A Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization to Solve the Put-Away Routing Problem in Distribution Centres

Abstract

Put-away operations typically consist of moving products from depots to allocated storage locations using either operators or Material Handling Equipment (MHE), accounting for important operative costs in warehouses and impacting operations efficiency. Therefore, this paper aims to formulate and solve a Put-away Routing Problem (PRP) in distribution centres (DCs). This PRP formulation represents a novel approach due to the consideration of a fleet of homogeneous Material Handling Equipment (MHE), heterogeneous products linked to a put-away list size, depot location and multi-parallel aisles in a distribution centre. It should be noted that the slotting problem, rather than the PRP, has usually been studied in the literature, whereas the PRP is addressed in this paper. The PRP is solved using a discrete particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm that is compared to tabu search approaches (Classical Tabu Search (CTS), Tabu Search (TS) 2-Opt) and an empirical rule. As a result, it was found that a discrete PSO generates the best solutions, as the time savings range from 2 to 13% relative to CTS and TS 2-Opt for different combinations of factor levels evaluated in the experimentation.

A Multiobjective Variable Neighborhood Strategy Adaptive Search to Optimize the Dynamic EMS Location–Allocation Problem

“…On average, GA generated a worse solution than that of M-VaNSAS, at 14.25%. The relative difference (%diff) is calculated using Equation (29).…”

“…Previously, the EMS relocation problem has been integrated with other NP-hard problems, such as the dispatching problem [6] and the vehicle routing problem [7,[20][21][22][23]. The methodology used to solve the EMS and location/relocation problem has included set covering and its extension [24,25], tabu search [4], linear programming [26], variable neighborhood search (VNS) [8,27], hybridization of simulated annealing algorithm and tabu search [5,28], particle swarm optimization [29], and ant colony optimization [7].…”

Improvement of the Logistics Flows in the Receiving Process of a Warehouse

“…Check-in [1,19] Truck-to-Dock assignment [13,14] Trucks scheduling [15,[20][21][22]] Put away and storage [2,16,[23][24][25] For the sustainable growth of the company, it becomes essential to improve the raw material reception process, make the flow more agile, and reduce throughput times, thereby helping to reduce associated costs. The supply chain stakeholders coordinate and integrate their business processes with the purpose of achieving the lowest possible cost while providing superior customer value [26].…”

Sequencing and routing in a large warehouse with high degree of product rotation

“…The most recent contributions focus on realistic aspects such as particular layout designs (Mowrey and Parikh 2014;Scholz et al 2016;Boysen et al 2017;Weidinger et al 2019;Briant et al 2020), congestion issues (Pan and Wu 2012;Chen et al 2013Chen et al , 2016, workers comfort (Grosse et al 2015) and dynamic modification of list of operations (Lu et al 2016;De Santis et al 2018). As opposed, Gómez-Montoya et al (2020) is the only contribution addressing exclusively a putaway SRP.…”