Electronic Price Tag Prompting for Warehouse Order Picking
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The efficiency of order-picking in warehouses is hindered by the reliance on human memory, leading to reduced productivity when commodity positions change or are unfamiliar to order pickers.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a server, order-picking terminal, and electronic price tags that receive order information, send order-picking tasks, and prompt signals to guide order pickers to specific commodities, improving navigation and efficiency through network communication and prompt apparatuses like display screens and LED lamps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If order pickers rely on human memory to locate commodities, then they can operate without additional equipment, but order-picking efficiency decreases when commodity positions change or are unfamiliar
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces prompt apparatuses (electronic price tags with display screens and LED lamps) as intermediaries between the commodity positions and order pickers. These devices receive location data from the server and provide visual guidance to order pickers, eliminating the need for pickers to rely on memory while enabling quick adaptation to position changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/cognitive system of human memory with an electronic information system. The server stores commodity location data, and prompt apparatuses display this information visually, substituting the order picker's memory function with an automated information retrieval and display system.
2Productivity
If order pickers memorize commodity positions to improve efficiency, then they can quickly locate items, but the system becomes vulnerable to position changes and memory limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the server continuously provides updated location information to prompt apparatuses, which in turn provide real-time visual feedback to order pickers. This ensures that the location information displayed is always current and reliable, regardless of position changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the unreliable human memory system with a reliable electronic information system that automatically retrieves and displays current commodity locations from the server, ensuring consistent and accurate location information.
3Loss of time
If no prompt system is used, then the system complexity remains low, but order processing time increases due to manual location search
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the order-picking system into distinct functional components: the server for data management, the prompt apparatuses for visual display, and the order pickers for execution. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function efficiently while maintaining overall system manageability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces prompt apparatuses as intermediaries that provide visual guidance information to order pickers, significantly reducing the time needed to locate commodities while adding only moderate system complexity through standardized display devices.
Data Source
AI summary
An order information processing method including receiving order information, the order information including at least one commodity identifier; sending an order-picking task to an order-picking terminal according to the order information, the order-picking task including commodity information corresponding to the commodity identifier; and sending a prompt instruction to a prompt apparatus corresponding to the commodity identifier, such that the prompt apparatus sends a prompt signal to facilitate an order picker using the order-picking terminal to determine a commodity corresponding to the commodity identifier according to the prompt signal. The order processing method, the order-picking task processing method, the server, the order-picking terminal, and the electronic price tag provided in the present disclosure improve the order-picking efficiency of an order picker, thus improving the processing rate of order information.