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

Maria A M Trindade^1,2, Paulo S A Sousa¹, Maria R A Moreira^1,3

¹Faculty of Economics, Universidade Do Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal.

Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal

|June 22, 2021

Summary

This study introduces a new method for warehouse product placement to improve efficiency. The optimized storage location assignment (SLAP) reduces picker travel distance by up to 15%, saving significant operational costs.

Keywords:

Clustering Correlated policy Layout heuristics Order picking Storage location problem Storage policy

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A Within-Subject Experimental Design using an Object Location Task in Rats

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Area of Science:

Operations Research
Supply Chain Management
Retail Logistics

Background:

Increasing competition in retail necessitates supply chain efficiency improvements.
Optimizing warehouse operations, specifically product allocation, is key to reducing inefficiencies.
The storage location assignment problem (SLAP) is critical for efficient warehouse management.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose a novel heuristic approach for the storage location assignment problem (SLAP) in multi-aisle, multi-product warehouses.
To address SLAP with precedence constraints, considering product similarity, demand, weight, and picker travel distance.
To offer an effective alternative to traditional density zone methods for product allocation.

Main Methods:

A two-phase heuristic procedure was developed for product clustering and space assignment.
The method was tested in a real-world non-perishables warehouse of a Portuguese retail chain.
The procedure integrated four key criteria: product similarity, demand, weight, and travel distance.

Main Results:

The new product assignment strategy improved picker travel distance by up to 15%.
This improvement translates to potential monthly savings of approximately 477 km in travel distance.
The heuristic effectively handled a large percentage of non-uniform products, a specific challenge in SLAP.

Conclusions:

The proposed two-phase heuristic offers a more effective solution for SLAP compared to existing density zone methods.
This approach provides significant operational improvements and cost savings for retail warehouses.
The study contributes a valuable alternative for academics and practitioners in warehouse optimization.