Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Le-Duc, T.
Author-Name-Last: Le-Duc
Author-Name-First: Tho
Author-Name: de Koster, M.B.M.
Author-Name-Last: de Koster
Author-Name-First: René
Title: Determining The Optimal Order Picking Batch Size In Single Aisle Warehouses
Abstract: This work aims at investigating the influence of picking batch size to average time in  system of orders in a one-aisle warehouse under the assumption that order arrivals follow a  Poisson process and items are uniformly distributed over the aisle's length. We model this  problem as an M/G[k]/1 queue in which orders are served in batches of exactly   orders. The  average time in system of the M/G[k]/1 queue is difficult to obtain for general service  times. To circumvent this obstacle, we perform an extensive numerical experiment on the  average time in system of the model when the service time is deterministic (M/D[k]/1) or  exponentially distributed (M/M[k]/1). These results are then compared with the corresponding  times in system of the actual model taken from simulation runs. A variance analysis is  carried out and its result elicits that the M/D/[k]/1 queue is a very good approximation for  the average time in system of orders. Correspondingly, the optimal picking batch size of the  real system can be approximated by the optimal batch size when service time is  deterministic.
Creation-Date: 2002-07-12
File-URL: https://repub.eur.nl/pub/215/erimrs20020712121146.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Series: RePEc:ems:eureri
Number: ERS-2002-64-LIS
Classification-JEL: C59, M, M11, R4
Keywords: batch picking, batch service queue, batch size, order picking, warehousing
Handle: RePEc:ems:eureri:215