EURO 2024 Copenhagen
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1791. Simulation-based scenarios for optimizing resource planning in warehouse operations: A practical approach

Invited abstract in session WC-45: Simulation and Modelling for Decision Support, stream Decision Support Systems.

Wednesday, 12:30-14:00
Room: 30 (building: 324)

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Dimitrios Zormpas
Financial and Management Engineering, University of the Aegean
2. Vasileios Zeimpekis
Financial and Management Engineering, University of the Aegean

Abstract

Resources in warehouses include both workforce and material handling equipment and still remain a persistent challenge in warehouse planning operations. Since the productivity of any warehouse process increases with the speed at which the products are moved within the storage facility, optimizing resource planning is crucial for improving productivity and minimizing operational cost. An approach for optimizing resources is via simulation modelling. Indeed, Discrete-event simulation (DES) is one of the popular modeling techniques which has been used for warehouse process and resource optimization. To this end, this article, presents multiple simulation models with the aim to identify the optimal resources (i.e. workforce, docking stations, material handling equipment) needed for receiving, put-away, picking, packing and dispatching processes in a given case study with the aim to complete all processes in certain time horizon. For each process, various scenarios are developed that evaluate the impact of adopting different planning strategies. The models developed identify the mix of workforce and equipment that provide the best process completion time. The results are encouraging, showing that the use of simulation models may identify the selection of the best workforce-equipment mix and subsequently improve warehouse operations.

Keywords

Status: accepted


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