JP7601934B2 - Logistics system, logistics system control method, logistics system control program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a logistics system, a logistics system control method, a logistics system control program, and a storage medium.

In conventional logistics systems using a conveyor line (hereafter referred to as "line type"), pickers (collection workers) have to wait on their hands unless a bypass line is set up, but building a new bypass line requires a huge amount of installation space and costs. In this regard, a logistics system using conveyor robots can eliminate the waiting time that occurs in line types, eliminates waste such as returnable boxes, allows for flexible operations such as temporary stops and overtaking, and can be implemented at low cost as a whole system.

Examples of this type of system include a system (Patent Document 1) in which a collection vehicle (corresponding to a transport robot) used for collection work also doubles as a product replenishment vehicle for replenishing products, improving the efficiency of the entire system through parallel processing, and a system (Patent Document 2) in which, before the transport vehicle departs, the work time for each of the possible combinations of the worker in charge of collection (= the picking zone in charge) and the product (item) to be picked (collected) is calculated, and the shortest combination is found before the transport vehicle departs (Patent Document 2).

Note that here and in the following description, "transport robot" refers to, for example, so-called autonomous (autonomous) traveling transport robots (Autonomous Mobile Robots) and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), and hereafter will be referred to as "AMR" when referring to them collectively. Note that this also includes Natural Feature Navigation (NFN) type robots that perform fully autonomous traveling using self-location estimation.

JP 2000-128319 A JP 2020-172347 A

However, current logistics systems that use transport robots (hereafter referred to as "AMR type") focus only on eliminating the shortcomings of the conventional line type by using AMR, and although it is said that "operations such as stopping and overtaking can be freely performed," it is merely an extension of the idea of the conventional line type and does not fully utilize the fundamental advantages of the AMR type.

The objective of the present invention is to make it possible to achieve a higher speed as a logistics system by utilizing the fundamental advantages of the AMR type, without making any major changes to the system configuration, while maintaining a relatively low-cost and simple configuration, and by eliminating so-called waiting time, such as the unnecessary waiting of workers, when carrying out picking (collection) work.

A logistics system according to one aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of picking zones each capable of collecting a predetermined type of item, and a plurality of transport robots that access the picking zones to collect one or more items based on a picking order that indicates the one or more items to be collected, by transporting the collection box to any of the plurality of picking zones that can collect the items to collect the specified items, and when a condition is satisfied that competitive access is not essential for all of the plurality of picking zones in the access to collect the uncollected items to be collected, a number of transport robots equal to or less than the number of picking zones simultaneously access the picking zones.

In addition, in this aspect of the picking control method, for a logistics system including a plurality of picking zones each capable of collecting a predetermined type of item, and a plurality of transport robots that transport a collection box to any of the plurality of picking zones capable of collecting the collection target items and access the picking box to collect the specified collection target items based on a picking order indicating one or more collection target items, when a condition is satisfied that competitive access is not essential for all of the plurality of picking zones in the access to collect the uncollected collection target items, a plurality of the transport robots equal to or less than the number of the picking zones are controlled to simultaneously access the picking box.

The program of this aspect also causes the logistics system described above to execute the picking control method described above.

Furthermore, the program storage medium of this embodiment stores the above-mentioned program in a manner that allows it to be used by the above-mentioned logistics system.

As mentioned above, current AMR-type logistics systems focus only on eliminating the shortcomings of the conventional line model by using AMR, and are merely an extension of the conventional line model concept, without fully utilizing the fundamental advantages of the AMR model. In other words, they are fundamentally trapped in "serial processing," and do not focus on the parallel processing that is possible with the AMR model.

In the logistics system or picking control method of this aspect, or according to the program or program storage medium of this aspect, when a condition is met under which competitive access is not essential for all of the multiple picking zones, a number of transport robots equal to or less than the number of picking zones simultaneously access the multiple picking zones. Here, because the "condition is met under which competitive access is not essential for all of the multiple picking zones," simultaneous competitive access can be avoided, and under this condition, a number of transport robots equal to or less than the number of picking zones simultaneously access the multiple picking zones.

