Unstacking optimization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12450560-B2
Application number	US-202318103077-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2023
Priority date	Jan 30, 2023
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

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, cause the one or more processors, to perform: obtaining a first load plan, wherein the first load plan comprises a set of stacks assigned to floor spots of a trailer; determining that at least one of (a) there is an empty floor spot in the first load plan for the trailer or (b) the first load plan is infeasible; determining a target number of stacks for an updated load plan; iterating, via simulated annealing, through modifications to the updated load plan; terminating the iterating when a predetermined termination criteria is satisfied; and outputting the updated load plan. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for reducing rolled over routes, the 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, using a stacking system of the system, a first load plan, wherein the first load plan comprises a set of stacks assigned to floor spots of a trailer;
determining, using a modification system of the system, that at least one of (a) there is an empty floor spot in the first load plan for the trailer or (b) the first load plan is infeasible;
determining, based on a quantity of pallets in the set of stacks and based on reducing a quantity of combines, a target number of stacks for an updated load plan;
iterating, using a loading system of the system, via simulated annealing, and based on the target number of stacks, through modifications to determine a potential new solution to the updated load plan;
determining that one or more criteria are satisfied based on determining the potential new solution to the updated load plan;
terminating, using a terminating system of the system, the iterating based on determining that the one or more criteria are satisfied; and
outputting the updated load plan to cause the target number of stacks to be loaded in the trailer according to the potential new solution to the updated load plan.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the target number of stacks comprises:
determining whether the quantity of pallets in the set of stacks is greater than or equal to a maximum number of floor spots of the trailer;
when the quantity of pallets is less than the maximum number of floor spots of the trailer, determining whether the first load plan is feasible; and
when the first load plan is feasible, setting the target number of stacks equal to the quantity of pallets.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein determining the target number of stacks further comprises:
when the first load plan is not feasible:
setting the target number of stacks equal to one fewer than the quantity of pallets; and
when the set of stacks comprises dry pallets, the target number of stacks is an odd number and adding an empty pallet will exceed a weight limit of the trailer, reducing the target number of stacks by one.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein determining the target number of stacks further comprises:
when the quantity of pallets is greater than or equal to the maximum number of floor spots of the trailer and the set of stacks comprises temperature-controlled pallets with perishable goods:
for each respective temperature compartment of the trailer:
reducing a respective quantity of a respective subset of the set of stacks by one when a respective subset of the set of stacks for each respective temperature compartment are not combinable and are an odd number; and
setting the target number of stacks equal to a sum of the respective quantities of the respective subsets of the set of stacks.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein determining the target number of stacks further comprises:
when the quantity of pallets is greater or equal to the maximum number of floor spots of the trailer and the set of stacks do not comprise temperature-controlled pallets with perishable goods, setting the target number of stacks equal to the maximum number of floor spots.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein iterating through the modifications comprises:
receiving, as input, the target number of stacks for the first load plan;
initializing a solution for the updated load plan based on the first load plan;
until one or more predetermined termination criteria are satisfied, iteratively performing:
performing a local search to determine the potential new solution to the updated load plan.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more criteria are satisfied when:
the solution is not feasible, and the potential new solution is feasible; or
the solution is feasible, and a number of stacks in the potential new solution is more than a number of stacks in the solution.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more criteria are satisfied when:
a quantity of stacks in the solution is equal to the target number of stacks; and
the solution is feasible.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more criteria are satisfied when:
a predetermined time limit is exceeded.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more criteria are satisfied when:
a predetermined time limit is exceeded.

11. A method for reducing rolled over routes by iterating for loading a trailer, the method comprising:
obtaining a first load plan, wherein the first load plan comprises a set of stacks assigned to floor spots of the trailer;
determining that at least one of (a) there is an empty floor spot in the first load plan for the trailer or (b) the first load plan is infeasible;
determining a target number of stacks for an updated load plan;
iterating, using a loading system implemented on a computing system, via simulated annealing, and based on the target number of stacks, through modifications to determine a potential new solution to the updated load plan; and
outputting the updated load plan to cause the target number of stacks to be loaded in the trailer according to the potential new solution to the updated load plan.

12. The method of claim 11 ,
wherein determining the target number of stacks comprises:
determining whether a quantity of pallets in the set of stacks is greater than or equal to a maximum number of floor spots of the trailer;

when the quantity of pallets is less than the maximum number of floor spots of the trailer, determining whether the first load plan is feasible; and
when the first load plan is feasible, setting the target number of stacks equal to the quantity of pallets.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the target number of stacks further comprises:
when the first load plan is not feasible:
setting the target number of stacks equal to one fewer than the quantity of pallets; and
when the set of stacks comprises dry pallets, the target number of stacks is an odd number and adding an empty pallet will exceed a weight limit of the trailer, reducing the target number of stacks by one.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the target number of stacks further comprises:
when the quantity of pallets is greater than or equal to the maximum number of floor spots of the trailer and the set of stacks comprises temperature-controlled pallets with perishable goods:
for each respective temperature compartment of the trailer:
reducing a respective quantity of a respective subset of the set of stacks by one when a respective subset of the set of stacks for each respective temperature compartment are not combinable and are an odd number; and
setting the target number of stacks equal to a sum of the respective quantities of the respective subsets of the set of stacks.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the target number of stacks further comprises:
when the quantity of pallets is greater or equal to the maximum number of floor spots of the trailer and the set of stacks do not comprise temperature-controlled pallets with perishable goods, setting the target number of stacks equal to the maximum number of floor spots.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein iterating, via simulated annealing, through the modifications to the updated load plan comprises:
receiving, as input, the target number of stacks for the firs

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Nie Tiantian
• Wang Xiaojie
• Zhang Ti
• Huang Jing
• Fu Mingang

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

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