Patent ID: 7930050

Claim:
In a warehouse environment, a method of allocating items to an order, the method comprising: identifying an order, the order comprising a requested quantity of a bulk material; determining a tolerance for the order, the tolerance defining a variation from the requested quantity of the material, wherein a quantity within the tolerance is still acceptable for the order; identifying a set of items, the set of items comprising a plurality of items available for allocation, each of the plurality of items comprising some variable quantity of the bulk material; calculating with a computer a first allocation of one or more of the plurality of items available for allocation, wherein the first allocation is based on the requested quantity and the variable quantity of the bulk material of each of the plurality of items available for allocation; calculating with the computer a second allocation of one or more of the plurality items available for allocation, wherein the second allocation is based on a target value within the tolerance and the variable quantity of the bulk material of each of the plurality of items available for allocation; comparing the first allocation with the second allocation to find a best allocation of items; and allocating the best allocation of items to the order.