In other words, by focusing on the parallel processing possible with the AMR type, all accesses that can be executed simultaneously can be executed simultaneously, resulting in maximum execution speed without waiting to avoid conflicting accesses. This makes it possible to take advantage of the fundamental advantages of the AMR type and further increase the speed of picking operations while maintaining a relatively low-cost and simple configuration without making major changes to the system configuration.

As a logistics system according to the second aspect, in the first aspect, the predetermined types of items that can be collected by each of the multiple picking zones may include common type items that can be collected by all of the multiple picking zones, and individual type items that can be collected only by some of the multiple picking zones.

If all items are of the same type, there will be no competing access between multiple transport robots equal to or less than the number of picking zones. On the other hand, if individual item types are set, it will be possible to handle a greater variety of items than if all items are of the same type, for the same number of picking zones. In this logistics system, under conditions where competing access is not essential, multiple transport robots equal to or less than the number of picking zones can access simultaneously, thereby increasing speed, and setting individual item types makes it possible to handle a greater variety of items.

As a logistics system according to the third aspect, in the second aspect, the common type items may be set as items that are collected with a high frequency, and the individual type items may be set as items that are collected with a low frequency.

In this case, items that are collected infrequently are individual type items and can only be collected in specific picking zones, while items that are collected frequently are common type items and can be collected in many picking zones. This makes it possible to handle a wide variety of items, while also making effective use of picking zones and maintaining the effective efficiency of picking (collection) work.

As a logistics system according to the fourth aspect, in the second or third aspect, the access may be performed according to a pre-set schedule.

For individual type items, if the number of transport robots handling picking orders that include collection instructions for the same individual type item is greater than the number of peaking zones that can collect that same individual type item, then competitive access may occur. However, if the timing of access can be staggered, simultaneous competitive access can be avoided, which satisfies the "conditions under which competitive access is not essential."

For this reason, by performing advance scheduling (advance access scheduling) to determine the access schedule for the entire system in advance, and then executing access control (picking control) according to that schedule, it is possible to avoid conflicting access with a high probability, improve the rate of concurrent processing, and achieve even higher speeds.

As a logistics system according to the fifth aspect, in the fourth aspect, the schedule may be determined by referring to the number of accesses to each picking zone capable of collecting the individual type items according to the picking orders of the entire logistics system.

The operating time for picking (collection) work in the entire system is determined by the maximum number of visits to a single picking zone, so scheduling access to the picking zone with the greatest number of visits is the most important scheduling issue. For this reason, an appropriate schedule can be determined by referring to the number of visits to each picking zone.

As a logistics system according to the sixth aspect, in the fourth aspect, the schedule may be determined by referring to the number of picking operations related to the collection of the individual types of items included in the picking orders handled by each of the multiple transport robots.

The operating time for picking (collection) work in the entire system can be extended depending on the number of picking tasks included in the picking orders handled by each transport robot, so it is preferable to prioritize access to transport robots responsible for picking orders with a large number of picking tasks whenever possible.

However, no matter how many picking tasks there are, if they are common-type items, they can be collected in bulk in any picking zone, so it is important to focus on the number of picking tasks related to the collection of individual-type items. Also, if the individual-type items to be collected can only be collected in a picking zone with a high number of accesses, there is a high possibility of competitive access occurring, so setting priorities for access to that picking zone is also an important consideration.

In other words, an appropriate schedule can be determined by setting access priorities, etc., based on the number of picking tasks included in each picking order and whether or not the individual types of items to be collected have access to picking zones with high access rates.

The seventh aspect of the logistics system control method is characterized in that for a logistics system including a plurality of picking zones each capable of collecting a predetermined type of item, and a plurality of transport robots that access a picking box to transport a picking box to any of the plurality of picking zones capable of collecting the target items, in order to collect the specified target items into a picking box based on a picking order indicating one or more target items for collection, the method controls a plurality of the transport robots, the number of which is equal to or less than the number of the picking zones, to simultaneously access the picking box to collect the target items that have not yet been collected, when a condition is satisfied that competitive access is not essential for all of the plurality of picking zones.

