Ergonomic workplace design in the fast pick area

The aging society in many developed countries has made an ergonomic workplace design to an important topic among researchers and practitioners alike. We investigate the workplace design for order pickers that manually collect items from the shelves of a warehouse. Specifically, we treat the storage assignment, i.e., the placement of products in shelves of different height, and zoning, i.e., the partitioning of the storage space into areas assigned to separate pickers, in the fast pick area of a warehouse. A fast pick area unifies the most fast-moving items in a compact area, so that workers are relieved from unproductive travel, but face extraordinary ergonomic risks due to the frequent repetition of picking operations. Concerning the health of (aged) workers, it is crucial to reduce such risks. Thus, we define a combined ergonomic storage assignment and zoning problem with the objective of minimizing the maximum ergonomic burden among all workers. This problem is formalized, and two construction heuristics and a tabu search procedure are proposed. Our results show that neglecting ergonomic aspects and only focusing on picking performance leads to much higher ergonomic risks of the workforce.

     

An integrated storage assignment method for manual order picking warehouses considering cost,workload and posture

This paper presents an integrated storage assignment method for low-level picker-to-parts order picking warehouses taking into account economic and ergonomic objectives. Three different pallet rack layouts are studied in this paper, namely (a) picking from full pallets on the floor, (b) picking from half-pallets on the floor, and (c) picking from half-pallets on the upper rank of the shelf. First, cost functions are developed to assess the total order picking performance impact of these different pallet rack layouts. Second, with regard to workload, the metabolic cost and energy expenditure rates for picking from the different rack layouts under study are derived. Third, for assessing the working posture during order picking, the Ovako Working Posture Analysing System index is used where the required data is collected using a motion capturing system. The developed models are combined to propose a heuristic storage assignment procedure that supports the decision of which item to store on which pallet. The developed storage assignment method is then applied to an industrial case study. The results of the paper support warehouse managers in assessing the order picking storage assignment from an ergonomics viewpoint and in estimating its impact on financial order picking performance.     

Order picking system design: the storage assignment and travel distance estimation (SA&TDE) joint method

Of all the warehouse activities, order picking is one of the most time-consuming and expensive. In order to improve the task, several researches have pointed out the need to consider jointly the layout of the warehouse, the storage assignment strategy and the routing policy to reduce travelled distances and picking time. This paper presents the storage assignment and travel distance estimation (SA&TDE) joint method, a new approach useful to design and evaluate a manual picker-to-parts picking system, focusing on goods allocation and distances estimation. Starting from a set of picking orders received in a certain time range, this approach allows to evaluate the combinations of product codes assigned to storage locations, aisles, sections or warehouse areas and to assess the most relevant ones, for the best location and warehouse layout, with the aim of ensuring optimal picking routes, through the application of the multinomial probability distribution. A case study is developed as well, in order to clarify the concept that underlies the SA&TDE joint method, and to show the validity and the flexibility of the approach, through the calculation of the saving at different levels of detail.     

Material handling improvement in warehouses by parts clustering

A major part of warehouse operations is related to the collection of parts from the warehouse which is called the Order Picking Problem. To improve order picking operations, the total travel distance and generally picking time must be reduced. In this paper, a two-level approach is proposed that determines the locations of parts in the warehouse. The first step clusters parts into part families. Four different clustering methods based on principal component analysis, singular value decomposition and Two-Step Cluster Component are applied. In the second step, four different heuristics are proposed to determine the locations of parts. In addition to the minimisation of travel distance, we also consider the minimisation of the total congestion in aisles due to multiple workers. The proposed algorithms also consider the interactions between part families to minimise intergroup movements. As a result of the implementation, we achieved more than 40% reduction in material handling compared to the current set-up of the warehouse. The applied algorithms can easily be modified to be used for warehouses with different configurations. The algorithms utilised in this case study can be helpful to researchers to become familiar with new heuristics, as well as practitioners to design improved warehouses.     

