Decoupled Storage Transfer System for Order Picking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing order-picking systems face strain and blockades in the first storage zone due to the dependency of transfer processes on picking processes, leading to inefficiencies and potential standstills, especially when new goods are stored with limited capacity for transfer processes.
Innovation Solution
The order-picking method and system decouple transfer requests from picking orders, allowing transfer requests to be generated and executed independently, with first loading aids being conveyed to a reloading station for unloading into hanging bags, reducing the strain on the first conveying system and preventing blockades by ensuring full or partial unloading based on threshold parameters rather than exact transfer requests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If transfer processes are tightly coupled with picking processes to maintain quasi-constant stock in the second storage zone, then stock availability is improved, but the first conveying system experiences high strain and blockades occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the transfer process into independent transfer requests that are decoupled from picking orders. Transfer goods are moved from the first storage zone to the second storage zone in separate batches based on stock level thresholds, rather than being tightly synchronized with each picking operation. This segmentation allows the conveying system to operate at a sustainable pace while still maintaining stock availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary transfer actions by monitoring stock levels in the second storage zone and generating transfer requests before the zone actually runs out of goods. When stock falls below a threshold, transfer requests are automatically generated to replenish the zone, preventing stockouts while avoiding the need for reactive, high-speed transfers that cause conveying system blockades.
2Productivity
If multiple transfer goods are reloaded from first loading aids into hanging bags at a reloading station, then transfer efficiency is improved, but the reloading station becomes a bottleneck
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple transfer operations into a single reloading station where several first loading aids can be serviced simultaneously. The reloading station consolidates the transfer function, allowing multiple hanging bags to be filled from different loading aids in sequence or parallel, thereby improving overall transfer efficiency while centralizing the complexity in one location rather than distributing it across multiple points.
Solution Approach 2:
The reloading station acts as an intermediary between the first storage zone and the second storage zone. It receives loading aids from the first conveying system, performs the transfer of goods to hanging bags, and then hands off the filled hanging bags to the second conveying system. This intermediary role simplifies the interface between the two storage zones and allows the reloading station to be optimized as a dedicated transfer hub.
Data Source
AI summary
In an order-picking method for picking at least one ordered good into or onto a target loading aid, goods which are stored in a first storage zone using first loading aids are reloaded, on the basis of a transfer request, from a first loading aid into at least one hanging bag and stored in a second storage zone. When a picking order is obtained, (an) ordered good(s) is/are retrieved from the second storage zone and loaded into or onto the target loading aid. The transfer request is generated and executed without reference to a picking order. Further, a storage and order-picking system carries out the method.