Development of a framework for pick-and-pass order picking system design

Abstract

In today’s competitive scenario of increasingly faster deliveries and smaller order sizes, a solution that is being used more frequently is the pick-and-pass Order Picking System (OPS). The purpose of this study is to define a framework for the pick-and-pass system design, by expanding previous literature on this topic. The framework aims at minimising the overall picking costs while respecting the required service level (i.e. order throughput time), and can be easily applied to the selection stage of OPS design. The number of zones and the number of pickers per zone are among the main project data for the framework application. Analytical models are used to estimate the travel distance, and network queuing theory to analyse the mean order throughput. On the basis of the proposed framework, pick-and-pass system performance is examined as a function of two typical design conditions: order size and number of items.