CN110689256B - Tray scheduling method and device, electronic equipment and warehouse management system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a tray scheduling method, a tray scheduling device, electronic equipment and a warehouse management system, wherein the tray scheduling method comprises the following steps: acquiring an order to be processed; determining the trays to be scheduled according to the order to be processed, the goods which can be selected in each tray in the current warehouse and a preset constraint relation, so that the number of the trays to be scheduled is minimum, and the trays to be scheduled can meet the goods demand of the order to be processed; wherein the constraint relationship comprises: the number of the trays needing to be dispatched in any goods passage in the warehouse is less than or equal to the preset maximum tray amount; and controlling the forklift to convey the pallet to be dispatched. When the method is used for determining the trays needing to be dispatched, the aim of minimizing the number of the trays needing to be dispatched is taken, and meanwhile, the number of the trays needing to be dispatched in any goods channel in a warehouse is limited to be less than or equal to the maximum tray amount; the order demand is met, and meanwhile, the minimum quantity of trays are dispatched, so that the using amount of a forklift is reduced, the jam of a goods channel is avoided, and the production efficiency of system orders is improved.

Description

Pallet scheduling method, device, electronic equipment and warehouse management system

technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of artificial intelligence, in particular to a pallet scheduling method, device, electronic equipment and warehouse management system.

Background technique

In modern unmanned warehouses, warehouse management systems need to dispatch forklifts to assist in order production. The warehouse management system determines the pallets that need to be transported according to the goods in the current order to be produced, and then dispatches the forklift to move to the shelf, transports the pallets to the conveyor line, and transports the pallets to the site through the conveyor line. The staff on the site The order production process is completed by picking the relevant items from the pallet according to the order.

In the related art, the warehouse management system usually uses a greedy algorithm to calculate the pallets required for the production order, but this method usually only considers the factor of whether the goods on the pallet are related to the order. Too many pallets not only affect the efficiency of order production, but also cause congestion in the cargo lanes between the shelves.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a pallet scheduling method, device, electronic equipment and warehouse management system, which can schedule the minimum amount of pallets while meeting the order requirements, thereby reducing the usage of forklifts, avoiding congestion of cargo lanes, and increasing system orders. production efficiency.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a pallet scheduling method, which is applied to an electronic device; the electronic device is communicatively connected to a forklift; the forklift is used to transport pallets; the method includes: acquiring an order to be processed; The items that can be picked from each pallet in the current warehouse and the preset constraint relationships determine the pallets that need to be dispatched, so that the number of pallets that need to be dispatched is the least, and the pallets that need to be dispatched can meet the needs of the goods to be processed orders; among them, the constraint relationship Including: the pallets that need to be dispatched in any cargo lane in the warehouse are less than or equal to the preset maximum pallet quantity; control the forklift to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched.

In conjunction with the first aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides the first possible implementation of the first aspect, wherein the needs are determined according to the order to be processed, the items that can be picked from each pallet in the current warehouse, and the preset constraint relationship. The steps of scheduling the pallets to minimize the number of pallets to be scheduled include: setting the minimum number of pallets to be scheduled as the objective function; performing integer linear programming processing through the objective function and constraint relationship to obtain the pallets that need to be scheduled.

In conjunction with the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, wherein,

The objective function includes: min∑ _p x _p ;

Constraints include:

y _l =∑ _p∈l x _p ;

y _l ≤ L;

Among them, if the pallet p is a pallet that needs to be dispatched, then x _p =1; if the pallet p is not a pallet that needs to be dispatched, then x _p =0; qty _p,g is the number of goods g that can be picked in the pallet p; req _g is the quantity of goods g included in the order to be processed; yl is the quantity of pallets to be dispatched in the cargo lane _l ; L is the maximum quantity of pallets.

With reference to the first aspect, any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect and the second aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, wherein the The number is multiple; the steps of controlling the forklift to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched include: determining the target freight lane to which each pallet in the pallets to be dispatched belongs; tray.

