JPS6181317A - Arranging system of totes used for delivery transport in distribution center - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to carry out packing works for many ships simultaneously, consequently to remarkably enhance the processing capacity into a slat elevator at random. CONSTITUTION:Various kinds and large quantities of package commodities received from respective makers or the like, being loaded in totes, are transferred into other totes to be repacked therein and delivered depending upon the contents of orders issued from respective shops. In this case, totes t full of commodities packed therein and allotted to respective shops are onto a slat elevator 11 in random status, assorted in either one of multi-steps sorter conveyors 12a-12d per shop of delivery target and those totes t allotted to one shop are taken as a group, into another slat elevator 13 connected to the other ends of sorter conveyors 12a-12d. during the process of said taking in, the totes are taken in sequentially from the sorter conveyors 12a-12d of shops in conformity to the order of delivery transport, and arranged in the direction of delivery transport to be loaded on a delivery transport truck.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention 1] The present invention is to carry in packaged products such as packaged foods that are small and light enough to be grasped with one hand from each manufacturer or wholesaler, and to deliver them to each store such as a convenience store. It concerns the center for distribution.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of community-based retail stores such as so-called convenience stores, which are open 24 hours a day and, in some cases, are open 24 hours a day, allowing customers living in the area to easily purchase daily necessities.

In general, this type of store handles a large variety of products, but is characterized by a small number of items for each product. In particular, for products that require freshness, it is important to sell all of them within the same day and avoid leaving unsold items as much as possible, so we are in a situation where we have to purchase products at least once a day.

Under these circumstances, the reality is that packaged product manufacturers and wholesalers have traditionally delivered products directly to stores scattered throughout the country.

Ming is trying.

However, if each product was individually delivered directly from its manufacturer as described in 1., the product would lose its freshness due to the large number of stores it was delivered to and the time it would take.
Moreover, the amount of unloading at each store is small, resulting in poor delivery efficiency and the risk of lowering the cost of products, as well as redundant delivery trucks, which adds to traffic congestion.

In order to solve this problem, a distribution center is interposed between each manufacturer, wholesaler, and each store, and the various packaged products that arrive in totes from each manufacturer are picked according to the order details from each store. A processing system has been developed in which the items are packed in separate totes and shipped, but since there are a large number of stores to be delivered to and the sorting must be done within a limited time, it is necessary to process the items for multiple stores. Sorting and packing work must proceed at the same time, and delivery must be carried out efficiently using a minimum number of delivery trucks.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to organize a large number of assortment totes for many stores by store and delivery method, thereby allowing a large number of items to be sorted in a short period of time. To provide a system for organizing delivery totes that can perform assortment work, enable delivery trucks to efficiently deliver in an efficient delivery order, and contribute to resolving traffic congestion.

[Structure 1 of the Invention The system for organizing delivery totes of the present invention for the purpose of [α] sorts a large number of various packaged products received from various manufacturers in totes into different totes according to the order details from each store. At a distribution center where products are packed and shipped, totes containing products from each store are randomly sent to a slat elevator, and the totes are distributed to one of the multi-stage sorter conveyors according to the delivery store. When the totes from the same store are collectively taken in by another slat elevator connected to the other end, the totes are taken in sequentially from the sorter conveyor of the store according to the order of delivery.

Dog 1 Eye 1 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows packaged products such as so-called chilled foods, such as hanbeng, raw noodles, kamaboko, and soy milk, which are received from various manufacturers and wholesalers in shallow plastic containers (hereinafter referred to as -)1). , which indicates the distribution center where these are sorted by order from each store, organized by each delivery direction, and delivered. 1 is a long and narrow cold room whose room temperature is adjusted to about 0°C to 4°C. A rotating rack 2 consisting of, for example, 184 racks is installed in the greenhouse j, and can rotate in both left and right directions.As is clear from FIG.
2p5 are installed, and each is designed to be rotated independently.

An entrance 1a is opened on the left end side of the cold room 1, and a cooking machine 3 is installed outside of the entrance 1a. As shown in FIG. 2(A), the cooking machine 3 independently raises each of the 12 stacked tows 1, and moves the 1) 1 of each tier onto the rotary rack 2. This device is arranged so that it corresponds to each stage, and is inserted at -.degree. as shown in FIG. 2(B). A roller conveyor 4 is installed between the cooking machine 3 and loading days A and B.

