Claims
- 1. A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
identifying order attributes from received orders for cases; identifying case attributes from inventory management data for cases specified in said orders; associating cases with a pallet using said order attributes and said case attributes; and for each case associated with said pallet, assigning said case a location within said pallet.
- 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
building said pallet using an automated material handling system according to said case-pallet associations and said assigned case locations.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said order attributes are selected from the group consisting of a customer identifier, quantities of cases ordered, identities of cases ordered, and a delivery route identifier.
- 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said case attributes are selected from the group consisting of case dimensions, weights of cases, weight bearing capacity of cases, and quantities of cases available for fulfilling said orders.
- 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said case attributes specify case dimensions, said method further comprising:
identifying said case dimensions; calculating a volume of said pallet as said cases are associated with said pallet according to said assigned cases and said case dimensions; and discontinuing said associating step if said pallet volume exceeds a threshold volume.
- 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
using the automated material handling system, placing said cases on said pallet as specified by said case-pallet associations and said assigned case locations so as not to exceed said threshold volume.
- 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said case attributes specify case dimensions, said method further comprising:
identifying said case dimensions; calculating a height of said pallet according to said case-pallet associations, said assigned case locations, and said case dimensions; and discontinuing said associating step if said pallet height exceeds a threshold height.
- 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:
using an automated material handling system, placing said cases on said pallet as specified by said case-pallet associations, said assigned case locations, and said case dimensions so as not to exceed said threshold height.
- 9. The method of claim 1, said assigning step comprising:
assigning said cases to particular locations within said pallet for delivery to customers in first-in-last-out fashion.
- 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
using an automated material handling system, placing said cases on said pallet in said particular locations for delivery to customers in first-in-last-out fashion.
- 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
performing said associating step and said assigning step for additional cases and additional pallets; determining an order for loading said pallet and said additional pallets into a delivery vehicle in first-in-last-out fashion according to an ordering of customers on a delivery route.
- 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said case attributes specify weights of said cases, said assigning step further comprising:
identifying said weights of said cases for said pallet; and assigning heavier ones of said cases to lower locations within said pallet than lighter ones of said cases.
- 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
using an automated material handling system, placing said heavier ones of said cases on said pallet in a lower location than said lighter ones of said cases.
- 14. The method of claim 1, wherein said case attributes specify weight bearing capacity of said cases, said assigning step further comprising:
identifying said weight bearing capacity of said cases for said pallet; and assigning said cases with a greater weight bearing capacity to a lower location of said pallet than said cases having a smaller weight bearing capacity.
- 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
using an automated material handling system, placing said cases with a greater weight bearing capacity in a lower location of said pallet than said cases having a smaller weight bearing capacity.
- 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
accessing a customer profile of a customer for whom said pallet is being configured to determine whether bump cases can be received by said customer; and said associating step further comprising associating bump cases with said pallet according to said customer profile.
- 17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
providing, to an automated material handling system, pallet configuration data specifying an arrangement of cases for a single pallet, such that said automated material handling system builds said single pallet prior to releasing cases associated with a different pallet.
- 18. The method of claim 1, wherein cases are to be placed on said pallet by a single case placing system and a multiple case placing system, said method further comprising:
calculating a height of cases to be added to said pallet by said multiple case placing system; and if said height exceeds a predetermined height, determining that said pallet is to be secured prior to adding additional cases with said single case placing system.
- 19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining at least one delivery route for delivering cases to customers according to said order attributes, said case attributes, and known locations of said customers.
- 20. The method of claim 3, further comprising:
assigning said pallet to a delivery route according to said order attributes associated with said pallet.
- 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:
assigning a delivery vehicle to a delivery route according order attributes, said case attributes, and at least one delivery vehicle attribute.
- 22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:
assigning a delivery vehicle to a delivery route according to delivery route attributes.
- 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:
assigning said pallet to a bay of said delivery vehicle according to at least one delivery vehicle attribute.
- 24. The method of claim 4, wherein said case attributes specify quantities of cases available for fulfilling said orders, said method further comprising:
determining whether sufficient cases are available for fulfilling said orders.
