Method for sorting at a sorting station according to the goods-to-person principle

Abstract

A method for sorting at a sorting station according to a goods-to-person principle, wherein products are removed from source containers to process orders and placed into order containers according to the orders, wherein source containers are provided to the sorting station in a first order to process a first order and source containers are provided to the sorting station in a second order to process a second order, wherein the last source container in the first order is also the first source container in the second order.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for sorting at a sorting station according to the goods-to-person principle as described in claim 1, wherein products are removed from source containers to process orders and placed into order containers according to orders, wherein source containers are provided to the sorting station in a first order to process a first order and source containers are provided to the sorting station in a second order to process a second order. Background Technology

[0002] EP 3 107 843 A1 describes a method for sorting items at a sorting station according to a goods-to-person principle. In this sorting station, items are sorted into order loading auxiliary mechanisms, which are sequentially conveyed through the sorting station, and the corresponding placement positions of these loading auxiliary mechanisms change according to this sequence. If an order loading auxiliary mechanism that was previously at the front of the sequence has finished sorting and exited, and a subsequent order loading auxiliary mechanism follows, the placement position of the order loading auxiliary mechanism changes, thereby allowing the order loading auxiliary mechanisms to be conveyed through the various placement positions of the sorting station in a continuous sequence.

[0003] DE 102 00 077 A1 describes a method for sorting objects stored in a warehouse loading auxiliary mechanism within a storage facility. The method includes the steps of: conveying the warehouse loading auxiliary mechanism containing the objects to a sorting station; transferring the objects to a provided empty or partially loaded order loading auxiliary mechanism; buffering the empty, partially loaded, and / or processed order loading auxiliary mechanisms; conveying the order loading auxiliary mechanism back to the warehouse facility; and outputting the processed order loading auxiliary mechanism to a shipping point. Buffering is performed within a buffer mechanism that forms multiple provision areas for providing order loading auxiliary mechanisms for their loading and / or unloading, multiple buffer areas for storing order loading auxiliary mechanisms, and operating equipment for transferring order loading auxiliary mechanisms between the buffer areas and the provision areas. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In this context, the object of the present invention is to propose an improved sorting method that requires fewer container movements, thereby increasing throughput and saving energy.

[0005] This objective is achieved by the method described in claim 1. Advantageous designs are given in the dependent claims and the specification.

[0006] According to the present invention, if the last source container of the first order is also the first source container of the second order, the number of container moves can be reduced because at least one less source container can now be provided to process two consecutive orders from this source container.

[0007] What needs to be tolerated here is that the order requirements for source containers are more stringent. These source containers can no longer be delivered in an arbitrary order. When the products in one order may overlap with those in the next order, the specific source container containing that product must arrive as the last container in the current sequence. For the next order, that source container can then be removed from the list of source containers to be delivered, since the corresponding order string or product was picked from the last source container of the previous order.

[0008] Orders that are individual orders or contain only a single product can further reduce the required outbound flow. These orders can be processed without the need for additional container movement.

[0009] Preferably, source containers in a first order are sequentially sent to the sorting station to process the first order, and source containers in a second order are sequentially sent to the sorting station to process the second order. According to the invention, the sorting station is designed to process only one order container at a time from a single source container using a 1:1 (one-to-one) processing method. The sorting station is therefore a 1:1 sorting station, where only one product is always taken from one source container and placed into a single order container. Therefore, this 1:1 sorting station has exactly one container supply area for source containers and one container supply area for order containers.

[0010] Importantly, when delivering goods to the sorting station, the first order must be strictly adhered to for the last source container. This can be achieved by sequentially retrieving goods from the temporary storage warehouse. This could be a shuttle warehouse, which, due to its design, provides sequentially arranged containers without the need for additional technical equipment. The design and operation of such warehouses can be similar to EP1 964 792 B1.

[0011] Alternatively, sorting towers, bypass conveyors, or similar methods can be used for sorting.

