METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROCESSING PACKAGES

• US 20110288896A1
• Filed: 07/27/2011
• Published: 11/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: HOLLAND, Stacey, DEWEY, James A. JR., RHODES, John Andrew, CARRUTH, David L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,442,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/30 Transportation; Communications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

Methods include, prior to arrival of the incoming shipment of packages at a distribution facility, automatically determining an unload score for the incoming shipment based on electronic shipment data, the electronic shipment data including and the unload score being at least partially based on at least two or more of: a total number of packages in the incoming shipment, a number of products in the incoming shipment, and a conveyability of the packages in the incoming shipment, automatically comparing the unload score to a threshold unload score, sending instruction for directing a truck carrying the incoming shipment to at least one automated or manual receiving door when the unload score is at least equal to the threshold unload score, and sending instruction directing a truck carrying the incoming shipment to the other of the automated or manual receiving door when the unload score is less than the threshold unload score.

Claims

1. A method of processing packages from an incoming shipment of packages to a distribution facility including at least one automated receiving door and at least one manual receiving door, the method comprising:

prior to arrival of the incoming shipment of packages at the distribution facility, automatically determining with a scheduler processor an unload score for the incoming shipment of packages to the distribution facility based on electronic shipment data provided to the scheduler processor, the electronic shipment data including and the unload score being at least partially based on at least two or more of the following;

a total number of packages in the incoming shipment of packages, a number of products in the incoming shipment of packages, and a conveyability of the packages contained in the incoming shipment of packages;

automatically comparing the unload score to a threshold unload score using the scheduler processor;

sending instruction from the scheduler processor for directing a truck carrying the incoming shipment to one of the at least one automated receiving door and the at least one manual receiving door when the unload score is at least equal to the threshold unload score; and

sending instruction from the scheduler processor for directing a truck carrying the incoming shipment to the other of the at least one automated receiving door and the at least one manual receiving door when the unload score is less than the threshold unload score.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of automatically determining an unload score for the incoming shipment of packages comprises:

determining a point value for each shipment characteristic of a plurality of shipment characteristics of the incoming shipment of packages based on the electronic shipment data; and

summing the point values of each shipment characteristic to determine the unload score for the incoming shipment of packages.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduler processor is at the distribution facility.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving data related to vendor applied labels identified on each package of the incoming shipment of packages, each such vendor applied label being one of a plurality of label types and comprising a package identifier code representative of a corresponding one of the packages;

receiving data related to selected ones of the vendor applied labels for each package from identified vendor applied labels from the packages based on label type;

receiving distribution instructions for each package, the distribution instructions being based on the electronic shipment data and on inventory needs of a plurality of retail outlets; and

determining a routing code for each package based on a comparison for each package of the package identifier code of the selected one of the vendor applied labels with the electronic shipment data and the distribution instructions, the routing code being representative of one of a plurality locations within the distribution facility.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

providing instruction for generating a distribution label for each package representative of the routing code corresponding to each package.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing instruction for transporting each package to one location of the plurality of locations within the distribution facility based on the distribution label.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein:

there is a predetermined plurality of label types, each label type of the plurality of label types having an assigned priority level; and

the step of receiving data related to selected ones of the vendor applied labels for each package comprises receiving data related to a selected identified vendor applied label with a label type of the plurality of label types with a highest assigned priority level as compared to other ones of the assigned priority levels of the plurality of label types.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

receiving electronic shipment data includes receiving a carrier data portion and a vendor data portion, the carrier data portion and the vendor data portion each including at least one bill of lading number, at least one purchase order number, and a total number of packages associated with each purchase order number; and

automatically determining the unload score includes comparing the carrier data portion to the vendor data portion and calculating the unload score to be indicative of how closely the carrier data portion corresponds with the vendor data portion,

wherein when the unload score is at least equal to the threshold unload score, the unload score indicates a relatively high level of correspondence between the carrier data portion and the vendor data portion.

