervals, as the target interval, and determine the current outbound priority of the goods based on the target interval, wherein different inventory intervals correspond to different outbound priorities.

[0014] Optionally, the control center is further configured to divide the goods into different inventory intervals based on the average outbound volume of the goods.

[0015] Optionally, the control center is further configured to query the heat weight of the current outbound priority corresponding to the goods, and determine the current heat of the goods based on the heat weight and the heat of the basic goods corresponding to the goods.

[0016] Optionally, the control center is further configured to, if it is determined that no less than a first set quantity of the goods will be dispatched, adjust the current dispatch priority of the remaining goods to obtain the adjusted dispatch priority of the goods; for each inventory container, if the goods are stored in the inventory container, re-determine the container heat corresponding to the inventory container according to the adjusted dispatch priority of the goods; determine the position to which the inventory container needs to be adjusted in the warehouse according to the re-determined container heat, as the third inventory position, and send a handling instruction to the handling equipment that has not performed the handling task according to the third inventory position and the first inventory position.

[0017] Optionally, the control center is further configured to query the heat weight of the adjusted outbound priority corresponding to each type of goods stored on the inventory container, redetermine the current heat of the goods corresponding to the goods based on the heat weight of the adjusted outbound priority and the heat of the basic goods corresponding to the goods, and redetermine the container heat of the inventory container based on the redetermined current heat of the goods and the current heat of the other goods stored on the inventory container.

[0018] Optionally, the control center is further configured to determine the current outbound priority of goods if it detects that no more than a second set number of goods have been outbound.

[0019] Optionally, the storage container includes a shelf.

[0020] This manual provides an inventory management method, including:

[0021] For each inventory container, determine its current location in the warehouse, which will be designated as the first inventory location;

[0022] Based on the current inventory information of each item stored in the inventory container, determine the location in the warehouse where the inventory container needs to be moved to, and designate it as the second inventory location.

[0023] Based on the first inventory location and the second inventory location, a handling instruction is sent to the handling equipment so that the handling equipment can move the inventory container from the first inventory location to the second inventory location according to the handling instruction.

[0024] Optionally, based on the current inventory information of each item stored on the inventory container, the location in the warehouse that the inventory container needs to be moved to is determined as the second inventory location, specifically including:

[0025] Determine the heat of the base goods corresponding to each item on the inventory container;

[0026] For each type of goods stored in the inventory container, determine the current outbound priority of the goods based on the current inventory information of the goods.

[0027] The current cargo popularity is determined based on the basic cargo popularity corresponding to the cargo and the current outbound priority.

[0028] Based on the current heat of each item on the inventory container, the container heat of the inventory container is determined, and based on the container heat, the position that the inventory container needs to be moved to in the warehouse is determined as the second inventory position.

[0029] Optionally, the higher the container heat level of the inventory container, the closer the second inventory location is to the work area corresponding to the warehouse.

[0030] Optionally, based on the current inventory information of the goods, the current outbound priority of the goods is determined, specifically including:

[0031] Based on the current inventory information of the goods, determine the inventory interval into which the goods fall from the pre-divided inventory intervals, and use it as the target interval;

[0032] Based on the target range, the current outbound priority corresponding to the goods is determined, and the outbound priority is different for different inventory ranges.

[0033] Optionally, the inventory ranges corresponding to the goods can be divided, specifically including:

[0034] Based on the average outbound volume of the goods, divide the goods into different inventory ranges.

[0035] Optionally, the current cargo popularity is determined based on the basic cargo popularity and the current outbound priority, specifically including:

[0036] Query the heat weight of the current outbound priority for this item;

[0037] The current popularity of a commodity is determined based on the popularity weight and the popularity of the base commodity corresponding to that commodity.

[0038] Optionally, the method further includes:

[0039] If it is determined that the quantity of the goods to be shipped is not less than the first set quantity, the current shipping priority of the remaining goods is adjusted to obtain the adjusted shipping priority of the goods.

[0040] For each inventory container, if the goods are stored in the container, the container heat level is re-determined based on the adjusted outbound priority of the goods.

[0041] Based on the redefined container heat value corresponding to the inventory container, the location where the inventory container needs to be moved in the warehouse is determined as the third inventory location. Based on the third inventory location and the current location corresponding to the first inventory, a handling instruction is sent to the handling equipment that has not performed a handling task.

