【正文】 ing locations you use for your CD picking. You then set up the quantity of single CDs that will fit in a P1, P2, and P3 location, quantity of double CDs that fit in a P1, P2, P3 location etc. You would likely also be setting up case quantities, and pallet quantities of each CD group and quantities of cases and pallets per each reserve storage location group. If this sounds simple, it is…well… sort of. In reality most operations have a much more diverse product mix and will require much more system setup. And setting up the physical characteristics of the product and locations is only part of the picture. You have set up enough so that the system knows where a product can fit and how many will fit in that location. You now need to set up the information needed to let the system decide exactly which location to pick from, replenish from/to, and put away to, and in what sequence these events should occur (remember WMS is all about “directed” movement). You do this by assigning specific logic to the various binations of item/order/quantity/location information that will occur. Below I have listed some of the logic used in determining actual locations and sequences. Location Sequence. This is the simplest logic。 you simply define a flow through your warehouse and assign a sequence number to each location. In order picking this is used to sequence your picks to flow through the warehouse, in put away the logic would look for the first location in the sequence in which the product would fit. Zone Logic. By breaking down your storage locations into zones you can direct picking, put away, or replenishment to or from specific areas of your warehouse. Since zone logic only designates an area, you will need to bine this with some other type of logic to determine exact location within the zone. Fixed Location. Logic uses predetermined fixed locations per item in picking, put away, and replenishment. Fixed locations are most often used as the primary picking location in piece pick and casepick operations, however, they can also be used for secondary storage. Random Location. Since puters cannot be truly random (nor would you want them to be) the term random location is a little misleading. Random locations generally refer to areas where products are not stored in designated fixed locations. Like zone logic, you will need some additional logic to determine exact locations. Firstinfirstout (FIFO). Directs picking from the oldest inventory first. Lastinfirstout (LIFO). Opposite of FIFO. I didn39。t think there were any real applications for this logic until a visitor to my site sent an describing their operation that distributes perishable goods domestically and overseas. They use LIFO for their overseas customers (because of longer intransit times) and FIFO for their domestic customers. Picktoclear. Logic directs picking to the locations with the smallest quantities on hand. This logic is great for space utilization. Reserved Locations. This is used when you want to predetermine specific locations to put away to or pick from. An application for reserved locations would be crossdocking, where you may specify certain quantities of an inbound shipment be moved to specific outbound staging locations or directly to an awaiting outbound trailer. Maximize Cube. Cube logic is found in most WMS systems however it is seldom used. Cube logic basically uses unit dimensions to calculate cube (cubic inches per unit) and then pares this to the cube capacity of the location to determine how much will fit. Now if the units are capable of being stacked into the location in a manner that fills every cubic inch of space in the location, cube logic will work. Since this rarely happens in the real world, cube logic tends to be impractical. Consolidate. Looks to see if there is already a location with the same product stored in it with available capacity. May also create additional moves to consolidate like product stored in multiple locations. Lot Sequence. Used for picking or replenishment, this will use the lot number or lot date to determine locations to pick from or replenish from. It’s very mon to bine multiple logic methods to determine the best location. For example you may chose to use picktoclear logic within firstinfirstout logic when there are multiple locations with the same receipt date. You also may change the logic based upon current workload. During busy periods you may chose logic that optimizes productivity while during slower periods you switch to logic that optimizes space utilization. Other Functionality/ConsiderationsWave Picking/Batch Picking/Zone Picking. Support for various picking methods varies from one system to another. In highvolume fulfillment operations, picking logic can be a critical factor in WMS selection. See my article on Order Picking for more info on these methods. Task Interleaving. Task interleaving describes functionality that mixes dissimilar tasks such as picking and put away to obtain maximum productivity. Used primarily in fullpalletload operations, task interleaving will direct a lift truck operator to put away a pallet on his/her way to the next pick. In large warehouses this can greatly reduce travel time, not only increasing productivity, but also reducing wear on the lift trucks and saving on energy costs by reducing lift truck fuel consumption. Task interleaving is also used with cycle counting programs to coordinate a cycle count with a picking or put away task. Integration with Automated Material Handling Equipment. If you are planning on using automated material handling equipment such as carousels, ASRS units, AGNS, picktolight systems, or separation systems, you’ll want to consider this during the software selection process. Since these types of automation are very expensive and are usually a core ponent of your warehouse, you may find that the equipment will drive