With reference to the first aspect, any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect and the second aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, wherein according to the order to be processed, After the steps of determining the pallets that need to be scheduled, the products that can be picked in each pallet in the current warehouse and the preset constraint relationship, the method further includes: adding an identifier to the pallets that need to be scheduled; locking the pallets that need to be scheduled and the orders to be processed. related goods; the steps of controlling the forklift to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched, including: controlling the forklift to transport the marked pallet to the destination, picking the locked goods; canceling the marking of the pallet that has been delivered to the destination.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides the fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, wherein the pickable goods in each pallet in the current warehouse are determined in the following manner: Determine whether there is a locked item in the current tray; if there is, remove the locked item from the items in the current tray, and determine the remaining item as a pickable item.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a pallet scheduling device, wherein the device is provided in an electronic device; the electronic device is connected in communication with a forklift; the forklift is used to transport pallets; the device includes: an order acquisition module for acquiring pending processing Order; determination module is used to determine the pallets that need to be scheduled according to the orders to be processed, the items that can be picked from each pallet in the current warehouse, and the preset constraint relationship, so as to minimize the number of pallets that need to be scheduled, and the pallets to be scheduled can be Meet the goods requirements of the pending orders; the constraint relationship includes: the pallets to be dispatched in any cargo lane in the warehouse are less than or equal to the maximum pallet quantity; the transport module is used to control the forklift to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic device, wherein the electronic device includes: a processor and a storage device; a computer program is stored on the storage device, and the computer program executes any one of the first aspect when run by the processor The pallet scheduling method of an embodiment.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a warehouse management system, wherein the system includes the electronic device of the third aspect and a forklift; the electronic device is communicatively connected to the forklift; the electronic device is used to obtain orders to be processed, and is also used to control Forklift trucks deliver pallets that need to be dispatched.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a machine-readable storage medium, wherein the machine-readable storage medium stores machine-executable instructions, and when the machine-executable instructions are called and executed by a processor, the machine-executable instructions The processor is caused to implement the pallet scheduling method of any embodiment of the first aspect.

The embodiments of the present invention have brought the following beneficial effects:

In the pallet scheduling method, device, electronic equipment and warehouse management system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, when determining the pallets that need to be scheduled, the goal is to minimize the number of pallets that need to be scheduled, and at the same time limit the pallets that need to be scheduled in any cargo lane in the warehouse The number of pallets is less than or equal to the maximum pallet amount; while meeting the order demand, the minimum amount of pallets is dispatched, thereby reducing the usage of forklifts, avoiding cargo lane congestion, and improving the production efficiency of system orders.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the description, claims and drawings.

In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, preferred embodiments are given below, and are described in detail as follows in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

In order to illustrate the specific embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the description of the specific embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description The drawings are some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

1 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a flowchart of a pallet scheduling method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart of another pallet scheduling method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart of another pallet scheduling method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a schematic structural diagram of a pallet scheduling device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a warehouse management system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, but not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

At present, in the related technologies of pallet scheduling, the warehouse management system usually uses a greedy algorithm to calculate the pallets required for the production order, but this method usually only considers the factor of whether the goods on the pallet are related to the order, and the number of pallets determined based on this factor is often too large. , the forklift transports more pallets not only affects the order production efficiency, but also causes congestion in the cargo lane between the shelves. Based on this, the embodiments of the present invention provide a pallet scheduling method, device, electronic equipment and warehouse management system, which can be applied to various types of actual warehouse production processes such as e-commerce warehouses, three-dimensional warehouses, automated warehouses, and storage warehouses. , the technology of making the scheduling strategy more optimal can be implemented by using relevant software and hardware, which will be described below through embodiments.

Example 1:

First, an example electronic device 100 for implementing the pallet scheduling method, apparatus, electronic device, and warehouse management system of an embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to FIG. 1 .

As shown in FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device, the electronic device 100 includes one or more processors 102 , one or more storage devices 104 , an input device 106 , an output device 108 and one or more image acquisition devices 110 , these components are interconnected by a bus system 112 and/or other forms of connection mechanisms (not shown). It should be noted that the components and structures of the electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 1 are only exemplary and non-restrictive, and the electronic device may also have other components and structures as required, or the electronic device may also have more components and structures than those shown in the figure. Fewer components, or the electronic device may also have a different arrangement of components.

The processor 102 can be a gateway, can also be an intelligent terminal, or a device including a central processing unit (CPU) or other forms of processing units with data processing capabilities and/or instruction execution capabilities. The data of the components is processed, and other components in the electronic device 100 may also be controlled to perform desired functions.

Storage 104 may include one or more computer program products, which may include various forms of computer-readable storage media, such as volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. Volatile memory may include, for example, random access memory (RAM) and/or cache memory, among others. Non-volatile memory may include, for example, read only memory (ROM), hard disk, flash memory, and the like. One or more computer program instructions may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium, and the processor 102 may execute the program instructions to implement the client functions (implemented by the processor) in the following embodiments of the present invention and/or other desired Function. Various application programs and various data, such as various data used and/or generated by the application program, etc., may also be stored in the computer-readable storage medium.

Input device 106 may be a device used by a user to input instructions, and may include one or more of a keyboard, mouse, microphone, touch screen, and the like.

The output device 108 may output various information (eg, images or sounds) to the outside (eg, a user), and may include one or more of a display, a speaker, and the like.

