Patent ID: 8140183

Claim:
A system for a distribution center with a plurality of sites, each site having a collection of storage areas to store a plurality of items, the system comprising: a management system configured to (a) receive and analyze at least a first customer order and a second customer order, each of the first and second customer orders indicating a plurality of items, with a quantity for each item; (b) identify a first site with the highest number of items in the first customer order available from the first site, and a second site with the highest number of items in the second customer order available from the second site; (c) determine the items remaining in the first end second customer orders after removing those corresponding items identified as being available from the first and the second sites; (d) thereafter for each of the first and second customer orders, identify another site with the highest number of the items remaining in the corresponding order available from the another site; and (e) determine the items remaining in the first and second customer orders, if any, after removing those corresponding items identified as being available from the corresponding another site; and wherein the system for the distribution center is configured to control a plurality of conveyors in the distribution center to at least route the identified items for fulfilling the customer orders, wherein based on the identified sites, the system determines at least a first route to fulfill the first customer order and a second route to fulfill the second customer order, with the first route going to the first site before going to the corresponding another site, and with the second route going to the second site before going to the corresponding anther site.