The Study of Depot Position Effect on Travel Distance in Order Picking Problem

Abstract

Research of travel distance on single - depot position in warehouse is tremendous. This study focuses more on the effect of two-depot position on travel distance in order picking problem (OPP) by using the concept of traveling salesman problem (TSP) and exact method – Branch and Bound (B\&B) algorithm. The total distance of one-depot position is shorter than two-depot position for single and double block warehouses and the difference is less than 5%. The total distance is also compared with approximate methods – SA and TS which show that the differences are less than 5%. The sequence of location visit for one depot and two depot is similar about two third from the total location visits. For order picking problem that has more than 25 location visits, one need to consider to apply approximate approach to get the solution faster even the difference will be higher from exact approach when the number of location visit or aisle increases.