JPH04354703A - Goods sorting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a worker estimate working hours required for remaining sorting work so as to cope with a shipping time in a goods sorting system wherein sorting is conducted by placing goods in containers, in a sorting zone, allocated respectively for destinations, by displaying the number of items of unsorted goods. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of rows of sorting zones 1A, 1B, 1C each provided with a number of containers 10, a carriage 2 for transporting goods into these zones, system controllers 6A, 6B, 6C for reading items of goods to conduct displaying of the number of goods placed in each of the containers 10, bay control boxes 8A, 8B, 8C, and display devices 13A, 13B, 13C for the number of unsorted items for displaying the number of unsorted items of goods in the sorting zones 1A, 1B, 1C are provided.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a product sorting system used in the product distribution process.

0002

[Prior Art] At distribution centers for products for supermarkets and chain stores, collection work is carried out to stock the requested number of various products in response to requests from each store. a picking system that picks out the requested number of requested products from product shelves provided along the transportation route and collects them in the container while transporting containers for each destination;
A sorting system is used that transports each product item by item and places the products into containers for each destination provided along the transport route.

In this case, in the latter sorting system, as shown in FIG.
A plurality of rows of sorting zones A1, A2, and A3 with product collection shelves B and B are provided on both sides of the aisle, and products are collected for each destination on each of the product collection shelves B and B of each sorting zone A1 to A3. A large number of containers C to C,
A display (not shown) is provided to display the number of products currently being transported by the trolley a into each container C, and a product loading area D is provided at one end of the sorting zones A1 to A3. When transporting carts a to a loaded with products in area D to sorting zones A1 to A3, the system controllers E to E read the product items and activate the displays of each sorting zone A1 to A3 to display the products. By repeating the work of sequentially putting the displayed number of products into each container C for each product item, the product is configured so that the required number of products for all the items are collected when all the work is completed. Therefore, by using this sorting system, product collection work can be performed efficiently and accurately without requiring any skill.

[0004] Furthermore, in the above sorting system, each container C to C is moved to the shipping area F after all the work is completed.
The products are collected in a number of locations, loaded onto delivery vehicles for each delivery route, and shipped. In this case, sorting zones are assigned to each delivery route of the delivery vehicle. For example, A
The first sorting zone A1 is allocated to the delivery route for each Spar chain store, and the containers C~
C is assigned to each chain store of Supermarket A, the second sorting zone A2 is assigned to the delivery route for each chain store of Supermarket B, the destinations of containers C to C are similarly set, and the third sorting zone A3 is allocated to the delivery route for each chain store of C Supermarket. According to this, when all the product sorting work in the first sorting zone A1 is completed, the containers C to C in the zone A1 are loaded onto a delivery vehicle, and the products are immediately delivered to each chain store of A supermarket. The same can be done for the second and third sorting zones A2 and A3, eliminating the need for sorting the containers C to C by each delivery route in the shipping area F.

[0005]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] Incidentally, the departure times of the delivery vehicles for the above-mentioned A, B, and C supermarkets are determined for each delivery route. On the other hand, the sorting of products in each sorting zone A1 to A3 is done by the worker sorting the products into containers C to C for each item as described above, so the worker during the sorting work It is difficult to know how many more items need to be sorted. For example, if the total number of ordered products for the day in the first sorting zone A1 for A supermarket is 100 items, the worker must know how many products are currently being sorted and how many items remain. It is difficult to know what sorting should be done, and it is not possible to predict how long it will take to complete the sorting work in the first sorting zone A1. Therefore, workers are unable to ascertain whether the sorting work will be completed sufficiently by the time the delivery vehicle departs, or whether it will be difficult to complete, and are forced to perform unstable work that is difficult to match between time and workload. become.

