Storage and retrieval system
A product order fulfillment system includes multiple decks arrayed at different levels and defining multilevel decks, at least one autonomous transport vehicle on each of the decks, and configured for holding and transporting a pickface on each deck, at least one lift, traversing and connecting more than one level of the decks, and arranged for lifting and lowering the pickface from the decks, and at least one pickface transfer station on each deck interfacing between the transport vehicle and the at least one lift to effect transfer of the pickface between the transport vehicle and the at least one lift, the at least one lift defines a fulfillment stream of mixed case pickfaces outbound from the multilevel decks to a load fill, at least one stream of the fulfillment stream has an ordered sequence of streaming pickfaces wherein the ordered sequence of streaming pickfaces is based on another fulfillment stream.
1. A product order fulfillment system comprising:
multiple decks arrayed at different levels and defining multilevel decks;
at least one autonomous transport vehicle disposed on each of the multilevel decks, and configured for holding and transporting a pickface on each deck;
at least one lift, traversing and connecting more than one level of the multilevel decks, and arranged for lifting and lowering the pickface from the multilevel decks; and
at least one pickface buffer station on each deck interfacing between the at least one autonomous transport vehicle on the deck and the at least one lift to effect transfer of the pickface between the autonomous transport vehicle and the at least one lift;
wherein the at least one lift defines a fulfillment stream of mixed case pickfaces streaming outbound from the multilevel decks to a load fill, and wherein the at least one pickface buffer station, of at least one of the multilevel decks, commonly supports more than one of the mixed case pickfaces defining a portion of the streaming pickfaces in an ordered sequence of streaming pickfaces based on a predetermined sequence of the load fill.
2. The product order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one pickface buffer station forms a common pickface transfer interface for the at least one lift, so that the commonly supported pickfaces are picked in common with the at least one lift.
3. The product order fulfillment system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one pickface buffer station on more than one of the multilevel decks each commonly support more than one of the mixed case pickfaces defining a portion of the streaming pickfaces in an ordered sequence of streaming pickfaces based on the predetermined sequence of the load fill.
4. The product order fulfillment system of claim 3 , wherein the mixed case pickfaces defining the portion of the streaming pickfaces in the ordered sequence commonly supported on the buffer station is based on an ordered sequence of pickfaces on another buffer station of another fulfillment stream.
5. The product order fulfillment system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller in communication with the at least one autonomous transport vehicle, the controller being configured to effect placement of pickfaces on the at least one pickface buffer station based on the ordered sequence of streaming pickfaces.
6. The product order fulfillment system of claim 1 , further comprising a storage array with storage racks having pickface storage locations arranged in multiple levels corresponding to the different levels of the multilevel decks.
7. A method for product order fulfillment, the method comprising:
providing multiple decks arrayed at different levels and defining multilevel decks;
disposing at least one autonomous transport vehicle on each of the multilevel decks and holding and transporting, with the at least one autonomous transport vehicle, a pickface on each deck;
lifting and lowering the pickface from the multilevel decks with at least one lift that traverses and connects more than one level of the multilevel decks;
effecting transfer of the pickface between the autonomous transport vehicle and the at least one lift with at least one pickface buffer station on each deck that interfaces between the autonomous transport vehicle on the deck and the at least one lift; and
defining, with the at least one lift, a fulfillment stream of mixed case pickfaces outbound from the multilevel decks to a load fill, where the at least one pickface buffer station, of at least one of the multilevel decks, commonly supports more than one of the mixed case pickfaces defining a portion of the streaming pickfaces in an ordered sequence of streaming pickfaces based on a predetermined sequence of the load fill.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one pickface buffer station forms a common pickface transfer interface for the at least one lift, so that the commonly supported pickfaces are picked in common with the at least one lift.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one pickface buffer station on more than one of the multilevel decks each commonly support more than one of the mixed case pickfaces defining a portion of the streaming pickfaces in an ordered sequence of streaming pickfaces based on the predetermined sequence of the load fill.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the mixed case pickfaces defining the portion of the streaming pickfaces in the ordered sequence commonly supported on the buffer station is based on an ordered sequence of pickfaces on another buffer station of another fulfillment stream.
11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising effecting, with a controller in communication with the at least one autonomous transport vehicle, placement of pickfaces on the at least one pickface buffer station based on the ordered sequence of streaming pickfaces.
12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising providing a storage array with storage racks having pickface storage locations arranged in multiple levels corresponding to the different levels of the multilevel decks.