Crossdocking transshipments without sortation

• US 9,336,509 B1
• Filed: 03/27/2014
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Arun Singhal, Fnu, Burkhart, Nathan Stanley, Agarwal, Vikas, Korohod, Pavlo, Bhagdev, Vidhi Vinodkumar, Armato, Steven Simons, Nguyen, Ngochan Thi, Kormilitsin, Maxim, Stroup, Paul Jeffrey, Prasad, Kalyanaraman, Bundy, Michael Ellsworth
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumbess, Yolanda
• Application Number:
  US14/228,122
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

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.

Claims

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.

2. The materials handling facility of claim 1, wherein the control system is further configured to direct items to shipping for order fulfillment using a processing line that does not include a sortation process for sorting items for shipping, wherein the one or more other containers of items are directed from the receiving area to the shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility using the processing line that does not include a sortation process.

3. The materials handling facility of claim 1, wherein the control system is further configured to direct items to shipping for order fulfillment using a processing line that does include a sortation process for sorting items for shipping, wherein the sortation process sorts items for containers that leave the facility, and wherein the one or more other containers of items are directed from the receiving area to the shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility without using the sortation process.

4. The materials handling facility of claim 3, wherein the control system is further configured to:

assign items to a transshipment destination at an item-level granularity and direct the items for transshipment using the processing line that does include a sortation process; and

in response to determining that the sorting process has met a capacity threshold, switch to assigning items to a transshipment destination at a container-level granularity and directing corresponding containers for transshipment without using the sortation process.

5. The materials handling facility of claim 1,

wherein the materials handling facility is part of a fulfillment network comprising the materials handling facility and a plurality of other materials handling facilities, and

wherein the control system determines which containers of items in the receiving area to transship based on a plurality of factors including current inventory in or expected to be in each materials handling facility and an order fulfillment demand forecast for each materials handling facility.

6. The materials handling facility of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more containers assigned to a transshipment destination comprises a plurality of different types of items.

7. The materials handling facility of claim 1, wherein one of the containers assigned to a transshipment destination is a pallet of items, wherein the pallet is directed by the control system to the shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility without the items in the pallet being removed from the pallet.

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.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising directing containers not selected for the transshipment crossdock process to an inventory area of the materials handling facility for stowing.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising directing items to shipping for order fulfillment using a processing line that does not include a sortation process for sorting items for shipping, wherein the one or more containers of items are directed from the receiving area to the shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility using the processing line that does not include a sortation process.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

directing items to shipping for order fulfillment using a processing line that does include a sortation process for sorting items for shipping;

assigning items to a transshipment destination at an item-level granularity and directing the items for transshipment using the processing line that does include a sortation process; and

in response to determining that the sorting process has met a capacity threshold, switching to assigning assign items to a transshipment destination at a container-level granularity and directing corresponding containers for transshipment without item-level sortation processing.

12. The method of claim 8,

wherein the materials handling facility is part of a fulfillment network comprising the materials handling facility and a plurality of other materials handling facilities, and

further comprising determining which containers of items in the receiving area to transship based on a plurality of factors including a current inventory in or expected to be in each materials handling facility, and an order fulfillment demand forecast for each materials handling facility.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of factors further includes one selected from a total estimated crossdock volume, and an estimated transfer time between the facilities of the transshipment.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of factors further includes a cost to sort the container, an expected cost of the transshipment of the item, or an estimated cost to fulfill a predicted customer demand.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein one of the one or more containers directed to a transshipment destination comprises a plurality of different types of items.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing program instructions that are computer-executable to perform:

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.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

directing containers not selected for the transship-crossdock process to the inventory area for stowing; and

directing stowing of one or more items of the containers directed to inventory in the inventory area.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform:

selecting a received pallet of items for transshipment to another facility such that one of the selected containers is the received pallet; and

directing the selected pallet of items to the shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility without the items in the pallet being removed from the pallet.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform determining which containers of items in the receiving area to transship based on a plurality of factors including at least two factors selected from a total estimated crossdock volume, an estimated transfer time between the facilities of the transshipment, a cost to sort the container, an expected cost of the transshipment of the container, a current inventory of each of the facilities, an expected future inventory of each of the facilities, predicted customer demand, and an estimated cost to fulfill the predicted customer demand.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the program instructions are further executable to perform directing items to shipping for order fulfillment using a processing line that does include a sortation process for sorting items for shipping, wherein the one or more containers selected for transshipment are directed from the receiving area to the shipping area for transshipment to another materials handling facility without using the sortation process and without being stowed to an inventory area.