JP7302536B2 - CONTROL SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD FOR WAREHOUSE FACILITIES - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a control system and control method for warehouse equipment.

In general, products manufactured in a factory in the manufacturing industry are brought into warehouse facilities and stored in the warehouse facilities until they are shipped. Warehouse facilities are often equipped with overhead cranes for loading and unloading products, and the range in which the overhead cranes can travel within the warehouse facilities is limited. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of warehouse equipment in which one overhead crane is in charge of cargo handling for one building. In FIG. 1, symbols 1 and 2 are product warehouses, symbols 1a to 1c and 2a to 2c are buildings, symbols 3a to 3c and 4a to 4c are overhead cranes, symbols 5a to 5c are transportation vehicles, and symbols 6a and 6b are rail trucks. , reference numerals 7a and 7b denote trackless trucks, reference numerals 8a and 8b denote ship loading cranes, reference numeral 9 denotes a carrier, and reference character C denotes shipping products.

When shipping products stored in such warehouse facilities, the products are loaded onto shipping vehicles or ships and transported to customers or distribution centers. In order to carry out such shipping work, it is necessary to carry out the product from the warehouse facility, but the same shipping vehicle, the same carrier ship, and the cargo hold (meaning the room where the product is stored on the carrier ship, and the delivery to the same cargo hold) In many cases, the work is carried out using the same loading crane).

For example, when shipping products using a transportation vehicle for shipping, if the products to be loaded on the transportation vehicle for shipping are stored separately in multiple buildings, the transportation vehicle for shipping will go around multiple buildings. Products must be loaded. In this case, it takes extra time to move between buildings, and the unloading work conflicts with another work being carried out in the building where the product is unloaded, causing waiting time and reducing the efficiency of the unloading work. . If the products to be loaded on the transportation vehicle for shipping are collectively stored in one building, the above-mentioned wasted time is shortened and the efficiency of the carrying out work is improved.

On the other hand, when products are shipped using a carrier, it is not necessarily the optimum condition that the products to be loaded in the same carrier and hold are collectively stored in one building. For example, if the cargo handling capacity of one overhead crane is smaller than the amount of products that one ship loading crane can handle per unit time (hereinafter referred to as cargo handling capacity), the products to be loaded are stored together in one building. This is because the unloading work by the overhead crane cannot catch up with the loading work by the loading crane, and the loading work is interrupted. However, even in this case, if the products to be loaded on the same carrier and hold are stored separately in multiple buildings, the carrying out work tends to be inefficient. It is required to be put together.

For the reasons described above, in order to improve the efficiency of product shipping operations, it is desirable to collectively store products to be loaded on the same shipping carrier vehicle, the same carrier ship, and the same cargo hold in a specific building. However, at the time the product is brought into the warehouse facility from the factory, it is often not decided which transport vehicle, transport ship, and cargo hold the product will be loaded on. Therefore, after the product is carried into the warehouse facility, the work of moving the product between buildings may be performed after the transport vehicle or ship for loading and the cargo hold are decided.

Track trolleys (trolleys that move along a route determined by rails, etc.) are often used to move products in warehouses and storage areas. When using track trucks, since the trucks move along a set route, it is possible to deal with relatively simple things such as truck travel control and work coordination between trucks, which reduces the burden and cost during implementation. tend to hesitate. For example, Patent Literatures 1 and 2 show an example in which a track truck is installed for movement within a warehouse or storage area. Specifically, Patent Literature 1 describes equipment that uses a track carriage for moving coiled products to a storage location or a shipping location. Further, Patent Literature 2 describes a technique for a method of controlling equipment in which a track carriage is installed in order to move products to a target shipping station. The equipment described in Patent Document 1 is intended for product movement within a product storage area that is grouped into one area, and the technology described in Patent Document 2 is intended for movement by track carriage in front of an adjacent multi-storey warehouse. is limited to

JP-A-5-330605 JP-A-7-17609

By the way, when a factory becomes large-scale, berths (loading yards) may be installed in remote locations so that multiple huge carriers can simultaneously carry out loading operations. In such a large-scale factory, track trolleys are installed for product movement in the warehouse in front of each berth, but the berths are too far apart to install track trolleys, so it is difficult to move products between berths. is carried out on transport vehicles and trackless trolleys. However, in order to efficiently move products in the warehouse and between berths at the same time, it is necessary to consider the workload of tracked carts, trackless carts, transport vehicles, overhead cranes, etc., and the availability of warehouses. Yes, it is a very complicated issue. Therefore, there has been a demand for construction of a technology that enables efficient movement of products within a warehouse and between berths at the same time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to provide a warehouse facility capable of improving the efficiency of product shipping work, including the work of moving products between adjacent buildings and between distant buildings. It is to provide a control system and a control method.

