JP4453428B2 - Sorting and storage system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sorting storage system.

  In the delivery of leaflets and pamphlets that are folded into newspapers, etc., leaflets are picked and bundled at each store, sorted by delivery route, loaded onto a predetermined truck, and shipped. Flyers vary greatly in quantity depending on the delivery date and season, and there are many types, shapes after packing, and paper quality. It is difficult to sort these for each store and arrange them for each delivery route in time for shipment on a truck or the like. As described above, sorting and shipping of flyers and pamphlets are labor-intensive operations.

When the related background art is shown here, an article storage device using transfer of articles between a conveyor and a lifting shelf is known (Patent Document 1). In such an article storage device, a plurality of shelves are connected with a chain or the like, moved up and down one shelf at a time, and passed through a conveyor surface such as a roller conveyor. When the shelf rises over the conveying surface, the load is transferred from the conveyor to the shelf, and when the shelf is lowered below the conveying surface, the load is transferred from the shelf to the conveyor. Such an article storage device stores articles by last-in first-out.
JP 2000-53214 A

A basic object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of pre-sorting and storing articles in a form convenient for delivery on a truck or the like and continuously transporting the sorted articles to a shipping area.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a system capable of quickly shipping articles when shipping to a plurality of transportation facilities in overlapping time zones.
An additional problem in the invention of claim 2 is to make it easy to stop the shipment of only a specific article.

The present invention is provided with first storage means for storing a plurality of containers in which a plurality of articles of the same kind are stacked, and first transport means for selectively transporting the containers from the first storage means to a picking area. A second storage means for picking up articles for each unit of shipment that is shipped simultaneously from the container in the area, and storing the picked articles together for each unit of shipment; and shipping from the second storage means to the shipping area. A second transport means for continuously transporting articles for each unit , the second storage means is composed of a plurality of parallel blocks, and articles shipped in different time zones are stored in different blocks It is in the sorting and storage system designed to do . The container is, for example, a pallet or a case, and the first storage means is, for example, an automatic pallet or case warehouse provided with a shelf, a stacker crane, a storage station, and a storage station. The second storage means stores, for example, articles in a smaller unit than the first storage means, for example, passes the transport surface of the conveyor up and down, loads and stores the articles on the conveyor, and unloads the stored articles onto the conveyor. The article storage device is provided with a plurality of lifting shelves. The unit of shipment means one shipping destination or the like when shipping by a shipping destination such as a truck.

  Preferably, a third transport means for transporting an article from the second storage means to a payout area other than the shipping area is provided, and an article that has not been paid out after a specific article is paid out in the payout area. Means for re-entry into the second storage means are provided. The payout area is, for example, the aforementioned picking area or an area provided separately for payout.

  In the present invention, articles are stored in the first storage means in units of containers, and necessary articles are selectively transported to the picking area by the first transport means according to the date and time of shipment, and picked for each unit of shipment. . The picked article is stored in the second storage means for each unit of shipment, and is continuously transported from the second storage means to the shipping area by the second transport means in accordance with the arrival of the transportation facility. In this invention, the articles are stored by the second storage means in the form sorted for each unit of shipment, and are continuously transported at high speed by the second transport means. Institutional delivery is also easier.

In the present invention , when shipping to different transport facilities at overlapping times, the transport is performed from different blocks to different transport facilities, so the speed of unloading from the second storage means is fast, and the transport process in the second transport means Sorting is easy and can be shipped quickly.

In the invention of claim 2, when there is an article stored in the second storage means that is desired to be canceled, the articles sorted for each unit of delivery are delivered to the delivery area by the third transport means, and the shipment is stopped. Since it is possible to selectively pay out articles to be used and re-enter other articles, it is possible to easily stop shipment of specific articles from sorted articles.

  1 to 5 show an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention.

  1 to 5 show an embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 2 denotes a sorting and storage system, and reference numeral 4 denotes an automatic pallet warehouse. However, an article may be stored in a container other than a pallet. 6 and 6 are, for example, a pair of racks, 8 is a stacker crane for conveying goods, 10 is a warehousing station, and the warehousing articles are stored in pallets from the warehousing berth 12. The goods received are, for example, flyers, advertisements, pamphlets, gift products, etc. that are folded into newspapers.