- 25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:
if sufficient cases are not available, determining whether additional cases have become available for fulfilling said orders.
- 26. The method of claim 1, said assigning step further comprising:
assigning each said case a location in said pallet such that said pallet is comprised of full layers of cases of at least one case type and a top layer of cases of at least one case type which is less than a full layer.
- 27. The method of claim 1, wherein said order attributes specify cases for at least two different customers, said assigning step comprising:
assigning at least one case for each of said two different customers to a same layer in said pallet.
- 28. A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
determining an arrangement of cases for building a pallet using a pallet configuration processor with reference to identified case attributes and order attributes, wherein said arrangement of cases specifies a location for each case within said pallet; storing cases in a case storage system; releasing cases to a case transport system as specified by said arrangement of cases; transporting said cases using said case transport system from said case storage system to a palletizing system as specified by said arrangement of cases; and building at least one pallet using said palletizing system as specified by said arrangement of cases.
- 29. A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
retrieving inventory data specifying cases available for delivery to customers and case dimensions; assigning a pallet to a delivery vehicle bay and identifying delivery vehicle bay dimensions; determining an arrangement of cases forming at least one full layer of at least one case type for said pallet; computing an available volume for adding a top layer of cases to said pallet according to said delivery vehicle bay dimensions and said case dimensions of cases within said at least one full layer; and determining an arrangement of cases for a top layer for said pallet one case at a time such that a volume of said top layer does not exceed said available volume.
- 30. A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
retrieving inventory data specifying cases available for delivery to customers and case dimensions; retrieving a plurality of orders, wherein each order specifies at least one case to be delivered to a customer and an associated delivery route; associating each customer order with one of said delivery routes; and assigning delivery vehicles to said delivery routes according to said cases to be delivered to customers on each said delivery route as determined from said orders and said case dimensions.
- 31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:
assigning said delivery vehicles to said delivery routes according to a delivery route type.
- 32. The method of claim 30, further comprising:
disassociating one of said customers from one of said delivery routes; and associating said disassociated customer with a different one of said delivery routes.
- 33. A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
receiving an order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer; receiving inventory data from an inventory management system; processing said inventory data to determine whether sufficient inventory is available for fulfilling said customer order; notifying a user that at least one of said ordered cases is unavailable; and prompting the user whether to proceed despite the at least one unavailable case.
- 34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:
if said user response is to proceed, configuring at least one pallet without the at least one unavailable case.
- 35. A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
receiving at least one order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer; receiving inventory data specifying case dimensions and weights of said cases; and determining an arrangement of said cases to be delivered on a pallet, wherein heavier ones of said cases are assigned to locations lower in said pallet than lighter ones of said cases.
- 36. A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
receiving at least one order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer; receiving inventory data specifying case dimensions and weight bearing capacity of said cases; and determining an arrangement of said cases to be placed on a pallet, wherein cases capable of bearing more weight than other ones of said cases are assigned to lower locations within said pallet.
- 37. A system for organizing cases of products for delivery to customers comprising:
a pallet configuration processor configured to assign cases to locations within at least one pallet according to a type of cases ordered by customers, a number of cases ordered by customers, and dimensions of cases ordered by customers; a case storage system configured to store said cases and release said cases according to said assigned locations of cases within said pallets; a palletizing system configured to add selected ones of said cases to a pallet under construction according to said assigned case locations; and a case transport system configured to deliver said cases from said case storage system to said palletizing system.
- 38. The system of claim 37, wherein said palletizing system is configured to build a top layer of cases for said pallet under construction, wherein said top layer of cases is less than a full layer of cases.
- 39. The system of claim 37, wherein said pallet configuration processor is configured to determine locations for cases within said pallets according to weights of individual cases ordered by customers.
- 40. The system of claim 37, wherein said pallet configuration processor is configured to assign heavier ones of said cases to lower locations in a pallet than lighter ones of said cases which are assigned to said pallet.
- 41. The system of claim 37, wherein said pallet configuration processor is configured to assign cases having a larger weight bearing capacity than other ones of said cases having a lesser weight bearing capacity to lower locations in said pallet.