A control system for a warehouse facility according to the present invention comprises a plurality of buildings for storing products, cargo handling equipment for each building for carrying in and out of the products, and transporting the products between adjacent buildings. A control system for warehouse facilities comprising moving equipment between adjacent buildings having a transportation function and remote moving equipment having a transportation function for transporting the products between distant buildings, wherein the products are input to each building. Optimal placement for generating optimal placement information including information indicating the building in which the product should be stored at the time of delivery while leveling the load of delivery work and the number of products to be shipped in each building based on delivery plan information and inventory information. an information generation unit; and an inter-building movement work generation unit that generates a product transport work between adjacent buildings required to move the product to the building where it should be stored at the time of delivery based on the optimal placement information. , for a building group that combines adjacent buildings, based on the optimal placement information, a remote building-to-building generation work for transporting the product between the building groups necessary to move the product to the building where it should be stored at the time of delivery. According to the timing of completion of work by the movement work generating section and the moving facility between adjacent buildings or the moving facility between remote buildings, the optimal placement information generating section, the moving work generating section between adjacent buildings, and the moving work between remote buildings are performed. A work allocation unit that activates the generation unit and allocates the generated work as the next work to be executed by the moving equipment between adjacent buildings or the moving equipment between remote buildings, and the work content allocated by the work allocation unit and a control device for controlling the equipment for moving between adjacent buildings and the equipment for moving between remote buildings.

In the control system for warehouse equipment according to the present invention, in the above invention, when moving products to be shipped to a building where they should be stored at the time of delivery, if there is a shortage of product storage space in the destination building, the products other than the shipping products from the destination building to another building, and the work allocation unit determines the timing at which the moving equipment between adjacent buildings or the moving equipment between remote buildings completes the work According to the above, the work generated by activating the optimal placement information generating unit, the moving work generating unit between adjacent buildings, the moving work generating unit between remote buildings, and the evacuation moving work generating unit is transferred to the moving facility between adjacent buildings or the remote It is characterized in that it is assigned as the work to be executed next by the moving equipment between buildings.

A control method for a warehouse facility according to the present invention includes a plurality of buildings for storing products, cargo handling equipment for each building for carrying in and out of the products, and transporting the products between adjacent buildings. A method for controlling a warehouse facility comprising moving equipment between adjacent buildings having a transportation function and remote moving equipment having a transportation function for transporting the product between separate buildings, wherein the product is input to each building. Based on the shipping plan information and inventory information, while leveling the shipping work load and the number of shipped products in each building, generating optimal placement information including information indicating the building in which the products should be stored at the time of shipping. a second step of generating product transport work between adjacent buildings required to move said product to the building where it should be stored at the time of delivery based on said optimal placement information; a third step of generating a product transport work between the building groups necessary for moving the product to the building where it should be stored at the time of delivery based on the optimum arrangement information for the building group, and The work generated by executing the first step, the second step, and the third step is transferred to the adjacent building moving facility or the remote building moving facility according to the timing at which the moving facility or the remote building moving facility completes the work. a fourth step of assigning the work to be executed next by the mobile equipment; and a fifth step of controlling the moving equipment between adjacent buildings and the moving equipment between remote buildings so as to execute the work content assigned in the fourth step. , is characterized by including

A method for controlling a warehouse facility according to the present invention is a method for controlling a warehouse facility according to the above invention, when a product other than the product to be shipped is moved to the building where the product to be shipped is stored when the product to be shipped is moved to a building where the product is to be stored, and the storage space for the product is insufficient in the destination building. from the destination building to another building, and the fourth step includes, in accordance with the timing at which the adjacent inter-building transfer facility or the remote inter-building transfer facility completes the work, Allocating the work generated by executing the first step, the second step, the third step, and the sixth step as the work to be executed next by the moving equipment between adjacent buildings or the moving equipment between remote buildings Characterized by

According to the control system and control method for warehouse facilities according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the efficiency of product shipping work, including the work of moving products between adjacent buildings and between distant buildings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a warehouse facility and its control system, which is one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the work decision device shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the flow of work decision processing, which is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of berth plan information. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of shipping product list information. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of optimum arrangement information. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a calculation example of the scheduled work time. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a calculation example of the work reserve. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a modification example of the optimum allocation information shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of calculation of the number of empty storage space shortages.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A warehouse facility control system and its control method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Construction of warehouse equipment]
First, referring to FIG. 1, the configuration of a warehouse facility that is an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a warehouse facility and its control system, which is one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the warehouse facility, which is one embodiment of the present invention, comprises product warehouses 1 and 2 . The product warehouses 1 and 2 are composed of buildings 1a to 1c and 2a to 2c for storing products, and overhead cranes 3a to 3c and 4a to 4c for loading and unloading products are installed in each building. Rails 1d and 2d straddling adjacent buildings and carriages (hereinafter referred to as rail carriages) 6a and 6b running on the rails 1d and 2d are installed to move products between adjacent buildings. Trackless carriages 7a and 7b that run between the product warehouses 1 and 2 are arranged to move products between separate buildings. Products that have been manufactured and packed in the factory are loaded onto transport vehicles 5a and 5b and transported to the target building. The overhead crane moves (stores) the products carried by the transport vehicles 5a and 5b from the vehicle to an empty storage space in the building. As the shipping date approaches, the stored products are moved to temporary shipping storage sites 1e, 2e, etc. by overhead cranes, or are loaded onto a transport vehicle 5c and moved to a quay near the loading cranes 8a, 8b, and then Shipped. When products are moved between buildings, they are loaded/unloaded onto/from rail carriages 6a and 6b in the case of movement between adjacent buildings, and onto trackless carriages 7a and 7b in the case of movement between distant buildings. Loading/unloading is done by overhead crane.