The image capture device 110 may capture preview video frames or image data (eg, a to-be-recognized image or a training image), and store the captured preview video frames or image data in the storage device 104 for use by other components.

Exemplarily, each device in the example electronic device for implementing the pallet scheduling method, device, electronic device, and warehouse management system according to the embodiment of the present invention may be set in an integrated manner, or may be set in a decentralized manner, such as the processor 102, the storage device 104. The input device 106 and the output device 108 are integrated and arranged into one body, and the image capture device 110 is arranged at a designated position where pictures can be captured. When the various devices in the above electronic device are integrated and set, the electronic device can be implemented as a smart terminal such as a camera, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a computer, a vehicle-mounted terminal, and the like.

Embodiment two:

This embodiment provides a pallet scheduling method, which can be applied to the above-mentioned electronic equipment; the electronic equipment is communicatively connected to a forklift; the forklift is used to transport pallets; as shown in FIG. 2 , the method includes the following steps:

Step S202, obtaining the pending order;

The above pending orders may be orders sent by users using computers, tablet computers, mobile phones or wearable devices through web pages, shopping APPs and other applications; they may also be orders entered manually in large quantities, such as bulk cargo orders, etc.; An order that can be generated for the control system of a warehouse or workshop to satisfy the material or parts required for a certain production stage.

The number of pending orders is often multiple; for example, the warehouse management system can collect orders at regular intervals, for example, multiple orders received by the warehouse within a time period of ten minutes or one hour, as pending orders. The preset time for e-commerce warehouses is short, for example, the preset time can be about 10 minutes, and another warehouse with large-scale orders has a longer preset time, which can be in hours.

Step S204: Determine the pallets to be dispatched according to the order to be processed, the items that can be picked from each pallet in the current warehouse, and the preset constraint relationship, so as to minimize the number of pallets to be dispatched and the pallets to be dispatched to satisfy the order to be processed. The demand for goods; wherein, the above constraint relationship includes: the pallet to be dispatched in any cargo lane in the warehouse is less than or equal to the preset maximum pallet quantity;

The above-mentioned pallets are usually placed on shelves, and goods are placed on the pallets. The above-mentioned pickable goods can be understood as: the goods that can be used for the production of the above-mentioned pending orders; in addition to the pickable goods, there may also be unpickable goods in the tray, such as those that have been locked by orders other than the above-mentioned pending orders and are waiting to be processed. Picked items, items not used for build-to-order, etc. Pickable goods in pallets can be stored in the warehouse management system in advance, and the system can also record which goods are placed on which trays, that is, the corresponding relationship between goods and trays. A pallet can hold the same kind of goods or different goods; the goods on different pallets can be the same or different.

The above-mentioned preset constraint relationship may be set by mathematical methods such as nonlinear equality constraint function, nonlinear inequality constraint function, integer linear programming, machine learning, and deep learning. The above-mentioned pallets that need to be dispatched can be determined by the goods contained in the order to be processed. The pickable goods in the pallet to be dispatched need to be greater than or equal to the goods contained in the order to be processed, so that the pallet to be dispatched can satisfy the order to be processed. demand for goods. The pallet where the goods included in the pending order information are located is the pallet that needs to be dispatched. The above-mentioned number of pallets that need to be dispatched is the least. The actual number of pallets to be dispatched in a time period can be calculated, and the minimum number of pallets can be obtained by arranging and combining them, or the constraint relationship can be established mathematically to minimize the number of pallets. The above-mentioned preset maximum tray quantity can be manually set according to experience, such as 3, 4 and so on.

The above preset constraints include that the pallets to be dispatched in any cargo lane in the warehouse are less than or equal to the preset maximum pallet quantity; specifically, it is necessary to first extract the goods and the quantity of goods contained in the order to be processed, and the goods on each tray. Information related to pallet scheduling, such as the quantity of goods and the cargo lane to which each pallet belongs, and then establish the above constraint relationship based on this information. It should be noted that the goods mentioned in the present disclosure may include, but are not limited to, sold goods, materials or parts required in the production process, packages or express delivery, and the like.

In step S206, the forklift is controlled to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched.

The operation of the above-mentioned forklift can be remotely controlled by the electronic equipment of the warehouse management system. First, the warehouse management system first controls the forklift to enter the cargo lane where the pallet to be dispatched is located, and then moves to the shelf position of the pallet to be dispatched. For example, a forklift truck can have multiple layers. The forklift truck removes the pallets that need to be dispatched from the shelves and places them on each layer of the forklift truck. The forklift truck can take out pallets from different shelves and carry them. In another manner, the forklift truck may have only one floor, and the forklift truck picks up a pallet and then transports the pallet to the destination. Forklifts carry pallets as a proxy, and then dispatch pallets in a certain order to their destinations, such as conveyor lines or picking stations.

