Intralogistics synchronization in robotic forward-reserve warehouses for e-commerce last-mile delivery

Min Jiang and George Q. Huang

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 2022, vol. 158, issue C

Abstract: This paper treats intralogistics processing in a typical robotic forward-reserve e-commerce warehouse involving a reserve area with manual order-picking operations and a forward area with robotic parts-to-picker order sorting operations. It is critical to synchronize intralogistics operations between the two areas considering delivery requirements to optimize the performance in terms of makespan and costs. This challenge is formulated as a delivery-driven intralogistics synchronization (DDIS) problem. This paper develops a tailored variable neighborhood search solution method. A series of comprehensive numerical experiments under various scenarios show the superiority and stability of the DDIS as benchmarked with sequential approaches. A substantial reduction can be achieved in both makespan and forward area size, indicating significantly improved intralogistics operational efficiency and space utilization. Managerial insights are also discussed for specific action plans regarding the market size, the labor force, and the trolley configuration.

Keywords: Forward-reserve warehouses; Synchronization; Intralogistics operations; Robotic warehouse systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1366554522000175
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transe:v:158:y:2022:i:c:s1366554522000175

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600244/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600244/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2022.102619

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review is currently edited by W. Talley

More articles in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().