Original scientific paper
The Effect of Slot-Code Optimization in Warehouse Order Picking
Andrea Fumi
; University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Department of Enterprise Engineering Operations Management Research Group, Roma, Italy
Laura Scarabotti
; University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Department of Enterprise Engineering Operations Management Research Group, Roma, Italy
Massimiliano M. Schiraldi
; University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Department of Enterprise Engineering Operations Management Research Group, Roma, Italy
Abstract
This work presents the effect, in terms of travel distance and material handling time reductions, of an optimal rather than a uniform item allocation in one-block picking warehouses, both with and without the use of a simple picking heuristic. Since developing efficient product-location strategies represents a critical issue in Operations Management, due to the impact on warehouse performance in terms of both service level and operation costs, this paper focuses on an effective quantification of obtainable travel time reductions, obtaining a significant result for manufacturing companies aiming to determine the most appropriate material handling resource configuration. Building on previous work on the effect of slot-code optimization on travel times in single/dual command cycles, the authors broaden the scope to include the most general picking case, thus widening the range of applicability and realising former suggestions for future research.
Keywords
Order Picking; Travel Distance; Random/Optimized Product Allocation; One-Block Warehouse; Material Handling; Slot-Code Allocation Optimization; Storage Assignment
Hrčak ID:
160903
URI
Publication date:
1.1.2013.
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