The logistics system control program according to the eighth aspect has a computer function as: a picking zone definition means for defining a plurality of picking zones each capable of collecting a predetermined type of item; a first control means for controlling a plurality of transport robots to transport a collection box to any of the plurality of picking zones capable of collecting the collection target items and access the collection box based on a picking order indicating one or more collection target items, in order to collect the indicated collection target items into a collection box; and a second control means for controlling a plurality of the transport robots, the number of which is less than the number of the picking zones, to simultaneously access the collection box when a condition is satisfied that competitive access is not essential for all of the plurality of picking zones in the access for the collection of the uncollected collection target items.

The ninth aspect is characterized by a storage medium on which the logistics system control program described in the eighth aspect is stored.

According to the present invention, it is possible to achieve a logistics system that utilizes the fundamental advantages of the AMR type to perform picking operations at a higher speed without making any major changes to the system configuration, while maintaining a relatively low-cost and simple configuration.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a logistics system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a picking area showing a simplified configuration of the picking area. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing the simplification of a plurality of picking zones constituting a picking work area within a picking area. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a plurality of picking zones in a picking area, with the simplification of FIG. 3 being applied; FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram including a simplified schematic control flow of the logistics system according to the embodiment. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a template schedule showing the order in which a transport robot in charge of an order accesses the types of items prepared in a picking zone. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a breakdown of items to be picked for each order. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the result of determining an access schedule for each picking zone according to the order in the example of FIG. 7 . FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 8 for all orders. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a method for determining the schedule in FIG. 9 . FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10 and continuing from FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10. FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10. FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10. FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram similar to FIG. 10. FIG.

The inventive concepts are described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which specific embodiments of the inventive concepts are shown. However, the inventive concepts may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided as examples so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventive concepts to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.

In the following embodiments, picking may be mainly used as an example, but the technical concept should not be interpreted as being limited to only picking. In other words, the present invention is applicable to the entire logistics system, including receiving, storage, replenishment, collection, picking, assortment, transportation, and shipping.

The following will explain in order: [1. System configuration example], [2. Examples of problem-solving points], and [3. Other applications and usage examples].

[1. System configuration example]
1 is a configuration diagram of a logistics system according to an embodiment presented in this specification. As shown in the figure, the logistics system 1 includes a receiving (warehouse) area 10A, a picking area 20A, a shipping preparation area 40A, a shipping waiting area 50A, and a shipping (shipping) area 30A in the order of use from the receiving (warehouse) of raw materials to the shipping (shipping) of collected and delivered items.

The receiving (warehouse) area 10A is equipped with an receiving (warehouse) handling area with an ambient temperature set at 10°C where incoming raw materials are loaded and handled from cargo trucks parked in the receiving berth, and an automated case warehouse equipment (not shown) where the raw materials are stored in cases separated by type in raw material refrigerators (not shown) with an ambient temperature set at 5°C and raw material freezers (not shown) with an ambient temperature set at -25°C, and the items to be picked (collected) are supplied to the picking area 20A via an automatic raw material case replenishment equipment (not shown).

On the other hand, on the shipping side, the shipping (outgoing) area 30A has a shipping berth 310 with an ambient temperature set to 10°C for loading the outgoing (outgoing) items to be delivered onto a cargo truck, and the shipping waiting area 50A, which handles the previous stage, is configured (controlled) to wait for shipment by dividing the items into product refrigerators (no symbol shown) with an ambient temperature set to 5°C and product freezers (no symbol shown) with an ambient temperature set to -25°C depending on the type of product to be shipped.

The shipping preparation area 40A, which is responsible for the previous stage, is configured (controlled) to receive storage boxes that have been picked (collected) in the picking area 20A, which is responsible for the previous stage, and then transported by the transport robot R via the transport robot travel area 60, or storage boxes transported by the transport robot R that has been temporarily parked and waiting in the parking area 601, and to assemble all the items to be shipped in time for shipment and perform final preparations before shipping, such as packing and labeling.

The parking area 601 described above has parking spaces for 40 vehicles arranged in a grid pattern on both the upper and lower sides of the figure, and each is equipped with a charging facility that allows the transport robot R to receive power while waiting. Note that charging facilities may be provided at specific locations within the parking area 601, rather than at each parking space, so that the waiting transport robot R can access them as appropriate. In these cases, the charging method may be a wired or contact type, but a non-contact type (wireless) is preferable from the standpoint of effort and safety (maintenance-free).

