Three Simulation Cases of Automated Warehouse Picking Systems: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Picking systems are great allies for companies that must manage a wide range of stock keeping units (SKU) and/or purchase order (PO) volume. The available systems allow optimization of the most valued resources within a company: time and labor; allowing organizations to gain greater competitiveness within their industry. Based on a descriptive and comparative scope design, this study focuses on the analysis of three automated simulation cases for order preparation systems to analyze its effectiveness within the warehouses: put-to-light, put-to-wall, and routing system. Likewise, it was sought to analyze the particularities of the three case studies in order to constitute a support framework for the management of the companies during their distribution center improvement process. The findings show that the first two simulation cases of the three chosen focus their study on solving makespan problems in picking, while the last case specializes in systemic preparations prior to the order preparation process; furthermore, these three selected cases have used the Gurobi Optimizer software to carry out the simulation.