In the present embodiment, whether to move the product (hereinafter referred to as the shipping product) C whose shipping date to the carrier ship 9 is approaching to the shipping temporary storage site 1e or to load it on the transport vehicle 5c depends on whether the shipping product C is stored. A determination is made based on whether the ridge is near or far from the location of the loading cranes 8a, 8b. In addition, when the building where the shipping product C is stored is close to the shipping cranes 8a and 8b, the shipping cranes 8a and 8b can directly handle the shipping product C placed in the temporary shipping storage area 1e. It is assumed that there is no need to use it to carry it to the quay. However, this is only an example for explanation, and the present technology can be applied to operations in which a forklift or a small transport vehicle is used to transport the shipping products from the temporary shipping storage sites 1e and 2e to the wharf. be. In this case, if the shipping product C is stored in a building near the loading crane that is in charge of shipping the product, the shipping work can be carried out efficiently. This is because there is no need to move the transport vehicle 5c to the quay, and the product C can be placed within the reach of the loading crane in a short time. This is because the risk of delays in transportation to the quay is eliminated.

However, in many cases, the berth plan, which sets which loading crane is used to load each product C to be loaded on which carrier at what position, is not decided at the timing when the product is received. It is not always possible to be stocked in an ideal building. For this reason, products that have been received are often moved to another building (inter-building transfer work). Rail carriages 6a and 6b are used to move between adjacent buildings. In this embodiment, the number of products that can be transported by the rail carriages 6a and 6b at one time is one, and the loading/unloading of the rail carriages 6a and 6b is performed by the overhead cranes 3a to 3c and 4a to 4c. In a large-scale factory, the building where the shipping product C is stored and the loading cranes 8a and 8b may be very far apart. Equipment is given as an example. In this embodiment, the maximum number of products that can be transported by the trackless carts 7a and 7b is one.

[Configuration of control system]
Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the configuration of the control system for the warehouse facility will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the warehouse facility control system includes a communication device 11 , a control device 12 , a work determination device 13 , and an operation database (operation DB) 14 .

The communication device 11 is a device for controlling mutual information communication between the inter-building transportation equipment (the rail carriages 6 a and 6 b and the trackless carriages 7 a and 7 b ) and the control device 12 .

The control device 12 is composed of a well-known information processing device, and controls the operation of the entire control system of the warehouse equipment.

The work determination device 13 is composed of a well-known information processing device, and determines the work content of the designated inter-building transportation equipment based on the information transmitted from the control device 12 . FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the work determination device 13. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the work determination device 13 includes an input unit 13a, a work allocation unit 13b, an optimal placement information generation unit 13c, an inter-building movement, and a work allocation unit 13b through execution of a computer program by an arithmetic processing unit inside the information processing apparatus. It functions as a work generation unit 13d, a remote building movement work generation unit 13e, an evacuation movement work generation unit 13f, and an output unit 13g. Functions of these units will be described later.

Returning to FIG. 1, the operation DB 14 stores information on the operation results and operation plans of warehouse facilities. In addition, in this embodiment, the information shown below is included in the information regarding the operation results and operation plan of the warehouse facility.

・Product inventory information for each building (information on products currently stored in each building)
・Product warehousing plan information (information on products transported from the factory to the warehouse facility by transport vehicle, information on the building where the product will be stored and the scheduled time of warehousing, etc.)
・Shipping plan information (loading time zone of products to be shipped, order of loading, loading crane in charge, loading berth position, ship destination information, etc.)
・Transportation plan information (information on product lots to be moved to quays, other buildings, factories (shipment product list, shipment source of shipment products, destination of shipment products, scheduled transportation work time information), etc.)
・Each equipment information (overhead crane, ship loading crane, rail carriage, trackless carriage, transport vehicle, information about the work being performed or scheduled to be performed, current position information of each equipment, etc.)
・Actual information (information on completed parts of plan information and information on plan changes, etc.)

In a warehouse facility with such a configuration, the control system executes the following work decision processing, thereby improving the efficiency of product shipping work, including the work of moving products between adjacent buildings and between distant buildings. Let The operation of the control system when executing the work determination process will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[Work decision processing]
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the flow of work decision processing, which is an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 starts at the timing when the work determination device 13 receives from the control device 12 the information on the inter-building transportation facility to which work is to be allocated and the information on the operation results and the operation plan, and the work determination process is the process of step S1. proceed to In the present embodiment, the inter-building transportation equipment notifies the control device 12 of the completion of the work at the timing when the registered work is completed or at the timing before the predetermined time before the registered work is completed, The control device 12 activates the work determination device 13 to determine the work for the inter-building transportation equipment for which the notification of work completion has been received. Then, when the work determination device 13 is activated, the control device 12 extracts information about the operation results and the operation plan from the operation DB 14, and uses the extracted information and the information of the inter-building transportation equipment to which the work is allocated as the operation information. Send to 13.

In the process of step S1, the input unit 13a receives the operation information transmitted from the control device 12, and outputs the received operation information to the work allocation unit 13b. As a result, the processing of step S1 is completed, and the work determination processing proceeds to step S2.

In the processing of step S2, the work allocation unit 13b activates the optimal placement information generation unit 13c. Then, using the operation information output from the input unit 13a, the optimal placement information generating unit 13c levels the load of shipping work and the number of products to be shipped in each building, while the optimal placement building (product shipping (optimal placement information generation process), and notifies the work allocation unit 13b that the optimal placement information generation process has ended. Details of the optimum arrangement information generation process will be described later. As a result, the process of step S2 is completed, and the work determination process proceeds to the process of step S3.

