Abstract
This paper addresses the order picking problem in a material handling system consisting of multiple carousels and one picker. Carousels are rotatable closed-loop storage systems for small items, where items are stored in bins along the loop. An order at carousels consists ofndifferent items stored there. The objective is to find an optimal picking sequence to minimizing the total order picking time. After proving the problem to be strongly NP-hard and deriving two characteristics, we develop a dynamic programming algorithm (DPA) for a special case (two-carousel storage system) and an improved nearest items heuristics (INIH) for the general problem. Experimental results verify that the solutions are quickly and steadily achieved and show their better performance.
Highlights
Carousels storage system is commonly referred to as an automated computer controlled system which is widely used to store and pick small, light, and highly demanded items, as an effective warehousing facility
Bartholdi III and Platzman [1] consider sequencing of picks in a single order. They assume that the time needed by a picker to move between bins within the same carrier is negligible compared to the time to rotate the carousel to the carrier
We focus on the deterministic single order picking problem in a multiple carousels system with a single order picker in which carousels are arrayed in the picking area, each with one picking station, and are independently controlled
Summary
Carousels storage system is commonly referred to as an automated computer controlled system which is widely used to store and pick small, light, and highly demanded items, as an effective warehousing facility. Bartholdi III and Platzman [1] consider sequencing of picks in a single order They assume that the time needed by a (robotic) picker to move between bins within the same carrier (or shelf) is negligible compared to the time to rotate the carousel to the carrier (or shelf). This assumption reduces the problem to finding the shortest Hamiltonian path on a circle. Bartholdi III and Platzman [1] consider the problem when the order sequence is free, yet picks within the same order must be performed consecutively They impose the extra constraint that each order is picked along its shortest spanning interval and present a heuristic for the problem with the extra constraint.
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