A fast simulated annealing method for batching precedence-constrained customer orders in a warehouse

Batching customer orders in a warehouse can result in considerable savings in order pickers’ travel distances. Many picker-to-parts warehouses have precedence constraints in picking a customer order. In this paper a joint order-batching and picker routing method is introduced to solve this combined precedence-constrained routing and order-batching problem. It consists of two sub-algorithms: an optimal A^∗-algorithm for the routing; and a simulated annealing algorithm for the batching which estimates the savings gained from batching more than two customer orders to avoid unnecessary routing. For batches of three customer orders, the introduced algorithm produces results with an error of less than 1.2% compared to the optimal solution. It also compares well to other heuristics from literature. A data set from a large Finnish order picking warehouse is rerouted and rebatched resulting in savings of over 5000 kilometres or 16% in travel distance in 3 months compared to the current method.     

考虑商品数量和商品拣选成本的AGV智能仓库订单分批问题研究

AGV(Automated Guided Vehicle,自动导引车)智能仓库是一种基于“货到人”拣选模式的自动化仓库。本文考虑了订单中商品的需求量和货架上商品的存储量,以极小化货架搬运成本和商品拣选成本为目标,建立了AGV智能仓库订单分批问题的整数规划模型。本文针对订单分批问题的特点,提出了一种基于订单和货架交替选择的贪婪求解算法。对比CPLEX求解器的精确最优解,本文提出的贪婪算法的误差百分比不超过10%,平均误差百分比为5.38%;对比基于相似性的分批算法的求解结果,本文提出的贪婪算法不仅运算时间更短,解的质量也更好。进一步地,对比不考虑商品拣选成本的订单分批模型,本文提出的模型在不明显增加货架搬运成本的前提下,可以大幅度降低商品拣选成本。因此,在订单分批模型中考虑商品拣选成本是非常必要的。     

Planning and consolidating shipments from a warehouse

A typical warehouse or distribution centre ships material to various customer locations across the country, using various modes of transportation. Each mode has different constraints on size of shipment, different cost structures and different transportation times. Typically, for a given warehouse there are certain customer locations that receive frequent shipments of material. It is often possible, therefore, for the warehouse to consolidate different orders for the same customer location into a single shipment. The transportation mode and the day of shipment must be chosen such that the consolidated shipment meets the size constraints and arrives within an agreed-upon ‘delivery window’. In preparing a warehouse distribution plan, a planner seeks to achieve transportation economies of scale (by consolidating two or more orders into fewer shipments) while levelling the workload on warehouse resources and ensuring that material arrives at a customer location during the acceptable delivery window.The problem of deciding what shipments to make daily can be formulated as a set partitioning problem with side constraints. This paper describes a heuristic solution approach for this problem. Computational experiments using actual warehouse select activity indicate that, for moderate-size problems, the heuristic produces solutions with transportation costs that are within a few percent of optimal. Larger problems found in practice are generally too large to be solved by optimal algorithms; the heuristic easily handles such problems. The heuristic has been integrated into the transportation planning system of a leading distributor of telecommunications products.     

带有分批费用的容量有界的单机平行分批排序问题

考虑的问题是在添加工资费用或包装费用等附加的分批费用下,如何使单机平行分批中总完工时间和分批费用之和达到最小.首先我们假定工件和批处理机都在零时刻到达,工件被成批地进行加工,一旦开始加工就不允许中断,每批的加工时间等于该批中最大的加工时间,而且假设每分一批都产生一个分批费用.然后对具有m个不同的加工时间,批容量有界且为固定值b的情形下目标函数为∑C_j与分批费用之和这一排序问题,利用动态规划的方法给出了多项式时间算法,时间界为O(b²m2m²222^m).     

Computing lower and upper bounds for a large-scale industrial job shop scheduling problem

In this paper we present a case study from the lighting industry concerned with the scheduling of a set of job families each representing the production of a particular end-item in a given quantity. It is a job shop type problem, where each job family has a number of routing alternatives, and the solution has to respect batching and machine availability constraints. All jobs of the same job family have a common release date and a common due date, and they differ only in size. The objective is to minimize the total tardiness of the job families, rather than that of individual jobs. We propose a two-phase method based on solving a mixed-integer linear program and then improving the initial solution by tabu search. We evaluate our method on real-world as well as generated instances.     

