The Pick Areas

The “Movement Controller”, via its pick area display, presents the section of shelving represented by the pick area, along with its neighbouring pick areas. The screen dump below and the rest are taken from its MS-DOS version.

Screen dump
from DOS version of
Movement Controller, showing a pick area and several of its
neighbours, converted to a “gif” file, thereby losing some of the
colour definition

Those locations in which picking is occurring display the quantity to be picked in yellow, while the remaining locations display the quantities in grey. One location in particular is selected, and for this location is shown the product details, stock level and whether there is a problem with the shelf. Further information is presented in response to typing ‘Z’.

Screen dump from DOS version of
Movement Controller, showing a pick
area and several of its neighbours with more detail from the database,
converted to a “gif” file, thereby losing some of the
colour definition

Given sufficient privilege, you can access the microprocessor responsible for the control of the picking at this location by typing ‘M’.

Screen dump from DOS version of
Movement Controller, showing a
presentation of the memory of one pick-to-light microprocessor,
converted to a “gif” file, thereby losing some of the
colour definition

This display presents the read/write memory of the microprocessor, along with the symbol explaining the purpose of this bit. At the top of the screen is presented the address, “1d”, of this particular microprocessor, and in the main part of the screen the data bytes are presented first in decimal, then in hex, while beneath these is presented a selected data byte in binary, allowing individual bits to be examined.

This, along with the monitoring and optional logging of all communications, and the access to the PLC data and ladder online illustrates the seriousness with which we approach the diagnostic side of the product.

For more information on the operator interface to the pick-to-light system, please refer to the Operator's Manual sections Cartons Within the Conveyor System, Carton Conveyor System, Enter Orders for Picking, and Replenish the Pick Areas.