Abstract
Order picking is the process of retrieving items from storage to meet a specific customer order, which is known to be the most labor-intensive and costly function among all the warehouse functions. This function is also important in that it has a critical impact on downstream customer service. For understanding the background of order picking and related performance issues, we will briefly introduce warehousing functions. Then we will introduce order picking strategies, and discuss about performance issues and measures in the domain of order picking operations and systems. Productive and quality measures will be reviewed in more detail. Then, we will introduce order picking systems. In picker-to-stock systems, we will address three most popular storage equipments: bin shelving, modular storage drawer cabinet, and gravity flow rack. We will also introduce three popular retrieval equipments: picking carts, picking conveyors, and order picker trucks. In stock-to-picker systems, we will introduce three popular storage/retrieval systems: carousel systems, miniload systems, and A-frame dispenser systems. Then, the remaining part of the chapter will be devoted to performance models for carousel and miniload systems. A modeling issue here is the interaction between the storage/retrieval system and the picker, robot or human.
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© 2012 Springer-Verlag London Limited
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Park, B.C. (2012). Order Picking: Issues, Systems and Models. In: Manzini, R. (eds) Warehousing in the Global Supply Chain. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2274-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2274-6_1
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