Multi-Tenant Warehouse Management with Automated Guided Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional logistics solutions face challenges in managing inventory variability, leading to increased costs due to uncertainty in spatial requirements and inefficient supply chains, especially during peak and off-seasons.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for public and private warehouse management using automated equipment, allowing flexible warehouse leasing and real-time inventory management, with automated guided vehicles and customizable execution systems to optimize storage and retrieval processes, reducing interference between clients' goods and streamlining supply chains.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional logistics solutions are used to manage inventory, then equipment investment and warehouse construction costs are incurred, but flexibility in adapting to demand variability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a multi-tenant warehouse system where a single warehouse infrastructure serves multiple clients with different storage needs. The warehouse management system allows different clients to lease storage spaces dynamically, enabling the same physical infrastructure to adapt to varying demand patterns across multiple users, thus improving flexibility without requiring separate equipment investments for each client
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic storage space allocation where clients can lease and unlease storage areas based on their seasonal and operational needs. The warehouse management system dynamically adjusts available storage capacity, assigns storage locations, and manages inventory movements in real-time, allowing the infrastructure to adapt flexibly to demand variability without fixed long-term commitments
2Productivity
If storage spaces are allocated without considering spatial requirements, then inventory management becomes simpler, but uncertainty in estimating spatial requirements increases costs
Solution Approach 1:
The warehouse management system continuously monitors and tracks actual inventory levels, storage space utilization, and client demand patterns. This feedback information is used to dynamically adjust storage space allocations, optimize rack assignments, and predict future spatial requirements, enabling efficient inventory management while minimizing unused or insufficient storage capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary calculations and predictions of spatial requirements based on client lease agreements, expected inventory levels, and historical data. Storage spaces are pre-configured and reserved for clients before actual inventory arrival, ensuring adequate space is available while optimizing the overall warehouse layout to minimize idle space and maximize utilization efficiency
3Area of stationary object
If goods of different clients are stored without distance constraints, then warehouse space utilization is maximized, but mutual interference between goods occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a zoning system where the warehouse is divided into distinct storage areas, racks, and locations assigned to different clients or types of goods. Each zone has specific characteristics (client ownership, product type, storage conditions) that are maintained through the management system. This local differentiation allows high space utilization while preventing mutual interference by ensuring compatible goods are stored together and client-specific goods are properly segregated
4Device complexity
If manual inventory management is used, then system complexity is reduced, but real-time access to inventory information is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The warehouse management system automatically performs inventory tracking, space allocation, and information management functions without requiring manual intervention. Sensors, RFID tags, or barcode scanners automatically update inventory status, and the system self-adjusts storage assignments and generates reports in real-time. This automation provides comprehensive real-time information access while keeping operational complexity manageable through standardized processes
Data Source
AI summary
A system for public and private warehouses management with automated equipment includes a public warehouse having multiple floors and an outer perimeter; an automated guided vehicle operation area located in the outer perimeter of the public warehouse; a transfer station space located out of each side of the public warehouse; an automated guided vehicle space adjacent to one side of the transfer station space away from the public warehouse; a maintenance station space arranged at a predetermined location adjacent to the automated guided vehicle space; an inbound/outbound space adjacent to one side of the automated guided vehicle space away from the public warehouse; and two private warehouses connected with the inbound/outbound space. Each of the private warehouses has multiple floors corresponding to the floors of the public warehouse.