In the processing of step S3, the work allocation unit 13b activates the inter-building movement work generation unit 13d. In the present embodiment, rail carriages 6a and 6b are used to move between adjacent buildings. In order to satisfy the optimal placement information generated in the process of step S2, if the building where the shipping product C is currently stored is different from the optimal placement building, I need to move C. There are the following two cases for this movement work.

Case (a) When moving between adjacent buildings → Can be carried out by moving work using only rail carts Case (b) When moving between remote buildings → Moving work using trackless carts need to move

Therefore, the inter-building moving work generating unit 13d directly generates the moving work using the rail carriages 6a and 6b (work candidates for the rail carriage) for the shipping product C corresponding to case (a), and generates the inter-building moving work. Add to candidate list. Then, when the processing is completed, the inter-building transfer work generation unit 13d notifies the work allocation unit 13b of the end of the processing. When the product C to be shipped is moved between buildings, a storage space for the product C to be shipped is required in the destination building. For this reason, for each work on the inter-building transfer work candidate list, if there is not enough empty storage space for the shipping product C in the destination building, it is necessary to create an empty storage space. Therefore, when there is not enough empty storage space, the inter-building transfer work generation unit 13d moves the products in the destination building that will not be shipped soon to another building to generate an empty storage space. For the destination building for the product whose shipment is not coming soon, for example, a building with many suitable empty storage spaces may be selected from adjacent buildings. The product movement work generated in this way (the shipment is not near) is stored in the inter-building movement work candidate list in place of the original shipping product movement work. As a result, the process of step S3 is completed, and the work determination process proceeds to the process of step S4.

In the process of step S4, the work allocation unit 13b activates the remote building movement work generation unit 13e. In this embodiment, product movement between remote buildings is carried out in cooperation with the trackless carriages 7a, 7b and, if necessary, the rail carriages 6a, 6b. Therefore, the inter-remote building movement work generating unit 13e generates the movement work to be performed first for the shipping product C corresponding to the case (b) described above. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 1, when the trackless carts 7a and 7b are in charge of only the work of moving products between building 1c and building 2a, to move shipping product C from building 1b to building 2b is as follows: Three movement operations shown are required.

(1) Work to move the product to be shipped from building 1b to building 1c (rail truck 6a is in charge)
(2) Work to move the product to be shipped from building 1c to building 2a (trackless carts 7a and 7b are in charge)
(3) Work to move the product to be shipped from building 2a to building 2b (rail truck 6b is in charge)

Therefore, in the process of step S4, the inter-remote building movement work generation unit 13e extracts the movement work to be performed first from among the three works. In the above example, the first moving work (1) is handled by the rail carriage 6a, but the first moving work may be handled by the trackless carriages 7a and 7b depending on the source building and the destination building. The remote inter-building movement work generating unit 13e includes this first movement work (work candidate for trackless carriage) in the inter-building movement work candidate list. Further, similarly to the process of step S3, the remote inter-building transfer work generation unit 13e generates work to move products that will not be shipped soon between adjacent buildings if there are not enough free storage spaces in the destination building. Specifically, the remote inter-building transfer work generation unit 13e selects one building having many appropriate storage locations among the same adjacent buildings, generates work to move to that building, and performs the work to move to the building. Replace with moving work and add to inter-building moving work candidate list. When the processing is completed, the inter-remote building transfer work generation unit 13e notifies the work allocation unit 13b of the end of the processing. As a result, the process of step S4 is completed, and the work determination process proceeds to the process of step S5.

In the process of step S5, the work allocation unit 13b activates the evacuation movement work generation unit 13f. The purpose and content of the processing performed by the evacuation movement work generation unit 13f will be described below. In steps S3 and S4, if there is no vacant storage space in the building to which the product to be shipped is moved, a vacant storage space is secured by moving between the same adjacent buildings. A free storage space cannot be secured by the movement work generated in S3 and step S4. Here, the adjacent ridge group means a group of ridges 1a to 1c and a group of ridges 2a to 2c in FIG. In the situation described above, the situation can be expected to improve by moving products from adjacent building groups with few vacant storage areas to adjacent building groups with many vacant storage areas, and leveling the number of vacant storage areas for each adjacent building group. As a specific process, the evacuation movement work generation unit 13f calculates the number of vacant storage space margins for each adjacent building group (also for each size if the storage space is limited by the product size), and calculates the vacant storage space margins. If there is an adjacent building group whose number is less than 0, the work of moving the product from that group to the adjacent building group with the largest number of free storage space margins is generated. It should be noted that the calculation of the number of vacant storage space margins for the adjacent building group is performed in consideration of the following items regarding the designated target time period.

・The number of products received from the factory during the target time ・The number of products shipped to the quay during the target time planned product)

In addition, the number of vacant storage space margins of the adjacent building group can be calculated by calculating the number of vacant storage space margins of each building belonging to the group and calculating the total number. The work of moving the product is generated based on the storage situation of the building where the trackless carriages 7a and 7b enter and exit. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the adjacent building groups 1a to 1c do not have enough vacant storage space, so it is necessary to move products from the adjacent building group to the adjacent building groups 2a to 2c. Here, the products that are moved are limited to products that are not due for shipment soon. Since the trackless carriages 7a and 7b are in charge of transportation from building 1c to building 2a, if the following two conditions are satisfied, the evacuation movement work generation unit 13f performs the movement work (shipment target) that the trackless carriages 7a and 7b are in charge of. outsourced product move work candidates) and save it in the evacuation move work list.