In a pallet scheduling method provided by an embodiment of the present invention, when determining the pallets to be scheduled, the goal is to minimize the number of pallets to be scheduled, and at the same time, the number of pallets to be scheduled in any cargo lane in the warehouse is limited to be less than or equal to the maximum pallet quantity; While meeting the order requirements, dispatch the minimum amount of pallets, thereby reducing the usage of forklifts, avoiding congestion of cargo lanes, and improving the production efficiency of system orders.

Embodiment three:

This embodiment provides another pallet scheduling method, which is implemented on the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment; this embodiment focuses on describing the order to be processed, the items that can be picked from each pallet in the current warehouse, and the preset constraint relationship , the specific process of determining the pallets that need to be dispatched to minimize the number of pallets that need to be dispatched. As shown in FIG. 3 , the pallet scheduling method in this embodiment includes the following steps:

Step S302, obtaining an order to be processed;

Step S304, the minimum number of pallets to be dispatched is set as the objective function;

In actual implementation, since the items of the order to be processed have been determined and the selectable items in each tray have been determined, a variety of alternative pallet scheduling schemes can be obtained by arranging and combining; according to certain rules, it is possible to calculate Get the number of pallets to be dispatched for each scenario. The above-mentioned number of pallets to be scheduled is the smallest. Specifically, a constraint relationship can be established through a mathematical method to minimize the number of pallets to be scheduled. The above objective function may be a functional relationship between the number of pallets to be scheduled and the goods and the number of goods contained in the order to be processed, the goods and the number of goods held on each tray, and the cargo lane to which each tray belongs. Simply put, it is the function obtained after the solution. The function is unknown before the solution. According to the preset idea, the above-mentioned known information is used to solve the unknown functional relationship, which is the objective function.

Step S306, through the above-mentioned objective function and constraint relationship, perform integer linear programming processing to obtain the pallet that needs to be scheduled;

It can be known from the above embodiments that the constraint relationship can be set by mathematical methods such as nonlinear equality constraint function, nonlinear inequality constraint function, integer linear programming, machine learning, and deep learning. In this embodiment, the constraint relationship includes an integer linear programming. The above integer linear programming may mean that the variables (all or part) in the programming are limited to integers, and in a linear model, the variables are limited to integers.

In this embodiment, it can refer to converting warehouse information into variables in planning within a certain period of time. The warehouse information includes information on orders to be processed, shelf information, information on pallets to be scheduled, information on various cargo lanes in the warehouse, etc. Restrict all or part of the problem to integers and model the problem as an integer programming problem. The above-mentioned pallets that need to be scheduled can be obtained by solving the integer linear programming problem, when the number of pallets is the smallest, and the pallets that need to be scheduled; The forklifts that need to be dispatched, the dispatching sequence of forklifts, and the number of forklifts in the cargo lane, etc., in the future period of time when the above pending orders are completed. In most cases, since forklifts can transport multiple pallets at the same time, the number of pallets that need to be dispatched and the number of pallet trucks that need to be dispatched may not be in one-to-one correspondence, but the number of pallets that need to be dispatched and the number of pallet trucks often have strong related relationship.

In step S308, the forklift is controlled to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched.

In the above method, combined with the requirements in the actual warehouse production process, integer linear programming is used to calculate the pallets that need to be dispatched, and the parameters of the model can be dynamically adjusted according to the actual needs of the site. This method limits the maximum number of pallets in the cargo lane through the constraint relationship, and sets the minimum number of pallets to be dispatched as the objective function, transforming the problem into an integer linear programming problem. When cargo lanes are congested, an optimal dispatching plan can be obtained, which reduces the cost of forklift dispatching and improves the production efficiency of system orders.

Embodiment 4:

This embodiment provides another pallet scheduling method, which is implemented on the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment; this embodiment focuses on describing the specific content of the objective function and the constraint relationship.

The objective function of this embodiment includes: min∑ _p x _p ;

Constraints include:

y _l =∑ _p∈l x _p (2);

y _l ≤ L (3);

In the above constraint relationship, in formula (1), the variable x _p indicates whether the pallet p is needed, if the pallet p is the pallet that needs to be scheduled, then x _p =1; if the pallet p is not the pallet that needs to be scheduled, then x _p =0; qty _{p, g} are constants, indicating the number of items g that can be picked in pallet p; req _g is a constant, indicating the number of items g included in the pending order; this formula defines that the items on the required pallet should satisfy the pending order It can be understood that for any item in the pending order, the sum of the items in all pallets that need to be dispatched should meet the demand of the pending order.

