Stochastic premarshalling of block stacking warehouses

• Published in: Omega (Oxford) Vol. 102; p. 102336
• Main Authors: Maniezzo, Vittorio, Boschetti, Marco A., Gutjahr, Walter J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-07-2021
• Subjects: Business analytics; Stochastic optimization; Warehouse premarshalling; Stochastic optimization; Warehouse premarshalling; Business analytics
• ISSN: 0305-0483; 1873-5274
• DOI: 10.1016/j.omega.2020.102336

Warehouse premarshalling (also pre-marshalling or remarshalling) is the activity of reordering items in a storage location so that subsequent retrieval orders can be serviced with little or no need for further relocations. It has deep impact on warehouse efficiency. We are interested in a stochastic case, where pickup orders become known only at the moment when they are to be retrieved. The problem is framed in a business analytics settings, where a forecasting statistical model based on historic data generates the input of a two stage stochastic optimization module. Computational results both on artificial and real-world data confirm the effectiveness of the approach.