[0042] Optionally, the container heat corresponding to the inventory container can be re-determined, specifically including:

[0043] For each type of goods stored in the inventory container, query the heat weight of the adjusted outbound priority for that type of goods;

[0044] Based on the adjusted outbound priority heat weight and the heat of the corresponding basic goods, the current heat of the goods is re-determined.

[0045] Based on the redefined current cargo popularity of the cargo and the current cargo popularity of other cargo stored in the cargo container, the container popularity of the cargo container is redefined.

[0046] Optionally, the current outbound priority corresponding to the goods is determined, specifically including:

[0047] If no more than the second set quantity of goods is detected leaving the warehouse, the current outbound priority corresponding to that goods is determined.

[0048] Optionally, the storage container includes a shelf.

[0049] The above-mentioned technical solutions adopted in this specification can achieve the following beneficial effects:

[0050] The inventory management system provided in this specification includes at least one control center, several inventory containers, and at least one handling device. For each inventory container, the control center can determine the current location of the inventory container in the warehouse as the first inventory location, and determine the location that the inventory container needs to be moved to in the warehouse as the second inventory location based on the current inventory information of each item stored in the inventory container. Based on the first inventory location and the second inventory location, the control center sends a handling instruction to the handling device so that the handling device can move the inventory container from the first inventory location to the second inventory location according to the handling instruction.

[0051] As can be seen from the above inventory management system and inventory management method, the control center can determine the location of the inventory container in the warehouse based on the current inventory information of each item in the inventory container. In this way, the order of goods entering the warehouse and other inventory-related information can affect the location of the goods in the warehouse. Compared with the existing technology, which can only control the location of the inventory container by the probability of goods leaving the warehouse, this solution can improve the handling efficiency of the handling equipment to a certain extent. Attached Figure Description

[0052] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of this specification and form part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments and are used to explain this specification, but do not constitute an undue limitation thereof. In the drawings:

[0053] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an inventory management system provided for this specification;

[0054] Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating one inventory management method described in this manual.

[0055] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the division of warehouse areas as provided in this specification;

[0056] Figure 4A , 4B This is a schematic diagram illustrating how the position of a storage container can be changed, as provided in this instruction manual. Detailed Implementation

[0057] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this specification clearer, the technical solutions of this specification will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with specific embodiments and corresponding drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this specification, and not all of them. Based on the embodiments in this specification, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this specification.

[0058] The technical solutions provided in the various embodiments of this specification are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0059] This specification provides an inventory management system comprising at least one control center, several inventory containers, and at least one handling device. The inventory containers can store goods and are stored in a warehouse. The control center can control the handling devices to move the inventory containers to their designated locations within the warehouse. Figure 1 As shown.

[0060] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of an inventory management system provided in this specification.

[0061] from Figure 1 As can be seen, the inventory management system contains several inventory containers (such as shelves, boxes, etc.). When goods need to be shipped out, the control center can instruct the handling equipment to move the inventory container to the corresponding work area in the warehouse. Accordingly, after the handling equipment arrives at the location of the inventory container to be moved, it can move the container from its original position to the work area, and then the goods to be shipped will be retrieved from that container. The work area corresponding to the warehouse mentioned here refers to the area where staff perform the task of shipping goods out. Staff can prepare for shipping goods in this work area (e.g., retrieving goods from shelves). This work area can be used as follows: Figure 1 The location shown can be inside or outside the warehouse.

[0062] Of course, in practical applications, goods that need to be shipped out can also be taken out of the storage container by handling equipment and moved to the work area without changing the location of the storage container itself.

[0063] in, Figure 1 The control center can take many forms, such as computer terminals or servers with higher computing power. Furthermore, there can be one control center for controlling the handling equipment, or multiple control centers can work together to control multiple handling devices to adjust the position of the storage containers.

[0064] The specific form of handling equipment used to move inventory containers can vary. For example, one type of handling equipment reaches the bottom of the inventory container and lifts it up to move it; another type of handling equipment is equipped with forks, which can be extended after reaching the inventory container to drag the entire container to another location. Similarly, this specification does not limit the specific form of the handling equipment.

