IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transe/v151y2021ics1366554521001289.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Storage assignment for newly arrived items in forward picking areas with limited open locations

Author

Listed:
  • Guo, Xiaolong
  • Chen, Ran
  • Du, Shaofu
  • Yu, Yugang

Abstract

In e-commerce warehouses, replenishment operations involve the transportation of ordered items from reserve areas to forward picking areas. In this paper, we study where to store these items (called newly arrived items) in open storage locations in forward picking areas prior to picking to minimize the total travel distance for given picking orders. The locations occupied by items previously stored in the forward area are not available. The problem is formulated as an integer program and proved to be NP-hard. We propose a two-stage decomposition algorithm, showing that it provides high-quality solutions quickly. Compared with methods proposed in the literature and used in practice, the travel distance is substantially reduced. Also, our numerical study shows that considering the constraint that items have previously been stored, which has often been ignored in previous research, can improve the picking performance by more than 5%. We apply our proposed algorithm to real data from a Chinese 3PL retailer to show that it significantly outperforms the policy the company currently uses.

Suggested Citation

  • Guo, Xiaolong & Chen, Ran & Du, Shaofu & Yu, Yugang, 2021. "Storage assignment for newly arrived items in forward picking areas with limited open locations," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transe:v:151:y:2021:i:c:s1366554521001289
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2021.102359
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554521001289
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tre.2021.102359?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. Yugang Yu & René B.M. Koster & Xiaolong Guo, 2015. "Class-Based Storage with a Finite Number of Items: Using More Classes is not Always Better," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 24(8), pages 1235-1247, August.
    2. Rong Yuan & Stephen C. Graves & Tolga Cezik, 2019. "Velocity‐Based Storage Assignment in Semi‐Automated Storage Systems," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 28(2), pages 354-373, February.
    3. 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.
    4. Pazour, Jennifer A. & Carlo, Héctor J., 2015. "Warehouse reshuffling: Insights and optimization," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 207-226.
    5. de Koster, Rene & Le-Duc, Tho & Roodbergen, Kees Jan, 2007. "Design and control of warehouse order picking: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 182(2), pages 481-501, October.
    6. Silva, Allyson & Coelho, Leandro C. & Darvish, Maryam & Renaud, Jacques, 2020. "Integrating storage location and order picking problems in warehouse planning," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Boysen, Nils & de Koster, René & Weidinger, Felix, 2019. "Warehousing in the e-commerce era: A survey," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(2), pages 396-411.
    8. Felix Weidinger & Nils Boysen, 2018. "Scattered Storage: How to Distribute Stock Keeping Units All Around a Mixed-Shelves Warehouse," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(6), pages 1412-1427, December.
    9. Weidinger, Felix & Boysen, Nils, 2018. "Scattered Storage: How to Distribute Stock Keeping Units All Around a Mixed-Shelves Warehouse," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 126188, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    10. Gu, Jinxiang & Goetschalckx, Marc & McGinnis, Leon F., 2007. "Research on warehouse operation: A comprehensive review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(1), pages 1-21, February.
    11. van Oudheusden, D. L. & Zhu, W., 1992. "Storage layout of AS/RS racks based on recurrent orders," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 48-56, April.
    12. de Vries, Harwin & Carrasco-Gallego, Ruth & Farenhorst-Yuan, Taoying & Dekker, Rommert, 2014. "Prioritizing replenishments of the piece picking area," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 236(1), pages 126-134.
    13. De Santis, Roberta & Montanari, Roberto & Vignali, Giuseppe & Bottani, Eleonora, 2018. "An adapted ant colony optimization algorithm for the minimization of the travel distance of pickers in manual warehouses," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(1), pages 120-137.
    14. Subir Rao & Gajendra Adil, 2013. "Optimal class boundaries, number of aisles, and pick list size for low-level order picking systems," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(12), pages 1309-1321.
    15. Warren H. Hausman & Leroy B. Schwarz & Stephen C. Graves, 1976. "Optimal Storage Assignment in Automatic Warehousing Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 629-638, February.
    16. Xiaolong Guo & Yugang Yu & René B.M. De Koster, 2016. "Impact of required storage space on storage policy performance in a unit-load warehouse," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(8), pages 2405-2418, April.
    17. Walter, Rico & Boysen, Nils & Scholl, Armin, 2013. "The discrete forward–reserve problem – Allocating space, selecting products, and area sizing in forward order picking," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 229(3), pages 585-594.
    18. Gu, Jinxiang & Goetschalckx, Marc & McGinnis, Leon F., 2010. "Research on warehouse design and performance evaluation: A comprehensive review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 539-549, June.
    19. King-Wah Pang & Hau-Ling Chan, 2017. "Data mining-based algorithm for storage location assignment in a randomised warehouse," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(14), pages 4035-4052, July.
    20. Marcus Ang & Yun Fong Lim & Melvyn Sim, 2012. "Robust Storage Assignment in Unit-Load Warehouses," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(11), pages 2114-2130, November.
    21. Nicos Christofides & I. Colloff, 1973. "The Rearrangement of Items in a Warehouse," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 577-589, April.
    22. Jiang, Min & Leung, K.H. & Lyu, Zhongyuan & Huang, George Q., 2020. "Picking-replenishment synchronization for robotic forward-reserve warehouses," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    23. Behnam Bahrami & El-Houssaine Aghezzaf & Veronique Limère, 2019. "Enhancing the order picking process through a new storage assignment strategy in forward-reserve area," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(21), pages 6593-6614, November.
    24. Thomas, Lisa M. & Meller, Russell D., 2015. "Developing design guidelines for a case-picking warehouse," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(PC), pages 741-762.
    25. Boysen, Nils & de Koster, René & Weidinger, Felix, 2019. "Warehousing in the e-commerce era: A survey," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 126185, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    26. Yang, Peng & Zhao, Zhijie & Guo, Huijie, 2020. "Order batch picking optimization under different storage scenarios for e-commerce warehouses," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    27. Stephen C. Graves & Warren H. Hausman & Leroy B. Schwarz, 1977. "Storage-Retrieval Interleaving in Automatic Warehousing Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(9), pages 935-945, May.
    28. Jianbin Li & Rihuan Huang & James B. Dai, 2017. "Joint optimisation of order batching and picker routing in the online retailer’s warehouse in China," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(2), pages 447-461, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Ran & Yang, Jingjing & Yu, Yugang & Guo, Xiaolong, 2023. "Retrieval request scheduling in a shuttle-based storage and retrieval system with two lifts," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    2. Lam, H.Y. & Ho, G.T.S. & Mo, Daniel Y. & Tang, Valerie, 2023. "Responsive pick face replenishment strategy for stock allocation to fulfil e-commerce order," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    3. Dragan Djurdjević & Nenad Bjelić & Dražen Popović & Milan Andrejić, 2022. "A Combined Dynamic Programming and Simulation Approach to the Sizing of the Low-Level Order-Picking Area," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(20), pages 1-23, October.
    4. Jonas F. Leon & Yuda Li & Mohammad Peyman & Laura Calvet & Angel A. Juan, 2023. "A Discrete-Event Simheuristic for Solving a Realistic Storage Location Assignment Problem," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-24, March.

