Multi-criteria approach for products classification and their storage location assignment

Abstract

Even small improvements in storage operations can bring significant benefits in customer response time, increasing the level of service offered. However, a company cannot offer high level of service for all products. In this sense, one of the ways used to optimize the activities for order picking is the study of storage location assignment problem (SLAP). Thus, this paper proposed a multi-criteria decision model to perform the products classification and to solve the SLAP in a multi-layer warehouse. The ELECTRE TRI method is used to define the shelf level for each product, and the ELECTRE III method is used to establish a fixed location for each product on the shelf it belongs to. The great advantage of this model is that there is not trade-off among the criteria, and it is able to consider several criteria simultaneously. However, the main goal is not optimization, but the search for a storage operations performance balance, considering multiple criteria, allowing for a better inventory management when considering profitability criteria, for example, and improvement in the order picking operations, through the demand and space required criteria. In addition, it considers the preferences of the decision maker.