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the picking area 20A, which shows the configuration of the picking area 20A in a simplified schematic diagram for ease of understanding. As shown in Figure 2, with reference to Figure 1 as well, the picking area 20A is equipped with an automatic raw material case refilling equipment (not shown with a reference number) for supplying items to be picked (collected), a picking (flow) rack 200, a number of work tables (work tables) T, and a transport robot running area 60 in front of the equipment where the transport robot R runs on a free track (free to run on a flat surface).

The picking (flow) rack 200 is a so-called flow rack that hangs from the raw material case automatic replenishment equipment side (rear side) to the pickup front side (front side), and the environmental temperature is set to -15°C. Multiple workers M in charge of collection pick (collect) various items that can be collected from the front of this picking (flow) rack 200 at their respective work tables T into their respective storage boxes B.

Here, an item refers to a unit of work that contains one or more types of incoming goods. In the automated case warehouse equipment described above, cases are treated as the unit of work that is processed, and items are supplied (replenished) on a case-by-case basis, i.e., on an item-by-item basis, to the opening of the picking (flow) rack 200 that is determined to correspond to each item, via the automated raw material case replenishment equipment described above.

Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the simplification of the multiple picking zones that make up the picking work area 210 within the picking area 20A when explaining the simplified explanation for ease of understanding.

The picking (flow) rack 200 mentioned above in Figure 2 is actually divided into sections corresponding to the work tables T assigned to each worker, and in the divided work area, the picking zone Z, each worker M in charge picks out each item to be collected from a designated opening corresponding to the item, as shown in Figure 3.

In the following explanation, the picking (flow) rack 200, which is divided into sections for each item as shown on the left side of Figure 3(a), is shown on the right side of the figure, with the depth direction of the first-in, first-out (FIFO) flow rack configuration (the direction in which the items are divided according to the order in which they are taken out) simplified as an image of a horizontal cross section.

Furthermore, as can be seen by enlarging the details of Figure 1, as shown on the left side of Figure 3(b), the actual workbench T is composed of two workbenches that are symmetrical to the left and right of the worker M, and the transport robot R carrying the work box B arrives (accesses) both ends and supplies the work box B to the workbench T it accesses on the left and right. These work boxes B are then transported by the operation of the workbench T to the center where the worker M is, and the worker M performs the necessary collection work on the work box B that has been transported to the center.

However, in the following explanation, the number of work tables T will be mainly simplified to one, as shown on the right side of the figure. That is, the transport robot R carrying (transporting) a storage box arrives (accesses) the right end of the figure and supplies the storage box to the work table T, and the storage box is then transported by the operation of the work table T to the center where the worker M is, and the worker M performs the necessary collection work on the storage box that has been brought to the center. After completing the desired collection, the storage box is handed over to the transport robot R accessing the left end of the figure, and is transported to the next access destination.

Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing multiple picking zones Z1 and Z2 in picking area 20A, with the simplification of Figure 3 applied. As shown in the figure, in picking zone Z1, a worker M in charge collects various items that can be collected from the front of picking (flow) rack 201 at workbench T and places them in a storage box for which he is responsible. Similarly, in picking zone Z2, a worker M in charge collects various items that can be collected from the front of picking (flow) rack 202 at workbench T and places them in a storage box for which he is responsible. Note that the worker M and workbench T in Figure 2 mentioned above are also shown in this simplified image.

Figure 5 is a functional block diagram including a simplified outline of the control flow of the logistics system 1 of the embodiment. In the figure, the thick double dotted arrows indicate the flow direction of objects (items, etc.), and the single dotted arrows indicate the flow direction of control.

As shown in the figure, the logistics system 1 includes a receiving section 10 (corresponding to the receiving (warehouse) area 10A) that receives multiple types of incoming goods to be collected, a collection section 20 (corresponding to the picking area 20A) for collecting the goods, a shipping section 30 (corresponding to the shipping preparation area 40A + shipping waiting area 50A + shipping (warehouse) area 30A) that ships out the goods to be shipped for delivery, and a control section C that controls the receiving section 10, the collection section 20, and the shipping section 30.

