IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v313y2024i3p1054-1071.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Solving the unit-load pre-marshalling problem in block stacking storage systems with multiple access directions

Author

Listed:
  • Pfrommer, Jakob
  • Meyer, Anne
  • Tierney, Kevin

Abstract

Block stacking storage systems are highly adaptable warehouse systems with low investment costs. With multiple, deep lanes they can achieve high storage densities, but accessing some unit loads can be time-consuming. The unit-load pre-marshalling problem sorts the unit loads in a block stacking storage system in off-peak time periods to prepare for upcoming orders. The goal is to find a minimum number of unit-load moves needed to sequence a storage bay in ascending order based on the retrieval priority group of each unit load. In this paper, we present two solution approaches for determining the minimum number of unit-load moves. We show that for storage bays with one access direction, it is possible to adapt existing, exact tree search procedures and lower bound heuristics from the container pre-marshalling problem. For multiple access directions, we develop a novel, two-step solution approach based on a network flow model and an A* algorithm with an adapted lower bound that is applicable for all possible access direction combinations. We further analyze the performance of the presented solutions in computational experiments for randomly generated problem instances and show that multiple access directions greatly reduce both the total access time of unit loads and the required sorting effort.

Suggested Citation

  • Pfrommer, Jakob & Meyer, Anne & Tierney, Kevin, 2024. "Solving the unit-load pre-marshalling problem in block stacking storage systems with multiple access directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 313(3), pages 1054-1071.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:313:y:2024:i:3:p:1054-1071
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2023.08.044
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221723006744
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2023.08.044?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Ruiz, Rubén, 2019. "Integer programming models for the pre-marshalling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(1), pages 142-154.
    2. Tanaka, Shunji & Tierney, Kevin & Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Ruiz, Rubén, 2019. "A branch and bound approach for large pre-marshalling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(1), pages 211-225.
    3. Maniezzo, Vittorio & Boschetti, Marco A. & Gutjahr, Walter J., 2021. "Stochastic premarshalling of block stacking warehouses," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Zapfel, Gunther & Wasner, Michael, 2006. "Warehouse sequencing in the steel supply chain as a generalized job shop model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 482-501, December.
    5. Jiménez-Piqueras, Celia & Ruiz, Rubén & Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon, 2023. "A constraint programming approach for the premarshalling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 668-678.
    6. Boysen, Nils & Boywitz, David & Weidinger, Felix, 2018. "Deep-lane storage of time-critical items: one-sided versus two-sided access," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 128599, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    7. Fragapane, Giuseppe & de Koster, René & Sgarbossa, Fabio & Strandhagen, Jan Ola, 2021. "Planning and control of autonomous mobile robots for intralogistics: Literature review and research agenda," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 294(2), pages 405-426.
    8. Nils Boysen & David Boywitz & Felix Weidinger, 2018. "Deep-lane storage of time-critical items: one-sided versus two-sided access," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 40(4), pages 1141-1170, October.
    9. Marc Goetschalckx & H. Donald Ratliff, 1990. "Shared Storage Policies Based on the Duration Stay of Unit Loads," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(9), pages 1120-1132, September.
    10. Boysen, Nils & Boywitz, David & Weidinger, Felix, 2018. "Deep-lane storage of time-critical items: one-sided versus two-sided access," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 126191, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    11. Kevin Tierney & Dario Pacino & Stefan Voß, 2017. "Solving the pre-marshalling problem to optimality with A* and IDA," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 223-259, June.
    12. Lehnfeld, Jana & Knust, Sigrid, 2014. "Loading, unloading and premarshalling of stacks in storage areas: Survey and classification," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 239(2), pages 297-312.
    13. Peixin Ge & Ying Meng & Jiyin Liu & Lixin Tang & Ren Zhao, 2020. "Logistics optimisation of slab pre-marshalling problem in steel industry," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(13), pages 4050-4070, July.
    14. Filip Covic, 2017. "Re-marshalling in automated container yards with terminal appointment systems," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 433-503, December.
    15. Lee, Yusin & Chao, Shih-Liang, 2009. "A neighborhood search heuristic for pre-marshalling export containers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 196(2), pages 468-475, July.
    16. Tanaka, Shunji & Tierney, Kevin, 2018. "Solving real-world sized container pre-marshalling problems with an iterative deepening branch-and-bound algorithm," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(1), pages 165-180.
    17. Lixin Tang & Ren Zhao & Jiyin Liu, 2012. "Models and algorithms for shuffling problems in steel plants," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(7), pages 502-524, October.