9. A method for processing packages, the method comprising:

receiving electronic shipment data via a scheduler processor prior to arrival of an incoming shipment of packages at a distribution facility, the electronic shipment data being representative of the incoming shipment of packages and including a carrier data portion and a vendor data portion for the incoming shipment each received by the scheduler processor via a communication link, wherein the carrier data portion and the vendor data portion each include at least one bill of lading number, at least one purchase order number, and a total number of packages associated with each purchase order number, and wherein the distribution facility includes at least one automated receiving door and at least one manual receiving door;

using the scheduler processor to automatically determine an unload score for the incoming shipment of packages based on the electronic shipment data prior to arrival of the incoming shipment of packages at the distribution facility, wherein using the scheduler processor to automatically determine the unload score includes automatically comparing the carrier data portion to the vendor data portion to at least partially determine the unload score based on how closely the carrier data portion corresponds with the vendor data portion of the electronic shipment data;

automatically determining, using the scheduler processor, whether to provide instruction to direct the incoming shipment of packages to the at least one automated receiving door or the at least one manual receiving door including;

using the scheduler processor to automatically provide instruction to direct the incoming shipment of packages to one of the at least one automated receiving door and the at least one manual receiving door when the unload score indicates a high level of correspondence between the carrier data portion and the vendor data portion, wherein the unload score indicates a high level of correspondence between the carrier data portion and the vendor data portion when the unload score is at least equal to a threshold score, and using the scheduler processor to automatically provide instruction to direct the incoming shipment of packages to the other of the at least one automated receiving door and the at least one manual receiving door based on the unload score when the unload score indicates a low level of correspondence between the carrier data portion and the vendor data portion; and

providing instruction to a transport system to successively receive each package of the incoming shipment of packages and to transport each package within the distribution facility from the at least one automated receiving door or the at least one manual receiving door.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

dynamically adjusting the threshold score based on unload scores determined for a plurality of other incoming shipments of packages to the distribution facility.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein using the scheduler processor to automatically determine the unload score includes:

determining a point value for each shipment characteristic of a plurality of shipment characteristics of the incoming shipment of packages; and

summing the point values of the plurality of shipment characteristics to determine the unload score.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the point value includes adjusting each point value based on an assigned weight value of a corresponding shipment characteristic.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein one shipment characteristic of the plurality of shipment characteristics has a point value based on a total number of packages in the incoming shipment.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein one shipment characteristic of the plurality of shipment characteristics has a point value based on a number of items contained in each package of the incoming shipment of packages.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

using the scheduler processor to compare the unload score for the incoming shipment of packages to an unload score of each incoming shipment of a plurality of other incoming shipments of packages; and

determining whether to provide instruction to direct the incoming shipment to either the at least one automated receiving door or the at least one manual receiving door based in part of the unload score for each incoming shipment of the plurality of other incoming shipments of packages.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving data related to identified vendor labels on each package of the incoming shipment of packages, each such vendor label being one of a plurality of predetermined label types and comprising a package identifier code representative of a corresponding package, and to select a vendor label for each package from the identified vendor labels from each package based on label type;

receiving distribution instructions for each package based on the electronic shipment data and on inventory needs of retail outlets;

assigning a routing code for each package based on a comparison of the package identifier code of a corresponding selected vendor label with the electronic shipment data and the distribution instructions; and

providing instruction for distributing each package along a conveyor system within the distribution facility based on a corresponding routing code, wherein the conveyor system is part of the transport system within the distribution facility.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

providing instruction to a labeler to print and affix to each package a distribution label representative of the routing code corresponding to the package; and

providing instruction to the transport system to transport the packages of the incoming shipment of packages to one of a plurality of locations within the distribution facility based on the distribution labels.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the scheduler processor is at the distribution facility.

19. A system for processing packages comprising:

a processor configured to;

prior to arrival of the incoming shipment of packages at a distribution facility including at least one automated receiving door and at least one manual receiving door, automatically determine an unload score for an incoming shipment of packages at the distribution facility based on electronic shipment data provided to the processor prior to arrival of the incoming shipment of packages, the electronic shipment data including and the unload score being at least partially based on at least two or more of the following;

a total number of packages in the incoming shipment of packages, a number of products in the incoming shipment of packages, and a conveyability of the packages contained in the incoming shipment of packages;

automatically compare the unload score to a threshold unload score;

provide instruction for directing a truck carrying the incoming shipment to one of the at least one automated receiving door and the at least one manual receiving door when the unload score is at least equal to the threshold unload score; and

provide instruction for directing a truck carrying the incoming shipment to the other of the at least one automated receiving door and the at least one manual receiving door when the unload score is less than the threshold unload score.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a point value for each shipment characteristic of a plurality of shipment characteristics of the incoming shipment of packages based on the electronic shipment data; and

sum the point values of each shipment characteristic to determine the unload score for the incoming shipment of packages.