Systems, methods, and machine-executable coded instruction sets for the fully- and/or partly automated handling of goods are disclosed. In particular, the disclosure provides improvements in the handling of goods in fulfillment of orders for items of mixed sizes, weights, and other dimensions.

An order-picking system for order-picking articles stored in a storage rack into conveying pockets includes a storage rack areas arranged in rack rows and/or rack levels for storing the articles, an overhead conveyor system for transporting conveying pockets, and an order-picking area in accordance with the ware-to-person principle, where a number of articles specified by a control computer can be order-picked into conveying pockets at the order-picking area. The storage rack is modular and in the form of independent individual racks. A transport robot is autonomous or controlled by the control computer and constructed to pass beneath an individual rack and/or a transport trolley and transport the individual rack and/or the transport trolley to the order-picking area an article stored in the individual rack and/or an article order-picked from the storage rack into the transport trolley in advance is to be order-picked into a conveyor pocket at the order-picking area.

Systems, methods, and machine-executable coded instruction sets for the fully- and/or partly automated handling of goods are disclosed. In particular, the disclosure provides improvements in the handling of goods in fulfillment of orders for items of mixed sizes, weights, and other dimensions.

A warehouse management system (102), an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) (106), and a handheld device (HHD) (108) consolidate orders at a warehouse received from users. A first percentage of orders may be consolidated from at least one regular zone of the warehouse within a predetermined time period. A second percentage of the orders may be consolidated from a manual zone of the warehouse when the first percentage of the orders cannot be consolidated within the predetermined time period Further, a remaining or a third percentage of the orders may be consolidated from the at least one regular zone or the manual zone in a next iteration of the AMR (106) when at least one item of the plurality of orders is not available in the warehouse.

A warehouse management system (102), an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) (106), and a handheld device (HHD) (108) consolidate orders at a warehouse received from users. A first percentage of orders may be consolidated from at least one regular 5 zone of the warehouse within a predetermined time period. A second percentage of the orders may be consolidated from a manual zone of the warehouse when the first percentage of the orders cannot be consolidated within the predetermined time period Further, a remaining or a third percentage of the orders may be consolidated 10 from the at least one regular zone or the manual zone in a next iteration of the AMR (106) when at least one item of the plurality of orders is not available in the warehouse.

A method of fulfilling orders by making orders available in order units by picking from product units in a storage facility is provided herein. The storage facility generally includes a manual storage and picking area and an automated storage and retrieval racking area, which automated storage and retrieval racking area can be arranged downstream or upstream from the manual picking area and connected to the manual picking area by a routing conveyor, which leads to a shipping area. In addition, the manual storage and picking area can include manual picking stations supplied and arranged along the extension of the routing conveyor so as to supply the routing conveyor with order units picked at the manual picking stations.

Some embodiments provide a system for fully autonomous order fulfillment and inventory management within a distribution site or warehouse. The system operates by autonomous robots directly pulling customer order items from distribution site shelves or pulling individual bins from distribution site shelves and dispensing appropriate quantities of items from the bins until all items of a customer order are retrieved without human involvement. The system further involves the robots autonomously monitoring item quantities within the distribution site, identifying and autonomously responding to shortages, and organizing the items within the distribution site for most efficient order fulfillment.

A system having a process for order fulfillment bottleneck mitigation that includes receiving, at a picking station, a first tote specific to a first order with the first tote containing items specific to the first order and a plurality of other orders. A first quantity of items required by the first order are retrieved along with a second quantity of items that is the sum of the items required by the other orders. The second quantity of items are stored in a storage at the picking station. A second tote is received at the first picking station that has no further orders pending. A third quantity of items required by a second order is retrieved from the storage and placed into the second tote.

Some embodiments provide a system for fully autonomous order fulfillment and inventory management within a distribution site or warehouse. The system operates by autonomous robots directly pulling customer order items from distribution site shelves or pulling individual bins from distribution site shelves and dispensing appropriate quantities of items from the bins until all items of a customer order are retrieved without human involvement. The system further involves the robots autonomously monitoring item quantities within the distribution site, identifying and autonomously responding to shortages, and organizing the items within the distribution site for most efficient order fulfillment.

There are provided systems and methods for assembling merchandise ordered by customers, such as at shopping facilities. In one form, the system includes: a shopping order interface for receiving merchandise orders; a shopping facility including a merchandise pickup area and a merchandise assembly area; an automated retrieval system for transporting merchandise to the assembly area; an automated retrieval inventory database; an offline retrieval inventory database; and a merchandise database containing dimensions of merchandise. The system also includes a control circuit configured to: receive a merchandise order, determine dimensions of the items in the order, determine an arrangement of the items in order containers, instruct retrieval of items by the automated retrieval system; instruct retrieval of a second set of items not capable of retrieval by the automated retrieval system; and instruct transfer and deposit of the items in the order containers.