    18. Bortfeldt, Andreas & Forster, Florian, 2012. "A tree search procedure for the container pre-marshalling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 217(3), pages 531-540.
    19. Zou, B. & de Koster, M.B.M. & Xu, X., 2016. "Evaluating dedicated and shared storage policies in robot-based compact storage and retrieval systems," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2016-010-LIS, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    20. Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Ruiz, Rubén & Tierney, Kevin, 2020. "Minimizing crane times in pre-marshalling problems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    21. Lixin Tang & Jiyin Liu & Fei Yang & Feng Li & Kun Li, 2015. "Modeling and solution for the ship stowage planning problem of coils in the steel industry," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(7), pages 564-581, October.
    22. Marius Merschformann, 2018. "Active Repositioning of Storage Units in Robotic Mobile Fulfillment Systems," Operations Research Proceedings, in: Natalia Kliewer & Jan Fabian Ehmke & Ralf Borndörfer (ed.), Operations Research Proceedings 2017, pages 379-385, Springer.
    23. Kevin R. Gue & Byung Soo Kim, 2007. "Puzzle‐based storage systems," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(5), pages 556-567, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Parreño, Francisco, 2022. "A beam search algorithm for minimizing crane times in premarshalling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(3), pages 1063-1078.
    2. Lanza, Giacomo & Passacantando, Mauro & Scutellà, Maria Grazia, 2022. "Assigning and sequencing storage locations under a two level storage policy: Optimization model and matheuristic approaches," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Ruiz, Rubén & Tierney, Kevin, 2020. "Minimizing crane times in pre-marshalling problems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Tanaka, Shunji & Tierney, Kevin & Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Ruiz, Rubén, 2019. "A branch and bound approach for large pre-marshalling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(1), pages 211-225.
    5. Maniezzo, Vittorio & Boschetti, Marco A. & Gutjahr, Walter J., 2021. "Stochastic premarshalling of block stacking warehouses," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    6. Jiménez-Piqueras, Celia & Ruiz, Rubén & Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon, 2023. "A constraint programming approach for the premarshalling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 668-678.
    7. Boge, Sven & Goerigk, Marc & Knust, Sigrid, 2020. "Robust optimization for premarshalling with uncertain priority classes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(1), pages 191-210.
    8. Damla Kizilay & Deniz Türsel Eliiyi, 2021. "A comprehensive review of quay crane scheduling, yard operations and integrations thereof in container terminals," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 1-42, March.
    9. Ignacio Araya & Martín Toledo, 2023. "A fill-and-reduce greedy algorithm for the container pre-marshalling problem," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1-29, September.
    10. Jin, Bo & Tanaka, Shunji, 2023. "An exact algorithm for the unrestricted container relocation problem with new lower bounds and dominance rules," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 304(2), pages 494-514.
    11. David Boywitz & Nils Boysen & Dirk Briskorn, 2016. "Resequencing with parallel queues to minimize the maximum number of items in the overflow area," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(5), pages 401-415, August.
    12. Tanaka, Shunji & Voß, Stefan, 2019. "An exact algorithm for the block relocation problem with a stowage plan," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 279(3), pages 767-781.
    13. Zweers, Bernard G. & Bhulai, Sandjai & van der Mei, Rob D., 2020. "Optimizing pre-processing and relocation moves in the Stochastic Container Relocation Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(3), pages 954-971.
    14. Parreño-Torres, Consuelo & Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Ruiz, Rubén, 2019. "Integer programming models for the pre-marshalling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(1), pages 142-154.
    15. de Melo da Silva, Marcos & Toulouse, Sophie & Wolfler Calvo, Roberto, 2018. "A new effective unified model for solving the Pre-marshalling and Block Relocation Problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(1), pages 40-56.
    16. Boysen, Nils & Emde, Simon, 2016. "The parallel stack loading problem to minimize blockages," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(2), pages 618-627.
    17. Ruiyou Zhang & Shixin Liu & Herbert Kopfer, 2016. "Tree search procedures for the blocks relocation problem with batch moves," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 397-424, September.
    18. Gharehgozli, Amir & Zaerpour, Nima, 2018. "Stacking outbound barge containers in an automated deep-sea terminal," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(3), pages 977-995.
    19. Kevin Tierney & Dario Pacino & Stefan Voß, 2017. "Solving the pre-marshalling problem to optimality with A* and IDA," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 223-259, June.
    20. Raeesi, Ramin & Sahebjamnia, Navid & Mansouri, S. Afshin, 2023. "The synergistic effect of operational research and big data analytics in greening container terminal operations: A review and future directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 310(3), pages 943-973.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:313:y:2024:i:3:p:1054-1071. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.