[0012] Alternatively, it could be envisioned that a waiting area be set up at the inlet of the sorting station, where the last source container in the first sequence can wait until it is used if it arrives too early.

[0013] Source containers can be filled with a single type of product. Alternatively, source containers can be filled with a mixture of products, with the last source container in the first order containing not only the products from the first order but also different products from the second order.

[0014] Preferably, the second order is selected such that it contains the same products as the first order. Therefore, if the second order contains products that are common to the first order and are assigned to the same sorting station, then the second order is assigned to the same sorting station.

[0015] An order contains at least one product, and is therefore called a single order (see above).

[0016] The advantages of the method of the present invention are particularly significant when an order contains at least two, preferably three, and especially preferably more than four different products. This is especially true when the source container is provided by a warehouse with fewer than 3,500 different product types and the order contains fewer than 10 different products; when the source container is provided by a warehouse with preferably fewer than 2,500 different product types and the order contains fewer than 8 different products; and when the source container is provided by a warehouse with especially preferably fewer than 1,500 different product types and the order contains fewer than 6 different products. "Product" is understood herein as a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU).

[0017] The advantages can be illustrated by the following example: a warehouse has 3,500 different products available, each order contains 5 strings of orders (i.e., 5 different products), and the preview window shows 50 orders.

[0018] To assess the likelihood of continuing to place orders in this order and to evaluate the efficiency of this method, the following questions must be answered:

[0019] If an order containing 5 different products is randomly selected from a given pool of 3500 orders, what is the probability that at least one of those 5 products matches one of the other 50 randomly selected orders in the preview window? By what percentage can the resulting container movement be reduced?

[0020] Example calculation:

[0021] • The probability of selecting a specific product from all 3500 products:

[0022] P(draw) = 1 / 3500

[0023] • 50 orders generated 50 5 = 250 order items

[0024] • The probability of not finding the exact same product in the next 50 orders:

[0025] P(draw not) = (1 – 1 / 3500)^250

[0026] • If this calculation is performed for all 5 products (order items), the probability is:

[0027] P(draw total)= P(draw not)^5=1-((1-1 / 3500)^250)^5)=0.3004

[0028] In this example, the probability is approximately 30%.

[0029] Therefore, in 30% of orders, container flow can be reduced by one container. This results in...

[0030] 5-(0.3 1) = 4.7

[0031] Therefore, on average, only 4.7 containers need to be moved instead of 5, a reduction of 6.4%.

[0032] This matrix shows the expected reduction in container flow based on the following factors:

[0033] -Total number of products; and

[0034] - The number of order items for each order in the preview window of 50 orders.

[0035]

[0036] It is evident that systems with a smaller total number of products and, where necessary, a moderate number of products per order, will benefit most from this invention. However, for most configurations, a significant reduction in container flow can be achieved. Attached Figure Description

[0037] Further details of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein, uniquely... Figure 1 Only a schematic diagram of the goods warehouse is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0038] The cargo warehouse is marked as 1 as a whole, and has a buffer warehouse 2, a higher-level control system 3, and a sorting area 4, which is supplied with container B from the buffer warehouse 2 via a conveyor system 5.

[0039] The cache warehouse 2 is currently a so-called shuttle warehouse, which, under the setting of the control system 3, can sequentially send containers (as source containers 8) out and supply them to the sorting station 6 or its feeder 7 in the sorting area 4 via the conveyor system 5.

[0040] From sorting station 6, the full order container 9 can be output via conveyor system 10, for example, to the shipping area.

[0041] At sorting station 6, in sorting step 12, sorter 11 manually removes items or products 14 from source container 8 and places them into order container 9 to be picked. Source container 8 is then presented to sorter 11 in supply area 13.

[0042] For clarity, neither the delivery of order container 9 nor the delivery of source container 8 is shown.

[0043] Different source containers 8 are filled with the same kind of products, but they are marked with different shaded lines in the figure to indicate that they are associated with different orders A.