On the other hand, a picking frontage 1 is located on the right side of the cold room 1.
b has been established. As shown in Fig. 3, the picking openings 1b are opened in a total of 8 locations, 2 locations at the same height and in 4 stages, and as is clear from Fig. 4B, each picking opening 1b has 3 openings. The rotary racks 2 corresponding to the stages are faced. A picking station 5 is provided outside the picking opening 1b, on which a worker called a picker P performs sorting work. Therefore, the - picker P has 319 carousel racks 2.

As is clear from FIG. 4B, on the opposite side of the picking frontage 1b with the picker P in between, there is a roller conveyor 6 for delivering food assortment totes from above, and a roller conveyor 7 for supplying assortment electropneumatic totes. A roller conveyor 8 for collecting used empty totes is also provided.

As shown in FIG. 3, the upper delivery roller conveyor 6 (
The slat elevators 9 are connected to the slat elevator 9 located at the left end, and the food assortment totes t conveyed from each picking station 5 are sequentially lowered to the lower end thereof by the slat elevator 9. .

(See Fig. 5) As shown in Fig. 6, a roller conveyor 10 is connected to the lower end of the slat elevator 9, and the lower end of the slat elevator 9 is lowered. It is now ready to be sent.

Four stages of sorter conveyors 12a to 12d each consisting of a roller conveyor are connected in parallel to the slat elevator 11, and the other end thereof is connected to another slat elevator 13. A roller conveyor 14 communicating with shipping dates C and D is connected to the lower end of the slat elevator 13, and a palletizer 15 is disposed in the middle thereof. The palletizer 15 is a device that piles up totes that have been flowing one tote at a time in 12 stages.

Furthermore, the lower collecting roller conveyor 8 (total of 4) shown in Figures 4^ and 4B is connected to the slat elevator 161 located at the right end, as is clear from Figure 3, and is connected to each pinking station. At step 5, the used empties)-)1 collected from the rotary rack 2 and transported are lowered to the lower end thereof by the slat elevator 16. A roller conveyor 17 is connected to the lower end of the slat elevator 16, and the lowered tows 1 are cleaned. It is designed to be sent to J18 and drying@19.

As shown enlarged in FIG. 7, roller conveyors 20 and 20' are connected to the outlet of the dryer 8!19.
Fresh, washed and dried empty air)-)1 is supplied to the lower end of the slat elevator 21. The slat elevator 21 raises the supplied empty totes ()-)1 and distributes them to the empty tote supplying roller conveyors 7 in the middle stages as shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a stockyard for storing empty toys, and a five-row roller conveyor 23 that can move in both directions is installed. A depalletizer 24 is disposed at the replenishment port 22a of the strip yard 22, and is configured to send out the empty ()-) 1 piled up in the strip yard 22 one by one to the roller conveyor 20'. still,
Empty from the stockyard 22)-)1 is the washing machine 18
The slat elevator 21 is replenished only when the dryer 19 (empty)-)1 is on a seasonal holiday.

In Figure 1, E and F are the sky brought back from each store)
This is the date to import -N. The empties)-)1 carried in from dates E and F are transferred to the washer 18 through the roller conveyor 25. Further, when the picking operation is stopped, the empty ()-)1 from the washer 18 is sent into the stockyard 22 without flowing toward the slat elevator 21.

On the opposite side of the stockyard 22 is a tote outlet 22.
b is provided and communicated with the roller conveyor 14 through a roller conveyor 26.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a computer-controlled system configuration, and 27 is a minicomputer installed in the office of the distribution center, which controls peripheral devices such as a CRT display, keyboard, printer, floppy disk, and fixed desk. We are prepared.

28 is Mark League and date A for arrival.

It is installed at position B, and the arrival information is sent to the mini computer 2 mentioned above.
7.

29 is a barcode league, which is installed in the above-mentioned shoeking machine 3, the roller conveyor 6 of the picking station fi, and the slat elevator iiy,
The barcode number of )-)1 during transport is read and tote information for control by the minicomputer 27 is input.

30 is a CRT display for picking,
Reference numeral 31 indicates a printer for printing out shipping slips, and 32 indicates a seven-way switch, one of which is provided at each picking station position, and is connected to the minicomputer 27 via a link 33.

34 is a microcontroller - C1121'J each rotary rack 2, slat elevator 11 and 1
It is connected to each of the seven actuators such as No. 3, etc., and drives and controls each of the above-mentioned actuators based on instructions from the minicomputer 27.

