Time Based Models for Unit Load Warehouse Control

Abstract

Many facilities in supply chains have pallets and containers that can be stacked. Stacking containers during material handling can improve the efficiency of warehouse operations; however, this has largely been ignored by researchers. A time-based model is proposed to generate routes that material handling vehicles use for picking and storing containers that includes the ability to stack pallets during transport and to use multi-command operations. For warehouses that store and pick millions of containers each year, small improvements in each trip can have a dramatic cumulative effect on the annual cost savings.