Patent Application
20230297949
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-041774, filed on Mar. 16, 2022; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
An embodiment described herein relates generally to an information processing device, an information processing method, a computer program product, and an information processing system.
A logistics system using a rack transfer warehouse is known, in which racks (racks housing products) that can be moved by an automated guided vehicle (AGV) or a worker are moved to a work station (picking station) where picking work of the products is performed.
As for such rack transfer systems, it is assumed in many cases that each order is added sequentially in real time. In other words, it is not usually anticipated that a large number of orders that can be changed in the processing sequence thereof are given to the system at a same timing.
According to an embodiment, an information processing device includes a reception unit and a determination unit. The reception unit receives a plurality of pieces of rack data including first identification information of one or more kinds of products to be housed in a plurality of racks, and a plurality of pieces of order data including second identification information of one or more kinds of products to be picked from at least part of the plurality of racks. The determination unit, based on the rack data, determines a processing sequence of the plurality of pieces of order data such that a ratio of picking products assigned to pieces of the order data from a single rack is increased. The plurality of racks are able to be moved to a work station where housing containers corresponding to at least part of the plurality of pieces of order data are disposed.
With reference to the accompanying drawings, a preferable embodiment of an information processing device according to an embodiment will be described in detail hereinafter. The present embodiment can be applied to a logistics system using a rack transfer warehouse, for example.
As described above, in a conventional rack transfer system, orders are selected as picking targets sequentially as they are generated.
In the meantime, in a logistics system mainly targeted at Business to Business (B2B), for example, all orders to be processed within a certain period of time (for example, a unit of one day) may be given in advance. In such cases, the processing sequence of a plurality of orders can be changed as long as it is before the shipping deadline. For example, by appropriately rearranging the order processing sequence in advance, it may be possible to increase the ratio of picking products assigned to a plurality of orders from a single rack (simultaneous picking ratio) and improve the efficiency of rack transfer work and picking work. Conventionally, however, there has been no concern regarding a function such as rearranging the order processing sequence in order to improve the efficiency of the system as a whole.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, when a plurality of pieces of order data as information of unprocessed orders are given, the processing sequence of the orders is determined so as to improve the simultaneous picking ratio by referring to a plurality of pieces of rack data regarding a plurality of racks each housing one or more kinds of products. Since there is a one-to-one correspondence between the order data and the order, determining the processing sequence of the orders corresponds to determining the processing sequence of the order data. Similarly, processing for the orders can be rephrased as processing for the order data.
Rack data is data that includes a rack ID that is information identifying a rack, and identification information (first identification information) for one or more kinds of products that are currently housed on each rack as inventory. The rack data includes identification information indicating the kind of each product that makes up a set of products (product set) housed on the rack, for example.
Order data is data that includes an order ID that is information identifying an order, and identification information (second identification information) of one or more kinds of products to be picked from at least part of a plurality of racks. The order data represents, for example, a unit of shipping instruction for each product to be packed in a same housing container for a same destination.
The work station 11 indicates the work place where picking is performed by a worker 21. While only one work station 11 is illustrated in
The rack 13 can accommodate a plurality of housing containers 12. The housing containers 12 each correspond to an order of a plurality of orders, for example. On the rack 13, the housing containers 12 each corresponding to an order of at least part of the plurality of pieces of order data are placed. The display 14 is a display device for displaying information such as work instructions output from the information processing device 100, for example.
The transfer device 200 is a device for moving (transferring) the rack 30 to the work station 11, which is an AGV, for example. As described, the rack 30 is movable to the work station 11. While only one rack 30 is illustrated in
The network 300 is a network connecting the information processing device 100, the transfer device 200, and the display 14. The network 300 may be any form of network, including the Internet and a local area network (LAN). The network 300 may be a wireless network, a wired network, or a mixture of wireless and wired networks.
As illustrated in
The reception unit 101 receives input of various kinds of data used in the information processing device 100. For example, the reception unit 101 receives a plurality of pieces of order data and a plurality of pieces of rack data to be processed. The order data and the rack data may be generated by any method, and may be generated by external systems such as a system that receives orders and a system that manages inventory of products, for example. While the method for inputting each data may be any method, it is possible to use a method that receives from an external system via the network 300, for example.
The order data includes at least an order ID and identification information of the products included in the order. The order IDs may be indicated as order O1, order O2, order O3, and so on, for example. The identification information of products may be indicated as product A, product B, product C, and so on, for example. Note that Information included in the order data is not limited thereto. For example, the order data may include the number and quantity of each product.
