Integrate an automated pallet shuttle system

An automated pallet shuttle system is typically used to increase throughput and make better use of the available storage space in the warehouse.

The solution is based on software provided by another party (not Ongoing) using the Ongoing WMS Automation API.

Modeling the shuttle system

A shuttle system, in its simplest form, consists of pallet racks (with a capacity for hundreds or even thousands of pallets) where the pallet shuttles can load and unload pallets, as well as a lane for the pallets to be stored in the system and a lane for the pallets to be retrieved from the system. To model this in Ongoing WMS, you have three locations:

  • Automation_In: represents the lane where the pallets to be stored in the shuttle system are placed.
  • Automation: represents all the pallet racks inside the shuttle system.
  • Automation_Out: represents the lane where the pallets that are retrieved from the shuttle system are moved to.

Integration workflow

Storage process

Here is the recommended workflow for storing a pallet in the shuttle system:

  1. The operator physically places the pallet in the shuttle system input lane.
  2. In Ongoing WMS, the operator moves the pallet to the Automation_In location.
  3. In the background, the shuttle system continuously polls GetArticleItemsByQuery with the filter OnlyGetArticleItemsInLocationsToBeHandled = true, looking for article items (pallets) in the Automation_In location which have not yet been handled.
  4. When the shuttle system realizes that there are article items in Automation_In, it immediately calls ArticleItemInLocationHandled to mark them as handled. Note that there can exist multiple article items for the same article in the Automation_In location.
  5. The shuttle system can now physically move the pallet to one of its internal locations.
  6. After the physical move is done, the shuttle system calls MoveArticleItem to move the article item to the Automation location in Ongoing WMS.

A basic example of storing a pallet in the shuttle system:

  1. The operator physically places 1 pallet, with the pallet number (or SSCC number) 1001, in the input lane. In Ongoing WMS, that pallet corresponds to a single article item with serial 1001.
  2. In Ongoing WMS, the operator moves the article item to the Automation_In location.
  3. The shuttle system finds the article item with serial 1001 and ArticleItemInLocationId 3001.
  4. The shuttle system marks the article item in Ongoing as handled with ArticleItemInLocationHandled for ArticleItemInLocationId 3001 so that it doesn't poll for it again next time around.
  5. The shuttle system can now physically move the pallet to its internal location.
  6. After the physical move is done, the shuttle system calls MoveArticleItem with serial 1001 to move the article item to the Automation location in Ongoing WMS.

Retrieving process

Here is the recommended way of retrieving a pallet from the shuttle system:

  1. When the operator wants to retrieve a pallet from the Automation location a movement order from the location Automation to the location Automation_Out will be created in Ongoing WMS.
  2. In the background, the shuttle system continuously polls GetMovementArticleItemsByQuery with the filter OnlyGetMovementArticleItemsToBeHandled = true, looking for movement orders between these two locations which have not yet been handled.
  3. When it encounters such movement orders, the shuttle system immediately calls MovementArticleItemHandled on the movement article item IDs (or the pallet numbers/serials), to mark them as handled.
  4. The shuttle system can now begin to move the pallet physically to the output lane.
  5. When the shuttle system is done, it uses MoveArticleItem on the article item to move it to Automation_Out in Ongoing WMS. (Note that this call will also finish the movement order at the same time. Thus, there is no need for a separate call to finish to the movement article item.)
  6. The operator can then physically pick up the pallet from the shuttle system output lane.