Optimal job assignment considering operators’ walking costs and ergonomic aspects

The paper deals with the problem of assigning jobs to operators in contexts where the operators are not fixed on a single position, but rotate, by travelling on foot, between different stations. The objective is to jointly consider the need for minimising the operators’ walking costs, expressed as both unproductive times and physiological costs, and the ergonomic risk of the scheduled jobs and their combinations. A new optimisation-based methodology is presented by developing a systematic procedure for input data analysis and an original mixed-integer linear programming model which minimises the cost of walking (or the total metabolic cost) by considering workplace safety and physiological needs. Finally, the proposed optimisation approach has been applied to a case study from the plastic industry. The obtained results allow to draw some interesting conclusions about the impact of ergonomic aspects on the optimal assignment of jobs to operators. Moreover, the importance of reducing unproductive times (i.e. walking times) and, if possible, improving the design of manual tasks (e.g. lifting operations) is highlighted by showing that even small ergonomic investments may lead to significant cost savings.     

基于鱼骨型仓库布局的多车拣选路径问题优化

为了推动鱼骨型仓库在实际场景下的应用,针对鱼骨型仓库布局下的拣货路径优化问题,构建待拣货点距离计算模型和以有载重、容积限制的多车拣货距离最短为总目标的拣选路径优化模型。考虑遗传算法(GA)全局搜索能力强、粒子群算法(GAPSO)收敛速度快以及蚁群算法(ACO)较强的局部寻优能力,提出一种解决拣选路径优化模型的混合算法(GA-PSO-ACO)。通过不同订单规模的仿真实验,得出该混合算法在适应度值、迭代次数、收敛速度等方面均优于GA算法和GAPSO算法,且在订单规模较大时,平均适应度值约降低8%,有效缩短了总拣选距离,验证了混合算法在解决鱼骨型仓库布局下的拣货路径问题的先进性和有效性,为解决此类仓库内部的拣货路径问题提供新的解决方法和思路。     

The use of bucket brigades in zone order picking systems

As the transactions through electronic commerce and TV home shopping increase, the warehouses often receive a large amount of small orders to be picked within tight time windows. One of the important warehousing activities is order picking, the process of retrieving a number of items from warehouse storage to meet a number of independent customer orders. This paper examines a new order picking method, bucket brigade order picking (BB picking). Bucket brigade is a way of coordinating workers who progressively perform a set of operations on a flow line. In the BB picking system, a worker performs operations on an order until the next worker downstream takes it over; then goes back to the previous worker upstream to take over a new order. We discuss distinct characteristics in order picking systems when bucket brigades are applied. We identify some efficiency losses under the BB picking and present a new BB picking protocol to improve the performance of order picking systems. The new BB picking is compared with the existing BB picking and zone picking through simulation experiments.     

基于Flexsim的某医药物流中心拣货流程优化研究

目的将Flexsim仿真软件应用于医药物流行业,以提高医药物流中心零货库拣货流程的运作效率。方法以某大型医药物流中心为研究对象,根据该零货库区的布局,使用Flexsim仿真软件进行建模仿真,并根据订单拣选作业流程运用Flexsim脚本语言和C语言进行了编程。分析模型运行结果,找出了瓶颈,并对拣货流程进行了优化。结果优化后的流程,提高了拣货作业的效率,缩短了拣货时间。结论采用建模仿真的方法,找出拣货流程的瓶颈问题,并进行合理优化,可以提高医药物流中心零货库的拣货效率。     

Enhancing the order picking process through a new storage assignment strategy in forward-reserve area

This paper reexamines the order picking process in a warehouse facing the challenges that e-commerce brings about and which are characterised by a very large number of small sized orders and returns. Implementing effective storage assignment strategies combined with efficient batching, in this context, is very fundamental to keep the warehouse’s responsiveness and order completion times up to the standards. This paper investigates a new storage assignment strategy, initially implemented by a large shoes and footwear wholesaler, to enhance the performance of the order picking process in its warehouses. The impact of this new storage assignment strategy on the performance of the order picking process is analysed via simulation. The performance of the system, measured in terms of total picking time as well as order lead time while taking congestion into account, is compared to the cases where conventional storage assignment strategies are implemented. A full factorial design is set up and the simulation output is statistically analysed. The results of this analysis are reported and thoroughly discussed. Attending to the results, the proposed strategy presents a remarkable potential to shorten total picking travel distances and order completion time and consequently customer satisfaction.     