Condition (1): There is a target transfer product (a product of the corresponding size if the size is specified) in building 1c If is specified, vacant storage space for products of that size)

If the condition (1) is not satisfied, the evacuation movement work generation unit 13f extracts the target moving products stored in the buildings 1a and 1b, selects one product from them, and creates the work by the rail truck 6a from the building where is currently stored to the building 1c and saves it in the evacuation movement work list. In addition, if the condition (2) is not satisfied, the evacuation movement work generation unit 13f selects one target movement product placed on the building 2a, and moves the selected product to the building 2b or building 2c by the rail carriage 6b. Generate work to move and store it in the evacuation move work list. The evacuation movement work generation unit 13f notifies the work allocation unit 13b of the end of the process when the required number of movement work generations for each combination of items shown below is completed based on the information on the number of spare space spaces. do.

・Adjacent building group at the source ・Adjacent building group at the destination ・Product size (if there is a storage area classification for each size)

In the process of step S6, the work assignment unit 13b determines the next work to be performed by the inter-building transportation equipment, and generates a work instruction indicating the determined work content. Candidates for the work to be performed next are the work included in the inter-building movement work candidate list generated in the processing of steps S3 and S4 and the evacuation movement work list generated in the processing of step S5. Assignment of movement work is determined based on the set priority. Elements that determine the priority include the following.

・Whether the transfer work is in the inter-building transfer work candidate list or the evacuation transfer work list The original building matches the building to which the inter-building transportation equipment (in transit) is currently heading ・(In the case of movement work on the candidate list for inter-building movement work), the scheduled delivery time of the target product to be shipped (earlier has priority) Or prior to the set time)

How to determine the movement work for each of the above elements can be set by parameters in the work allocation section 13b via the input section 13a. Further, it may be possible to set several modes for selecting the method of determining the movement work according to the operating state of the warehouse facility. As a result, the process of step S6 is completed, and the work determination process proceeds to the process of step S7.

In the processing of step S7, the work assignment unit 13b transmits the work instruction generated in the processing of step S6 to the control device 12 via the output unit 13g, and the control device 12 determines the distance between buildings based on the received work instruction. Control mobile equipment. As a result, the processing of step S7 is completed, and the series of work determination processing ends.

[Optimal Placement Information Generation Processing]
Next, the optimum arrangement information generation processing in step S2 will be described in detail.

In this embodiment, the optimal placement information generating unit 13c generates optimal placement information according to policies 1 and 2 shown below.

Policy 1: Store shipping product C in a building as close to the shipping wharf (loading crane to be used) as possible.
Policy 2: Ensure that the cargo handling capacity of the overhead crane does not fall below the cargo handling capacity of the loading crane with respect to the shipping product C loaded by each loading crane.

Here, Policy 1 is a policy for avoiding the need to use the carrier vehicle 5c as much as possible when moving the shipping product C to the vicinity of the loading crane in charge. The shipping product C, which is stored in a building near the loading crane in charge, can be placed in a temporary loading storage area within reach of the loading crane using an overhead crane. If the transport vehicle 5c is not used, there is no influence of the number of transport vehicles 5c in operation or competition with other transport operations. Moreover, the time required for moving to the quay can be saved by not using the transport vehicle 5c. Therefore, by arranging the products to be shipped C in each building based on policy 1, the work of moving the products to be shipped to the wharf can be stably and efficiently performed.

In addition, policy 2 is a policy to appropriately balance the capacity of the loading crane and the cargo handling capacity of the overhead crane in charge of the product C to be shipped. In this embodiment, the number of products that the overhead crane can handle in one cycle is one. Assuming that a loading crane can load and unload multiple products at the same time, a loading crane loads multiple products onto a carrier ship at the same time, while an overhead crane that moves a product to a quay moves one product in one cycle. It will be. If the cycle time of the overhead crane is the same as the cycle time of the loading crane, then the loading crane will wait for the product to come out near the loading crane ( Loading work interruption) occurs frequently, and shipping efficiency decreases. If the products to be shipped that one loading crane is in charge of are in not only one building but also multiple buildings, multiple overhead cranes will send multiple shipping products in parallel near the loading crane, so the work of the loading crane will be reduced. Downtime is reduced. Therefore, based on policy 2, by distributing and storing the shipping products handled by the loading cranes in several buildings according to the number of products that can be handled simultaneously by the loading cranes and the overhead cranes, it is possible to suppress the interruption of the loading operation.

An example of the optimum placement information generation process according to the policies 1 and 2 is shown below. In this example, the optimal placement information generation unit 13c calculates the scheduled shipping time and the scheduled shipping time of the shipping product C from the shipping plan information (step S2a), and assigns the shipping work of the shipping product C to each building (stacking process). (Step S2b), the shipping work of the product C to be shipped from each building is leveled (a landslide process) (Step S2c), and the optimum arrangement information is generated (Step S2d).

Specifically, first, in the process of step S2a, the optimal placement information generation unit 13c calculates the scheduled shipping time of each product to be shipped using the shipping plan information. The shipping plan information is composed of, for example, the following information.

(a) Berth plan information (b) Shipping product list information

Here, the berth plan information is information on cargo handling work of the loading crane. A specific example is shown in FIG. The meaning of each item of the berth plan information shown in FIG. 4 is as follows.

