U.S. patent application number 16/526004 was filed with the patent office on 2020-02-06 for automated item-level order fulfillment.
The applicant listed for this patent is Dematic Corp.. Invention is credited to Michael S. Khodl, Philip J. Puite.
Application Number | 20200039745 16/526004 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 69227372 |
Filed Date | 2020-02-06 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200039745 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Khodl; Michael S. ; et
al. |
February 6, 2020 |
AUTOMATED ITEM-LEVEL ORDER FULFILLMENT
Abstract
A method of order fulfillment, and system for carrying out the
method, includes presenting individual items for multiple orders to
an automated put wall and segregating the individual items for each
order at a location on the put wall that is assigned to that order.
Individual items for an order are removed together from the
automated put wall and transported together to a packing function.
Preferably individual items are stored as inventory items in an
automated storage and retrieval system and retrieved from the
automated storage and retrieval system in response to an order for
those inventory items. The retrieved inventory items are sorted
into order batches and automatically inducted to the automated put
wall.
Inventors: |
Khodl; Michael S.; (Ada,
MI) ; Puite; Philip J.; (Grand Rapids, MI) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Dematic Corp. |
Grand Rapids |
MI |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
69227372 |
Appl. No.: |
16/526004 |
Filed: |
July 30, 2019 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62712684 |
Jul 31, 2018 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 20/202 20130101;
G06Q 30/0635 20130101; B65G 1/0492 20130101; G07F 17/12 20130101;
B65G 1/1373 20130101; B65G 1/1378 20130101; G07F 9/002 20200501;
G07G 1/0036 20130101; G06Q 10/087 20130101 |
International
Class: |
B65G 1/137 20060101
B65G001/137 |
Claims
1. A method of order fulfillment, said method comprising:
presenting individual items for multiple orders to an automated put
wall and segregating the individual items for each order at a
location on the put wall that is assigned to that order; and
removing the individual items for an order together from the
automated put wall and transporting those items together to a
packing function wherein the removing the individual items for an
order together comprises withdrawing the items from at least one
bin of the automated put wall with a robotic pick or put
system.
2. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the packing function comprises an automatic packing machine.
3. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the individual items are presented from a receptacle of individual
items for multiple orders.
4. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 3, wherein
the individual items are picked from the receptacle by a robotic
cell.
5. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in 1, wherein the
segregating the individual items for each order at a location on
the put wall that is assigned to that order comprises putting the
items to one bin of the automated put wall at the location on the
put wall that is assigned to that order with a robotic pick or put
system.
6. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 5, wherein
said robotic pick or put system comprises a robotic extractor or a
cable operated platform.
7. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 5, wherein
the automated put wall delivers individual items to selected bins
in two order racks, one on either side of a center aisle and
including at least two of said robotic pick or put system, each
robotic pick or put system withdrawing the items from order bins of
ones of said order racks.
8. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 1, wherein
said two-dimensional robotic pick or put system comprises a robotic
extractor or a cable operated platform.
9. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 1, wherein
said two-dimensional robotic pick or put system retrieves an order
from a location on the automated put wall and forwards the order to
the packing function.
10. A method of order fulfillment, said method comprising:
presenting individual items for multiple orders to an automated put
wall; segregating the individual items for each order at a location
on the put wall that is assigned to that order by putting the
individual items to one bin of the automated put wall at a location
on the put wall that is assigned to that order with a robotic pick
or put system; and removing the individual items for an order
together from the automated put wall with a robotic pick or put
system; transferring those items for an order to a conveyor; and
transporting those items together with the conveyor to a packing
function; wherein said segregating the individual items is
performed by a first robotic pick or put system and said removing
the individual items is performed by a second robotic pick or put
system.
11. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 10, wherein
said segregating the individual items and removing the individual
items are performed by the same robotic pick or put system.
12. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 10, wherein
each of said first and second robotic pick or put systems comprises
a robotic extractor or cable operated platform.
13. A system for item-level order fulfillment, said system
comprising: an automated put wall having a plurality of order
locations in spaced arrangement on said put wall, each of said
plurality or order locations assigned to an order; a robotic pick
or put system configured to segregate individual items from an
induct and put each of the individual items to one of said
plurality of order locations corresponding to an order for that
item; said robotic pick or put system configured to retrieve
individual items of an order together from one of said plurality of
order locations and to transfer the items of the order together to
a packing function.
14. The system for item-level order fulfillment of claim 13,
further comprising a conveyor to transfer the items of an order to
the packing function.
15. The system for item-level order fulfillment of claim 13,
wherein said robotic pick or put system further comprises a cable
operated platform.
16. The system for item-level order fulfillment of claim 13,
wherein the packing function further comprises an automatic packing
machine.
17. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in claim 13, wherein
the individual items are presented from a receptacle of individual
items for multiple orders.