[0065] The above provides a brief description of the inventory management system. The following section will provide a detailed explanation of the inventory management system provided in this manual, with the control center as the executing entity.

[0066] Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating one inventory management method described in this manual, which specifically includes the following steps:

[0067] S201: For each inventory container, determine its current location in the warehouse as the first inventory location.

[0068] S202: Based on the current inventory information of each item stored in the inventory container, determine the location in the warehouse where the inventory container needs to be moved to, and designate it as the second inventory location.

[0069] In this manual, a warehouse can store several inventory containers, and each inventory container can store several items of goods. The inventory containers mentioned here can refer to shelves, boxes, or other containers that can store goods. After goods are received and placed into an inventory container, the control center needs to determine the location where the inventory container should be stored in the warehouse and move the inventory container to that location using handling equipment.

[0070] Based on this, the control center can determine the current location of each inventory container in the warehouse as the first inventory location, and then, based on the current inventory information of the goods stored in that container, determine the next location the container should be moved to as the second inventory location. The second inventory location is the actual location in the warehouse where the container should be stored. The current inventory information for the goods can include their inbound and outbound information, such as their inbound order, average outbound quantity, and outbound order.

[0071] Furthermore, the control center can determine the basic goods heat level corresponding to each item on the inventory container, and for each item stored on the container, determine the current outbound priority based on the current inventory information of that item. Thus, the current goods heat level is determined based on the basic goods heat level and the current outbound priority. Then, based on the current goods heat level corresponding to each item on the inventory container, the container heat level of the inventory container can be determined, and based on the container heat level, the aforementioned second inventory location can be determined. The higher the container heat level of the inventory container, the closer the second inventory location is to the corresponding work area of ​​the warehouse.

[0072] The current outbound priority mentioned here indicates the order in which goods are dispatched among similar goods; goods with higher current outbound priority are more likely to be dispatched first. The base commodity popularity of a goods can be determined by its corresponding outbound probability, which represents the likelihood of the goods being dispatched. There is a positive correlation between the outbound probability and the base commodity popularity of a goods; that is, a higher outbound probability indicates a higher base commodity popularity, and vice versa. Of course, the base commodity popularity can also be determined by other data, such as the average outbound volume. The average outbound volume also has a positive correlation with the base commodity popularity, and the specific setting can be determined according to actual needs.

[0073] In this manual, the control center can determine the current outbound priority in several ways. For example, the control center can determine the target inventory interval from the pre-defined inventory intervals corresponding to the goods, based on the current inventory information. Different inventory intervals correspond to different outbound priorities. It can be seen that this method requires pre-defining the inventory intervals for the goods. The inventory intervals mentioned here can be set according to actual needs.

[0074] Assuming there are 1000 identical items, the inventory can be divided into three inventory intervals: the first interval from the 1st to the 100th item; the second interval from the 101st to the 500th item; and the third interval from the 501st to the 1000th item. These three intervals correspond to different outbound priorities. The current outbound priority of an item within an interval is the outbound priority of that interval. Items in the first interval have the highest current outbound priority, followed by those in the second interval, and then those in the third interval. If it's necessary to determine the current outbound priority of the 50th item, the control center can determine that the item's entry order (i.e., 50) falls within the first inventory interval. Therefore, the current outbound priority of this item is the same as its outbound priority within the first inventory interval.

[0075] In this method, the current outbound priority of goods is determined based on their inbound order, because goods can be outbound sequentially according to their inbound order; that is, goods that entered first are outbound first, and goods that entered later are outbound later. In practical applications, if the outbound order of goods is inconsistent with the inbound order (e.g., the control center stipulates that the outbound order of goods is based on their production date, but the goods were not entered in that order), the current outbound priority can also be determined by the outbound order (i.e., by replacing the inbound order with the outbound order).

[0076] Besides the methods mentioned above, the control center can also determine the current outbound priority through other means. For example, the control center can directly determine the current outbound priority of goods according to their inbound order. Assuming there are still 1000 items, the first item to be inbound has the highest current outbound priority, the second item has a lower priority, the third item has an even lower priority, and so on, with the 1000th item having the lowest priority. These two examples show that the current outbound priority of goods can be related to their inbound order; that is, the earlier a item is inbound, the higher its current outbound priority.

