Assign location ownership
AS/RS covers different equipment and storage strategies. Decide whether WMS, WCS or a subsystem controller chooses the final position. One authority allocates; other layers validate and follow that decision. Business addresses and internal positions may need mapping.
Specify dimensions, weight, identity and load restrictions. A valid inventory request may be physically incompatible. Reject it before admission into a stage without a viable removal path.
Reservation is not occupancy
Distinguish allocated, executing and physically occupied. Removing a load from storage is not yet delivery to the outlet. Preserve stages and evidence for partial execution.
Combining storage and retrieval cycles must respect deadlines, eligibility and input/output capacity. Optimizing machine travel may simply move the queue into a small buffer. Evaluate the entire flow.
Failure between endpoints
If equipment stops while carrying a load, empty origin and destination do not mean the load disappeared. Represent in-transit or equipment-held state. Do not automatically reuse its location or issue another task for the same load.
Recovery compares controller state and physical evidence. Manual intervention must preserve the original task relationship. Old confirmations must not overwrite a later authorized reconciliation.
Worked blocked-outlet scenario
An outlet becomes blocked after retrieval begins. Depending on equipment, the load may wait internally or release should have been prevented earlier. The contract assigns reservation ownership and the actual delivery condition.
Test inaccessible positions, blocked outputs and restart with an in-transit load. Check unique occupancy, consistent reservations and no premature completion. Measure stage times to separate waiting from mechanical cycle time.
Project verification criteria
- Assign authority for positions and reservations.
- Represent loads in transit or held by equipment.
- Fail after retrieval and before delivery.
Examples describe engineering decisions and test scenarios. Implemented interfaces, limits and features are defined by each project’s scope.