Optimizing routes for order picking in warehouses.
Publicerad
Författare
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The present study investigates the application of mathematical optimization in the
context of warehouse logistics, with a particular focus on the Split Delivery Vehicle
Routing Problem (SDVRP) encountered by the e-commerce company, Ellos Group.
The SDVRP requires a solution that partitions demand between forklifts while satisfying routing and computational constraints in a warehouse setting where forklifts
are used to travel and collect items from shelves, and items may vary in volume.
Since exact methods are time consuming, we propose a heuristic to identify
good and feasible solutions for our optimization problem. Computational experiments based on practical (industrial) benchmark instances show that the proposed
algorithm outperforms the existing routing policy method employed by Ellos in
terms of solution quality. The results of this study suggest that the proposed algorithm has practical implications for improving the efficiency of warehouse operations
and reducing transportation costs.
The study contributes to the field of mathematical optimization by providing a
practical solution to a complex real-world problem in the context of warehouse logistics. The proposed heuristic’s ability to solve the SDVRP with demand variability
and routing constraints, along with constraints on computational time, demonstrates
its efficacy in real-world settings. This work highlights the importance of mathematical optimization in modern industries and underlines the potential of heuristic
methods in addressing complex real-world problems.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Vehicle routing, Order Picking, Optimization, Heuristic, Warehouses