・Target product group: A number assigned to a group of products to be shipped to be loaded into one hold of one carrier (one loading crane is used consecutively to ship one target product group)
・Loading crane to be used: Loading crane to be used for shipping products belonging to the target product group ・Way position to be used: Wharf position to be used by the loading crane and carrier for shipping products belonging to the target product group ・Ideal storage building: Wharf to be used Building of warehouse facilities near the location (If the products to be shipped are put out to the temporary shipping storage area using the overhead crane of that building, the shipping crane can load the products to be shipped onto the carrier without moving by the carrier)
・Target carrier: A carrier that loads the products belonging to the target product group ・Target cargo hold: The cargo hold number of the target carrier that loads the products belonging to the target product group ・Scheduled time to start loading: Shipment of the products belonging to the target product group can be started The earliest time (calculated from the arrival time of the target carrier vessel and the loading work plan of the preceding target product group. However, if the loading crane used has not completed the loading of the preceding target product group at this time, the actual loading start time is this time. will be behind schedule)

The shipping product list information is information on shipping products belonging to the target product group. A specific example is shown in FIG. The meaning of each item of the shipping product list information shown in FIG. 5 is as follows.

・Target product group: Same as the item with the same name as the berth plan information ・Product ID: Identifier assigned to each shipping product Also, if the same order is attached to multiple shipping products within the same target product group, it means that the loading crane will simultaneously load and unload multiple shipping products in one cycle.)
・Product width: Product width length ・Product outer diameter: Product outer diameter length ・Product unit weight: Product weight

The optimal placement information generator 13c uses these pieces of information to calculate the scheduled shipping time of each shipping product included in the shipping product list information. Specifically, the optimal arrangement information generation unit 13c generates the scheduled shipping start time (FIG. 4) and the cargo handling cycle time (set value) of the loading crane to be used in order of loading for the shipping products belonging to each target product group in the berth plan information. Calculate the estimated time of shipment based on If the latest scheduled shipping completion time of the products of the preceding target product group is later than the scheduled shipping start time, the optimum placement information generation unit 13c sets the latest scheduled shipping completion time as the scheduled shipping start time of the target product group. Calculate the estimated time of shipment for the shipped products belonging to the target product group. In addition, by taking into account the operating time of the equipment and the necessary holding work inside the carrier, the estimated shipping time can be calculated more accurately. Also, the scheduled loading time may be calculated by setting different cycle times according to the number of products that can be loaded and unloaded by the loading crane at the same time. In addition, the optimum placement information generation unit 13c calculates the scheduled shipping time of each product to be shipped (the time at which the product is to be taken out of the warehouse by the warehouse overhead crane for shipping). Since the unloading work is performed before the loading work, for example, the scheduled shipping time may be set to the time (estimated value) before the scheduled shipping time by the time (estimated value) from the unloading to the completion of the shipping.

Next, in the process of step S2b, the optimal placement information generation unit 13c provisionally allocates each shipping product to the optimal placement building based on the scheduled delivery time of the shipping product and the ideal storage building information in the berth plan information. Here, the optimal placement building for each product to be shipped is selected from the ideal storage buildings in the berth plan information (see FIG. 4), and in this process, the overhead crane workload of the building is not taken into consideration at all. Allocation of each product to be shipped to the optimum placement building may be performed according to rules 1 and 2 below, for example.

Rule 1: Allocate the shipping products currently stored in the ideal storage building to the building where they are currently stored (do not change the building).
Rule 2: Divide the shipping time into multiple time slots, and equalize the number of shipment products assigned to each ideal storage building in each time slot as much as possible.

FIG. 6 shows an example of optimal arrangement information in which shipping work for products to be shipped is assigned to each building. In the optimum arrangement information shown in FIG. 6, the product ID (CCC1089, etc.) of the product to be shipped assigned to each time zone of each building and the scheduled shipping time are displayed. However, since the work load of the overhead crane is not taken into account at this stage, there is a possibility that, depending on the time of day, more work than the capacity of the overhead crane is assigned. In addition, in actual operation, the overhead crane must perform work other than the unloading work, so it is not always possible to process all the unloading work shown in FIG. 6 within the allotted time slot.

Next, in the process of step S2c, the optimal placement information generation unit 13c levels the unloading work allocated beyond the capacity of the overhead crane. More specifically, first, the optimal placement information generation unit 13c is scheduled to allocate work other than shipping work for shipped products (work such as warehousing or unloading to return goods to a factory) to each time slot and each building in the processing result of step S2b. Calculate working hours. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of calculating the scheduled work time (minutes) for work other than shipping product shipping work. Next, the optimum arrangement information generation unit 13c calculates the time (work margin) during which the shipping work for each time zone and each building can be performed based on the calculation result of the scheduled work time. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of calculating work reserves. Next, the optimum arrangement information generating unit 13c changes the optimum arrangement information by changing the shipping work of the products to be shipped exceeding the working capacity to another building. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a modification example of the optimum allocation information shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 9, processing is performed with an overhead crane handling time of 5 minutes per product, and the shipping work in Buildings A1 and A2 is changed to the shipping work in Building A3.

In addition, in the change processing in step S2c, there are cases where the delivery work is assigned to a building other than the ideal storage building. As for the shipment products to be allocated to buildings other than the ideal storage building, only the necessary minimum number of shipment products are selected from the shipment products currently stored outside the ideal storage building. In other words, the optimum placement information generation unit 13c allocates as many shipping products as possible within the range of the working capacity to the ideal storage building, and allocates only the products exceeding the working capacity to buildings other than the ideal storage building. Also, when allocating to a building other than the ideal storage building, the optimum allocation information generation unit 13c selects the building closest to the ideal storage building (shortest travel time) as the allocation building. Optimum placement information is thereby generated.