[0077] It should be noted that the aforementioned inventory intervals can be set according to actual needs. Of course, the control center can also divide the inventory into intervals using other methods. Specifically, the control center can divide the inventory into intervals based on the average outbound volume of the goods. That is, the quantity of goods included in each inventory interval can be a multiple of the average outbound volume of the goods. For example, assuming the goods are bottled water, and the control center determines that the average outbound volume of bottled water is 1000 cases / day, then the quantity of goods in the first inventory interval can be one time the average outbound volume, i.e., 1000 cases; the quantity of goods in the second inventory interval can be twice the average outbound volume, i.e., 2000 cases; and the quantity of goods in the third inventory interval can be three times the average outbound volume, i.e., 3000 cases. The multiple of the quantity of goods in each inventory interval relative to the average outbound volume can be set according to actual needs.

[0078] After the control center determines the base cargo popularity and current outbound priority of a particular item, it can determine the current cargo popularity. The higher the base cargo popularity, the higher the current cargo popularity; the higher the current outbound priority, the higher the current cargo popularity. This shows that for items with high base cargo popularity, not all such items have high current cargo popularity. Items with low current outbound priority among those with high base cargo popularity may be placed further away from the work area. Conversely, items with low base cargo popularity, influenced by their current outbound priority, may be placed closer to the work area.

[0079] There are several ways for the control center to determine the current popularity of a particular item. One method is to query the popularity weight of the item's current outbound priority and determine its current popularity based on this weight and the popularity of the underlying items. In other words, this method assigns a popularity weight to the outbound priority for each inventory range; the higher the outbound priority, the higher the popularity weight. The control center can query the popularity weight of the item's current outbound priority and determine its current popularity based on this weight and the popularity of the underlying items. Alternatively, the control center can also use the sum of the item's current outbound priority and the popularity of the underlying items as the item's current popularity.

[0080] Then, the control center can determine the container heat corresponding to the inventory container, and based on the container heat, determine the aforementioned second inventory location. Specifically, the control center can use the sum of the current heat values ​​of all goods corresponding to the inventory container as the container heat value. Alternatively, the control center can use the average of the current heat values ​​of all goods corresponding to the inventory container as the container heat value. The specific method by which the control center determines the container heat value is not limited here.

[0081] S203: Based on the first inventory location and the second inventory location, send a handling instruction to the handling equipment so that the handling equipment moves the inventory container from the first inventory location to the second inventory location according to the handling instruction.

[0082] The control center can send a handling instruction to the handling equipment based on the first inventory location and the determined second inventory location. After receiving the handling instruction from the control center, the handling equipment can move the inventory container from the first inventory location to the second inventory location according to the handling instruction.

[0083] In practical applications, the control center can directly sort the inventory containers from highest to lowest based on their popularity. After sorting, the control center can determine the secondary storage location for each container according to its ranking. That is, containers with higher rankings can be placed closer to the corresponding work area of ​​the warehouse, while those with lower rankings can be placed further away. Alternatively, the control center can divide the warehouse into several areas and determine the appropriate area for each container based on its popularity, such as... Figure 3 As shown.

[0084] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of how a warehouse is divided into areas, as provided in this specification.

[0085] exist Figure 3 In the diagram, the dashed rectangles represent several areas within the warehouse for storing inventory containers. It can be seen that area 1 is closest to the work area, area 2 is farther from the work area, and area 3 is the furthest away. Pre-set heat ranges for areas 1, 2, and 3 are possible. For example, a heat range of [10,7] could be set for area 1, [6,4] for area 2, and [3,1] for area 3.

[0086] Assuming the control center determines that the heat value of container A is 8, then the heat value of container A falls within the heat value range of region 1. Therefore, the control center can determine that container A should be located within region 1 and control the handling equipment to move container A to region 1. Similarly, the heat value of container B is 5, which falls within the heat value range of region 2. Therefore, the control center can determine that container B is located within region 2 and control the handling equipment to move container B to region 2. Likewise, the heat value of container C is 2, which falls within the heat value range of region 3. Therefore, the control center can determine that container C is located within region 3 and control the handling equipment to move container C to region 3.