[0006] Furthermore, the departure time of the delivery vehicle mentioned above differs from supermarket to supermarket. In other words, if a delivery vehicle has to deliver to a long distance, the departure time must be quick. However, the total number of ordered products at each supermarket varies and changes from day to day. For this reason, for example, when the departure time for supermarket A is set at 9 o'clock and the departure time for supermarket B is set at 10 o'clock, depending on the case, the total number of ordered products for supermarket A (in other words, the first sorting Due to reasons such as the large number of sorted items in zone A1, the second sorting zone A for supermarket B is
There may also be a situation where the sorting work in step 2 takes precedence, and the shipping time for supermarket A may be delayed from the scheduled time. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to take measures such as having workers concentrate on sorting zones where sorting is not progressing, depending on the departure time and the progress of sorting work in each sorting zone A1 to A3. The above problem was difficult to deal with because it was difficult to match the departure time with the amount of work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a product sorting system that allows a worker engaged in sorting work to understand the relationship between the departure time of a delivery vehicle and the amount of sorting work.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problem] That is, the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as the first invention) provides a sorting zone provided with a large number of containers for collecting products for each destination. a product transport means for loading and transporting products within the sorting zone; a display means for displaying the number of products currently being transported by the product transport means loaded into each container; and controlling the display of the display means. The system is characterized in that an unsorted item number display means is provided near the sorting zone to display the number of unsorted items in the sorting zone.

Furthermore, the invention according to claim 2 (hereinafter referred to as the second invention) is such that sorting zones are provided for each of a plurality of delivery routes, and in the vicinity of each sorting zone, items of unsorted products in each sorting zone are provided. The present invention is characterized by being provided with a number display means for displaying the number of unsorted items.

0010

According to the first aspect of the invention, the number of remaining items to be sorted is displayed to the operator by the unsorted item number display means in the vicinity of the sorting zone. In this case, since the worker knows from experience how much time it takes to sort one product item, the worker can predict the remaining sorting work amount and the work time required.

Furthermore, according to the second invention, it is possible to grasp the remaining sorting work amount and the working time required for each of a plurality of sorting zones for each delivery route, and it is possible to grasp the sorting work status of any sorting zone. In addition, since the comparison can be made, it is possible to know which sorting zone should be prioritized for sorting work in relation to the departure time of the delivery vehicle.

0012

Embodiments Next, embodiments of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the sorting system, which includes a plurality of (three in the drawing) sorting zones 1A.
, 1B, 1C (hereinafter, the first sorting zone 1A
, a second sorting zone 1B, and a third sorting zone 1C) are provided in parallel, and in each of these sorting zones 1A to 1C, there are two sorting zones on both sides along the route through which trolleys 2 loaded with products of the same item pass. Collection shelf 3,
3 is placed. Further, a product loading area 4 for loading products by item onto the cart 2 is provided, and one end of each of the sorting zones 1A to 1C is lined up in the area 4. Further, on the other end side of these sorting zones 1A to 1C, containers (described later) taken out from the respective collection shelves 3 and 3 of each sorting zone 1A to 1C are collected after the collection work is completed and transported to a delivery vehicle. A shipping area 5 for loading is provided.

[0014] Also, on the side of the product loading area 4,
A system controller 6A that manages the first sorting zone 1A, a system controller 6B that manages the second sorting zone 1B, and a system controller 6C that manages the third sorting zone 1C are arranged near the entrance of each sorting zone, In addition, the search controller 7 is used to manage the work of the entire system.
are arranged, and each sorting zone 1A to 1C
Bay control boxes 8A, 8B, and 8C that receive information from the system controllers 6A to 6C, respectively, are installed on one of the collection shelves 3, 3.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, each of the above-mentioned collection shelves 3 is provided with a large number of pockets 9 to 9 in multiple stages, and containers 10 to 10 for collecting ordered products for each destination store. is placed, and each pocket 9-9
At the top, there is a sorting instruction lamp 11a that instructs to put the products into the containers 10 of the respective pockets 9 to 9.
A display device 11 is provided, which includes a number display section 11b that displays the number of pieces to be put in, and a completion key 11c that is turned on after filling is completed.