The control unit C performs receiving control (receiving control process) 10C that controls the receiving unit 10, collection control (collection control process) 20C that controls the collection unit 20, and shipping control (shipping control process) 30C that controls the shipping unit 30, corresponding to the receiving unit 10, collection unit 20, and shipping unit 30.

Here, and in the following explanation, "controlling the ~ department" refers to "putting the ~ department under database management," and the minimum requirement is that "for each item to be worked on or processed in the ~ department, the item's ID (hereafter "item ID") is associated with that item, the item's status at each point in time is grasped and updated (stored in the database and updated according to the status), and the data is used as reference data for subsequent processes." The "status" here includes information such as up to which process each item has been worked on or processed. In this case, satisfying this minimum requirement corresponds to "utilization of the laws of nature" at least in terms of "obtaining reference data."

In other words, since the minimum requirement is to obtain reference data for control in subsequent processes, for each item that is the subject of actual work or processing, not only when that work or processing is performed fully automatically, for example through program control, but even if part or all of that work or processing is performed manually by workers, etc., the entire system operates by obtaining reference data (based on the laws of nature), so the system as a whole falls under the category of "utilizing the laws of nature."

The above item ID indicates information that is registered in the database at the time of arrival, or that has been registered in advance, and indicates, for example, a specific number attached to the incoming item, as well as characteristics such as the type including variety name, quantity, place of origin, expiration date, best before date, etc. Registration in this database is performed, for example, by reading the barcode attached to the incoming item, reading information in an IC built into the box of the incoming item, or obtaining information from various tags, various attachments, and accessories.

Returning to the explanation of FIG. 5, as shown in the figure, the receiving section 10 has a receiving operation section 11 (corresponding to the receiving goods handling area) which receives incoming goods, an item storage section 12 (corresponding to the automatic case warehouse equipment) which stores multiple types of items, each of which contains one or more types of received goods, and an item replenishment section 13 (corresponding to the automatic raw material case replenishment equipment) which replenishes the collection section 20 with multiple types of items required for collection in the collection section 20.

In response to this, the control unit C performs receiving control (receiving control process) 10C to control the receiving unit 10, including receiving work control (receiving work control process) 11C to control the receiving work unit 11 (corresponding to the receiving goods handling area), item storage control (item storage control process) 12C to control the item storage unit 12 (corresponding to the automatic case storage equipment), and item replenishment control (item replenishment control process) 13C to control the item replenishment unit 13 (corresponding to the automatic raw material case replenishment equipment).

The collection section 20 has a collection preparation section 21 (corresponding to the picking (flow) rack 200) that temporarily stores items replenished by the item replenishment section 13 for collection, a collection work section 22 (corresponding to the picking work area 210) where a worker in charge of collection performs collection work of collecting items from the collection preparation section 21 into a storage box and proceeds with preparation of the storage box containing the collected items to be shipped, and a transport running section 23 (corresponding to the transport robot running area 60) where a transport robot R runs on a free track (free to run on a flat surface) to transport the storage box to be used for the collection work, and extends (exists) to the parking area 601 of the shipping section 30 (see Figure 1).

In response to this, the control unit C performs collection control (collection control process) 20C that controls the collection unit 20, including collection preparation control (collection preparation control process) 21C that controls the collection preparation unit 21 (corresponding to the picking (flow) rack 200), collection work control (collection work control process) 22C that controls the collection work unit 22 (corresponding to the picking work area 210), and transport run control (transport run control process) 23C that controls the transport run unit 23 (corresponding to the transport robot run area 60).

The shipping department 30 has a shipping preparation department 31 (corresponding to the shipping preparation area 40A) that receives the storage boxes collected by the collection department 20 and organizes them into shipping forms for the shipments to be delivered, a shipping item storage department 32 (corresponding to the shipping waiting area 50A) that stores the items included in the shipping forms according to the characteristics of each type, and a shipping work department 33 (corresponding to the shipping (outlet) area 30A) that prepares the shipments for delivery, etc.

