An Innovative Layout Design and Storage Assignment Method for Manual Order Picking with Respect to Ergonomic Criteria

Vasiliki Kapou, Stavros T. Ponis (), George Plakas and Eleni Aretoulaki
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Vasiliki Kapou: School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University Athens, 10682 Athens, Greece
Stavros T. Ponis: School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University Athens, 10682 Athens, Greece
George Plakas: School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University Athens, 10682 Athens, Greece
Eleni Aretoulaki: School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University Athens, 10682 Athens, Greece

Logistics, 2022, vol. 6, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: Background : This paper aims to improve the overall performance of manual warehouse Order Picking (OP) processes by proposing an innovative method for designing a picking area layout, and introducing a storage assignment strategy with respect to ergonomics and workers’ physical fatigue. Methods : The proposed method categorizes the available picking slots based on size and ABC analysis. Ιt takes into consideration a set of ergonomic constraints pertinent to the rack heights and travel distance restrictions for each slot type, leading to the assignment of a location to each slot type based on its individual characteristics. In doing so, the proposed method introduces an innovative ‘flame-shape’ aisle layout. Finally, the products are assigned to their optimal locations, targeting OP time minimization, balanced workload allocation, and ergonomics optimization through a ranking system measuring the ‘difficulty’ of retrieving the products based on their weight, popularity, and slot location. Results : The proposed method led to a productivity rise of 14.9% along with a significant decrease of the ‘difficulty’ index, by 31%. Conclusions : The results prove that a prominent performance improvement can be achieved when both travel distance and manual workload minimization are targeted for determining the picking area layout and storage design.

Keywords: intralogistics; order picking; warehouse; process optimization; ergonomics; slotting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L8 L80 L81 L86 L87 L9 L90 L91 L92 L93 L98 L99 M1 M10 M11 M16 M19 R4 R40 R41 R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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