FILLING AN ORDER AT AN INVENTORY PIER

• US 20140100715A1
• Filed: 10/04/2012
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mountz, Michael C., Wurman, Peter R., Wilson, Steven A., Mallary, Caroline F., Peng, Zhouzhou, Durham, Joseph W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,792,577 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1378 the orders being assembled on fixed commissioning areas remote from the storage areas
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system includes a inventory pier and a mobile drive unit. The inventory pier includes a first side and a second side. The first side includes defined areas at which inventory holders are designated to be stationed. The inventory pier is operable to receive inventory items from at least one of the inventory holders at least one of the defined areas. The mobile drive unit is operable to transport an order holder along the second side of the inventory pier, wherein the order holder is operable to receive an inventory item from the inventory pier at a location along the second side of the inventory pier.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

designating, by a management module, a plurality of inventory holders to be stationed at a plurality of defined areas along a first side of an inventory pier;

instructing, by the management module, one or more first mobile drive units to transport the plurality of inventory holders to the plurality of defined areas, wherein the plurality of inventory holders remain stationary at the plurality of defined areas while a plurality of orders are fulfilled;

receiving an order for a plurality of inventory items;

determining, by the management module, that an inventory item requested by the order is stored in an inventory holder stationed at a defined area at the inventory pier, wherein the inventory holder is one of the plurality of inventory holders; and

instructing, by the management module, a second mobile drive unit to transport an order holder to a second side of the inventory pier, wherein the second mobile drive unit moves along the second side such that the order holder is operable to receive the inventory item at a location along the second side of the inventory pier opposite to the defined area of the inventory holder.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the order requests an additional inventory item;

instructing the second mobile drive unit to transport the order holder to an inventory station; and

instructing one of the first mobile drive units to transport an inventory holder storing the additional inventory item from an inventory storage location to the inventory station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the inventory pier is a first inventory pier and the method further comprises:

determining that the order requests an additional inventory item;

instructing the second mobile drive unit to transport the order holder to a second inventory pier; and

completing the order at the second inventory pier with the additional inventory item.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

activating a signal at the inventory pier that indicates that an order holder moving along the second side will stop at the location opposite to the defined area; and

instructing an operator of the inventory pier to move to the defined area based at least in part upon the signal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the defined area comprises a first defined area, the inventory holder comprises a first inventory holder, and the method further comprises:

based at least in part upon a first triggering event, instructing one of the first mobile drive units to remove the first inventory holder from the first defined area and transport the first inventory holder to a drift location associated with the inventory pier;

instructing a third mobile drive unit to transport a second inventory holder to the first defined area; and

based at least in part upon a second triggering event, instructing one of the first mobile drive units to transport the first inventory holder from the drift location to a second defined area at the inventory pier.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a rate at which each of a plurality of inventory items are ordered within an inventory system;

comparing the rate of each of the plurality of inventory items;

based at least in part upon the comparison, selecting a number of inventory items that are above a predetermined rate; and

wherein designating the plurality of inventory holders to be stationed at the plurality of defined areas is based at least in part upon determining that the number of inventory items are stored in the plurality of inventory holders.

7. A system, comprising:

an inventory pier comprising a first side and a second side, the first side including a plurality of defined areas at which a plurality of inventory holders are designated to be stationed, the inventory pier operable to receive inventory items from at least one of the inventory holders at least one of the plurality of defined areas; and

a mobile drive unit operable to transport an order holder along the second side of the inventory pier, wherein the order holder is operable to receive an inventory item from the inventory pier at a location along the second side of the inventory pier.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the location along the second side of the inventory pier is opposite to a defined area on the first side, the defined area having an inventory holder storing the inventory item.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the mobile drive unit comprises a first mobile drive unit and the system further comprises a second mobile drive unit operable to transport one or more of the plurality of inventory holders to one or more of the defined areas at the inventory pier.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of inventory holders are designated for the defined areas based at least on part upon a product velocity of one or more inventory items stored in the plurality of inventory holders.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of inventory holders remain stationed at defined areas while a plurality of orders are filled.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the order holder is operable to hold a plurality of containers, wherein at least a portion of the containers are associated with one or more orders that request an inventory item stored in one of the plurality of inventory holders.

13. The system of claim 7, the mobile drive unit further operable to:

replace a first inventory holder of the plurality of inventory holders at one of the defined areas with a second inventory holder, wherein the first inventory holder is replaced based at least in part upon a metric associated with the first inventory holder.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein one or more of the defined areas is designated for storing a trash holder and the mobile drive unit is operable to transport the trash holder.

15. The system of claim 7, wherein the first mobile drive unit is operable to move one of the plurality of inventory holders to a drift location associated with the inventory pier.

16. The system of claim 7, the inventory pier further comprising an interface operable to instruct an operator of the inventory pier to remove the inventory item from one of the plurality of inventory holders and place the inventory item in a container stored in the order holder, the container associated with the order.

17. The system of claim 7, the inventory pier further comprising a first operator zone and a second operator zone, wherein the first operator zone is designated for a first operator to place inventory items into the order holder at a first subset of the defined areas and the second operator zone is designated for a second operator to place inventory items into the order holder at a second subset of the defined areas.

18. The system of claim 7, the inventory pier further comprising one or more of a flat surface, an elevated surface, and a virtual area of a workspace.

19. A system, comprising:

an inventory holder;

an order holder; and

a mobile drive unit operable to;

transport the inventory holder to a defined area on a first side of an inventory pier;

transport the order holder to the inventory pier;

move the order holder along a second side of the inventory pier; and

stop at a location along the second side opposite to the defined area, wherein the order holder is operable to receive an inventory item from the inventory holder at the defined area.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the inventory holder is a first inventory holder and the mobile drive unit is further operable to replace the first inventory holder with a second inventory holder, and the system further comprises a management module that instructs the mobile drive unit to replace the first inventory holder with the second inventory holder based at least in part upon comparing a first metric associated with the first inventory holder to a second metric associated with the second inventory holder.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the first metric comprises one or more of:

a quantity of inventory items stored in the first inventory holder; and

a velocity of inventory items stored in the first inventory holder.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the first metric comprises a first expected demand, the second metric comprises a second expected demand, and management module is further operable to schedule the first inventory holder to be replaced by the second inventory holder at a particular time based at least in part upon determining the second expected demand is predicted to exceed the first expected demand at the particular time.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the mobile drive unit is operable to transport the inventory holder by:

moving underneath the inventory holder;

raising a docking head towards a surface of the inventory holder;

lift the inventory holder using the docking head;

move while lifting the inventory holder.

24. The system of claim 19, further comprising a management module operable to:

determine that the inventory holder should be rotated; and

based at least in part upon determining that the inventory holder should be rotated, instruct the mobile drive unit to;

move the inventory holder away from the defined area;

rotate the inventory holder; and

move the inventory holder back to the defined area.