- 42. The system of claim 37, wherein said pallet configuration processor is configured to calculate a volume of cases to be delivered on a delivery route and assign a delivery vehicle to said delivery route according to a type of said delivery route and said volume of cases to be delivered on said delivery route.
- 43. The system of claim 37, wherein said pallet configuration processor is configured to assign cases to said pallets according to delivery vehicle bay dimensions.
- 44. The system of claim 37, wherein said pallet configuration processor is communicatively linked to an inventory management system and a customer order entry system.
- 45. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
identifying order attributes from received orders for cases; identifying case attributes from inventory management data for cases specified in said orders; associating cases with a pallet using said order attributes and said case attributes; and for each case associated with said pallet, assigning said case a location within said pallet.
- 46. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, further comprising:
building said pallet using an automated material handling system according to said case-pallet associations and said assigned case locations.
- 47. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, wherein said order attributes are selected from the group consisting of a customer identifier, quantities of cases ordered, types of cases ordered, and a delivery route identifier.
- 48. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, wherein said case attributes are selected from the group consisting of case dimensions, weights of cases, weight bearing capacity of cases, and quantities of cases available for fulfilling said orders.
- 49. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, wherein said case attributes specify case dimensions, further comprising:
identifying said case dimensions; calculating a volume of said pallet as said cases are associated with said pallet according to said assigned cases and said case dimensions; and discontinuing said associating step if said pallet volume exceeds a threshold volume.
- 50. The machine-readable storage of claim 49, further comprising:
using the automated material handling system, placing said cases on said pallet as specified by said case-pallet associations and said assigned case locations so as not to exceed said threshold volume.
- 51. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, wherein said case attributes specify case dimensions, further comprising:
identifying said case dimensions; calculating a height of said pallet according to said case-pallet associations, said assigned case locations, and said case dimensions; and discontinuing said associating step if said pallet height exceeds a threshold height.
- 52. The machine-readable storage of claim 51, further comprising:
using an automated material handling system, placing said cases on said pallet as specified by said case-pallet associations, said assigned case locations, and said case dimensions so as not to exceed said threshold height.
- 53. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, said assigning step comprising:
assigning said cases to particular locations within said pallet for delivery to customers in first-in-last-out fashion.
- 54. The machine-readable storage of claim 53, further comprising:
using an automated material handling system, placing said cases on said pallet in said particular locations for delivery to customers in first-in-last-out fashion.
- 55. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, further comprising:
performing said associating step and said assigning step for additional cases and additional pallets; determining an order for loading said pallet and said additional pallets into a delivery vehicle in first-in-last-out fashion according to an ordering of customers on a delivery route.
- 56. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, wherein said case attributes specify weights of said cases, said assigning step further comprising:
identifying said weights of said cases for said pallet; and assigning heavier ones of said cases to lower locations within said pallet than lighter ones of said cases.
- 57. The machine-readable storage of claim 56, further comprising:
using an automated material handling system, placing said heavier ones of said cases on said pallet in a lower location than said lighter ones of said cases.
- 58. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, wherein said case attributes specify weight bearing capacity of said cases, said assigning step further comprising:
identifying said weight bearing capacity of said cases for said pallet; and assigning said cases with a greater weight bearing capacity to a lower location of said pallet than said cases having a smaller weight bearing capacity.
- 59. The machine-readable storage of claim 58, further comprising:
using an automated material handling system, placing said cases with a greater weight bearing capacity in a lower location of said pallet than said cases having a smaller weight bearing capacity.
- 60. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, further comprising:
accessing a customer profile of a customer for whom said pallet is being configured to determine whether bump cases can be received by said customer; and said associating step further comprising associating bump cases with said pallet according to said customer profile.
- 61. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, further comprising:
providing, to an automated material handling system, pallet configuration data specifying an arrangement of cases for a single pallet, such that said automated material handling system builds said single pallet prior to releasing cases associated with a different pallet.
- 62. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, wherein cases are to be placed on said pallet by a single case placing system and a multiple case placing system, further comprising:
calculating a height of cases to be added to said pallet by said multiple case placing system; and if said height exceeds a predetermined height, determining that said pallet is to be secured prior to adding additional cases with said single case placing system.