In actual implementation, after the integer linear programming is performed according to the above objective function and constraint relationship; the integer linear programming needs to be performed again according to the newly added pending orders at regular intervals; at this time, there may be no time to pick after the last linear programming. For the finished goods, when the current linear programming is performed, it is necessary to update the above x _p and qty _p,g according to the pallets and goods required in the previous linear programming, so as to avoid conflicts between the planning results of multiple linear programming .

The above formula (2), where y _l represents the number of pallets that need to be dispatched in the cargo lane 1, and the number of pallets that need to be dispatched in the cargo lane can also be expressed as the busyness of the cargo lane; the pallets that need to be dispatched to process the pending order can be dispatched by a forklift truck. Transportation, based on this, the formula can also be understood as the number of pallets that need to be dispatched in the freight lane to express the busyness of the forklift in the freight lane. The number of pallets that need to be dispatched in the above cargo lane can be understood as the number of pallets that contain orders to be processed in a cargo lane. For any cargo lane, it can only contain part of the pallets related to the pending order, or it can include all the pallets related to the pending order. Order-related pallets. The pallets on which the goods in the above pending orders are placed may be located in the same cargo lane, or may be located in different cargo lanes.

The above formula (3), where L is a constant, represents the preset maximum number of pallets, which can also be understood as the upper limit of the busyness of the freight lane, because for a certain freight lane, if the pallets to be transported are larger than the preset maximum number of pallets , which can easily lead to forklift congestion in the cargo lane. This formula indicates that the pallets that need to be dispatched in any cargo lane in the warehouse are less than or equal to the preset maximum pallet quantity. The preset maximum pallet volume for each cargo lane can be the same or different, and can be determined according to the actual operation of the warehouse.

The above objective function can represent the minimum number of all pallets that need to be scheduled for orders to be processed in a period of time. The objective function is to minimize the number of pallets required to meet the requirements of the upper limit of the busyness of the freight lane and the requirements of the goods required by the order. , theoretically this integer linear programming problem can be optimally solved.

In addition, the above-mentioned integer linear programming problem can also be applied to the online production process, in which it is only necessary to fix some variables x _p to 1, indicating that some pallets have been needed, and it is enough to find out whether other idle pallets need to be produced.

In the above method, the problem is transformed into an integer linear programming problem, and the warehouse information is maximized. By limiting the maximum pallet quantity of each cargo lane, the number of pallets that need to be dispatched is minimized, so as to avoid the congestion of the cargo lane and reduce the forklift dispatching. cost, thereby improving the production efficiency of system orders.

Embodiment 5:

This embodiment provides another pallet scheduling method, which is implemented on the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment; this embodiment focuses on describing the specific process of controlling a forklift to transport a pallet that needs to be scheduled. In this embodiment, the number of trays to be scheduled is multiple. As shown in FIG. 4 , the pallet scheduling method in this embodiment includes the following steps. Steps S402 , S404 and S406 correspond to steps S302 , S304 and S306 in the foregoing embodiment, and reference may be made to the specific description in the foregoing embodiment, which is not repeated here.

Step S402, obtaining an order to be processed;

Step S404, the minimum number of pallets to be dispatched is set as the objective function;

Step S406, performing integer linear programming processing through the objective function and the constraint relationship, to obtain the pallet that needs to be scheduled;

Step S408, adding an identifier to the pallet that needs to be scheduled;

After the above steps are completed, the pallet to be scheduled is obtained, and the information of the pallet to be scheduled can be determined, including location information, product information, and the like. In this embodiment, an identifier is added to the above-mentioned pallet that needs to be scheduled, and the identifier can be an identifier associated with the order to be processed, such as the order number of the order to be processed, order time, etc.; the specific form of the identifier can be numbers, letters or words.

Step S410, locking the goods related to the order to be processed in the pallet that needs to be dispatched;

Since the warehouse management system may collect pending orders at regular intervals, it will perform integer linear programming at regular intervals (such as several seconds), so in a long period of time, many batches of pending orders will be processed. , perform multiple integer linear programming, in order to avoid the pallets that need to be transported and the goods that need to be picked after the last linear programming is also planned when processing the second batch of pending orders, you can complete a batch of pending orders. , lock the items related to the pending order in the pallet that needs to be dispatched.

In the specific implementation, when the next batch of new orders to be processed is determined by integer linear programming to determine the goods related to the to-be-processed order in the pallets that need to be dispatched, it is necessary to pre-judge the pickable goods in each pallet in the warehouse to determine the current pallet. Whether there are locked goods in the current pallet, if the current pallet goods are goods that have been locked in the last batch of pending orders, the locked goods can be removed from the goods on the current pallet, and the remaining goods can be determined as pickable goods. After deleting the goods in the previously locked tray, re-lock the goods related to the current new pending order in the tray that needs to be dispatched.