35 is a guide display.

Project 1 Next, a description will be given of the work of sorting chilled foods using the equipment of the above embodiment and arranging the assortment totes according to the delivery direction of each store.

First, the center receives orders from each store. As for the contents of the order, the customer receives the store name, code numbers of chilled foods such as hanpen, fresh noodles, kamaboko, and soy milk, and their quantities over the phone, and immediately inputs them into the mini-computer 27. Once all order data has been entered, each chilled food item is classified and aggregated by each wholesaler and manufacturer to which it is delivered, and the order is placed over the phone and an order slip is printed out at the same time.

Each wholesaler or manufacturer that receives an order prepares or manufactures the necessary types and quantities of chilled foods, and produces one )-)
1 is packed and delivered with the same type of chilled food. At this time, a mark sheet is used for the delivery slip, and the code number of the wholesaler or manufacturer, the code number of the chilled food that corresponds to the code number of )-)1, the quantity, and the date of shipment are manually entered on the mark sheet. Fill out. )-) 1 is loaded onto a truck in units of 12 tiers and shipped to the center. The above mark sheet must be brought by the driver.

When the truck arrives at the center, follow the information display 35 when the reception starts and arrive at date A for arrival.

The mark sheet brought by the driver is inserted into the mark reader 28, and the corresponding sheets )-)1 are sent from the roller conveyor 4 to the stacking machine 3 in units of 12 stages. The stacking machine 3 is the second
Lift each )-)1 vertically as shown in figure (A),
The heights of the rotary racks 2 corresponding to each stage are matched, and the materials are loaded at once as shown in FIG. 2(B). The stacking machine 3 is equipped with 12 stages of barcode readers 29, each code No.)-)1 is read and the minicomputer 27 stores the position on the rotary rack 2 at which the barcode is loaded. In addition, when this )-)1 is inserted, 12
All the racks of the tiered rotating racks 2 are arranged to rotate synchronously in the same vertical direction.

In this way, when all actual images)-)1 have been inputted, the computer 27 shows which rack 2 of the rotary rack has which)-)1 placed therein, and which)-)1.
The number and type of chilled foods contained in the container are all stored in memory in the mini-computer 27. still,
The unloaded truck moves to Day)C and D, loads the same number of empty picture totes as the number of delivered totes)-)1, and returns to the wholesaler or manufacturer.

When the loading into the rotating rack 3 is completed, the next step is picking work. As mentioned above, three stages of rotary racks 2 face each picking entrance 1b, and the picker P holds the rotary rack 2 thereon. First, when the picker P transfers the cleaned empty )-) 1 supplied by the roller conveyor 7 onto the roller conveyor 6, the washed empty )-) 1 is transferred onto the roller conveyor 6.
) 1 is read by the barcode reader 29 and stored in the minicomputer 27.

On the other hand, the rotary rack 2 is rotationally driven by instructions from the minicomputer 27 and the microcontroller 34,
At the same time that the actual picture containing the chilled foods to be picked ()-) 1 is transferred to the picking opening 1b and picked, the type and number of chilled foods to be picked are displayed on the CRT display 30 for picking instructions, so the picker can According to this instruction, P picks the required number of chilled foods and places them on the roller conveyor 6 (see above).
-) 1, and when finished, press the 7 switch 32 and wait for the next instruction. During this picking operation, the minicomputer 27 has already rotated the rotary rack 2 on another stage, and moved the actual picture ()-N containing the chilled food to be picked next to the picking frontage 11] in advance. This makes the work more efficient.

Therefore, at the same time as pressing the 7-way switch 32 or without waiting for much time, the picker P receives instructions on the type and number of foods to be picked on the CRT display 30 and can pick them immediately.

In this way, following the instructions from the CR, T display 30, when the first ()-) 1 assortment operation is completed, a shipping slip is printed out on the printer 31, and the picker P tears it into pieces. ) 1 and sent out by roller conveyor 6.

The picker P takes out the next empty tote t from the roller conveyor 7, places it again on the roller conveyor 6J2, prepares for the next stuffing, and repeats the same picking operation as above according to instructions from the minicomputer 27. In addition, when the )-)1 of the rotating rack 2 becomes empty during the picking operation, the picker P takes it out at any time and transfers it to the roller conveyor 8.
It is transferred to the top and sent to the washing machine 18.

