Shipment receiving systems and methods including notification and reconciliation features

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10943207-B2
Application number	US-201815910174-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 2, 2018
Priority date	Mar 2, 2017
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

Shipment receiving systems and methods are disclosed. Invoice and store inventory management data is provided to an invoice processor for assigning expected destinations to lanes of a material transporter having and a plurality of outlet lanes that each have an indicator. A scanner determines a case identifier for each case which is routed accordingly. One or more notifications is provided to the indicator of one or more of the plurality of outlet lanes. Received shipment data enables reconciliation of upstream supply change management systems and downstream store inventory systems.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A shipment receiving system for managing routing of one or more received cases from a shipment of one or more expected cases to one or more destinations, each of the one or more received cases and the one or more expected cases containing one or more items of a product type, the system comprising:
a material transporter having at least one inlet pathway and a plurality of outlet lanes, each outlet lane comprising an indicator, the material transporter configured to move a received case to one of the plurality of outlet lanes based on a received direction;
a notification engine configured to provide notifications to the indicator of one or more of the plurality of outlet lanes;
an invoice processor configured to:
receive invoice data including the product type of each of the one or more expected cases,
receive current inventory management data including a quantity and location of items of each product type in the invoice data,
receive marketing data for each product type in the invoice data,
determine an expected destination of each one of the expected cases based on the invoice data, the current inventory management data, and the marketing data,
assign one or more of the plurality of lanes to each expected destination based on the number of expected cases with the expected destination, and
store a receiving plan for the shipment including the one or more lanes assigned to each expected destination;

a scanner comprising a sensor for detecting a case identifier of each individual one of the one or more received cases;
a sorting engine, operably coupled to the material transporter, the scanner, the invoice processor, and the notification engine, and configured to:
receive the case identifier of an individual received case from the scanner,
store a receipt indication for the received case,
associate the received case with an expected case in the invoice data,
determine the destination of the received case, based on the invoice data, the current inventory management data, the marketing data, and the stored receipt indications;
assign the received case to one of the one or more lanes assigned to the destination of the received case,
direct the material transporter to route the received case to the lane assigned to the received case, and
direct the notification engine to provide a notification to the indicator of the lane assigned to the received case when the received case arrives at an unloading portion of the lane, the notification providing information regarding the received case to an unloader.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the notification comprises one or more of: the destination assigned to the received case, a lane complete notice, and a safety warning.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the safety warning indicates that the case will require a team-lift.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an inventory reconciler operably coupled to the invoice processor and the sorting engine and configured to:
update the current inventory management data based on case identifier of each of the one or more received cases.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an supply chain reconciler operably coupled to the invoice processor and the sorting engine and configured to:
generate a finalized invoice based on the case identifier of each of the one or more received cases, and
produce a report indicating any discrepancies between the one or more expected cases and the one or more receive cases.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the material transporter comprises a conveyor system.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the scanner comprises an optical scanner and the case identifier is determined based on a visual attribute of the received case selected from the group including: a bar code, a QR-code, machine-readable text, and the visual configuration of the received case.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the scanner comprises a radio-frequency identifier reader and the case identifier is determined based on one or more radio-frequency identifiers on or within the received case.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the indicator comprises a visual display device selected from the group including: a display screen integrated with the lane, one or more lighting elements integrated with the lane, and a projection on the received case.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the indicator comprises an audio output device selected from the group including: directional speakers, loudspeakers, and headphones.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the invoice processor is further configured to assign one or more bins to each destination and to provide an output directing the placement of one or more bins at each lane based on the destinations assigned to the lane.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the one or more bins comprises a display configured to indicate the destination that the bin is assigned to.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more destinations is selected from the group including: a critical stock location, a standard stock location, a feature stock location, a future planning location, a storage location and a triage location.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the sorting engine determines the destination of the received case by:
determining a triage location if a destination for the received case cannot be determined;
determining a critical stock location if the current inventory information and the stored receipt indications indicate that there is an urgent need for the product type of the received case at a standard stock location or a feature stock location;
determining a standard stock location if the current inventory information and the stored receipt indications indicate that there is space for a case of the product type of the received case at the standard stock location;
determining a feature stock location if the marketing data indicates that the product type of the received case is featured and the current inventory information and the stored receipt indications indicate that there is space for a case of the product type of the received case at the feature stock location; and
determining a future feature location if the marketing data indicates that the product type of the received case is featured and current inventory information and the stored receipt indications indicate that there is no space for a case of the product type of the received case at a feature stock location.

15. A method for routing one or more received cases, each of the one or more received cases containing one or items of a product type, from a shipment of one or more expected cases to one or more destinations, the method comprising:
receiving invoice data including the product type of each of the one or more expected cases;
receiving current inventory management data including a quantity and location of items of each product type in the invoice data;
receiving marketing data for each product type in the invoice data;
determining an expected destination of each one of the expected cases based on the invoice data, the current inventory management data, and the marketing data;
assigning one or more lanes to each expected destination based on the number of expected cases with the expected destination;
storing a receiving plan for the shipment including the one or more lanes assigned to each expected destination;
scanning, with a sensor, each of the one or more received cases to determine a case identifier;
storing a receipt indication for the received case;
associating the received case with an expected case in the invoice data

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Taylor Robert James
• Bellar Jason
• Crecelius John
• Alexander Matthew David
• Propes William M
• Berry Jesse
• Cruz Jeffrey Scott

Classifications

• B65G47/485

  using electric or electronic transmitting means between destination marks and switching means · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• B65G2203/0216

  Codes or marks on the article · CPC title

• B65G2201/02

  Articles · CPC title