18. The method of order fulfillment as claimed in 13, further
comprising a bin located at each of said plurality of order
location on said automated put wall, said bin configured to receive
the individual items that correspond to that order.
19. A system for item-level order fulfillment, said system
comprising: an automated put wall having a plurality of order
locations in spaced arrangement on said put wall, each of said
plurality or order locations assigned to an order; a first robotic
pick or put system configured to segregate individual items from an
induct and put each of the individual items to one of said
plurality of order locations corresponding to an order for that
item; and a second robotic pick or put system configured to
retrieve individual items of an order together from one of said
plurality of order locations and to transfer the items of the order
together to a packing function.
20. The system for item-level order fulfillment of claim 19,
wherein each of said first and second robotic pick or put systems
comprises a cable operated platform.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims priority of U.S. provisional
application Ser. No. 62/712,684 filed Jul. 31, 2018, which is
hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention is directed to a method of item-level
order fulfillment and, in particular to a method that is
substantially fully automated. The invention also includes systems
for carrying out the method.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Order fulfillment of orders placed over the Internet must
take place within a relatively short period of time in order to be
commercially competitive. The same could be said for orders
received by phone, facsimile, or by the mail based on catalog or
television-based merchandising. Such order fulfillment is known as
E-commerce and places demands on an order fulfillment system to
meet such obligations. This is compounded by the fact that
E-commerce usually involves a large number of small orders (each
containing as few as one item in the order) that are selected from
an inventory with a large number of potential items. Inefficiencies
and conflicts arise in warehouses due to the size constraints
associated with warehousing and transporting items for order
fulfillment, such as the amount of equipment or personal required
to carry out an order fulfillment process, the size of the
equipment involved, the size of the items to be manipulated, and
other factors. Additionally inefficiencies and conflicts arise in
sequencing orders and compiling items for orders having multiple
items.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The present invention provides a method of item-level order
fulfillment utilizing an automated put wall and putting individual
items for an order to a location on the put wall for that order,
retrieving the items for that order once substantially all items
for that order are present at the order location and transferring
those items to a packing function. The putting of individual items
to a location on the put wall may be provided by a put or pick
system, such as a cable operated platform or a robotic extractor. A
picker, such as a put or pick system or a human picker, retrieves
items for an order from the automated put wall once substantially
all of the items for that order are present at the location of that
order on the put wall. The picker transfers the items for the order
to a packing function.
[0005] According to one form of the present invention, a method of
item-level order fulfillment includes presenting individual items
for multiple orders to an automated put wall and segregating those
individual items such that each individual item is put to a
location of the automated put wall, such as a bin, corresponding to
that items order. The method includes retrieving all or
substantially all items of the order from the orders location on
the put wall when all or substantially all items of the order are
present at that location. The method include transferring the items
of the order to a packing function.
[0006] In one aspect, a robotic pick or put system is provided with
the automated put wall to segregate the individual items for the
multiple orders to a location on the put wall. The robotic pick or
put system is also configured to retrieve the items of an order to
transfer them to the packing function. A conveyor may be provided
to transfer the items of an order from the robotic pick and put
system to the packing function.
[0007] In another aspect, two robotic pick or put systems are
provided, a first robotic pick and put system is configured to
segregate the individual items for the multiple orders to a
location on the put wall. Both the first and a second robotic pick
and put systems are configured to retrieve the items of an order
together and transfer the order to a packing function. A conveyor
or conveyors may be provided to transfer the items of an order from
the robotic pick and put systems to the packing function.
[0008] In one aspect, the robotic pick or put system may be a cable
operated platform of the type disclosed in United States Patent
Application Publication No. 2015/0217975, the disclosure of which
is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The platform may
include a robot arm or the like, which may be mounted or connected
to the platform, to reach into the automatic put wall to put or
deposit an individual item into the put wall or to retrieve an item
or items of an order from the put wall.
[0009] Therefore, the present invention provides a method or
item-level order fulfillment for automatically putting individual
items at a location on an automated put wall corresponding to an
order, and retrieving the items of that order from the automated
put wall and transferring them to a packing function. The method
utilizes robotic put or pick systems to segregate the individual
items to the location of the order it corresponds to on the put
wall, and to retrieve the items of that order together to transfer
them to the packing function. The robotic put or pick systems may
include a cable operated platform to transfer the items either to
or from the automated put wall. The method may include either a
human picker or a robotic put or pick system to retrieves items of
an order together to be transferred to the packing function,
depending on the speed and volume of order fulfillment
required.