[Work content generation processing]
Next, the inter-building movement work generation processing in step S3 and the remote building movement work generation processing in step S4 will be described.

The work allocation unit 13b reads the product inventory information of each building from the operation DB 14, and refers to the optimum arrangement information generated in the process of step S2. Next, the work allocation unit 13b extracts the shipping product C whose optimal placement building is different from the current inventory building based on the product inventory information and optimal placement information of each building, and the extracted shipping product C is scheduled to be shipped. Create a transfer target product information list by arranging them in chronological order. Further, the work allocation unit 13b saves the shipping product information belonging to the same adjacent building group in which the current inventory building and the optimal placement building belong to the same adjacent building group from the transfer target product information list, and stores the other product information in the inter-adjacent building transfer target product list. Stores information on products to be moved in the list of products to be moved between remote buildings. After that, the work allocation unit 13b activates the inter-building movement work generation unit 13d, and the inter-building movement work generation processing of step S3 starts.

In the inter-building transfer work generation processing, the inter-building transfer work generation unit 13d generates either of the following work 1 or work 2 as the work content for each shipping product included in the inter-building transfer target product list. . Note that the inter-building transfer work generation unit 13d does not generate work 2 when work 1 can be generated, and generates work 2 when work 1 cannot be generated.

(Work 1) A work is generated in which the currently stored building is the source of the transfer and the optimum placement building allocated by the optimum placement information is the transfer destination. However, if there are not more than the set number of vacant storage areas where the product can be stored at the transport destination, task 1 is not generated.
(Work 2) Generate a work of transporting products other than shipping products stored at the destination to another building. However, the products to be transported are those that satisfy the following conditions 1 and 2. Also, the transfer destination of work 2 is the building with the largest number of vacant storage areas among the buildings that satisfy the conditions 1 and 2.

(Condition 1) A vacant storage space created by removing the product from the building can be used to store the target shipping product, or removal of the product facilitates the creation of a vacant storage space in which the shipping product can be stored.
(Condition 2) As the destination of the product, there is a building (a building belonging to the same adjacent building group as the source building) that has more than a set number of empty storage areas (where there is no product to be shipped below).

The work generated by the above processing is saved in the inter-building transfer work candidate list.

After the adjacent building movement work generation processing is completed, the remote building movement work generation unit 13e is activated next. The inter-building transfer work generation unit 13e generates work to be performed first for each shipping product included in the inter-building transfer target product list. As with the adjacent building moving work generating unit 13d, the remote building moving work generating unit 13e generates the shipping product moving work (similar to work 1) only when the vacant storage space at the destination is equal to or greater than the set value. If 1 cannot be generated, a task of transporting items other than the products to be shipped to another building is generated in the same way as task 2. Note that the delivery source building in operation 2 is the same building as the delivery destination building of the target shipping product, and the delivery destination building is selected from the buildings in the same adjacent building group as the delivery source building. Products to be transported shall satisfy conditions 1 and 2. The work generated by this process is also stored in the inter-building transfer work candidate list.

[Evacuation movement work generation process]
Next, a supplementary description will be given of the evacuation movement work generation process in step S5. When the remote building movement work generation processing is completed, the work allocation unit 13b activates the evacuation movement work generation unit 13f. The evacuation movement work generation unit 13f generates a product movement work between adjacent building groups so that there is no adjacent building group lacking an empty storage space. In this process, products whose shipping operations are not near are subject to movement. The evacuation movement work generation unit 13f generates the inventory information collected from the operation DB 14, the incoming schedule information from the factory, the outgoing schedule information (e.g., the outgoing for shipping, not for moving between buildings), and the work product list information to be moved. Collect and calculate the number of vacant storage space shortages in each building. For example, the following formula can be used as a formula for calculating the number of empty spaces. If a storage space for each size is specified in the building, it is preferable to calculate the number of storage space shortages for each building and size.

Insufficient number of vacant storage spaces per building (by size) = - Number of vacant storage spaces at the moment + Number of products scheduled to be received - Number of products scheduled to be shipped - Number of products to be shipped between buildings scheduled to be moved (outgoing building) + Number of products to be shipped scheduled to be moved between buildings (building to enter) + setting parameter (number of margins)

The planned number of products shown on the right side of the above formula can be handled by accumulating the number of products in the set time period (for example, from the current time to 3 hours ahead), and different time periods can be set for each term. It is possible. It means that the larger the storage space shortage number is, the more storage space is in short supply. FIG. 10 shows an example of the number of empty storage space shortages calculated by the above formula. FIG. 10 shows an example in which the size of the storage area is not determined (products of any size can be placed in the storage area), but if the size of the storage area determines the size of the product, a table of the number of shortages in the storage area is generated for each size. It will be. In Figure 10, the sum of the number of storage space shortages in adjacent building group A is +2, and the total number of storage space shortages in adjacent building group B is -4. do it. As for the number of products to be moved, it is preferable to determine, for example, that two products are moved from adjacent building group A to adjacent building group B so that the storage space shortage number of adjacent building group A becomes zero. After that, by the method shown in [Work decision processing] or the like, the movement work of the trackless or rail carriage is generated, and the result is saved in the evacuation movement work list.

