Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Hong Tian

Devesh Mishra

Mackenzie Smith

Eric C Young

Sebastian Lehmann

Felix F Antony

Eric Wayne Schultze

Ajith Jayamohan

Chengliang Zhang

Padmini Chandrasekhar Iyer

Irina M Somin

Arthur L Valdez

Subramanian Sundaresan

Rohit K Gupta

Riyadth Fadhil Al-Kazily

James E Bacus

Abhay Murarka

Ritesh R Garodia

Various systems, methods, and programs embodied in computer-readable mediums are provided for determining sizes of packaging in a packaging suite and generating the new packaging. The packaging may be used, for example, in the shipping of items. Data may be received that describes bounding boxes corresponding to collections of items shipped to customers. The sizes of the packaging in the packaging suite may be determined based at least in part upon the data that describes the bounding boxes.

Optimization of packaging sizes

Various systems, methods, and programs embodied in computer-readable mediums are provided for determining sizes of packaging in a packaging suite employed in a materials handling environment. The packaging may be used, for example, in the shipping of items from the materials handling environment to various destinations. The sizes of the packaging in the packaging suite are determined based at least in part upon the three-dimensional bounding boxes associated with packages or shipments shipped or planned to be shipped from the materials handling environment.

The systems described herein may provide mechanisms for recommending specialty packaging in a materials handling facility dependent on physical characteristics of items to be shipped and/or feedback received in response to previous shipments of the items. For example, if feedback indicates frequent low customer ratings for damage during shipping and/or for the suitability of the container in which a particular item was shipped, of if feedback indicates that concession costs were repeatedly incurred due to damage of the item during shipping, the item may be designated as needing special damage protection. This protection may be realized by shipping the item in sturdier containers, in containers of a more suitable size, and/or with improved or increased protective cushioning. For example, a stored indication that an item is designated for special damage protection may influence the selection of a container recommended for shipping the item, e.g., by excluding unsuitable containers from consideration.

Systems and methods for implementing specialty packaging in a materials handling facility

A request is received to change an association of a network interface record from a first resource instance to a second resource instance. The network interface record may include an IP address associated with the first resource instance. In response to the request, the first resource instance is prevented from receiving data packets addressed to the IP address of the network interface record through a first network interface object attached to the first resource instance. The network interface record is associated with the second resource instance so that the second resource instance is enabled to receive data packets addressed to the IP address of the network interface record through a second network interface object attached to the second resource instance.

Maintaining private connections during network interface reconfiguration

Various systems, methods, and programs embodied in computer-readable mediums are provided for determining optimum sizes of packaging in a packaging suite employed in a materials handling facility. The packaging may be used, for example, in the shipping of items from the materials handling facility to various destinations. The sizes of the packaging in the packaging suite are determined based upon the shipping volumes associated with packages or shipments shipped from the materials handling facility.

A system and computer-implemented method for automatically splitting a group of items into two or more shipment sets are disclosed. A shipment splitting analyzer may be configured to determine if and how the items should be split into shipment sets dependent on the number of unique or total items, item parameters, container parameters, facility configurations, transportation constraints, and/or business policies. Items may be dequeued from the group into proposed shipment sets directed to a target container. The shipment splitting analyzer may determine which items may be shipped together dependent on a cumulative volume and/or weight of the items, a size and/or weight capacity of the target container, and/or affinity information associated with the items. Over-sized items, over-weight items, and/or large quantities of single items may be removed for exception processing prior to splitting the items into shipment sets. Shipment splitting data may be analyzed for current performance and/or operational trends.

Shipment splitting analyzer

A computer-implemented method for analyzing package performance in a materials handling facility may include calculating an expected shipping cost for an item package and an actual shipping cost for the item package to determine excess shipping costs due to shipping item packages in the wrong container. The expected shipping cost may be the sum of the transportation cost and shipping materials cost when the item package is shipped in a recommended container. The actual shipping cost may be the sum of the transportation cost and shipping materials cost when the item is shipped in another container. The shipping materials costs may include the costs of the containers themselves and any non-item contents in the containers. A package performance analyzer may be configured to calculate excess shipping costs, generate various package performance reports according to received report parameters, and recommend corrective actions, including changing the available container types or providing training.

System and method for package performance analysis

Systems and computer-implemented methods for predictive routing of item packages within a materials handling facility are disclosed. A predictive router may operate in conjunction with a container recommender, and both may be components of a facility management system. The predictive router may determine a routing destination for an item package dependent, at least in part, on the size and/or dimensions of a container that was recommended for handling the item package. The routing destination may be a shipping line customized for preparation of packed boxes of a particular size or in a particular size range for shipment. An optional scanner may attempt to determine the size of the actual container being used to ship the item package, and the predictive router may update the routing destination if the actual container does not match the recommended container. The predictive router may also consider special handling instructions when determining a routing destination.

Predictive router for materials handling

Various embodiments may include a shipping consolidation analyzer configured to determine whether a sortation process is to be applied to at least a subset of an item group at a facility. Such item group may include multiple items to be shipped to a common destination. Each item of the item group may be associated with a default non-sortable status. Such sortation process may include a process for indicating at least two items of the subset as consolidated for shipment. The shipping consolidation analyzer may, in response to determining that the sortation process is to be applied to the subset, generate an instruction such that the sortation process is applied at the materials handling facility to the subset of the item group.

System and method for selectively applying an item sortation process

A computer-implemented method for automatically correcting item dimension values may facilitate operations of a materials handling facility. Such a method may include recommending a container for handling one or more items dependent on currently stored item dimension values and determining if any of the item values are inaccurate dependent on an actual container used to handle the one or more items. In some embodiments, the method may include calculating a volumetric utilization of an actual and a recommended container and comparing the two utilizations to determine if the recommended container was too large or too small. If the recommended container was too large or too small, the method may include flagging one or more of the items for measurement and/or correcting item dimensions for one or more of the items. Items may be flagged for measurement in response to a single mismatch between recommended and actual containers or multiple mismatches.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Hong Tian