Patent ID: 8571700

Claim:
A system for managing an inventory comprising serialized products, the system comprising: an intake station, wherein the intake station comprises: a product transport system; an intake transport system; and . an intake sensor having a field-of-view directed towards the intake transport system and positioned such that items on the intake transport system fall within the field-of-view; a plurality of robot-accessible bins; a robot programmed to load product units to the plurality of robot-accessible bins; an outflow transport system and a packing station; and a computer system comprising at least one processor and operatively associated electronic storage comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to: receive from the intake sensor a first tray identifier describing a first tray present on the intake transport system; associate the first tray identifier with a first serial identifier of a first product unit of a first serialized product, wherein the first product unit is present on the product transport system; instruct the product transport system to transport the first product unit to the first tray; instruct the robot to place the first tray containing the first product unit at a first bin selected from the plurality of robot-accessible bins; receive a pick instruction specifying the first serial identifier; and instruct the robot to retrieve the first tray unit from the first robot-accessible bin and place it on the outflow transport system, wherein the outflow transport system transports the first product unit to the packing station.