-) 1 (in some cases all chilled foods of the same type are packed together) are once lowered by the slat elevator 9 and then transported via the roller conveyor 1o. They are sent to the slat elevator 11, but since eight pickers P)-)1 are sent to the roller conveyor 10 at any time, each assortment)-N is organized by store and delivery direction. It is not washed away in a random state. Therefore, a barcode reader 29 is provided at the lower end of the slat elevator 11 to read the barcode of )-)L, and the microcontroller 33 According to the instructions, the items are sorted to one of the four sorter conveyors 12a to 12d according to the store to be delivered.

)-)L separated by store are collectively taken in by a subsequent slat elevator 13 in the order of stores along a predetermined delivery route, and sent to a roller conveyor 14. For example, a delivery truck goes from store b → store d →
If deliveries are made in the order of store A → store C,
First, take in the totes on the second tier sorter conveyor 12b where 1) 1) Totes for stores are lined up, then the totes for the 8 stores on the bottom tier, the totes for store a on the upper tier, and the totes on the third tier. 0 stores are imported in the order of totes.

Note that when loading from the back of the delivery truck bed and unloading from the front, it may be better to do it the other way. -
A palletizer 15 is installed in the middle of the roller conveyor 14, and the palletizers are organized by store and direction.)-)1 to 12
The products are stacked in the storage area Fi, and loaded onto trucks waiting at shipping days C and D according to the instructions on the guide display device 35.

[In the above embodiments, chilled foods have been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be frozen foods, room temperature foods, high temperature foods, etc. In addition, when handling packaged foods with different insulating temperatures at the same time, divide the warehouse containing the rotating racks (cold room 1 in the above example) with partition walls to create multiple rooms, and separate each room from each other. It is recommended that the temperature be maintained at an appropriate temperature for the food.

The rotating rack may be of a vertical type, and the number of racks and the number of stages may be appropriately set depending on the scale of the distribution center. Therefore, the number of rotary racks that one picker has can be set according to the scale.

Further, in the above embodiment, the means for instructing the picker is a CRT display, but the contents of the instruction may be transmitted to the picker by an instruction by voice, a printout, or a combination of these, in short, an instruction from a minicomputer. It is fine as long as it is something.

Further, the number of sorter conveyors is not limited to the above embodiment, and may be set depending on the number of stores to be delivered and the amount of totes to be processed.

[Effect of the invention 1 (1) Since a large number of totes filled with packaged products are sent to the slat elevator in a random manner, Xiaomi is able to carry out the packing work of many stores at the same time, and it is possible to pick items in a short time. Processing capacity can be significantly increased.

(2) When loading totes from the same store all at once using another slat elevator connected to the other end of the sorter conveyor, the totes are loaded sequentially from the sorter conveyor of the store according to the order of delivery, so the delivery truck You can organize and load items for delivery, ensuring efficient delivery without waste.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan layout of a distribution center showing one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Fig. 1, and Fig.
The figure is a front view of the entire picking station, Figure 48 is an enlarged front view of the picking station, and Figure 4B is a front view of the entire picking station.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the slat elevator, FIG. 6 is a side view of the sorter system, FIG. 7 is a plan view of the empty tote supply station, and FIG. 8 is a view of the computer. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a system configuration based on control. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Cold room, 1a... Storage entrance, 1b... Picking frontage, 2... Rotary rack, 3... Cooking machine, 5... Picking station, 6... Roller for sending out Conveyor, 7... supply roller conveyor,
8... Collection roller conveyor, 9... Slat elevator, 10... Roller conveyor, 11... Slat elevator, 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d-sorter conveyor, 13... Slat elevator, 15.・
・Palletizer, 18...Washing machine, 21...Slat elevator, 22...Stockyard, 24...Depalletizer-127...Mini computer, 28...
・Mark League, 29...Barcode League, 30・
... CRT display, 33... Microcontroller, A, B, C, D, E, F... Date, P...
Picker, t...tote.

Claims (1)

[Claims] At the distribution center, a large variety of packaged products that arrive in totes from various manufacturers are packed into different totes according to the order details from each store, and then shipped. The totes are sent in random order to the slat elevator, and the totes are distributed to one of the multi-stage sorter conveyors according to the delivery store, and the totes from the same store are grouped together by another slat elevator connected to the other end of the sorter conveyor. A delivery tote organizing system characterized in that the delivery totes are taken in sequentially from a store's sorter conveyor according to the order of delivery.