Step S412, determining the target freight lane to which each pallet in the pallets to be dispatched belongs;

The above-mentioned target cargo lane may refer to the cargo lane on both sides of the shelf where the pallet to be dispatched is located, which is convenient for the forklift to lock the running route, pick up the pallet, and transport the pallet. Between each cargo lane, the used forklifts can be independent of each other. In the specific implementation, the above steps have determined the pallets that need to be dispatched, and added the identifiers. The system already knows which pallets need to be dispatched. Since the positions of the pallets are relatively fixed, the cargo lanes to which the pallets belong are also fixed. Which pallets are dispatched determines the freight lanes to which these pallets belong. In another way, there are cargo lanes on both sides of the shelf. It can be understood that each pallet can belong to two cargo lanes. The number of dispatched pallets, reasonably allocate the number of pallets that need to be dispatched in the two freight lanes, determine the target freight lane, and then improve the operation efficiency.

Step S414, controlling the forklifts corresponding to each target cargo lane to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched in each target cargo lane;

After the target cargo lane is determined in step S412, the above-mentioned forklift picks up and transports the pallet. Forklifts can be controlled by the warehouse system's electronics to transport pallets that need to be dispatched in each destination lane. In the specific implementation, the electronic equipment of the warehouse system can first determine the number of forklifts that need to be transported for each target freight lane, and can assign the forklifts that are close to each target freight lane to the corresponding target freight lanes through the nearest principle. , Transport the pallets that need to be dispatched. In another way, the freight lanes and the forklifts are pre-matched, for example, one or more forklifts are pre-matched for each freight lane, and the one or more forklifts are responsible for picking up and transporting the pallets of the freight lane.

Step S416, control the forklift to transport the marked pallet to the destination, and pick the locked goods;

The above destination can be a conveyor line or a station. The electronic equipment of the warehouse system can control the forklift to enter the target cargo lane. The forklift can have multiple layers. The pallets with the logo can be taken out from the shelf and placed on each layer of the forklift, and the marked pallets can be transported through the target cargo lane. to the conveyor line or station. If the pallet is transported to the conveyor line, the marked pallet will be transported to the station by the conveyor line. Forklifts can also transport marked pallets directly to the station, where workers or picking devices (such as robotic arms, picking robots) pick the locked items in the pallet.

Step S418, cancel the identification of the pallet that has been transported to the destination.

As mentioned above, the purpose of setting the pallet identifier is to avoid planning the pallets that need to be transported and the items that need to be picked after the last linear planning when processing the second batch of pending orders; when the pallets are delivered to the destination, specify For the pending order of the last linear programming, the goods have been picked from the tray, and there is no need to continue to mark the tray. At this time, you need to cancel the marking on the tray, so as to facilitate the integer linear programming of the new pending order. , and then re-identify the pallet that needs to be scheduled.

In the above method, the pallets that need to be dispatched and the goods in the pallets are more reasonably planned, the pallets that need to be dispatched are marked with signs, and the goods related to the pending orders in the pallets that need to be dispatched are locked, so that the pallet dispatching is more effective. At the same time, by determining the forklift corresponding to the target freight lane, the process of forklift transporting pallets is more concise and orderly, which solves the problem of congestion in the freight lane, reduces the cost of forklift dispatching, and improves the production process and efficiency of the warehouse.

Embodiment 6:

Corresponding to the above method embodiment, referring to a schematic structural diagram of a pallet dispatching device shown in FIG. 5 , the device is arranged in an electronic device; the electronic device is connected in communication with a forklift truck; the forklift truck is used to transport pallets, and the device includes:

an order acquisition module 51, used to acquire pending orders;

The determination module 52 is used to determine the pallets that need to be dispatched according to the orders to be processed, the items that can be picked in each pallet in the current warehouse, and the preset constraint relationship, so that the number of pallets that need to be dispatched is the least, and the pallets that need to be dispatched can meet the The goods demand of the order to be processed; wherein, the constraint relationship includes: the pallet that needs to be dispatched in any cargo lane in the warehouse is less than or equal to the maximum pallet quantity;

The transport module 53 is used to control the forklift to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched.

Further, the above determination module is used to: set the minimum number of pallets to be scheduled as the objective function; perform integer linear programming processing through the objective function and the constraint relationship to obtain the pallets to be scheduled.

