Automatic generation of flexible load design

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11960800-B2
Application number	US-202117161559-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2021
Priority date	Jan 30, 2019
Publication date	Apr 16, 2024
Grant date	Apr 16, 2024

Abstract

A system including one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computing instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, perform certain acts. The acts can include obtaining an original load design for loading a trailer to deliver stacks of pallets to physical stores. The load design specifies a respective floor spot assignment for each of the stacks. The original load design satisfies center-of-gravity constraints. The acts also can include generating fluid groups of the stacks to form an initial fluid grouping. The acts additionally can include determining that the fluid groups do not collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints. The acts further can include until the fluid groups collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints, repeatedly determining one or more infeasible groups from the fluid groups, and adjusting at least one of the one or more infeasible groups to update the fluid groups. The acts additionally can include outputting a flexible load design comprising the fluid groups that collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints. Other embodiments are described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computing instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:
obtaining an original load design for loading a trailer to deliver stacks of pallets to physical stores, wherein the original load design specifies a respective floor spot assignment for each of the stacks in the trailer, and wherein the original load design satisfies center-of-gravity constraints;
generating fluid groups of the stacks to form an initial fluid grouping of initial fluid groupings, wherein:
generating the fluid groups is based on one or more containers of the trailer to which the stacks are assigned in the original load design;
the fluid groups comprise groupings of the stacks that are configured to be loaded interchangeably in different floor spots within each respective fluid group; and
the stacks within a respective set of the stacks for each respective fluid group are interchangeable, to satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints, among respective floor spot assignments for each respective fluid group;

determining that the fluid groups do not collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints, comprising determining when an upper bound center-of-gravity constraint is satisfied when the stacks of the fluid groups are arranged heaviest rearward in each of the fluid groups;
until the fluid groups collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints in a final load design, repeatedly:
determining one or more infeasible groups from the fluid groups, wherein the one or more infeasible groups comprise at least one feasibility check unsatisfied; and
adjusting at least one of the one or more infeasible groups to update the fluid groups; and

outputting the final load design comprising the fluid groups that collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints to cause the stacks to be loaded into the trailer according to the final load design for delivery to the physical stores according to respective delivery routes, wherein the final load design satisfies the center-of-gravity constraints and specifies the respective floor spot assignments for each respective set of stacks for each respective fluid group of the fluid groups.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
generating the fluid groups of the stacks to form the initial fluid groupings is further based on the physical stores to which the stacks are to be delivered.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining that the fluid groups do not collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints further comprises:
determining when a lower bound center-of-gravity constraint is satisfied when the stacks of the fluid groups are arranged heaviest frontward in each of the fluid groups.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining that the fluid groups do not collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints further comprises:
determining when a first side-to-side weight difference is within a threshold weight when the stacks of the fluid groups are arranged heaviest roadside in each of the fluid groups; and
determining a second side-to-side weight difference is within the threshold weight when the stacks of the fluid groups are arranged lightest roadside in each of the fluid groups.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the threshold weight is 5,000 pounds plus or a minus ten percent.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
adjusting the at least one of the one or more infeasible groups further comprises:
determining a first group of the fluid groups that is most infeasible, wherein a most infeasible first group of the fluid groups contributes more than remaining infeasible groups of the fluid groups to cause the at least one feasibility check to remain unsatisfied; and
splitting the first group into two subgroups to update the fluid groups; and

the computing instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform:
determining that the fluid groups do collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints wherein each fluid group of the fluid groups in a final load design collectively satisfies at least an axle weight feasibility check in an arrangement of respective stacks within each of the fluid groups.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein determining the first group of the fluid groups that is most infeasible further comprises:
determining the first group based on one or more of front-to-rear center-of-gravity variations of the fluid groups or side-to-side weight differences of the fluid groups.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the at least one of the one or more infeasible groups further comprises:
moving a stack from a second fluid group to an adjacent fluid group, wherein the second fluid group and the adjacent fluid group were both part of a same initial fluid group of the initial fluid groupings, and wherein at least one of the second fluid group and the adjacent fluid group are part of the one or more infeasible groups.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the at least one of the one or more infeasible groups further comprises:
combining two of the fluid groups.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
each respective set of stacks within each respective fluid group of the fluid groups of the final load design are interchangeable.

11. A method implemented via execution of computing instructions configured to run on one or more processors and stored at one or more non-transitory media, the method comprising:
obtaining an original load design for loading a trailer to deliver stacks of pallets to physical stores, wherein the original load design specifies a respective floor spot assignment for each of the stacks in the trailer, and wherein the original load design satisfies center-of-gravity constraints;
generating fluid groups of the stacks to form an initial fluid grouping of initial fluid groupings, wherein:
generating the fluid groups is based on one or more containers of the trailer to which the stacks are assigned in the original load design;
the fluid groups comprise groupings of the stacks that are configured to be loaded interchangeably in different floor spots within each respective fluid group; and
the stacks within a respective set of the stacks for each respective fluid group are interchangeable, to satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints, among respective floor spot assignments for each respective fluid group;

determining that the fluid groups do not collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraint, comprising determining when an upper bound center-of-gravity constraint is satisfied when the stacks of the fluid groups are arranged heaviest rearward in each of the fluid groups;
until the fluid groups collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints in a final load design, repeatedly:
determining one or more infeasible groups from the fluid groups, wherein the one or more infeasible groups comprise at least one feasibility check unsatisfied; and
adjusting at least one of the one or more infeasible groups to update the fluid groups; and

outputting the final load design comprising the fluid groups that collectively satisfy the center-of-gravity constraints to cause the stacks to be loaded into the trailer according to the final load design for delivery to the physical stores according to respective delivery routes, wherein the final load design satisfies the center-of-gravity constraints and specifies the respective floor spot assignments for each respective set of stacks for each respective fluid group of the fluid groups.

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Sun Ou
• Liu Minghui
• Huang Jing
• Fu Mingang
• Hendricks Joseph Wayne
• Hamilton Jamie Lee

Classifications

• G06F30/15 Primary

  Vehicle, aircraft or watercraft design · CPC title

• G06F30/17

  Mechanical parametric or variational design · CPC title

• G06F30/20

  Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) · CPC title

• G06F2111/06

  Multi-objective optimisation, e.g. Pareto optimisation using simulated annealing [SA], ant colony algorithms or genetic algorithms [GA] · CPC title