[0010] These and other objects, advantages, purposes, and features
of the present invention will become more apparent upon review of
the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1a is a schematic view of a method of item-level order
fulfillment according to an embodiment of the invention;
[0012] FIG. 1b is the same view as FIG. 1a of an alternative
embodiment; and
[0013] FIG. 1c is the same view as FIG. 1a of an alternative
embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0014] Referring now to the drawings and the illustrative
embodiment depicted therein, a method of item-level order
fulfillment 10 includes an automated put wall 12 and presenting
individual items to the put wall 12 with an induct 14 of automated
put wall 12 for multiple orders. Automated put wall 12 automatedly
segregates the individual items in each order at a location on the
put wall that is assigned to that order under the control of a
warehouse management system (not shown) or the like. The individual
items for an order are removed together from the automated put wall
and transported, such as with a conveyor 16 together to a packing
function (not shown). The packing function preferably is an
automatic packing machine.
[0015] The individual items for an order are segregated by the
induct 14 and put to one bin of automated put wall 12, such as with
a robotic pick or put system 18. In the illustrated embodiment,
robotic pick or put system 18 is a cable operated platform of the
type disclosed in United States Patent Application Publication No.
2015/0217975, or of the type disclosed in commonly assigned
Australian Patent Application No. 2018211306 filed Aug. 2, 2018, by
Jad Abou-Chakra for CABLE DRIVEN STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL MACHINE FOR
WAREHOUSES, Attorney Reference No. P109427.AU, the disclosures of
which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. The cable
operated platform 18 receives an individual item from the induct 14
and puts it to a location on the automated put wall 12.
Alternatively, other type of robotic pick or put system could be
used such as a robotic arm or the like.
[0016] In the illustrated embodiments, the induct 14 receives order
items for multiple orders. The order items may arrive at the induct
14 in a receptacle or tote (not shown) and may contain a plurality
of order items, such as a tote having more than one different
items, i.e. a "dirty tote". The induct 14 segregates each
individual item from the tote and transfers it to the pick or put
system 18. The induct 14 continuously retrieves order items from
the tote and transfers them to the pick or put system 18 until all
items in the tote have been removed and the tote is empty. The
induct 14 then transfers the empty tote out of the induct 14, such
as to an automated warehouse for re-use.
[0017] The individual items for an order are removed together by
being withdrawn from at least one bin of automated put wall 12 with
a robotic pick or put system 18. Two two-dimensional robotic pick
or put systems 18 are provided in the embodiment illustrated in
FIG. 1a, the pick or put systems 18 deliver individual items to
selected bins of the automated put wall 12 in two order racks, one
on either side of a center aisle (not shown). The cable operated
platform retrieves an individual item from a location on the
automated put wall and forwards the order to the packing function
via conveyor 16. Each pick or put system 18 of FIG. 1a withdrawing
items from order bins of the pick or put systems of the respective
order rack and transferring the items of orders to a respective
conveyor 16 for transport to the packing function.
[0018] The cable operated platform may include a robot arm or the
like (not shown), which may be mounted or connected to the
platform, to reach into the automatic put wall 12 to put or deposit
an item into the put wall 12 or to retrieve an item or items of an
order from the put wall 12. After obtaining the item, the platform
delivers the item to the picker or a specific location, such as the
conveyor 16.
[0019] A method of item-level order fulfillment 20 is illustrated
in FIG. 1b. In item-level order fulfillment method 20 an automated
put wall 32 is provided by a manual put wall 30 of the type known
in the art and a robotic pick or put system 18. Robotic pick or put
system 18, which may be a cable operated platform, receives
individual items from an induct 14, which sorts the items to a
particular bin within manual put wall 30. Another robotic pick or
put system 18 withdraws the items from one or more order bins that
together make up an order and transfers the items of the order to a
conveyor 16 for transport to the packing function.
[0020] A method of item-level order fulfillment 40 is illustrated
in FIG. 1c. Item-level order fulfillment method 40 uses an
automated put wall 32 made up of a manual put wall 30 and a
two-dimensional robotic pick or put system 18 in order to sort
individual items into orders in the same fashion as described with
respect to method of item-level order fulfillment 20 but uses a
human operator to manually unload the bins of completed orders and
provide the orders to a packing function or perform the packing
function at the same time. Method of item-level order fulfillment
40 is not as fast or efficient as method of item-level order
fulfillment 10 or 20 but may find application where a lower rate is
all that is required.
[0021] When an item is to be put to the put wall 12 or picked from
the put wall 12, a signal is transmitted via a central processing
unit (not shown) to the automated put wall 12 identifying the
location of that item. The platform is then moved via the set of
cables and a control system of the pick or put system 18 to the
identified location whereby the item is then either transferred
from the platform and put to the put wall 12 or picked from the put
wall 12 and placed on the platform.
[0022] While the foregoing description describes several
embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood by
those skilled in the art that variations and modifications to these
embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope
of the invention, as defined in the claims below. The present
invention encompasses all combinations of various embodiments or
aspects of the invention described herein. It is understood that
any and all embodiments of the present invention may be taken in
conjunction with any other embodiment to describe additional
embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, any elements of
an embodiment may be combined with any and all other elements of
any of the embodiments to describe additional embodiments.
* * * * *