[0087] It should be noted that the current inventory heat of goods is not static; it can be changed as goods are consumed. For the same goods, when the goods in the highest priority inventory range are gradually depleted, the control center can increase the current inventory heat of goods in lower priority inventory ranges. This allows goods with increased heat to be replenished closer to the work area, reducing the distance that handling equipment must travel when these goods are subsequently dispatched, thus improving the handling efficiency of the equipment.

[0088] Specifically, if the control center determines that at least a first set quantity of each type of goods needs to be shipped out, it can adjust the current shipping priority of the remaining goods to obtain an adjusted shipping priority. Then, for each inventory container, if it is determined that the container contains the goods, the control center can re-determine the container's heat level based on the adjusted shipping priority of the goods. The first set quantity can be set according to actual needs.

[0089] In other words, if a large quantity of a certain type of goods is shipped out, the inventory range of the remaining goods should be adjusted to match the inventory range of the already shipped goods. This will inevitably change the current shipping priority of the remaining goods. Therefore, the control center needs to adjust the current shipping priority of the remaining goods. It is worth emphasizing that the first set quantity mentioned here is only set for the shipping quantity of one type of goods. The first set quantity can be different for different types of goods.

[0090] Specifically, the control center needs to query the adjusted outbound priority weight for each type of goods stored in the inventory container. Based on this adjusted weight and the base goods' popularity, the control center then redetermines the current popularity of that goods. Finally, based on this newly determined popularity and the current popularity of other goods stored in the same container, the control center redetermines the overall popularity of the inventory container. In other words, after increasing the outbound priority of goods, the control center needs to re-determine the current popularity of goods using the aforementioned method, based on the changed outbound priority, and ultimately determine the overall popularity of the inventory container.

[0091] Then, the control center can determine the new location of the inventory container in the warehouse, designated as the third inventory location, based on the redefined container heat level. This third location refers to the position the inventory container is in after a certain period of time since the goods were received, not its initial position upon receipt. Therefore, the control center can send a handling instruction to the handling equipment that is not currently performing a handling task, based on this third inventory location and the first inventory location (i.e., the current location of the inventory container in the warehouse), to move the inventory container from the first inventory location to the third inventory location. In other words, after the overall container heat level increases, the control center needs to determine the new location of the inventory container based on its heat level and then move it to the new location using handling equipment. Figure 4A , 4B As shown.

[0092] Figure 4A , 4B This is a schematic diagram illustrating how the position of a storage container can be changed, as provided in this instruction manual.

[0093] exist Figure 4AIn the inventory system, containers G, H, I, J, and K all contain the same type of goods 'a'. Goods 'a' stored in containers J and K have the highest current outbound priority, therefore the control center determines that goods 'a' stored in containers J and K have a higher 'heat value'. Based on the overall 'heat value' of all goods in these two containers, the control center determines that these containers have a higher 'heat value', and therefore, containers J and K are placed in an area closer to the work area. Goods 'a' stored in containers H and I have a lower current outbound priority than those in containers J and K, and the control center determines that containers H and I have a lower 'heat value', so these two containers are placed in a warehouse area farther from the work area. Goods 'a' stored in container G have the lowest current outbound priority, and container G is placed in the area farthest from the work area.

[0094] Figure 4B The diagram illustrates the status of various inventory containers in the warehouse after a significant amount of goods 'a' has been shipped out. Goods 'a' stored in containers H, I, J, and K have all been shipped out. Therefore, the current shipping priority of the remaining goods 'a' in container G is increased, leading to an increase in the current stock heat of all goods 'a' in container G. Consequently, the stock heat of container G is increased, and the control center repositions container G to the area closest to the work area. Therefore, container G is moved to... Figure 4B The location of the container H, I, J, and K was previously that of inventory container K, indicating that this location was very close to the work area. However, based on the current heat level of the remaining goods in inventory containers H, I, J, and K, the control center determined that the heat level of these four inventory containers had decreased to some extent. Therefore, the locations of these four inventory containers in the warehouse were adjusted, and it can be seen that the distance between these four inventory containers and the work area is now greater than before.

