Patent ID: 11905058
Assignee: WALMART APOLLO, LLC
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  G | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. An order fulfillment system comprising a distribution center for supplying goods to a physical store location, the order fulfillment system comprising:
a decanting station for receiving goods into the distribution center from an upstream supplier of the goods, the decanting station receiving a plurality of sub-totes of differing sizes, two or more of the plurality of sub-totes being configured to fit within a product container, a sub-tote of the plurality of sub-totes being selected for packing with goods of the same stock keeping units (SKUs), a size of the sub-tote being selected based on inventory requirements for the goods of the same SKU at the physical store location;
a picking workstation configured to transfer goods from product containers to order containers, goods being picked and placed into the order containers based on an order for the goods at the physical store location, the sub-tote comprising the goods of the same SKU, the sub-tote being transferred as a whole from a product container to an order container at the picking workstation, the product container containing and transporting the sub-tote from the decanting station to the picking workstation; and
a delivery section for loading the order containers from the distribution center onto shipping vehicles, the delivery section loading the order container including the sub-tote with the goods of the same SKU onto a shipping vehicle for shipment to the physical store location.