    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. Jiang, Min & Leung, K.H. & Lyu, Zhongyuan & Huang, George Q., 2020. "Picking-replenishment synchronization for robotic forward-reserve warehouses," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. AERTS, Babiche & CORNELISSENS, Trijntje & SÖRENSEN, Kenneth, 2022. "The internal warehouse replenishment problem: the importance of storage and replenishment policies," Working Papers 2022007, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    3. Mirzaei, Masoud & Zaerpour, Nima & de Koster, René, 2021. "The impact of integrated cluster-based storage allocation on parts-to-picker warehouse performance," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    4. Zhuang, Yanling & Zhou, Yun & Hassini, Elkafi & Yuan, Yufei & Hu, Xiangpei, 2024. "Improving order picking efficiency through storage assignment optimization in robotic mobile fulfillment systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 316(2), pages 718-732.
    5. Chen, Gang & Feng, Haolin & Luo, Kaiyi & Tang, Yanli, 2021. "Retrieval-oriented storage relocation optimization of an automated storage and retrieval system," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    6. Silva, Allyson & Roodbergen, Kees Jan & Coelho, Leandro C. & Darvish, Maryam, 2022. "Estimating optimal ABC zone sizes in manual warehouses," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    7. Ang, Marcus & Lim, Yun Fong, 2019. "How to optimize storage classes in a unit-load warehouse," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(1), pages 186-201.
    8. Lam, H.Y. & Ho, G.T.S. & Mo, Daniel Y. & Tang, Valerie, 2023. "Responsive pick face replenishment strategy for stock allocation to fulfil e-commerce order," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    9. David Winkelmann & Frederik Tolkmitt & Matthias Ulrich & Michael Romer, 2022. "Integrated storage assignment for an e-grocery fulfilment centre: Accounting for day-of-week demand patterns," Papers 2209.03998, arXiv.org, revised May 2023.
    10. Zhang, Jingran & Onal, Sevilay & Das, Sanchoy, 2020. "The dynamic stocking location problem – Dispersing inventory in fulfillment warehouses with explosive storage," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    11. Boysen, Nils & Schwerdfeger, Stefan & Stephan, Konrad, 2023. "A review of synchronization problems in parts-to-picker warehouses," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(3), pages 1374-1390.
    12. Nilendra Singh Pawar & Subir S. Rao & Gajendra K. Adil, 2024. "Improving Order-Picking Performance in E-Commerce Warehouses through Entropy-Based Hierarchical Scattering," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-27, July.
    13. Jiang, Min & Huang, George Q., 2022. "Intralogistics synchronization in robotic forward-reserve warehouses for e-commerce last-mile delivery," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Li, Xiaowei & Hua, Guowei & Huang, Anqiang & Sheu, Jiuh-Biing & Cheng, T.C.E. & Huang, Fengquan, 2020. "Storage assignment policy with awareness of energy consumption in the Kiva mobile fulfilment system," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    15. Laura Korbacher & Katrin Heßler & Stefan Irnich, 2023. "The Single Picker Routing Problem with Scattered Storage: Modeling and Evaluation of Routing and Storage Policies," Working Papers 2302, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    16. Onal, Sevilay & Zhu, Wen & Das, Sanchoy, 2023. "Order picking heuristics for online order fulfillment warehouses with explosive storage," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    17. Zhuang, Yanling & Zhou, Yun & Hassini, Elkafi & Yuan, Yufei & Hu, Xiangpei, 2022. "Rack retrieval and repositioning optimization problem in robotic mobile fulfillment systems," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    18. Roodbergen, Kees Jan & Vis, Iris F.A., 2009. "A survey of literature on automated storage and retrieval systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 194(2), pages 343-362, April.
    19. Dragan Djurdjević & Nenad Bjelić & Dražen Popović & Milan Andrejić, 2022. "A Combined Dynamic Programming and Simulation Approach to the Sizing of the Low-Level Order-Picking Area," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(20), pages 1-23, October.
    20. van der Gaast, Jelmer Pier & Weidinger, Felix, 2022. "A deep learning approach for the selection of an order picking system," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(2), pages 530-543.

    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:transe:v:151:y:2021:i:c:s1366554521001289. 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/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/description#description .

    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.