[0095] It should be noted that the control center can instruct the handling equipment to perform the task of handling inventory containers as described in this manual during logistics off-peak hours (i.e., when the handling equipment does not need to handle a large amount of goods). Specifically, when no more than a second preset quantity of goods are shipped out, the control center can determine the current outbound priority of the goods, and then determine the current "heat" of the goods based on the current outbound priority, thereby determining the "heat" of the inventory container, determining the container's location, and issuing a handling instruction to the handling equipment to move the inventory container. The second preset quantity can be set according to actual conditions. This second preset quantity is set for the total outbound volume of all goods.

[0096] If only a small number of goods (not exceeding the second set quantity) are shipped from the warehouse, it indicates that the handling equipment in the warehouse may also have fewer handling tasks to perform. In this case, the control center can re-determine the container temperature of the inventory containers at any time and adjust the appropriate container positions.

[0097] In addition to the methods described above, after the control center re-determines the current demand for the goods, it can also replenish the remaining goods one by one to the storage containers closer to the work area using handling equipment, without having to directly move the entire storage container using handling equipment. Specifically, after determining the current demand for the goods, the control center can instruct the handling equipment to move the remaining goods to the storage container that matches the determined current demand.

[0098] For example, assuming that the container temperature corresponding to the inventory container is the average temperature of the goods on the inventory container, the control center can identify inventory containers whose container temperature is not much different from the current temperature of the re-determined goods, and notify the handling equipment to move the goods onto the inventory container.

[0099] In this specification, the control center can control the location of inventory containers using two dimensions: the basic demand (or popularity) of the goods and their outbound priority. Adding the outbound priority dimension allows goods with lower basic demand to be placed closer to the work area, while goods with higher basic demand, if some of them won't be outbound in the short term, may be placed further away from the work area. This method allows for a more rational allocation of storage locations; goods that are ready for outbound quickly can be assigned to locations closer to the work area, while goods that are ready for outbound slowly can be assigned to locations further away. Therefore, compared to existing technologies, this method can improve the handling efficiency of the material handling equipment to a certain extent.

[0100] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner. Similar or identical parts between embodiments can be referred to interchangeably. Each embodiment focuses on describing the differences from other embodiments. In particular, the system embodiments are basically similar to the method embodiments, so the description is relatively simple; relevant parts can be referred to the descriptions in the method embodiments.

[0101] The above description is merely an embodiment of this specification and is not intended to limit this specification. Various modifications and variations can be made to this specification by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this specification should be included within the scope of the claims of this specification.

Claims

1. An inventory management system, characterized in that, include: The facility includes at least one control center, several storage containers, and at least one handling device, wherein the storage containers are stored in a warehouse. The control center is configured as follows: For each inventory container, determine its current location in the warehouse, which is designated as the first inventory location; Determine the heat of the base goods corresponding to each item on the inventory container; For each type of goods stored in the inventory container, based on the corresponding inventory information, the inventory interval where the goods are located is determined from the pre-divided inventory intervals as the target interval, and the current outbound priority corresponding to the goods is determined based on the target interval; wherein, the outbound priority is different for different inventory intervals; The current cargo popularity is determined based on the basic cargo popularity corresponding to the cargo and the current outbound priority. Based on the current popularity of each item on the inventory container, the container popularity of the inventory container is determined, and based on the container popularity, the popularity range of the container popularity is determined; in the area corresponding to the popularity range, the position of the inventory container in the warehouse that needs to be adjusted is determined as the second inventory position; wherein, the warehouse is divided into multiple areas for storing inventory containers, and different areas correspond to different popularity areas; Based on the first inventory location and the second inventory location, a handling instruction is sent to the handling equipment; the handling equipment is configured as follows: The system receives a handling instruction from the control center and, according to the handling instruction, moves the inventory container from the first inventory location to the second inventory location.

2. The inventory management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The higher the popularity of the container corresponding to the inventory container, the closer the distance between the second inventory location and the work area corresponding to the warehouse.

3. The inventory management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control center is also configured to divide the inventory range corresponding to the goods based on the average outbound volume of the goods.

4. The inventory management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control center is also configured to query the heat weight of the current outbound priority corresponding to the goods, and determine the current heat of the goods based on the heat weight and the heat of the basic goods corresponding to the goods.

