Automated retail supply chain and inventory management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11905058-B2
Application number	US-202117240777-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2021
Priority date	Nov 29, 2016
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for supplying one or more goods to a physical store location. The goods may be received at a distribution center (DC). At the DC, the goods may be decanted from their shipping containers into one or more sub-totes, which are contained within one or more product totes. The sub-totes may be transferred from the one or more product totes to one or more order totes based on a velocity of movement of the plurality of goods at the physical store location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An order fulfillment system comprising a distribution center for supplying goods to a physical store location, the order fulfillment system comprising:
a decanting station for receiving goods into the distribution center from an upstream supplier of the goods, the decanting station receiving a plurality of sub-totes of differing sizes, two or more of the plurality of sub-totes being configured to fit within a product container, a sub-tote of the plurality of sub-totes being selected for packing with goods of the same stock keeping units (SKUs), a size of the sub-tote being selected based on inventory requirements for the goods of the same SKU at the physical store location;
a picking workstation configured to transfer goods from product containers to order containers, goods being picked and placed into the order containers based on an order for the goods at the physical store location, the sub-tote comprising the goods of the same SKU, the sub-tote being transferred as a whole from a product container to an order container at the picking workstation, the product container containing and transporting the sub-tote from the decanting station to the picking workstation; and
a delivery section for loading the order containers from the distribution center onto shipping vehicles, the delivery section loading the order container including the sub-tote with the goods of the same SKU onto a shipping vehicle for shipment to the physical store location.

2. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein goods are received at the decanting station from a manufacturer of the goods.

3. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , further comprising a storage section configured to store the product containers, including the product container including the sub-tote having the goods of the same SKU, after goods are loaded into the product containers and before the product containers are transferred to the picking workstation.

4. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , further comprising a decanting robot for automatically decanting goods in the decanting station.

5. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , further comprising a decanting robot for automatically loading the goods of the same SKU into the sub-tote at the decanting station.

6. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein goods are manually decanted in the decanting station.

7. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , further comprising a picking robot configured to automatically grip sub-totes of differing sizes and transferring the sub-tote having the goods of the same SKU as a whole from the product container to the order container.

8. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein sub-totes are manually transferred as a whole from the product containers to the order containers.

9. The order fulfillment system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of mobile robots configured to transfer the product containers from the decanting station, configured to transfer the product containers to the picking workstation, and configured to transfer empty product containers away from the picking workstation.

10. The order fulfillment system of claim 9 , the plurality of mobile robots further configured to transfer the order containers to the picking workstation, configured to transfer the order containers from the picking workstation, and configured to transfer the order containers to the delivery section.

11. An order fulfillment system comprising a distribution center for supplying goods to a physical store location, the order fulfillment system comprising:
a decanting station for receiving goods into the distribution center from an upstream supplier of the goods, the decanting station receiving a plurality of sub-totes of differing sizes, two or more of the plurality of sub-totes being configured to fit within a product container, a sub-tote of the plurality of sub-totes being selected for packing with goods of the same stock keeping units (SKUs), a size of the sub-tote being selected based on inventory requirements for the goods of the same SKU at the physical store location;
a picking workstation configured to transfer goods from product containers to order containers, goods being picked and placed into the order containers based on an order for the goods at the physical store location; and
a picking robot at the picking workstation configured to automatically grip sub-totes of differing sizes and configured to transfer the sub-tote having the goods of the same SKU as a whole from the product container to an order container.

12. The order fulfillment system of claim 11 , further comprising a delivery section for transferring order containers out of the distribution center, the delivery section transferring the order container including the sub-tote with the goods of the same SKU out of the distribution center for shipment to the physical store location.

13. The order fulfillment system of claim 11 , further comprising a storage section configured to store the product containers, including the product container including the sub-tote having the goods of the same SKU, after goods are loaded into the product containers and before the product containers are transferred to the picking workstation.

14. The order fulfillment system of claim 11 , further comprising one or more decanting robots for automatically decanting goods in the decanting station, and automatically loading the goods of the same SKU into the sub-tote at the decanting station.

15. The order fulfillment system of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of mobile robots configured to transfer the product containers and order containers to and from the picking workstation.

16. The order fulfillment system of claim 11 , further comprising a plurality of mobile robots configured to transfer the plurality of sub-totes to and from the decanting station.

17. An order fulfillment system comprising a distribution center for supplying goods to a plurality of physical store locations, the order fulfillment system comprising:
a decanting station for receiving goods into the distribution center from an upstream supplier of the goods, the decanting station receiving a plurality of sub-totes of differing sizes, two or more of the plurality of sub-totes being configured to fit within a product container, goods of the same stock keeping unit (SKU) being placed in a plurality of different sized sub-totes, each sub-tote of the plurality of different sized sub-totes destined for a different physical store of the plurality of physical store locations; and
a picking workstation configured to transfer goods from product containers to order containers, goods being picked and placed into the order containers based on an order for the goods at the plurality of physical store locations, each sub-tote comprising goods of the same SKU, each sub-tote being transferred as a whole from a product container to an order container at the picking workstation, the product containers containing and transporting the sub-totes from the decanting station to the picking workstation.

18. The order fulfillment system of claim 17 , further comprising a picking robot configured to automatically grip each of the sub-totes of the plurality of different sized sub-totes and transferring each of the sub-totes of the plurality of different sized sub-totes as a whole to different order containers.

19. The order fulfillment system of claim 17 , wherein each of the sub-totes of the plurality of different sized sub-totes are manually transferred as a whole to dif

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Lert Jr John G
• Fosnight William J

Classifications

• G06Q10/0877

  by inventory control or reporting using inventory tracking or counting · CPC title

• G06Q10/08726

  for replenishment processing, procedures, or recommendations using forecasting or optimisation · CPC title

• G06Q10/08741

  by picking of items from inventory for fulfillment · CPC title

• B65B5/10 Primary

  Filling containers or receptacles progressively or in stages by introducing successive articles, or layers of articles · CPC title

• B25J9/0096

  co-operating with a working support, e.g. work-table · CPC title