Further, in this embodiment, each of the sorting zones 1A to 1C is used for each delivery route, and the first sorting zone 1A is used for A supermarket, and the containers 1 in the first sorting zone are
0 to 10 are assigned to each chain store of the supermarket A. Similarly, the second sorting zone 1B is assigned to the B supermarket, and the third sorting zone 1C is assigned to the C supermarket, to each chain store. Then, in the product loading area 4, products for each supermarket are loaded onto the trolleys 2 to 2 for each zone, and these trolleys 2 to 2 are transported to the respective sorting zones 1A to 2.
1C and container 10 to 1 by worker 12.
Input it within 0. This sorting work is repeated for each ordered item, and once all ordered items have been sorted, the containers 10 to 10 that have been collected for each sorting zone 1A to 1C are collected in the shipping area 5 and routed to the delivery route. They are loaded separately onto delivery vehicles. Therefore, once the sorting work in the first sorting zone 1A is completed, the delivery vehicle for supermarket A can depart, and
The same applies to C.

In addition, in the sorting system of the present invention, unsorted item number display devices 13A, 13B, and 13C are provided for each sorting zone 1A to 1C. These devices 13A to 13C display the total number of ordered products to be sorted in each sorting zone 1A to 1C before starting the sorting work, and each time the sorting of one product item is completed, the displayed number is decremented. The number of items remaining to be sorted is displayed, so that the worker 12 engaged in sorting work can easily grasp the amount of remaining sorting work.

Next, the control system of the sorting system will be explained with reference to FIG. 3. This system is connected to a host computer 14 provided in a distribution center, etc.
It has a repeater 15 that manages the system according to instructions from the computer 14, and the above-mentioned system controllers 6A to 6C and the search controller 7 are connected to the repeater 15, and each system controller 6A to
Number displays 11-11 in respective sorting zones 1A-1C are connected to 6C via bay control boxes 8A-8C, respectively. Also, repeater 1
5 are connected to unsorted item number display devices 13A to 13C of each sorting zone 1A to 1C.

Next, the operation of the system will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Note that the sorting operation is the same in all of the first, second, and third sorting zones 1A to 1C, so the description will be made using the sorting operation for the first sorting zone 1A assigned to A supermarket as a representative.

First, sorting data for each chain store of Supermarket A is transferred to the repeater 15 from the data stored in the host computer 14 . In this case, this sorting data stores the ordered product items and the number of items ordered from each chain store of Supermarket A, and the total number of ordered items. Furthermore, it goes without saying that similar data transfers are performed for B-supermarkets and C-supermarkets (step S1).

Then, by transferring the sorting data, the unsorted item number display device 13A in the first sorting zone 1A is activated, and the display device 13A is activated.
The total number of ordered items from supermarket A is displayed as the number of unsorted items (step S2).

Next, in the product loading area 4 of FIG. 1, the same products are loaded onto the trolley 2 for the A supermarket.
The item of the product is read by the system controller 6A in the first sorting zone 1A. As a result, the sorting data corresponding to the item product is read from the repeater 15, the bay control box 8A activates each display 11-11 of the first sorting zone 1A, and the respective containers 10-10 are activated.
The number of products to be put in is displayed. That is, the sorting instruction lamp 11a is lit on the displays 11 to 11 of the chain store that ordered the product, and the number of products is displayed on the display section 11b (steps S3, S4), and the trolley 2 is moved to the first sorting zone 1A. and carry out the sorting operation of loading the displayed number of items into the container 10 of the pocket 9 indicated by the display 11, and repeating the operation of pressing the completion key 11c after loading, to the first sorting zone 1A. Sorting products. When this is completed, the trolley 2 is returned to the product loading area 4 (step S5,...
S6).

[0023] Furthermore, when the above-mentioned sorting completion signal for the first item is sent from the bay control box 8A to the repeater 15, the number of displayed items is decreased by one in the unsorted item number display device 13A (step S7)
.

[0024]The operations from steps S3 to S7 are repeated for each item of products loaded onto the trolley 2 in the product loading area 4, and the work is completed by completing the sorting of all the products destined for supermarket A. The process ends (step S8).