5. The inventory management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control center is further configured to, if it is determined that no less than a first set quantity of the goods will be dispatched, adjust the current dispatch priority of the remaining goods to obtain the adjusted dispatch priority of the goods. For each inventory container, if the goods are stored in the inventory container, the container heat corresponding to the inventory container is re-determined according to the adjusted dispatch priority of the goods. Based on the re-determined container heat corresponding to the inventory container, the position to which the inventory container needs to be adjusted in the warehouse is determined as the third inventory position. Based on the third inventory position and the first inventory position, a handling instruction is sent to the handling equipment that has not performed the handling task.

6. The inventory management system according to claim 5, characterized in that, The control center is also configured to, for each type of goods stored in the inventory container, query the heat weight of the adjusted outbound priority corresponding to the goods, redetermine the current heat of the goods corresponding to the goods based on the heat weight of the adjusted outbound priority and the heat of the basic goods corresponding to the goods, and redetermine the container heat of the inventory container based on the redetermined current heat of the goods and the current heat of the other goods stored in the inventory container.

7. The inventory management system according to claim 1 or 5, characterized in that, The control center is also configured to: If no more than the second set quantity of goods is detected leaving the warehouse, the current outbound priority corresponding to that goods is determined.

8. The inventory management system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The storage containers include: shelves.

9. An inventory management method, characterized in that, include: For each inventory container, determine its current location in the warehouse, which will be designated as the first inventory location; Determine the heat of the base goods corresponding to each item on the inventory container; For each type of goods stored on the inventory container, based on the current inventory information corresponding to the goods, the inventory interval where the goods are located is determined from the pre-divided inventory intervals as the target interval, and based on the target interval, the inventory interval where the goods are located is determined from the pre-divided inventory intervals as the target interval. Based on the target range, the current outbound priority for the goods is determined; wherein, the outbound priority is different for different inventory ranges. The current cargo popularity is determined based on the basic cargo popularity corresponding to the cargo and the current outbound priority. Based on the current popularity of each item on the inventory container, the container popularity of the inventory container is determined, and based on the container popularity, the popularity range of the container popularity is determined; in the area corresponding to the popularity range, the position of the inventory container in the warehouse that needs to be adjusted is determined as the second inventory position; wherein, the warehouse is divided into multiple areas for storing inventory containers, and different areas correspond to different popularity areas; Based on the first inventory location and the second inventory location, a handling instruction is sent to the handling equipment so that the handling equipment can move the inventory container from the first inventory location to the second inventory location according to the handling instruction.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The higher the heat level of the container corresponding to the inventory container, the closer the distance between the second inventory location and the work area corresponding to the warehouse.

11. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The inventory ranges corresponding to this product are divided as follows: Based on the average outbound volume of the goods, divide the goods into different inventory ranges.

12. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The process of determining the current popularity of a commodity based on its corresponding base commodity popularity and its current outbound priority specifically includes: Query the heat weight of the current outbound priority for this item; The current popularity of a commodity is determined based on the popularity weight and the popularity of the base commodity corresponding to that commodity.

13. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The method further includes: If it is determined that the quantity of the goods to be shipped is not less than the first set quantity, the current shipping priority of the remaining goods is adjusted, and the adjusted shipping priority of the goods is determined. For each inventory container, if the goods are stored in the container, the container heat level is re-determined based on the adjusted outbound priority of the goods. Based on the redefined container heat value corresponding to the inventory container, the location where the inventory container needs to be moved in the warehouse is determined as the third inventory location. Based on the third inventory location and the first inventory location, a handling instruction is sent to the handling equipment that has not performed a handling task.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The process of re-determining the container heat level corresponding to the inventory container based on the adjusted outbound priority of the goods specifically includes: For each type of goods stored in the inventory container, query the heat weight of the adjusted outbound priority for that type of goods; Based on the adjusted outbound priority heat weight and the heat of the corresponding basic goods, the current heat of the goods is re-determined. Based on the redefined current cargo popularity of the cargo and the current cargo popularity of other cargo stored in the cargo container, the container popularity of the cargo container is redefined.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that, Determining the adjusted outbound priority for the goods specifically includes: If no more than the second set quantity of goods is detected leaving the warehouse, the current outbound priority corresponding to that goods is determined.

16. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The storage containers include: shelves.

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