Method and system for order fulfillment in a distribution center
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of fulfilling an order, the method using a distribution center having a plurality of sites for storing a plurality of items, the method comprising:
- receiving an order designating items and quantities of items;
identifying a first site which has the highest number of items in the order, and the items in the order that are available from the first site;
determining the items remaining in the order after removing those items identified as being available from the first site; and
identifying a second site which has the highest number of the items remaining in the order, and the items remaining in the order that are available from the second site,wherein the method further comprises retrieving at least one item identified from one of the sites, with the retrieval of the at least one item being dependent on an expiration time associated with the at least one item,wherein the center has at least two major sites,wherein at least one item in the order is located in a first major site and at least one item in the order is located in a second major site,wherein the first site and the second site are in the first major site, andwherein the method is implemented by at least one computing device,wherein for two major sites, items at one major site are stored at a higher humidity than items at the other major site.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Order allocation techniques that reduce the number of stops that a container makes in the process of fulfilling a customer order is disclosed. In one embodiment, this is accomplished by first identifying a pod that stocks the largest number of different items in a customer order. Then, a second pod is identified that stocks the largest number of remaining items in the customer order. Ultimately, all items in the customer order are assigned a pod. The collection of pods defines a container path through a distribution center. In one embodiment, the techniques include retrieving an item identified. with the retrieval being dependent on an expiration time associated with the item. In another embodiment. the techniques include using information from a handheld computing device via a wireless interface regarding movement of items in the distribution center.
281 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method of fulfilling an order, the method using a distribution center having a plurality of sites for storing a plurality of items, the method comprising:
-
receiving an order designating items and quantities of items; identifying a first site which has the highest number of items in the order, and the items in the order that are available from the first site; determining the items remaining in the order after removing those items identified as being available from the first site; and identifying a second site which has the highest number of the items remaining in the order, and the items remaining in the order that are available from the second site, wherein the method further comprises retrieving at least one item identified from one of the sites, with the retrieval of the at least one item being dependent on an expiration time associated with the at least one item, wherein the center has at least two major sites, wherein at least one item in the order is located in a first major site and at least one item in the order is located in a second major site, wherein the first site and the second site are in the first major site, and wherein the method is implemented by at least one computing device, wherein for two major sites, items at one major site are stored at a higher humidity than items at the other major site. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification