Human Energy Expenditure in High-Level Order Picking
Abstract
Order picking is one of the most significant components of the warehouse
management. More than 50% of the cost incurred in warehouses is due to the order
picking process. Although this process has mostly been considered within the
framework of economic objectives, in recent years the ergonomic perspective has
become increasingly visible. Order picking studies regarding ergonomic objectives
have mostly focused on low-level order picking systems, but the human factor has
been ignored in high-level order picking. In order to fill this gap, this study focuses
on the order picking process of a single block high-level warehouse with a special
focus on human factor. For this purpose, a capacity-constrained mathematical model
based on order batching and routing for the minimization of human energy
expenditure is proposed. In this three-dimensional (3D) warehouse system, the
distances and travel times between locations were first determined using Manhattan
distance-based Tchebychev formulas in order to calculate the human energy
expenditure between order locations. Then, human energy matrices between order
locations were created using human energy calculation formulas based on time and
item weight. These matrices, which were created for three different randomly
generated sample data sets, were used in the mathematical model solution and the
optimum batches and routes were determined. In order to compare the results, Firstcome First-serve (FCFS) batching and S-shaped routing, which are simple and
common batching and routing methods used in practice, were applied for the sample
problem data sets and it was observed that the mathematical model gave better
results.
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