In response to this, the control unit C performs shipping control (shipping control process) 30C to control the shipping unit 30, including shipping preparation control (shipping preparation control process) 31C to control the shipping preparation unit 31 (corresponding to the shipping preparation area 40A), shipping item storage control (shipping item storage control process) 32C to control the shipping item storage unit 32 (corresponding to the shipping waiting area 50A), and shipping work control (shipping work control process) 33C to control the shipping work unit 33 (corresponding to the shipping (warehouse) area 30A).

[2. Examples of problem-solving points]
In the following explanation, the circled numbers of the order numbers used in the corresponding drawings for ease of viewing will be explained in the following text using half-width numbers in half-width [ ], such as [01] for circled 1, [02] for circled 2, [03] for circled 3, etc. (Figs. 7 to 19, etc.). On the other hand, the corresponding step numbers in the time series will be explained in both the drawings and the text using half-width numbers in half-width ( ), such as (1) for 1st, (2) for 2nd, (3) for 3rd, etc. (Figs. 10 to 19, etc.).

Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a template schedule that indicates the order in which the transport robots in charge of an order will access the picking zone number and the type of items prepared there.

Here, as an example, three types, A, B, and C, are prepared (prepared) as common type items to be collected common to the eight picking zones No. 1 to 8, and D, E, F, G, H, K, L, and M are prepared (prepared) as individual type items, respectively.

Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of order numbers and the breakdown of items picked (collected) for each order. In this example, individual type item F, which is supposed to be an item that is picked infrequently (low frequency), is accessed (collected) in eight orders out of order numbers [01] to [10] at the same rate as common type items A, B, and C.

In this example, for order No. [01], a total of eight items will be collected: three common items A, B, and C, plus five individual items D, E, F, G, and K.

Details about how to schedule access to each picking zone for each order will be described later, but Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the order of access to picking zones No. 1 to 8 for picking (collection) by order No. [01] in the example of Figure 7, and Figure 9 is a similar explanatory diagram showing the access order for orders No. [01] to [10].

For example, in the case of order No. [01] in Figure 8, first (in the 1st step (1)), picking zone No. 3 is accessed to pick (collect) items A, B, C, and F, then (in the 2nd step (2)), picking zone No. 2 is accessed to pick item E, and similarly, in the 3rd step (3), picking zone No. 6 is accessed to pick item K, in the 4th step (4), picking zone No. 4 is accessed to pick item G, and in the 5th step (5), picking zone No. 1 is accessed to pick item D. With eight items to be collected, in the 6th step (6), the items are ready to be shipped (see order No. [01] in Figure 19 below).

Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram showing the results of determining the access schedule for order numbers [01] to [10] in the same way as the example of order number [01] in Figure 8. An example of how to determine this schedule is described below with reference to Figures 10 to 19.

First, set the access order for individual type item F, which has the highest access count (maximum value) of 8 out of the 8 individual type items. If there are multiple items with the highest access count, you can determine the schedule setting rules in advance, such as first order of order or simply by item name.

As shown in Figure 10, among orders No. [01] to [10], the number of individual type items to be collected (accessed) is the maximum for order No. [03], which is 6. However, order No. [03] does not access item F, so individual type item F is accessed and the access order for individual type item F is set among orders No. [01], [04], [09], and [10], which have 5 individual type items.

Of order numbers [01], [04], [09], and [10], order numbers [04] and [09] have an access count of 7, including the number of common type items, so when comparing order numbers [01] and [10], which have an access count of 8, order number [01] is determined to be access order (1) and order number [10] to be access order (2), in order of order. Note that even when the access counts are the same as in this example, a schedule setting rule can be determined in advance for the access order.

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 11, the access order for individual type item F is determined as follows: the access order for order No. [04] and [09], which have 5 individual type items, is (3) and (4) in order of the order, and the access order for order No. [02], [05], [07], and [08], which have 4 individual type items, is (5), (6), (7), and (8) in order of the order.

Next, of the remaining seven individual type items, individual type item E and individual type item G, both of which have seven access counts, can be determined in advance using schedule setting rules to decide which one should be determined first, but here, individual type item E will be determined simply based on the order of item names.