- 63. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, further comprising:
determining at least one delivery route for delivering cases to customers according to said order attributes, said case attributes, and known locations of said customers.
- 64. The machine-readable storage of claim 47, further comprising:
assigning said pallet to a delivery route according to said order attributes associated with said pallet.
- 65. The machine-readable storage of claim 64, further comprising:
assigning a delivery vehicle to a delivery route according order attributes, said case attributes, and at least one delivery vehicle attribute.
- 66. The machine-readable storage of claim 65, further comprising:
assigning a delivery vehicle to a delivery route according to delivery route attributes.
- 67. The machine-readable storage of claim 66, further comprising:
assigning said pallet to a bay of said delivery vehicle according to at least one delivery vehicle attribute.
- 68. The machine-readable storage of claim 48, wherein said case attributes specify quantities of cases available for fulfilling said orders, said machine-readable storage causing said machine to perform the further step of:
determining whether sufficient cases are available for fulfilling said orders.
- 69. The machine-readable storage of claim 68, further comprising:
if sufficient cases are not available, determining whether additional cases have become available for fulfilling said orders.
- 70. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, said assigning step further comprising:
assigning each said case a location in said pallet such that said pallet is comprised of full layers of cases of at least one case type and a top layer of cases of at least one case type which is less than a full layer.
- 71. The machine-readable storage of claim 45, wherein said order attributes specify cases for at least two different customers, said machine-readable storage causing said machine to perform the further step of:
assigning at least one case for each of said two different customers to a same layer in said pallet.
- 72. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
determining an arrangement of cases for building a pallet using a pallet configuration processor with reference to identified case attributes and order attributes, wherein said arrangement of cases specifies a location of each case within said pallet; storing cases in a case storage system; releasing cases to a case transport system as specified by said arrangement of cases; transporting said cases using said case transport system from said case storage system to a palletizing system as specified by said arrangement of cases; and building at least one pallet using said palletizing system as specified by said arrangement of cases.
- 73. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
retrieving inventory data specifying cases available for delivery to customers and case dimensions; assigning a pallet to a delivery vehicle bay and identifying delivery vehicle bay dimensions; determining an arrangement of cases forming at least one full layer of at least one case type for said pallet; computing an available volume for adding a top layer of cases to said pallet according to said delivery vehicle bay dimensions and said case dimensions of cases within said at least one full layer; and determining an arrangement of cases for a top layer for said pallet one case at a time such that a volume of said top layer does not exceed said available volume.
- 74. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
retrieving inventory data specifying cases available for delivery to customers and case dimensions; retrieving a plurality of orders, wherein each order specifies at least one case to be delivered to a customer and an associated delivery route; associating each customer order with one of said delivery routes; and assigning delivery vehicles to said delivery routes according to said cases to be delivered to customers on each said delivery route as determined from said orders and said case dimensions.
- 75. The machine-readable storage of claim 74, further comprising:
assigning said delivery vehicles to said delivery routes according to a delivery route type.
- 76. The machine-readable storage of claim 74, further comprising:
disassociating one of said customers from one of said delivery routes; and associating said disassociated customer with a different one of said delivery routes.
- 77. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
receiving an order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer; receiving inventory data from an inventory management system; processing said inventory data to determine whether sufficient inventory is available for fulfilling said customer order; notifying a user that at least one of said ordered cases is unavailable; and prompting the user whether to proceed despite the at least one unavailable case.
- 78. The machine-readable storage of claim 77, further comprising:
if said user response is to proceed, configuring at least one pallet without the at least one unavailable case.
- 79. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
receiving at least one order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer; receiving inventory data specifying case dimensions and weights of said cases; and determining an arrangement of said cases to be delivered on a pallet, wherein heavier ones of said cases are assigned to locations lower in said pallet than lighter ones of said cases.
- 80. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
receiving at least one order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer; receiving inventory data specifying case dimensions and weight bearing capacity of said cases; and determining an arrangement of said cases to be placed on a pallet, wherein cases capable of bearing more weight than other ones of said cases are assigned to lower locations within said pallet.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This patent application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/354,881 filed Feb. 5, 2002.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60354881 |
Feb 2002 |
US |