According to the above embodiment, it is possible to efficiently optimize product placement when there are multiple types of inter-building transfer facilities. In addition, in the case of warehouse facilities, disturbances such as changes in shipping schedules and factory production plans due to weather and the like are likely to occur. The technology of the present invention takes this reality into consideration, and is capable of responding to changes in circumstances by determining only one task to be performed next, instead of determining the schedule up to now. In addition, control is also taking into account the leveling of inventory between buildings, and it is possible to prevent troubles such as the warehouse becoming full in advance and carry out stable shipping work. Furthermore, since the product transport work using the transport vehicle 5c can be reduced, the physical distribution cost (the cost required for the product transport work and demurrage charges) can also be reduced.

Although the embodiments to which the invention made by the present inventors is applied have been described above, the present invention is not limited by the descriptions and drawings forming a part of the disclosure of the present invention according to the present embodiments. That is, other embodiments, examples, operation techniques, etc. made by those skilled in the art based on this embodiment are all included in the scope of the present invention.

1, 2 Product warehouse 1a-1c, 2a-2c Building 1d, 2d Rail 1e, 2e Temporary shipping storage area 3a-3c, 4a-4c Overhead crane 5a, 5b, 5c Transportation vehicle 6a, 6b Rail truck 7a, 7b Trackless truck 8a , 8b loading crane 9 carrier ship 11 communication device 12 control device 13 work determination device 13a input unit 13b work assignment unit 13c optimum placement information generation unit 13d inter-building movement work generation unit 13e remote inter-building movement work generation unit 13f evacuation movement work generation Part 13g Output part 14 Operation database (operation DB)
C Shipping product

Claims (2)

A plurality of buildings for storing products, a cargo handling facility for each building for carrying out the work of loading and unloading the products provided in each building, an inter-building transfer facility having a transport function for transporting the products between adjacent buildings, A remote inter-building moving facility having a transport function for transporting the product between remote buildings, wherein the remote inter-building moving facility limits the buildings that can be loaded and unloaded, wherein
Based on the warehousing and shipping plan information and inventory information of the products in each building, the load of shipping work and the number of products to be shipped in each building are leveled, and information indicating the building where the products should be stored when the products are shipped is optimized. an optimal placement information generation unit that generates placement information;
an inter-building transfer work generation unit that generates a product transport work between adjacent buildings required to move the product to the building where it should be stored at the time of delivery based on the optimal placement information;
Remote inter-building movement for generating a product transport work between building groups required to move the product to the building where it should be stored at the time of delivery based on the optimum placement information for a building group that summarizes adjacent buildings. a work generator;
When moving products to be shipped to the building where they should be stored at the time of delivery, if there is a shortage of product storage space in the destination building, the work of moving products other than the shipping products from the destination building to another building. an evacuation movement work generation unit to generate;
According to the timing at which the moving facility between adjacent buildings or the moving facility between remote buildings completes the work, the optimal placement information generating unit, the moving work generating unit between adjacent buildings , the moving work generating unit between remote buildings , and the evacuation movement a work allocation unit that activates the work generation unit and allocates the generated work as the next work to be executed by the moving equipment between adjacent buildings or the moving equipment between remote buildings;
a control device that controls the equipment for moving between adjacent buildings and the equipment for moving between remote buildings so as to execute the work content assigned by the work allocation unit;
with
The evacuation movement work generation unit calculates the number of products entering and leaving the warehouse during the target time period and the moving products of the shipment products that are the targets of the work generated by the movement work generation unit between adjacent buildings and the movement work generation unit between remote buildings. A control system for warehouse facilities, wherein the number of vacant storage spaces is calculated for each building group by using the number of vacant storage spaces, and a product movement operation is generated based on the vacant storage space margins. A plurality of buildings for storing products, a cargo handling facility for each building for carrying out the work of loading and unloading the products provided in each building, an inter-building transfer facility having a transport function for transporting the products between adjacent buildings, A remote inter-building moving facility having a transport function for transporting the product between remote buildings, wherein the remote inter-building moving facility limits the buildings that can be loaded and unloaded, the method comprising:
Based on the warehousing and shipping plan information and inventory information of the products in each building, the load of shipping work and the number of products to be shipped in each building are leveled, and information indicating the building where the products should be stored when the products are shipped is optimized. a first step of generating configuration information;
a second step of generating product transport operations between adjacent buildings required to move the product to the building where it should be stored at the time of delivery based on the optimal placement information;
a third step of generating a product transportation work between the building groups required to move the product to the building where the product should be stored at the time of delivery, based on the optimum arrangement information, for a building group consisting of adjacent buildings; ,
When moving products to be shipped to the building where they should be stored at the time of delivery, if there is a shortage of product storage space in the destination building, the work of moving products other than the shipping products from the destination building to another building. a fourth step of generating;
The work generated by executing the first step, the second step , the third step , and the fourth step according to the timing at which the moving equipment between adjacent buildings or the moving equipment between remote buildings completes the work a fifth step assigned as the work to be executed next by the moving facility between adjacent buildings or the moving facility between remote buildings;
a sixth step of controlling the equipment for moving between adjacent buildings and the equipment for moving between remote buildings so as to execute the work content assigned in the fifth step;
including
In the fourth step, for each building group, using the number of products entering and leaving the warehouse during the target time period and the number of moving products of the shipped products that are the target of the work generated in the second step and the third step A control method for warehouse facilities , comprising: calculating the number of vacant spaces available; and generating product movement work based on the number of vacant spaces available .

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