Tabu search heuristics for the order batching problem in manual order picking systems

In a manual order picking system, order pickers walk or ride through a distribution warehouse in order to collect items requested by (internal or external) customers. In order to perform these operations efficiently, it is usually required that customer orders be combined into (more substantial) picking orders that are limited in size. The order batching problem considered in this paper deals with the question of how a given set of customer orders should be combined into picking orders such that the total length of all picker tours necessary for all of the requested items to be collected is minimized. For the solution of this problem the authors suggest two approaches based on the tabu search principle. The first is a (classic) tabu search (TS), and the second is the attribute-based hill climber (ABHC). In a series of extensive numerical experiments, these approaches are benchmarked against other solution methods put forward in the current literature. It is demonstrated that the proposed methods are superior to the existing methods and provide solutions which may allow distribution warehouses to operate more efficiently.     

The coordination of transportation and batching scheduling

We study a coordinated scheduling problem of production and transportation in which each job is transported to a single batching machine for further processing. There are m vehicles that transport jobs from the holding area to the batching machine. Each vehicle can transport only one job at a time. The batching machine can process a batch of jobs simultaneously where there is an upper limit on the batch size. Each batch to be processed occurs a processing cost. The problem is to find a joint schedule of production and transportation such that the sum of the total completion time and the total processing cost is optimized. For a special case of the problem where the job assignment to the vehicles is predetermined, we provide a polynomial time algorithm. For the general problem, we prove that it is NP-hard (in the ordinary sense) and present a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm. A fully polynomial time approximation scheme for the general problem is obtained by converting an especially designed pseudo-polynomial dynamic programming algorithm.     

Using genetic algorithms for the coordinated scheduling problem of a batching machine and two-stage transportation

This paper considers a coordinated scheduling problem. For the first-stage transportation there is a crane available to transport the product from the warehouse to a batching machine. For the second-stage transportation there is a vehicle available to deliver the completed jobs from the machine shop floor to the customer. The coordinated scheduling problem of production and transportation deals with sequencing the transportation of the jobs and combining them into batches to be processed. The problem of minimizing the sum of the makespan and the total setup cost was proven by Tang and Gong [1] to be strongly NP-hard. This paper proposes two genetic algorithm (GA) approaches for this scheduling problem, with different result representations. The experimental results demonstrate that a regular GA and a modified GA (MGA) can find near-optimal solutions within an acceptable amount of computational time. Among the two proposed metaheuristic approaches, the MGA is superior to the GA both in terms of computing time and the quality of the solution.     

A hybrid two-stage transportation and batch scheduling problem

We study the coordinated scheduling problem of hybrid batch production on a single batching machine and two-stage transportation connecting the production, where there is a crane available in the first-stage transportation that transports jobs from the warehouse to the machine and there is a vehicle available in the second-stage transportation to deliver jobs from the machine to the customer. As the job to be carried out is big and heavy in the steel industry, it is reasonable assumed that both the crane and the vehicle have unit capacity. The batching machine processes a batch of jobs simultaneously. Each batch occur a setup cost. The objective is to minimize the sum of the makespan and the total setup cost. We prove that this problem is strongly NP-hard. A polynomial time algorithm is proposed for a case where the job transportation times are identical on the crane or the vehicle. An efficient heuristic algorithm for the general problem is constructed and its tight worst-case bound is analyzed. In order to further verify the performance of the proposed heuristics, we develop a lower bound on the optimal objective function. Computational experiments show that the heuristic algorithm performs well on randomly generated problem instances.     