A Stock Location Rule For A Low Level Picker-To-Part System

This paper deals with the problem of assigning warehouse space to inventory items in a low level picker-to-part system. Recognizing the importance of weights in material handling activities in warehouse, a linear programming model is developed with the objective of minimizing the workload required for order picking operations. It is proved that the stock location rule proposed in this paper generates an optimal solution for the model. Compared with the well known cube-per-order index (COI) rule, it is shown that the proposed rule is substantially better from the view point of human safety with some sacrifice of throughput.     

An analysis of warehouse and distribution strategies

We consider a case where seven retailers, all belonging to the same organization, order independently from the manufacturer. The organization wants to evaluate the advantage of creating a centralized warehouse facility. However, the investment costs for such a warehouse are considerable and the organization is thus cautious that any cost savings must outweigh the investment cost. The multi-echelon inventory control literature does not indicate when a centralized warehouse is clearly the best option. However, there is evidence that a centralized warehouse may be advantageous for low demand items which are expensive, as opposed to inexpensive fast moving items. Also the costs of the additional warehouse (i.e., capital investment and operating costs) play an important role. Hence, whether or not a warehouse can reduce overall cost depends heavily on the additional cost of the centralized warehouse. In order to keep the investment cost low we consider an alternative to the centralized warehouse, called virtual centralized warehousing. In the latter system no additional investment costs are necessary (i.e., the existing retailers have excess capacity at their current facilities) and the benefits of central warehousing are achieved.     

Optimal Product Layout in an Order Picking Warehouse

The purpose of this paper is to provide a basis for locating product in an order picking warehouse such that average order picking time will be minimized. A stochastic model is developed to ensure that optimal, rather than just “good,” results are obtained. It is shown that, for a class of order picking warehouse, simple, but general, assignment algorithms may be used to optimally allocate product to locations. The results are then used to explore the effects of average order size and the shape of the inventory curve on order picking efficiency.     

Simultaneous determination of warehouse layout and control policies

In a supply chain’s order fulfilment process, it is often the warehouse that plays a central role in making the right product available to the right customer at the right time. This paper aims to improve warehouse performance by deriving an effective design method for the simultaneous determination of warehouse layout and the warehouse’s control policies. The authors consider layout variables for the warehouse such as the number of primary aisles utilised, the number of cross-aisles and the aisle length under several different design philosophies. Concurrently, control policies such as storage policies and routing are considered. Simulation is utilised to determine the performance of the various resulting scenarios. A screening and selection procedure is employed to reduce the required number of replications while achieving a predetermined precision in identifying the best configuration. The approach is applied for an industrial partner in this research and the results of experimentation are compared to a baseline scenario which describes a proposed new facility in the Netherlands. The results reveal a large potential for performance improvement.     

基于蚁群算法的双分区仓库拣货路径的优化

为提高现代仓库作业中拣货这一核心环节的效率,研究了仓库拣货路径的优化,提出了根据双分区仓库中拣货路径的特点,采用蚁群算法优化求解的拣货路径算法,并通过仿真将该算法的性能与传统穿越策略、S形启发式算法进行了比较。比较结果表明,以蚁群算法优化路径问题可以明显减少路径的距离,具有良好的实用性。     

面向仓库货架的商品智能拣选机器人设计

目的 为降低仓储拣选作业的劳动强度、提高拣选准确率,设计一款可代替人工拣货的拣选机器人。方法 基于PaddlePaddle的PP-ShiTu图像识别系统,实现货架商品的精确识别和种类的快速更新;针对低成本机械臂的视觉抓取问题,提出基于“无标定3D视觉+AGV运动控制”的货架商品抓取引导方法;采用二维码自主导航和智能升降系统实现了货架商品的搬运和立体抓取。结果 实验证明,所设计的拣选机器人实现了货架商品的精确抓取和搬运,测试准确率达到了92.25%。结论 基于该方法构建的智能拣选机器人,可以完成仓库货架商品的拣选和搬运。     