  The pallet automatic warehouse 4 is provided with, for example, a plurality of delivery stations 14, and the tracked carriage 16 receives the pallet from the delivery station 14, travels along the traveling rail 18, and carries the articles to the picking area 20 in units of pallets. In the picking area 20, for each delivery destination of an article such as a flyer, the article is picked by a predetermined amount, for example, in a unit such as a newspaper store, and is bound by a binding machine 21. When an article is received from the warehousing station 10 to the pallet automatic warehouse 4, the delivery destination of the article, the date and time of shipment, the shipment quantity, etc. are stored in the control unit 42 described later, and the pallet is delivered to the picking area 20. At the same time, the delivery details in which the delivery destination, the date or time of shipment, the quantity, and these data are described in codes such as a barcode are supplied. It should be noted that the shipping details are supplied for each delivery destination. Picking is performed in the picking area 20 with reference to the shipping specification, and the shipping specification is sandwiched or pasted on the bundle of bundled articles. Then, by reading the code in the shipping specification with a code reader such as the bar code reader 36, the logistics until loading on a truck (not shown) is managed.

  The second storage means includes a plurality of article storage devices 24, and the article storage devices 24 are provided as blocks 22 for each predetermined number, and for example, eight blocks are provided here. Each block 22 has a storage conveyor 26 in the block and a delivery conveyor 28 in the block. Each block 22 is connected to the picking area 20 through a storage long-distance conveyor 30 and through a storage long-distance conveyor 32. Then, the article is conveyed to the shipping area 33. For example, the return conveyor 34 is connected to the end of the outgoing long-distance conveyor 32, and articles that are desired to be canceled are returned to the picking area 20 such as flyers with misprints or advertisements that are desired to be canceled. Are picked up in the picking area 20, and the remaining articles are re-stocked into the same goods storage device 24 as the original, for example, via the warehousing long-distance conveyor 30 or the like.

  In the conveyance of articles from the picking area 20 to the article storage device 24 and the conveyance of articles from the article storage device 24 to the shipping conveyor 40, the barcode reader 36 reads the barcode of the shipping specification attached to the article. Then, the sorting is performed by the sorter 38 or the like according to the delivery destination or the combination of the delivery destination and the shipping date and time, and transported to a predetermined storage destination or a shipping conveyor. These controls are performed by the control unit 42.

  FIG. 2 shows the appearance of the article storage device 24. Reference numeral 50 denotes an in-shelf conveyor, for example, a large number of rollers 52 are driven by a conveyor motor 53. A chain conveyor or the like may be used instead of the roller conveyor. Reference numeral 54 denotes an elevating shelf, 55 is a frame thereof, and 56 is a plurality of combs of the elevating shelf 54. When the elevating shelf 54 moves up and down, the comb 56 passes through the gap between the rollers 52 and 52, and when the elevating shelf 54 rises from the conveying surface of the in-shelf conveyor 50, the articles on the in-shelf conveyor 50 are loaded, and the elevating shelf 54 When the sheet passes through the conveying surface of the in-shelf conveyor 50, the articles on the lifting shelf 54 are unloaded onto the in-shelf conveyor 50.

  58 is a column of the article storage device 24, 60 is an elevating motor, and 62 is a chain for elevating the elevating shelf 54. A plurality of shelves 54 are stacked and stored in the lower part of the in-shelf conveyor 50. When the metal plate 64 is attached to the chain 62 between the elevating shelves 54, 54, and the elevating shelf 54 is stacked on the lower part of the in-shelf conveyor 50, The chain 62 is prevented from being caught between the shelves. The elevating shelf 54 can be moved up and down one by one in order, and the interval between the shelves is determined by the metal plate 64 and the chain.

  The article storage device 24 and the entry conveyor 26 and the delivery conveyor 28 are connected as shown in FIG. 3, and articles conveyed on the entry conveyor 26 are transferred to the entry sub-conveyor 72 by the sorter 38, Via the lift shelf 54 and stored. The articles in the article storage device 24 are unloaded from the lifting shelf 54 to the in-shelf conveyor 50 and transferred to the delivery conveyor 28 via the delivery sub-conveyor 74.

  An example of the allocation of shipped articles is shown in FIG. Articles that are shipped simultaneously to one delivery destination are stored together in one article storage device 24, and a plurality of article storage devices are assigned when space is insufficient. For delivery destinations with a small delivery volume, a single article storage device may store articles from multiple delivery destinations, but the delivery dates and times are the same and they are delivered simultaneously on the same truck. Limited to Next, it is assumed that different delivery routes with overlapping shipping time zones are grouped into one group, and there are six groups A to F in the embodiment. In the delivery of flyers and the like, the shipping time zone is determined from the time required to complete the delivery, and groups A to F are generated accordingly.