Travel time analysis for general item location assignment in a rectangular warehouse

A travel time model with general item location assignment in a rectangular warehouse system is presented. We give the exact probability mass functions that characterise the tour of an order picker and derive the first and second moments associated with the tour. We apply the model to analysing order batching and storage allocation strategies in an order picking system. The order picking system is modelled as a queueing system with customer batching. The results are compared and validated via simulation. The effects of batching and batch size on the delay time are discussed with consideration to the picking and sorting times for each batch of orders.     

On-line order batching and sequencing problem with multiple pickers: A hybrid rule-based algorithm

Existing on-line order batching rules, namely fixed time window batching (FTWB) and variable time window batching (VTWB), try to choose the fixed time window in the case of FTWB or the fixed number of orders in the case of VTWB. However, these solutions are not appropriate for the fluctuating order environment. The reasonable assignment of batches to order pickers is also an important issue in order picking systems. Motivated by these issues, we study the problem of integrating on-line order batching and the assignment of the batches, which is called the on-line order batching and sequencing problem with multiple pickers (OOBSPMP). The objective is to minimize the turnover time. To solve the problem, a hybrid rule-based algorithm, referred to FTWB, is proposed in order to form batches and assign them to appropriate pickers under a fluctuating order environment. Three batching situations (off-peak, normal and peak arrival time) and two assigning situations (assigning to one busy picker and assigning to one idle picker) are distinguished. Through a series of experiments, we discover several enlightening findings: (i) the rule-based algorithm demonstrates high effectiveness and efficiency in turnover time with multiple pickers; (ii) the rule-based algorithm leads to an impressive improvement in both saving time and wage costs under different arrival rates, picking devices and time intervals compared with VTWB; (iii) to obtain both good warehouse performance and a reasonable workload distribution, the factors, such as the fixed time window, the average workload per picker and the average idle time per picker are also important issues in analysing the efficiency of order picking systems.     

An algorithm for single machine sequencing with release dates to minimize total weighted completion time

Each of n jobs is to be processed without interruption on a single machine which can handle only one job at a time. Each job becomes available for processing at its release date, requires a processing time and has a positive weight. Given a processing order of the jobs, the earliest completion time for each job can be computed. The objective is to find a processing order of the jobs which minimizes the sum of weighted completion times. In this paper a branch and bound algorithm for the problem is derived. Firstly a heuristic is presented which is used in calculating the lower bound. Then the lower bound is obtained by performing a Lagrangean relaxation of the release date constraints; the Lagrange multipliers are chosen so that the sequence generated by the heuristic is an optimum solution of the relaxed problem thus yielding a lower bound. A method to increase the lower bound by deriving improved constraints to replace the original release date constraints is given. The algorithm, which includes several dominance rules, is tested on problems with up to fifty jobs. The computational results indicate that the version of the lower bound using improved constraints is superior to the original version.     

Travel time estimation and order batching in a 2-block warehouse

Order batching problem (OBP) is the problem of determining the number of orders to be picked together in one picking tour. Although various objectives may arise in practice, minimizing the average throughput time of a random order is a common concern. In this paper, we consider the OBP for a 2-block rectangular warehouse with the assumptions that orders arrive according to a Poisson process and the method used for routing the order-pickers is the well-known S-shape heuristic. We first elaborate on the first and second moment of the order-picker’s travel time. Then we use these moments to estimate the average throughput time of a random order. This enables us to estimate the optimal picking batch size. Results from simulation show that the method provides a high accuracy level. Furthermore, the method is rather simple and can be easily applied in practice.     

Design and control of warehouse order picking: A literature review

Order picking has long been identified as the most labour-intensive and costly activity for almost every warehouse; the cost of order picking is estimated to be as much as 55% of the total warehouse operating expense. Any underperformance in order picking can lead to unsatisfactory service and high operational cost for the warehouse, and consequently for the whole supply chain. In order to operate efficiently, the order-picking process needs to be robustly designed and optimally controlled. This paper gives a literature overview on typical decision problems in design and control of manual order-picking processes. We focus on optimal (internal) layout design, storage assignment methods, routing methods, order batching and zoning. The research in this area has grown rapidly recently. Still, combinations of the above areas have hardly been explored. Order-picking system developments in practice lead to promising new research directions.     

