Crossdocking transshipments without sortation
First Claim
1. A materials handling facility, comprising:
- a receiving area configured to receive items into the materials handling facility;
an inventory storage area configured to store items in inventory in the materials handling facility;
a shipping area configured to ship items to customers to fulfill customer orders, and to transship items to one or more other materials handling facilities; and
a control system configured to;
determine a plurality of containers of items that are in the receiving area of the materials handling facility;
assign one or more containers of the plurality of containers of items in the receiving area to a stow process for stowing the items into the inventory storage area of the materials handling facility;
assign one or more other containers of the plurality of containers of items in the receiving area to a transshipment crossdock process in which a transshipment destination is assigned to each of the one or more other containers at a container-level granularity such that the items in a respective container of the one or more other containers are assigned to the same transshipment destination; and
for the transshipment crossdock process, direct the one or more other containers of items from the receiving area to the shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility without the items in the one or more other containers being stowed in the inventory area and without the items in the one or more other containers going through an item-level sortation process.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods may be provided for determining, assigning and directing containers for transshipment between facilities without using an item-level sortation process and moving containers from a receiving area of a facility to an outbound dock without placing the items into inventory. A facility may or may not have item-level sortation processing. Data indicating received items is received. A determination is made for which of the received containers are for transshipment from the materials handling facility based on multiple factors. Containers in receiving that are determined for transshipment may be directed from receive to outbound docks without placing the items into inventory and without using an item-level sortation process. Pallets may be transshipped without placing the items into inventory and without depalletization. A facility with sortation may switch from item-level sortation of transshipments to container-level crossdock transshipment when a sortation process of a processing line approaches or exceeds capacity.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A materials handling facility, comprising:
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a receiving area configured to receive items into the materials handling facility; an inventory storage area configured to store items in inventory in the materials handling facility; a shipping area configured to ship items to customers to fulfill customer orders, and to transship items to one or more other materials handling facilities; and a control system configured to; determine a plurality of containers of items that are in the receiving area of the materials handling facility; assign one or more containers of the plurality of containers of items in the receiving area to a stow process for stowing the items into the inventory storage area of the materials handling facility; assign one or more other containers of the plurality of containers of items in the receiving area to a transshipment crossdock process in which a transshipment destination is assigned to each of the one or more other containers at a container-level granularity such that the items in a respective container of the one or more other containers are assigned to the same transshipment destination; and for the transshipment crossdock process, direct the one or more other containers of items from the receiving area to the shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility without the items in the one or more other containers being stowed in the inventory area and without the items in the one or more other containers going through an item-level sortation process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method, comprising:
performing by one or more computing devices; determining a plurality of containers of items that are in a receiving area of a materials handling facility; selecting one or more containers of the plurality of containers of items in the receiving area for a transshipment crossdock process; and directing the selected one or more containers of items from the receiving area to a shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility without the items in the selected one or more containers being stowed in an inventory area of the materials handling facility, wherein the items in the selected one or more containers are moved to the shipping area in a materials handling facility and without the items in the one or more other containers going through an item-level sortation process. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing program instructions that are computer-executable to perform:
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identifying a plurality of containers each holding a plurality of items in a receiving area of a materials handling facility; selecting one or more containers of the plurality of containers of items in the receiving area for a transship-crossdock process; and directing the selected one or more containers of items from the receiving area to a shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility without the items in the one or more containers being stowed in an inventory area of the materials handling facility and without an item-level sortation process sorting the items in the one or more containers. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification