Patent ID: 8219241

Claim:
A method of selecting products from a plurality of storage areas and shipping the selected products from a distribution center, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at a central computer a request, from a store, for product; generating at the central computer a pick list, comprising a catalog of the products that have been requested by the store and a location for each of the products within the storage areas, wherein the pick list is generated based on information that is stored in a database associated with the central computer; transmitting the pick list from the central computer to at least one storage area; receiving a first signal at the central computer indicating that the requested products have been retrieved from storage; transmitting from the central computer a first conveying signal to convey the retrieved products to a shipping station; receiving a second signal at the central computer indicating that the retrieved products have arrived at the shipping station; generating at the central computer a first set of instructions to transmit to a device, the first set of instructions comprising a proper method, order and orientation of manually loading the retrieved products on a truck, based on information in the database; transmitting from the central computer the first set of instructions to the device; receiving at the central computer a confirmation signal indicating that the retrieved products have been loaded on to the truck; and updating the database to reflect which products have been loaded onto the truck, wherein the first set of instructions includes instructions to arrange the retrieved products in an outline on a floor of the distribution center prior to loading the retrieved products on the truck to confirm that the retrieved products will fit in the truck.