The rack data includes at least a rack ID and identification information of the products to be housed on the rack. The rack ID may be indicated as rack R1, rack R2, rack R3, and so on, for example. Note that Information included in the rack data is not limited thereto. For example, the rack data may include the number of pieces of each product and housing position information of the product regarding which side of the rack and in which partition the product is housed.
The reception unit 101 may receive data other than the order data and the rack data, such as product data including detailed information about each product (size, packing style, and the like), for example, as supplementary input data.
The priority calculation unit 102 calculates the priority for each of the racks. The priority is referred to when the generation unit 103 generates an index. The priority is calculated such that the value becomes larger for the rack where picking work can be performed more efficiently, for example. For example, the priority calculation unit 102 calculates the priority in two following methods.
(M1) For a plurality of pieces of order data, the priority is calculated to have a larger value as the number of pieces housed products with identification information matching the identification information of the products included in the order data is greater.
(M2) The priority is calculated to have a larger value as the number of pieces of order data including identification information that matches the identification information of the products included in the rack data is greater.
Note that (M1) described above corresponds to a method that calculates, as the priority, the degree (coverage degree) regarding how much a set of products that have not assigned among the products included in each of the orders is covered (fulfilled) by a set of products (product set) housed in each of the racks. Although not limited thereto, the coverage degree is a value indicating the number of pieces of identification information that match the identification information of the products included in the order data, or a value indicating the ratio of the number, for example.
Note that (M2) described above corresponds to a method that calculates in advance a common priority for a plurality of pieces of order data. Details of each of such methods will be described later.
Based on the calculated priority of each rack, the generation unit 103 generates, for a plurality of pieces of order data, an index indicating one or more racks for picking the product among the racks that house the products of identification information that matches the identification information of the products included in the order data. For example, the generation unit 103 preferentially selects the rack with a priority higher than other racks as the rack to pick the product, and generates an index indicating the selected rack. The index is information that includes the rack ID of one or more racks where the product is to be picked, for example.
The distance calculation unit 104 calculates the distance between a plurality of indexes generated for each of the pieces of order data. Details of the distance calculation method will be described later.
Based on the rack data, the determination unit 105 determines the processing sequence of the pieces of order data such that the ratio of picking products assigned to the pieces of order data from one rack (for example, the ratio of simultaneous picking from one rack: simultaneous picking ratio) is increased. Note that “simultaneous” does not mean that the times are strictly coincident timewise, but means that picking from the same single rack is possible. The determination unit 105 determines the processing sequence of the pieces of order data such that sequence numbers become closer as the calculated distance is smaller. The determination unit 105 executes hierarchical (agglomerative) clustering that generates clusters represented by a hierarchical structure by repeating the processing of merging the orders corresponding to the indexes with small distances into a cluster, for example. The determination unit 105 then determines the processing sequence of the orders such that the orders in the same cluster are placed in close sequence numbers from each other.
As for the hierarchical clustering, the processing of finding a pair of two clusters with the smallest distance between the indexes assigned to the clusters and merging them into one cluster is iterated until all pieces of order data are merged into one cluster. This allows clustering of the pieces of order data such that the orders with the close distance between the corresponding indexes are included in the same cluster.
The determination unit 105 stores a binary tree with clusters (or orders) before being merged as child nodes (child clusters) and the cluster after being merged as a parent node (parent cluster) in the cluster data storage unit 123 as a clustering history. The determination unit 105 also stores clusters in a hierarchical structure representing the result of current clustering in the cluster data storage unit 123. When all pieces of order data are merged into a single cluster, a hierarchical cluster representing the final processing result is stored in the cluster data storage unit 123. By recursively expanding the above binary tree such that child clusters belonging to the same parent cluster are adjacent to each other, the determination unit 105 determines the processing sequence of the orders such that the leaves (corresponding to the order data) of the binary tree belonging to the same parent cluster are arranged in close sequence numbers.
The output control unit 106 controls the output of various kinds of information processed by the information processing device 100. For example, the output control unit 106 outputs information indicating the determined processing sequence of the orders (sequence information). The sequence information is referred to when allocating the orders to one or more work stations 11, for example.
When a plurality of work stations 11 are provided, the output control unit 106 may output a set of order data (a data group) to be allocated to each of the work stations 11. For example, the output control unit 106 outputs a plurality of data groups that are assigned to each of the work stations 11. The output control unit 106 divides a list of orders arranged in the processing sequence determined by the determination unit 105 such that the estimated amount of workload at each station is leveled, and outputs each of those. For example, there may be methods such as dividing the orders such that number of orders becomes equivalent, dividing the orders such that the total number of products in the orders becomes equivalent, and the like.