Order picking in parallel-aisle warehouses with multiple blocks: complexity and a graph theory-based heuristic

In this paper, we consider the order picking problem (OPP), which constitutes one of the special cases of the Steiner travelling salesperson problem and addresses the costliest operation in a warehouse. Given a list of items to be picked and their locations in the warehouse layout, the OPP aims to find the shortest route that starts from a depot point, picks all the items in the list, and returns to the depot. This paper fills two important gaps regarding the OPP. First, to the best of our knowledge, we present the first complexity results on the problem. Second, we propose a heuristic approach that makes use of its graph-theoretic properties. Computational experiments on randomly generated instances show that the heuristic not only outperforms its state-of-the-art counterparts in the literature, but it is also robust in terms of changing problem parameters.     

Tackling the storage problem through genetic algorithms

The capability of a company to implement an automated warehouse in an optimized way might be nowadays a crucial leverage in order to gain competitive advantage to satisfy the demand.The order picking is a warehouse function that needs to deal with the retrieval of articles from their storage locations.Merging several single customer orders into one,a picking order can increase efficiency of warehouse operations.The aim of this paper is to define throughout the use of ad-hoc genetic algorithm(GA) how better a warehouse can be set up.The paper deals with order batching,which has a major effect on efficiency of warehouse operations to avoid wastes of resources in terms of processes and to control possibility of unexpected costs in advance.     

The effect of warehouse cross aisles on order picking efficiency

This paper investigates the effects of adding cross aisles to the layout of an order consolidation warehouse, with respect to order picking efficiency. Intuitively, cross aisles provide greater flexibility in the routing of order pickers, thus providing shorter order picking travel distances. However, this effect may be negated when the number of cross aisles becomes excessive, as the cross aisles themselves must be traversed in order to reach the required items. A shortest path pick sequencing model is developed which allows for any number of cross aisles in the warehouse. The optimal routing is computed for a large number of randomly generated picking requests, over a variety of warehouse layout and order picking parameters. The results are used to characterize the optimal number of warehouse cross aisles, as well as the conditions under which cross aisles generate the greatest benefit.     

Incorporating human factors in order picking planning models: framework and research opportunities

Order picking (OP) activities, essential to logistics operations, are laborious and time-intensive. Humans are central actors in the OP process and determine both OP effectiveness and efficiency. Many researchers have developed models for planning OP activities and increasing the efficiencies of such systems by suggesting different warehouse layouts, OP routes or storage assignments. These studies have, however, ignored workers’ characteristics, or human factors, suggesting that they cannot be substantiated, which led to only partially realistic results. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for integrating human factors into planning models of OP activities and hypothesises that doing so improves the performance of an OP system and workers’ welfare. The framework is based on a systematic literature review that synthesises findings documented in the OP and human factors literature. The results of the paper may assist researchers and practitioners in designing OP systems by developing planning models that help in enhancing performance and reducing long-term costs caused by work-related inefficiencies.     

The use of time series forecasting in zone order picking systems to predict order pickers’ workload

In order to differentiate from competitors in terms of customer service, warehouses accept late orders while providing delivery in a quick and timely way. This trend leads to a reduced time to pick an order. This paper introduces workload forecasting in a warehouse context, in particular a zone picking warehouse. Improved workforce planning can contribute to an effective and efficient order picking process. Most order picking publications treat demand as known in advance. As warehouses accept late orders, the assumption of a constant given demand is questioned in this paper. The objective of this study is to present time series forecasting models that perform well in a zone picking warehouse. A real-life case study demonstrates the value of applying time series forecasting models to forecast the daily number of order lines. The forecast of order lines, along with order pickers’ productivity, can be used by warehouse supervisors to determine the daily required number of order pickers, as well as the allocation of order pickers across warehouse zones. Time series are applied on an aggregated level, as well as on a disaggregated zone level. Both bottom-up and top-down approaches are evaluated in order to find the best-performing forecasting method.