Ramping up a heuristic procedure for storage location assignment problem with precedence constraints

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2022-09

Autores

Trindade, MAM (Autor) Outra; Sousa, PSA (Autor) FEP; Moreira, MRA (Autor) FEP

Revista

Título: Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal

ISSN: 1936-6582

Editora: Springer Nature

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 13 Citações

Scopus - 20 Citações

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: P-00V-2AG

DOI: 10.1007/s10696-021-09423-w

Abstract (EN): The retail industry is becoming increasingly competitive; as a result, companies are seeking to reduce inefficiencies in their supply chains. One way of increasing the efficiency of operations inside a warehouse is by better allocating products in the available spaces. In this paper, we propose a new heuristic approach to solving the storage location assignment problem (SLAP) considering precedence constraints, in multi-aisle, multi-product picking warehouses. A two-phase heuristic procedure is developed: the products are clustered and assigned to the available spaces. We tested the procedure in the non-perishables warehouse of a real-world Portuguese retail chain, which supplies 191 stores per day. The results show that the new assignment of products allows for an improvement of up to 15% on the distance travelled by the pickers, which implies savings of approximately 477 km per month. This problem is a special case of SLAP since we are dealing with large percentages of non-uniform products. This procedure incorporates four relevant criteria for the allocation decision: the products' similarity, demand and weight, and the distance travelled by the picker. By using a two-phase heuristic method, this study offers companies and academics an alternative and more effective solution for SLAP than the usual methods based on the creation of density zones.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 24