The output control unit 106 may output instructions regarding the sequence of calling the racks 30 to the station and instructions for picking work based on the determined processing sequence of the orders and the information in the indexes. The output control unit 106 may output a work instruction regarding the moved crack 30 to the display 14.
Each of the above units (the reception unit 101, the priority calculation unit 102, the generation unit 103, the distance calculation unit 104, the determination unit 105, and the output control unit 106) is achieved by a single or a plurality of processors, for example. For example, each of the above units may be achieved by having a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) execute a program, that is, by software. Each of the above units may be achieved by a dedicated integrated circuit (IC), that is, hardware. Each of the above units may be achieved by using a combination of software and hardware. When using a plurality of processors, each of the processors may achieve one of the units or may achieve two or more of the units.
The order data storage unit 121 stores the order data received by the reception unit 101. The rack data storage unit 122 stores the rack data received by the reception unit 101. The cluster data storage unit 123 stores data (binary trees as history, hierarchical clusters, and the like) generated by the hierarchical clustering performed by the determination unit 105.
Each of the storage units (the order data storage unit 121, the rack data storage unit 122, and the cluster data storage unit 123) may be configured with any commonly used storage media such as a flash memory, a memory card, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), and an optical disk.
Each of the storage units may be a physically different storage medium or may be achieved as a different memory area of a physically same storage medium. Furthermore, each of the storage units may be achieved by a plurality of physically different storage media.
Next, details of the priority calculation methods will be described. First, an example of priority calculation by the method (M1) will be described.
In the example of
The priority calculation unit 102 calculates the priority of each of the candidate racks (two racks in this case) for the order data with the order ID of order O1, for example. For example, only the product A is the match between the product A, the product B, the product C, the product D, and the product E housed on the rack with rack ID of rack R1 and the product A, the product F, the product G, the product H, and the product I included in the order indicated as order O1. Therefore, the priority calculation unit 102 calculates “1” as the coverage degree (priority). Similarly, the coverage degree (priority) of each rack for each order is calculated as follows.
Note that the priority calculation unit 102 may not need to calculate the coverage degree for the rack not housing the products included in the order.
Next, an example of priority calculation by the method (M2) will be described.
In the example of
For each product included in any of the orders, the priority calculation unit 102 first counts how many orders each product is included in. In the example of
Next, the priority calculation unit 102 calculates, as the priority, the sum of the count values for the products to be housed on each of the racks. For example, the priority for the rack indicated as rack R1 is “5+3+1+1=10”.
Similarly, the priority of each of the racks is calculated as follows.
Next, details of an index generation method will be described. For each of the orders, the generation unit 103 preferentially selects the rack that can be assigned, that is, the rack with the highest priority among the candidate racks that house the products included in the order, as the candidate rack for picking, and generates an index that includes the selected rack. The generation unit 103 repeats the processing until the rack for picking is assigned for all the products included in the order.
For each product in each order, the generation unit 103 iterates to select the rack with the highest priority among the candidate racks to which the product can be assigned, and to associate (assign) the selected rack to the order, until all products in the order are covered. For example, for the product A in the order O1, the generation unit 103 selects the rack indicated as rack R5 having the highest priority among the racks with rack IDs R1, R5, and R6 where the product A can be assigned, and associates it with the order O1. The generation unit 103 generates the index by including the rack ID of the associated rack.
In this example, the rack indicated as rack R5 also includes the product G, so that the product G is simultaneously assigned for the order O1. For the product F that has not yet been assigned, the generation unit 103 selects the rack indicated as rack R2 having the highest priority among the racks indicated as R2 and R4 where the product F can be assigned, and associates it with the order indicated as order O1. The generation unit 103 generates the index including R5 and R2 as illustrated in
The generation unit 103 iterates such processing for all orders.
The generation unit 103 may generate the index to which a weight for each rack is given. The weight is the number of pieces of identification information of the products assigned to the rack among the products included in the target order, for example. For example, as for the order O1 in
The generated indexes are the information used for hierarchical clustering performed by the determination unit 105. Therefore, the racks included in the index does not need to be used as the racks to be the actual assigned targets.
For example, in secondary processing after the sequence determination processing performed by the information processing device 100, when there are a plurality of candidate racks that can be assigned to the same product as in the example of
Next, an example of hierarchical clustering using indexes will be described.
First, the distance calculation unit 104 calculates the distance between a plurality of generated indexes. The distance calculation unit 104 calculates, as the distance, the total number of unmatched racks (rack IDs) between two indexes, for example. Not limited thereto, the distance may be calculated by following methods, for example, and there is no limit set for the calculation method.
