Such a method and system are generally known in the prior art.
For example, the document DE 101 36 354 A1 discloses a picking method and a picking system having a container storage and an associated storage and retrieval device for storing and retrieving storage containers. Goods to be picked are located within the storage containers. The goods to be picked can be of any type of articles storable in such a container storage.
The term “container” is not intended to be limited but rather is an example for a plurality of possible storage units such as trays, palettes and the like. The term “articles” is to be understood as items which can be stored in a container storage and storage containers, respectively. Articles, for example, can be medicaments, tool pieces or the like, which are ordered, e.g. by customers in arbitrary quantities and numbers. Then, the different ordered articles are concatenated as a so-called order, wherein the articles of the order, as a rule, are picked into one or, should the occasion arise, several order containers, the order containers subsequently delivered to the customer.
A picking station in a picking system is to be understood as a location, where a picking person takes out articles, which are stored within the storage containers, in order to deposit them subsequently into order containers, which are provided.
An “order container” is to be understood as a container into which goods and articles, respectively, are put, which are to be picked. An order container can receive a plurality of different articles until the order associated therewith is processed, i.e. until all articles which belong to that order are retrieved from the storage towards the picking station and have been deposited into the corresponding order container by the picking person.
Recently, it has gone over to design the picking process according to the “goods-to-man” principle. According to the “goods-to-man” principle a fixed working area is assigned to the picking person from which he/she moves away as less and seldom as possible. The articles to be picked are conveyed in storage containers to the picking person. This increases the efficiency of the entire system and fulfills the high ergonomic requirements which, nowadays, become more and more the focus of attention.
The storage containers are conveyed to the picking stations by means of a corresponding conveyor system. The order containers are “parked” at the picking station directly in front of the picking person. They are just parked in a so-called order container buffer which can receive a plurality of order containers. The order container buffer is also connected with one, and if necessary, with further conveyor systems which convey empty order containers to the picking station and completely picked order containers away from the picking station in reaction to a signal. That is why according to the prior art, for example, a push button is provided at the picking station by which the picking person can confirm a terminated picking process. Thus, the picking person, for example, takes out an article from a storage container and puts this article taken into a corresponding order container. After the deposition of the article into the order container, the picking person can actuate the button in order to confirm the picking process. A superordinated host system detects this signal and subsequently judges whether or not the order is completely processed. If the order container is completely picked, then the order container can be conveyed off.
This procedure involves several disadvantages. On the one hand, the order containers are conveyed out of the order container buffer which possibly are not to be transported off yet. This is particularly the case, when the picking person actuates the button inadvertently although he/she has not deposited the article to be picked into the corresponding order container. On the other hand, the button could be actuated although an insufficient number of articles has been put into the order container so that the order is signaled to the host system as being completely processed although this is not the case.
Further, there is a significant risk of injury. For increasing the velocity of the picking process it is possible that the picking person puts the article to be picked into the order container with the one hand while he/she confirms the picking process with the other hand. This can result in that the picking person has one of his/her hands within the order container to be picked while simultaneously the conveyance of this order container is initiated by the host system. Then the order container could be moved from the order container buffer which possibly may result in an injury of the picking person since he/she still has one of his/her hands within that order container.