Decision Sciences Journal
Volume 30, Number 2
Spring 1999
An Evaluation of Routing and Volume-based Storage Policies
in an Order Picking Operation
Charles G. Petersen II
Operations Management and Information Systems, College of Business,
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, cpetersen@niu.edu
Roger W. Schmenner
Operations and Decision Technologies, Kelley School of Business,
Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, rschmenn@iupui.edu
ABSTRACT
Order picking, the assembly of a customer’s order from items
in storage, is an essential link in the supply chain and is the
major cost component of warehousing. The critical issue is to
simultaneously reduce the cost and increase the speed of the
order picking activity. This study departs from the limited prior
research that focused on either routing of workers or storage
of warehoused items. The main objectives are to (1) evaluate
various routing heuristics versus an optimal routine in a volume-based
storage environment, (2) propose several methods of implementing
volume-based storage, and (3) examine the interaction of the
routing and storage policies under different operating conditions
of pick list size and demand skewness. The experimental results
show statistically significant differences in the mean route
distance for the routing policies, storage policies, and their
interactions. Further testing indicates that the choice of certain
routing and storage policies in combination can result in increased
picking efficiency.
Subject Areas: Distribution/Logistics and Heuristics. |