As described above, in the system of the present invention, the unsorted item count display devices 13A to 13C in each sorting zone 1A to 1C indicate the number of remaining items to be sorted in each zone. The number is displayed in a decreasing form as the sorting is completed. In that case, since the worker 12 knows from experience the approximate time required to sort one item of merchandise, the operator 12 can use the display devices 13A to 13C to know the number of unsorted items and proceed with the remaining sorting work. The required work time can be predicted. For this reason, it becomes easy to correspond to the shipping time of the containers 10 to 10 collected in the sorting zone.

Furthermore, a plurality of sorting zones 1A
For each of ~1C, the remaining sorting work amount and shipping time can be correlated, so sorting zone 1A~
It is possible to compare the progress status of the sorting work between the 1Cs, and to understand which sorting zone's sorting work should be given priority based on the relationship with the shipping time of each sorting zone. For example, the shipping time for supermarket A, which corresponds to the first sorting zone 1A, is 9 o'clock, and the shipping time for supermarket B, which corresponds to the second sorting zone 1B, is 1.
When it is 0:00, due to the relationship between the total number of products ordered by these supermarkets, the sorting work in the first sorting zone 1A should have progressed more than the sorting work in the second sorting zone 1B, but the progress is slow. If the situation is reversed and there is a risk that shipping to supermarket A will be delayed if left as is, the delay in sorting work can be recovered by concentrating more workers 12 on the first sorting zone 1A to speed up the sorting work. Can be done. Therefore, the allocation of workers can be determined most efficiently based on the relationship between the work progress status of each sorting zone 1A to 1C and the shipping time, and delays in shipping time can be eliminated.

Although this embodiment shows a sorting zone using a collection shelf, the collection container may be placed directly on the floor without using the collection shelf. Furthermore, it is of course possible to assign a plurality of workers to load the products as needed, and have them work in parallel at the same time.

[0028]

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the unsorted item number display means provided near the sorting zone allows the worker to easily determine the remaining number of product items to be sorted. will be displayed. In that case, the worker knows from experience the approximate time required to sort one product item, so the worker can determine the remaining sorting work amount and the work time required from the displayed number of unsorted items. I can understand it. Therefore, the time at which all sorting work will be completed can be predicted, and by comparing the predicted time with the shipping time, it is possible to perform the sorting work in time for the shipping time.

Furthermore, according to the second invention, since the plurality of sorting zones for each delivery route are provided with unsorted item number display means for displaying the unsorted articles in each sorting zone, the remaining items for each sorting zone are displayed. It is possible to understand the amount of sorting work and the work time required for it, and also to compare and understand the sorting work status of multiple sorting zones. Therefore, it is possible to know which sorting zone should be prioritized for sorting work based on the relationship with the departure time of the delivery vehicle that delivers the sorted products of each sorting zone, and it is possible to allocate workers accordingly, allowing shipments to be carried out on schedule. It becomes possible to do it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a product sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the collection shelf in the above system.

FIG. 3 is a control circuit diagram of the above system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the above system.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional product sorting system.

[Explanation of symbols]

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim 1: a sorting zone provided with a large number of containers for collecting products for each destination; a product transport means for loading and transporting products within the sorting zone; A product sorting system comprising display means for displaying the number of products to be put into each container in each container, and a control means for controlling the display of the display means, the product sorting system including display means for displaying the number of products put into each container in the vicinity of the sorting zone. A product sorting system characterized by being provided with an unsorted item number display means for displaying the number of items. Claim 2: a sorting zone provided with a large number of containers for collecting products for each destination; a product transport means for loading products and transporting them within the sorting zone; A product sorting system includes display means for displaying the number of products put into each container, and a control means for controlling the display of the display means, wherein a plurality of the sorting zones are provided for each delivery route, and each A product sorting system characterized in that an unsorted item number display means is provided near the sorting zone to display the number of unsorted product items in each sorting zone.