[0044] Source containers 8 are delivered sequentially to match orders, allowing sorter 11 to retrieve products and place them into prepared order containers 9. This continues until the corresponding order A is processed, at which point order container 9 is replaced, and a new order container 9 is provided for the next order A+1. Used source containers 8 are also output to make room for the next source container 8.

[0045] It can be seen that the source container 8 in the first order is delivered to order A1 first in order to provide products for order A1.

[0046] When the last source container 8 of order A1 is ready for processing, it provides the last required product for order A1, and then also serves as the first source container 8 in the second order to provide the required product for subsequent order A2. Therefore, it is used twice before being output. Subsequently, the last source container 8, which is used to process order A2, also has a dual function; it can be used for both order A2 and subsequent order A3.

[0047] The last source container 8 of order A3 contains products for the last sorting step 12 of order A3, products for subsequent order A4 (consisting of only one product), and products for the next order A5.

[0048] After the last source container 8 of order A5 is used together for subsequent order A6 and the next source container 8 of order A6 has been processed, then order A7 is processed, and so on.

[0049] It can be seen that the orders that follow each other share the last or the first source container 8.

[0050] Therefore, the control system 3 controls the allocation of order A and its associated source container 8, as well as the order in which they are output from the cache warehouse 2, so that these orders are processed accordingly at the sorting station 6 as described above, thereby selecting the subsequent order Ax+1, which contains the same product as the previous order Ax, and the product can be taken from the same source container 8.

[0051] Therefore, the number of container moves is reduced because at least one less source container 8 is now provided to handle two consecutive orders A and A+1 from the same source container.

[0052] List of reference numerals

[0053] 1. Goods warehouse;

[0054] 2. Cache repository;

[0055] 3. Control system;

[0056] 4 sorting areas;

[0057] 5. Transmission system;

[0058] 6 sorting stations;

[0059] 7 feeder;

[0060] 8 source containers;

[0061] 9 order containers;

[0062] 10. Transmission system;

[0063] 11 sorting workers;

[0064] 12 sorting steps

[0065] 13 Provided Area

[0066] 14 products

[0067] Container B

[0068] Order A

[0069] Order A1

[0070] A2 order

[0071] A3 orders

[0072] A5 orders

[0073] A6 orders

[0074] Order A7.

Claims

1. A method for sorting at a sorting station (6) according to the goods-to-person principle, wherein, The product (14) is removed from the source container (8) to process the order and placed into the order container (9) according to the order (A), wherein the source container (8) is provided to the sorting station (6) in a first order to process the first order (A1) and the source container (8) is provided to the sorting station (6) in a second order to process the second order (A2), wherein the last source container (8) of the first order is also the first source container (8) of the second order, characterized in that the sorting station is designed to process only one order container (9) from a single source container (8) at the same time in a 1:1 processing manner, and the sorting station is a 1:1 sorting station (6) for this purpose, which has exactly one container providing area (13) for the source container (8) and one container providing area for the order container (9).

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, For the last source container (8), the first order is strictly followed.

3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The source container (8) is filled with a single type of product.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that, The source container (8) is filled with mixed products, and the last source container (8) of the first order contains not only the product (14) of the first order (A1) but also the product (14) of the second order (A2) that is different from it.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The second order (A2) is selected to have the same products as the first order (A1).

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, If the second order has products that are common to the first order (A1) and are assigned to the same sorting station (6), then the second order (A2) is assigned to the same sorting station (6).

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, Order (A) contains at least one product (14).

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, Order (A) contains at least two, preferably three, and especially preferably more than four different products (14).

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The source container (8) is provided by a warehouse (1) with fewer than 3,500 SKUs of products and an order (A) with fewer than 10 different products (14); the source container is provided by a warehouse with preferably fewer than 2,500 SKUs of products and an order (A) with fewer than 8 different products (14); the source container is provided by a warehouse with particularly preferably fewer than 1,500 SKUs of products and an order (A) with fewer than 6 different products (14).

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