An algorithm for dynamic order-picking in warehouse operations

Wenrong Lu, Duncan McFarlane, Vaggelis Giannikas and Quan Zhang

European Journal of Operational Research, 2016, vol. 248, issue 1, 107-122

Abstract: Warehousing has been traditionally viewed as a non-value-adding activity but in recent years a number of new developments have meant that supply chain logistics have become critical to profitability. This paper focuses specifically on order-picking which is a key factor affecting warehouse performance. Order picking is the operation of retrieving goods from specified storage locations based on customer orders. Today’s warehouses face challenges for greater responsiveness to customer orders that require more flexibility than conventional strategies can offer. Hence, dynamic order-picking strategies that allow for changes of pick-lists during a pick cycle have attracted attention recently. In this paper we introduce an interventionist routing algorithm for optimising the dynamic order-picking routes. The algorithm is tested using a set of simulations based on an industrial case example. The results indicate that under a range of conditions, the proposed interventionist routing algorithm can outperform both static and heuristic dynamic order-picking routing algorithms.

Keywords: Routing; Dynamic picking; Warehouse management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ejores:v:248:y:2016:i:1:p:107-122

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2015.06.074

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