Research on Hybrid Picking Strategy in an Automated Order Picking System

Abstract

In order to improve the picking efficiency of the automated order picking system based on catapult devices and reduce picking machine’s waiting time caused by sequential order picking strategy, a hybrid picking strategy and its algorithm are proposed in this article. This algorithm conforms to the basic principle that every item does not overlap mutually on the conveyor system. The main step is to preprocess all picking orders. Firstly, non-interference items are selected to fulfill order picking in parallel. In order to reduce the gap caused by the first step on the conveyor system, the remaining items which can be picked precisely in the gap are selected then. In the end, the rest of items are picked based on sequential picking strategy. This hybrid strategy and its algorithm can ensure not only that all picked items are well-organized on the conveyor system, but also that the gap between items is reduced greatly. In the end of this article, the practical business data is applied for simulation analysis for the hybrid picking strategy and the sequential picking strategy. The results prove the hybrid picking strategy can greatly improve the picking efficiency and workload equilibrium of the automated order picking system.