If the access order for individual type item E is determined in the same way as the access order for individual type item F described above in Figures 10 and 11, the access order will be order No. [03], [01], [06], [10], [04], [09], and [07]. However, as shown in Figure 12, in order No. [07], individual type item F is to be accessed in the 7th step (7), so there is a duplication.

In such a case, for example, the access order for individual type item F may be exchanged with order number [08] to become access order (8), but here, the access order for individual type item E is exchanged with order number [09], which is the immediately preceding order number (6), so that order number [07] becomes access order (6) and order number [09] becomes access order (7), as shown in FIG. 13.

Next, of the remaining six individual type items, the access order is determined for individual type item G, which has an access count of seven, as shown in FIG. 14.

Next, of the remaining five individual type items, the access order is also determined for individual type item H, which has an access count of six, as shown in FIG. 15.

Next, of the remaining four individual type items, the access order is also determined for individual type item K, which has an access count of 6, as shown in Figure 16.

Next, of the remaining three individual type items, the access order is also determined for individual type item M, which has an access count of 5, as shown in Figure 17.

Next, for the remaining two individual type items, individual type item D and individual type item L, which have an access count of 4, the access order is determined as shown in Figure 18.

The three common type items are accessed together with the individual type item when the first individual type item is accessed for each order, so as shown in Figure 19, for order No. [02] and order No. [07], they are accessed in the second step (2), and for the other orders, they are accessed in the first step (1).

As described above, in this embodiment, access is scheduled to prevent conflicting accesses, and multiple transport robots, the number of which is equal to or less than the number of picking zones, access simultaneously. In addition, since access is not concentrated, waiting time is eliminated.

In other words, by focusing on the parallel processing possible with the AMR type, all accesses that can be executed simultaneously can be executed simultaneously, resulting in maximum execution speed without waiting to avoid conflicting accesses. This makes it possible to take advantage of the fundamental advantages of the AMR type and further increase the speed of picking operations while maintaining a relatively low-cost and simple configuration without making major changes to the system configuration.

In addition, because each picking zone is assigned a unique individual item type, if there are the same number of picking zones, it is possible to handle a greater variety of items than if all of them were the same type of items. In other words, in this logistics system, under conditions where there is no competing access, multiple transport robots equal to or less than the number of picking zones can access simultaneously, thereby increasing speed, and by setting individual item types, it is possible to handle a greater variety of items.

In addition, by treating items that are collected infrequently as individual type items and allowing them to be collected only in specific picking zones, and treating items that are collected frequently as common type items and allowing them to be collected in many picking zones, it becomes possible to handle a wide variety of items while at the same time making effective use of picking zones and maintaining the effective efficiency of picking (collection) work.

In addition, by performing advance scheduling (advance access scheduling) to determine the access schedule for the entire system in advance, and then executing access control (picking control) according to that schedule, it is possible to avoid conflicting access with a high probability, improve the rate of concurrent processing, and achieve even higher speeds.

In this case, the operating time for picking operations in the entire system is determined by the maximum number of accesses to a single picking zone, so an appropriate schedule can be determined by referring to the number of accesses to each picking zone.

In addition, the operating time for picking (collection) work in the entire system can be extended depending on the number of picking tasks included in the picking orders handled by each transport robot, so priority is given to access by transport robots handling picking orders with a large number of picking tasks as much as possible. Furthermore, if an individual type of item to be collected can only be collected in a picking zone with a high number of accesses, the possibility of competitive access occurring increases. Therefore, by prioritizing access to that picking zone and scheduling, an appropriate schedule can be determined, competitive access can be avoided with a high probability, the ratio of simultaneous parallel processing can be improved, and even higher speeds can be achieved.

[3. Other Applications]
In the above example, each picking zone has one individual type item, but there may be multiple types. For example, the individual type items in picking zone No. 1 may include individual type item N in addition to individual type item D (see FIG. 6).

In this case, for example, if the number of accesses to individual type item D is 4 (see Figure 7) and the number of accesses to individual type item N is 3, the total number of accesses can be treated as 7. However, if there is an order that accesses individual type item D and individual type item N (collects both), they can be collected simultaneously with one access, so the number of accesses can also be treated as 1.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to achieve a logistics system that utilizes the fundamental advantages of the AMR type to perform picking operations at a higher speed without making any major changes to the system configuration, while maintaining a relatively low-cost and simple configuration.