  The group A is composed of, for example, four delivery routes. If one truck is assigned to each delivery route, the group A is divided into subgroups A-1 to A-4. The group B is divided into three subgroups B-1 to B-3. Similarly, the groups C, D, and E are also divided into a plurality of subgroups, and the group F is not divided into subgroups. The subgroup here has the same meaning as the delivery route. Different subgroups within the same group store articles in different blocks. If articles of different subgroups within the same group, for example, articles of subgroup A-1 and articles of subgroup A-2 are stored in the same block, the delivery speed of the articles is higher than when stored in another block. 1/2. Further, the process of sorting into the shipping conveyor 40 becomes complicated. On the other hand, if the articles of different subgroups within the same group are stored in different blocks, the goods can be delivered continuously by making the best use of the ability of the delivery conveyor, and from the delivery long distance conveyor 32 to the shipping conveyor 40. Sorting becomes easy.

  Articles in one subgroup are stored in one block in principle, but may be distributed and stored in two or more blocks as shown in subblock D-3 in FIG. However, in this case, the shipping berth and the shipping conveyor used therefor are limited. In the case of FIG. 4, the articles of the subgroup D-3 are shipped from the shipping berth with the shipping conveyor 40d to the truck.

  When the picking time comes, goods are delivered from the pallet automatic warehouse in units of pallets. In the embodiment, it is assumed that data corresponding to the shipping details is input when goods are received, but this data can be changed until picking. Furthermore, it is good also as what receives a shipment specification separately after warehousing. In addition, when changing the shipment details after picking, the above-mentioned reflux conveyor is used for paying out. In the picking area, the shipping details are used to pick up and bundle the articles for each store.

  The bundled articles are stored in a predetermined article storage device via a warehousing long distance conveyor or the like. In this storage, one article storage device is provided for each combination of a delivery destination and a shipment date, or a combination of a delivery destination and a shipment date and time. Allocate and store. When the articles are conveyed from the picking area to the article storage device, the codes of the shipment details are read and sorted by a barcode reader or the like.

  When an article to be shipped after it is stored in the article storage device is generated, for example, it is discharged to the picking area with a reflux conveyor, the articles to be shipped are selected, and the remaining article is re-entered into the same article storage device, for example. Then, after waiting for the arrival of a transport such as a truck, the goods to be shipped are continuously shipped to the shipping berth using a delivery long distance conveyor and a shipping conveyor. Only one truck item for each truck arrives at one shipping berth continuously for each delivery destination. When the arrived article is loaded on the truck, the article is already sorted for each delivery destination.

Note that when a shipment specification attached to a bundled article is read with a barcode reader or the like at the time of shipment to a truck, the location of the article until delivery to a delivery destination can be substantially tracked. In addition, articles are stored in the article storage device from two to three days before shipment, for example, the day before, and one article storage device is assigned to one delivery destination or one truck, and is empty each time it is shipped. To be. In addition, it is possible to pay out defective products and shipment-discontinued items at the time of shipment. However, since it is necessary to sort the items from one item storage device in the middle, the items cannot be continuously supplied to the shipping conveyor. , The time the truck waits at the shipping berth will be longer.

The top view which shows the layout of the sorting storage system of an Example The perspective view of the article | item storage apparatus used in the Example The side view which shows the article | item storage apparatus used in the Example, the receipt subconveyor, and the delivery subconveyor The figure which shows typically allocation to the shipment article | item of the article storage apparatus in an Example. Flow chart showing a shipping algorithm in the embodiment

Explanation of symbols

2 Sorting and storing system 4 Automatic pallet warehouse 6 Rack 8 Stacker crane 10 Warehousing station 12 Warehousing berth 14 Warehousing station 16 Tracked carriage 18 Traveling rail 20 Picking area 21 Bundling machine 22 Block 24 Material storage device 26 Warehousing conveyor 28 Warehousing conveyor 30 Warehousing length Distance conveyor 32 Delivery long distance conveyor 33 Shipping area 34 Return conveyor 36 Bar code reader 38 Sorter 40 Shipping conveyor 42 Control unit 50 In-shelf conveyor 52 Roller 53 Conveyor motor 54 Lift shelf 55 Frame 56 Comb 58 Strut 60 Lift motor 62 Chain 64 Metal Board 72 Entry sub-conveyor 74 Delivery sub-conveyor

Claims (2)

There are provided first storage means for storing a plurality of containers in which a plurality of articles of the same type are stacked, and first transport means for selectively transporting the containers from the first storage means to the picking area. Picking goods for each unit of shipment shipped simultaneously,
Furthermore, a second storage unit that collectively stores picked articles for each unit of shipment, and a second transport unit that continuously transports the articles from the second storage unit to the shipping area for each unit of shipment , A sorting and storage system in which the second storage means is composed of a plurality of parallel blocks, and the articles to be shipped in different time zones are stored in different blocks . The third storage means for transporting the article from the second storage means to the payout area other than the shipping area is provided, and the second storage means stores the goods that have not been paid out after the specific article is paid out in the payout area. The sorting storage system according to claim 1 , further comprising means for re-entry.

Images