Further, the above-mentioned determination module is also used for: the above-mentioned objective function includes: min∑ _p x _p ; the above-mentioned constraint relationship includes:

y _l =∑ _p∈l x _p ;

y _l ≤ L;

Among them, if the pallet p is a pallet that needs to be dispatched, then x _p =1; if the pallet p is not a pallet that needs to be dispatched, then x _p =0; qty _p,g is the number of goods g that can be picked in the pallet p; req _g is the quantity of goods g included in the pending order; y _l is the number of pallets to be dispatched in cargo lane l; L is the maximum pallet quantity.

Further, the number of the above-mentioned pallets to be dispatched is multiple; the above-mentioned transport module is used to: determine the respective target freight lanes to which each pallet in the pallets to be dispatched; Pallets that need to be scheduled.

Further, the above-mentioned device also includes an identification module, which is used for, after the step of determining the pallet to be dispatched according to the order to be processed, the selectable goods in each pallet in the current warehouse, and the preset constraint relationship, add the pallet to the pallet that needs to be dispatched. Identification; locking the goods in the pallet that needs to be dispatched related to the pending order;

Further, the above-mentioned transport module is also used to: control the forklift to transport the marked pallet to the destination, pick the locked goods, and cancel the identification of the pallet that has been transported to the destination.

Further, the selectable goods in each tray in the above-mentioned current warehouse are determined in the following manner to determine whether there are locked goods in the current tray; if there is, remove the locked goods from the goods contained in the current tray. , identifies the remaining items as pickable.

A pallet dispatching device provided by an embodiment of the present invention, when determining the pallets to be dispatched, takes the minimum number of pallets to be dispatched as the goal, and limits the maximum amount of pallets that need to be dispatched in any cargo lane, so that any cargo lane in the warehouse can be placed in the warehouse. The pallets that need to be dispatched are less than or equal to the preset maximum pallet quantity. Under the requirement of the upper limit of busyness, the number of pallets required in the cargo lane should be minimized as much as possible, so as to avoid the congestion of the cargo lane, reduce the cost of forklift dispatching, and improve the The production efficiency of system orders. The device transforms the problem into an integer linear programming problem, and can obtain a better solution within a specified time, as well as a theoretical optimal solution, which can be applied in actual production.

Embodiment 7:

An embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic device, the electronic device includes: a processor and a storage device; a computer program is stored on the storage device, and when the computer program is run by the processor, the above-mentioned pallet scheduling method or the above-mentioned pallet scheduling method is executed. A step of.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, for the specific working process of the electronic device described above, reference may be made to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

Embodiments of the present invention also provide a machine-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored on the machine-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is run by a processor, the above-mentioned pallet scheduling method or steps of the above-mentioned pallet scheduling method are executed.

The pallet scheduling method, apparatus, electronic device, and computer program product of a warehouse management system provided by the embodiments of the present invention include a computer-readable storage medium storing program codes, and the instructions included in the program codes can be used to execute the preceding method embodiments. For the specific implementation, reference may be made to the method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, for the specific working process of the above-described device and/or apparatus, reference may be made to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

Embodiment 8:

An embodiment of the present invention provides a warehouse management system, as shown in FIG. 6 , a schematic structural diagram of a warehouse management system, wherein the system includes the aforementioned electronic device 100 and a forklift 61 ; the electronic device 100 is communicatively connected to the forklift 61 ; The electronic device 100 is used to obtain orders to be processed, and is also used to control the forklift 61 to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched to the destination.

The above-mentioned electronic equipment is used to distribute the pending orders received within a period of time to each forklift according to a certain distribution principle. Item information of the order, and assign the same items of different pending orders to the same forklift first. The above forklift is used to transport pallets to their destination. Such destinations may include conveyor lines and stations.

The above electronic device is also used to control the forklift to transport the pallets that need to be dispatched to the destination.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a warehouse management system, wherein the system includes an electronic device, a forklift, and a destination; the electronic device is respectively connected in communication with the forklift and the destination; the electronic device is used to allocate pending orders to the forklift and the destination, and also Used to control forklifts to transport pallets to conveyor lines or stations. Through the pallet scheduling method program stored in the electronic device, the system considers the maximum number of pallets in the cargo lane and the busyness of the cargo lane for a period of time in the future. The number of pallets required, avoiding the congestion of cargo lanes, reducing the cost of forklift dispatching, and improving the production efficiency of system orders.

In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present invention, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected" and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it may be a fixed connection or a detachable connection , or integrally connected; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, or the internal communication between the two components. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood in specific situations.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention can be embodied in the form of a software product in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art or the part of the technical solution. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, Read-Only Memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), Random Access Memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes .

