Light-Assisted Pack Wall Carton Replenishment System
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in the supply chain industry is efficiently managing a sufficient number of shipping carton sizes without maintaining a large inventory of pre-made cartons, which occupies significant space and complicates the process of quickly locating and retrieving the optimal carton for packing, especially with the advent of e-commerce leading to higher shipping costs due to dimensional-weight pricing.
Innovation Solution
A light-directed pack wall replenishment system that uses an application server to identify desired shipping carton sizes based on item dimensions, a packing wall controller to determine carton locations, and a delivery cart controller to manage the replenishment of cartons, eliminating the need for customized box-making machines at each packing station and reducing the inventory of pre-made cartons.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a large inventory of pre-made shipping cartons is maintained to ensure sufficient carton sizes are available, then carton selection availability is improved, but storage space requirements and system complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-calculates and determines the optimal carton size based on order item dimensions before the packing process begins. The application server receives order information, calculates the required carton size, and communicates this to the pack wall controller, which then directs the delivery cart to retrieve the specific pre-determined carton size, eliminating the need to maintain large inventories of multiple carton sizes
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses digital information representations (data models) of physical cartons stored in the application server. Instead of maintaining physical copies of all possible carton sizes in inventory, the system stores digital specifications and retrieves only the specific carton size needed for each order, reducing physical storage requirements while maintaining full carton size availability
2Loss of time
If multiple carton sizes are stored near packing stations for quick access, then carton retrieval speed is improved, but packing station complexity and space utilization worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables the delivery cart to autonomously navigate to the pack wall, receive instructions from the pack wall controller about which carton size is needed, retrieve the correct carton from storage, and deliver it back to the pack wall. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex manual retrieval processes and multiple carton inventories at the packing station
Solution Approach 2:
The delivery cart acts as an intermediary between carton storage and the packing station. It transports single or small batches of specific carton sizes to the pack wall as needed, eliminating the requirement to maintain large inventories of multiple carton sizes directly at the packing station while still enabling quick access to the required carton size
3Adaptability or versatility
If customized box-making machines are deployed at each packing station to create cartons on-demand, then carton size adaptability is improved, but system complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The application server serves multiple functions: it stores digital models of various carton sizes, calculates the optimal carton size for each order based on item dimensions, and communicates retrieval instructions to the delivery cart. This single multi-functional system replaces the need for multiple specialized box-making machines at each packing station
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces mechanical box-making machines with a digital information processing system. The application server uses software algorithms to calculate optimal carton sizes and generates digital retrieval instructions, substituting complex mechanical manufacturing processes with simpler information processing and automated cart retrieval operations
Data Source
AI summary
A pack wall carton selection and replenishment system comprising: a delivery cart with a delivery cart controller configured to receive information representing a replenishment shipping carton to be retrieved from a shipping carton supply area and delivered to a pack wall, provide for retrieving one or more shipping cartons from the shipping carton supply area, actuate a cart indicator assembly to identify a cart partition where to place the retrieved shipping cartons on the delivery cart, actuate a delivery cart indicator assembly to identify the replenishment shipping carton to be placed on the pack wall; and, a pack wall controller in communication with the delivery cart controller configured to receive an order item information, actuate a first pack wall indicator assembly to indicate a desired shipping carton to be used for packing an items represented by the order item information.