基于AGV的智能仓库系统订单分批问题研究

研究了基于自动引导小车(AGV)的“货到人”智能仓库订单分批拣选问题, 在同时考虑工作人员拣选商品成本和AGV搬运货架成本的前提下, 建立了以总成本极小化为目标函数的订单分批问题整数规划模型。根据订单中包含的商品信息和商品所在的货架信息构建了描述订单之间关系的加权相似度指标, 分析了加权相似度与总拣选成本之间的正相关关系。基于订单之间的加权相似度设计了求解模型的贪婪算法。利用具体算例进行模拟计算, 分析了加权系数的变化对订单分批结果的影响, 以及加权系数λ的取值与工作人员拣取一件商品的成本c₁和AGV搬运一次货架的成本c₂之间的关系, 得到了贪婪算法中加权系数λ的确定方法。进一步分析了贪婪算法的计算时间和计算效果, 结果显示, 通过适当选取加权系数, 利用贪婪算法可以在短时间内得到订单分批问题的近似最优解;对于小规模算例, 贪婪算法在最坏情况下近似比不超过1.35。利用本文的模型和算法进行订单分批, 兼顾了工作人员拣取商品的成本和AGV搬运货架的成本, 可以有效提高订单拣选效率, 降低订单拣选总成本。     

Single-machine scheduling with learning effect and resource-dependent processing times in the serial-batching production

In this paper, we study a single machine scheduling problem by simultaneously considering the processing method of serial-batching, learning effect, resource-dependent processing times, and setup operations. We consider minimizing the makespan as the objective of the studied problem under the constraint that the total resource consumption does not exceed a given limit. For the special case where the resource allocation is given, we first propose the structural properties for job batching policies and batching sequencing, and an optimal batching policy is derived based on these properties. Then, we develop a novel hybrid GSA–TS algorithm which combines the Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) and the Tabu Search (TS) algorithm to solve the general case. Computational experiments with different scales show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Logistics scheduling with batching and transportation

This paper studies a general two-stage scheduling problem, in which jobs of different importance are processed by one first-stage processor and then, in the second stage, the completed jobs need to be batch delivered to various pre-specified destinations in one of a number of available transportation modes. Our objective is to minimize the sum of weighted job delivery time and total transportation cost. Since this problem involves not only the traditional performance measurement, such as weighted completion time, but also transportation arrangement and cost, key factors in logistics management, we thus call this problem logistics scheduling with batching and transportation (LSBT) problem.     

Parallel-machine scheduling with past-sequence-dependent delivery times and learning effect

This paper considers identical parallel-machine scheduling problem with past-sequence-dependent (psd) delivery times and learning effect. In electronic manufacturing industry, an electronic component may be exposed to certain electromagnetic field and requires an extra time for eliminating adverse effect after the main processing. The extra time is modeled as past-sequence-dependent delivery time in the literature, which is proportional to the waiting time in the system. It is also observed that the learning process reflects a decrease in the processing time as a function of the number of repetitions, i.e., as a function of the job position in the sequence. In practice, one often has to deal with the scheduling problems with psd delivery times and learning effect. Identical parallel-machine setting is considered because the occurrence of resources in parallel is common in the real world. In this paper, three objectives are the minimization of the total absolute deviation of job completion times, the total load on all machines and the total completion time. We develop polynomial algorithms to optimally solve these problems.     

Nonpreemptive flowshop scheduling with machine dominance

Flowshop scheduling deals with processing a set of jobs through a set of machines, where all jobs have to pass among machines in the same order. With the exception of minimizing a makespan on two machines, almost all other flowshop problems in a general setup are known to be computationally intractable. In this paper we study special cases of flowshop defined by additional machine dominance constraints. These constraints impose certain relations among the job processing times on different machines and make the studied problems tractable.     

A note on batch scheduling on a two-machine flowshop with machine-dependent processing times

4OR - We study a batch scheduling problem on a two-machine flowshop. Unlike most relevant research papers focusing on batching with identical job processing times, we assume machine-dependent...