Next, the determination unit 105 generates clusters in a hierarchical structure by repeating the processing of merging the orders with the indexes of a small distance into one cluster, or clusters into one cluster, or an order and a cluster into one cluster. In
Cluster C1 in
By recursively expanding the binary tree such that the child clusters belonging to the same parent cluster are adjacent to each other, the determination unit 105 determines the processing sequence of the orders such that the two orders corresponding to leaf nodes belonging to the same cluster are arranged in close sequence numbers.
C9→C8→C3→C1→order O2→C1→order O5→C1→C3→C2→order O9→C2→order O6→C2→C3→C8→C7→C5→C4→order O1→(omitted)→C8→C9→order O8
As described above, the output control unit 106 may output data groups of order data to be assigned to each of the work stations 11. For example, when there are N-pieces of work stations 11 (N is an integer of 2 or larger), the output control unit 106 divides the order data into N-pieces of data groups such that the estimated workload of each of the work stations 11 is leveled. The output control unit 106 can use the following dividing methods.
Next, the sequence determination processing performed by the information processing device 100 according to the present embodiment will be described.
The reception unit 101 receives input of a plurality of pieces of order data and a plurality of pieces of rack data (step S101). At subsequent steps S102 to S106, the processing of generating the index by associating the rack for each of the orders is repeatedly executed for all orders.
First, the priority calculation unit 102 acquires the order data for which the index is not generated (unprocessed) among the received order data (step S102). The priority calculation unit 102 calculates the priority of the racks by (M1) or (M2) described above, for example (step S103). In the case of (M2), the priority calculation unit 102 first determines the priority of each of the racks at step 5101.
For the product to which the rack is not assigned (unprocessed), the generation unit 103 associates the rack of highest priority and generates an index to which the rack ID of the associated rack is added (step S104). The generation unit 103 determines whether the racks are associated for all products included in the order data (step S105). When the racks are not associated for all products (No at step S105), the processing returns to step S104 and is repeated therefrom for the next unprocessed product.
When the racks are associated for all products (Yes at step S105), the generation unit 103 determines whether all pieces of order data are processed (step S106). When all pieces of order data are not processed (No at step S106), the processing returns to step S102 and is repeated therefrom for the next unprocessed product.
When all pieces of order data are processed (Yes at step S106), hierarchical clustering is performed at subsequent steps S107 to S109.
The determination unit 105 merges a pair of orders or clusters with the smallest distance into a single cluster (step S107). Note that the distance between the indexes is calculated by the distance calculation unit 104. The determination unit 105 generates a binary tree with an order or a cluster before being merged as a child node and a cluster after being merged as a parent node, and stores it in the cluster data storage unit 123 (step S108).
The determination unit 105 determines whether all orders are merged into a single cluster (step S109). When all orders are not merged into a single cluster (No at step S109), the processing returns to step S107 and is repeated therefrom.
When all orders are merged into a single cluster (Yes at step S109), the determination unit 105 determines the sequence of the order data based on the generated clusters (step S110).
The output control unit 106 outputs a work instruction based on the order data for which the sequence is determined (step S111). When there are a plurality of work stations, the output control unit 106 divides the list of a plurality of pieces of sequenced order data into a plurality of data groups, and outputs the data groups as information indicating the orders to be processed by each of the work stations 11.
As described, in the present embodiment, by using a plurality of pieces of order data and a plurality of pieces of rack data acquired in advance, it is possible to determine the processing sequence of the pieces of order data to be able to execute picking work more efficiently.
Next, the hardware configuration of the information processing device according to the present embodiment will be described by referring to
The information processing device according to the present embodiment includes a control device such as a CPU 51, memory devices such as a Read Only Memory (ROM) 52 and a RAM 53, a communication I/F 54 that is connected to a network for performing communication, and a bus 61 that connects each of the units.
The computer program to be executed by the information processing device according to the present embodiment is provided by being loaded in advance in the ROM 52 or the like.
The computer program to be executed by the information processing device according to the present embodiment may be recorded in an installable or executable format file on a computer readable recording medium such as a Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), a flexible disk (FD), a Compact Disk Recordable (CD-R), a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), or the like, and may be provided as a computer program product.
Furthermore, the computer program to be executed by the information processing device according to the present embodiment may be stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and may be provided by being downloaded via the network. The computer program executed by the information processing device according to the present embodiment may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.
The computer program executed by the information processing device according to the present embodiment may cause the computer to function as each of the units of the information processing device described above. As for the computer, the CPU 51 can read the computer program from a computer-readable storage medium and execute it on the main memory.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiment described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiment described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-041774 | Mar 2022 | JP | national |