The inventive concept has been described primarily with reference to certain embodiments. However, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, embodiments other than those described above are equally possible within the scope of the inventive concept as defined by the appended claims.

The logistics system and various controls relating to each aspect of the present invention are systems that manage a database of items that are the subject of receiving, collecting, shipping, and transporting, and in that sense they utilize the laws of nature and have industrial value in that they operate hardware through program control, and also have economic value in that the act of transporting (service) and the items themselves are the subject of commercial transactions, and have broad industrial applicability in these technical fields.

1 Logistics system 10 Receiving department 10A Receiving (warehousing) area 10C Receiving control (process)
11 Receiving work section 11C Receiving work control (process)
12 Item storage unit 12C Item storage control (process)
13 Item replenishment unit 13C Item replenishment control (process)
20 Collection section 20A Picking area 20C Collection control (process)
21 Collection preparation section 21C Collection preparation control (process)
22 Collection work section 22C Collection work control (process)
23 Transport travel section 23C Transport travel control (process)
30 Shipping department 30A Shipping (shipping) area 30C Shipping control (process)
31 Shipping preparation section 31C Shipping preparation control (process)
32 Shipment storage section 32C Shipment storage control (process)
33 Shipping work unit 33C Shipping work control (process)
40A Shipping preparation area 50A Shipping waiting area 60 Transport robot travel area 200, 201, 202 Picking (flow) rack 210 Picking work area 310 Shipping berth 601 Parking area B Storage box C Control unit M Worker R Transport robot T Work table (work table)
Z, Z1, Z2 picking zone

Claims (9)

A plurality of picking zones each capable of picking a predetermined type of item;
a plurality of transport robots that transport the collection box to any one of the plurality of picking zones where the collection target items can be collected, in order to collect the designated collection target items into a collection box based on a picking order indicating one or more collection target items,
A logistics system characterized in that, when a condition is met that does not require competitive access to all of the plurality of picking zones in the access for collecting uncollected collection target items, a number of the transport robots equal to or less than the number of the picking zones simultaneously access the plurality of picking zones. The predetermined types of items that can be collected by each of the plurality of picking zones are
A common type of item that can be collected by all of the plurality of picking zones;
and an individual type of item that can be collected only in some of the plurality of picking zones. The logistics system according to claim 2, characterized in that the common type items are set as items that are collected with high frequency, and the individual type items are set as items that are collected with low frequency. The logistics system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the access is performed according to a pre-set schedule. The logistics system according to claim 4, characterized in that the schedule is determined by referring to the number of accesses to each picking zone capable of collecting the individual type items by the picking orders of the entire logistics system. 5. The logistics system according to claim 4, wherein the schedule is determined by referring to the number of picking operations related to the collection of the individual types of items included in the picking orders that each of the plurality of transport robots is responsible for. A plurality of picking zones each capable of picking a predetermined type of item;
a plurality of transport robots that transport a collection box to any one of the plurality of picking zones where the collection target items can be collected, in order to collect the designated collection target items into a collection box based on a picking order that designates one or more collection target items, and access the collection box for collection,
A logistics system control method characterized by controlling a number of transport robots, the number of which is equal to or less than the number of picking zones, to simultaneously access the picking target items when a condition is met that does not require competitive access to all of the picking zones in the access for collecting the uncollected collection target items. On the computer,
A picking zone defining means for defining a plurality of picking zones each capable of collecting a predetermined type of item;
a first control means for controlling a plurality of transport robots to transport a collection box to any one of the plurality of picking zones where the collection target items can be collected, in order to collect the designated collection target items into a collection box based on a picking order indicating one or more collection target items;
a second control means for controlling a number of the transport robots, the number of which is equal to or less than the number of picking zones, to simultaneously access the picking target items when a condition is met that does not require competitive access to all of the picking zones in the access for collecting the uncollected collection target items. A storage medium storing the logistics system control program according to claim 8.