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc. The indicated orientation or positional relationship is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, which is only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the indicated device or element must have a specific orientation or a specific orientation. construction and operation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the invention. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second", and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed to indicate or imply relative importance.

Finally, it should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments are only specific implementations of the present invention, and are used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, but not to limit them. The protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, although referring to the foregoing The embodiment has been described in detail the present invention, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand: any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the technical field within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention can still modify the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments. Or can easily think of changes, or equivalently replace some of the technical features; and these modifications, changes or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, and should be covered in the present invention. within the scope of protection. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (10)

1. A method for scheduling a tray is applied to an electronic device; the electronic equipment is in communication connection with the forklift; the forklift is used for conveying the tray; the method comprises the following steps:

acquiring an order to be processed;

determining the trays to be scheduled according to the order to be processed, the goods which can be picked in each tray in the current warehouse and a preset constraint relation so as to minimize the number of the trays to be scheduled, wherein the trays to be scheduled can meet the goods demand of the order to be processed; wherein the constraint relationship comprises: the quantity of the pallets needing to be dispatched in any goods channel in the warehouse is less than or equal to the preset maximum quantity of the pallets; the trays to be scheduled are determined after screening is carried out based on the constraint relation after a plurality of candidate tray scheduling schemes are determined according to the goods demand of the order to be processed and the sortable goods contained in each tray;

and controlling a forklift to convey the pallet to be dispatched.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the trays to be scheduled to minimize the number of trays to be scheduled according to the pending order, the items that can be picked in each tray in the current warehouse, and a preset constraint relationship comprises:

setting the minimum number of the trays to be scheduled as an objective function;

and performing integer linear programming processing through the objective function and the constraint relation to obtain the tray to be scheduled.

3. The method of claim 2,

the objective function includes: sigma min _p x _p ；

The constraint relationship includes:

y _l ＝∑ _p∈l x _p ；

y _l ≤L；

wherein if the tray p is a tray to be scheduled, x _p 1 is ═ 1; if tray p is not a tray that needs scheduling, x _p ＝0；qty _p,g Is the number of items of the items g pickable in the tray p; req _g Is the item quantity of the item g contained in the pending order; y is _l The number of pallets to be dispatched in the cargo way l; l is the maximum tray amount.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the number of trays to be scheduled is plural;

the step of controlling the forklift to convey the pallet to be dispatched comprises the following steps:

determining a target goods channel to which each tray in the trays to be dispatched belongs;

and controlling the forklift corresponding to each target goods way, and conveying the trays to be dispatched in each target goods way.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein after the step of determining the tray to be dispatched based on the order to be processed, the items available for picking in each tray in the current warehouse, and the preset constraint relationship, the method further comprises:

adding an identifier for the tray to be dispatched;

locking goods related to the to-be-processed order in the tray to be dispatched;

the step of controlling the forklift to convey the pallet to be dispatched comprises the following steps:

controlling a forklift to convey the tray added with the identifier to a destination, and picking the locked goods;

canceling the identification of the tray that has been shipped to the destination.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the items available for picking in each tray in the current warehouse are determined by:

judging whether the locked goods exist in the current tray or not;

and if the goods exist, the locked goods are removed from the goods contained in the current tray, and the remaining goods are determined as the pickable goods.

7. The tray scheduling device is characterized in that the device is arranged on electronic equipment; the electronic equipment is in communication connection with the forklift; the forklift is used for conveying the pallet; the device comprises:

the order acquisition module is used for acquiring the order to be processed;

the determining module is used for determining the trays to be scheduled according to the to-be-processed order, the goods which can be picked in each tray in the current warehouse and a preset constraint relation, so that the number of the trays to be scheduled is minimum, and the trays to be scheduled can meet the goods demand of the to-be-processed order; wherein the constraint relationship comprises: the quantity of the pallets needing to be dispatched in any goods channel in the warehouse is less than or equal to the maximum quantity of the pallets; the trays to be scheduled are determined after screening is carried out based on the constraint relation after a plurality of candidate tray scheduling schemes are determined according to the goods demand of the order to be processed and the sortable goods contained in each tray;

and the conveying module is used for controlling the forklift to convey the tray to be dispatched.

8. An electronic device, characterized in that the electronic device comprises: a processor and a storage device;

the storage device has stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by the processor, performs the method of scheduling pallets of any one of claims 1 to 6.

9. A warehouse management system, characterized in that the system comprises the electronic device of claim 8 and a forklift; the electronic equipment is in communication connection with the forklift;

the electronic equipment is used for acquiring the order to be processed and controlling the forklift to convey the tray to be dispatched.

10. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon machine-executable instructions which, when invoked and executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the pallet scheduling method of any of claims 1 to 6.

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