Toward a relevant agenda for warehousing research: literature review and practitioners’ input

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to provide an agenda for future warehousing research relevant for both academic development and practitioners' needs. In order to suggest a practically relevant future research agenda, first a comprehensive literature review was performed to identify research areas covered in the literature. Then, 15 warehouse managers and senior consultants were interviewed to add empirical input to the development of potential future research areas. The literature review reveals gaps, both methodology-and topic-wise. A considerable methodological imbalance is observed. Some of the highlighted managerial concerns have been investigated in the literature extensively, but the managerial concerns emphasized mostly do not belong to the most researched categories. While most of the practitioners' concerns relate to supportive aspects of warehousing business, a relatively high number of the reviewed studies highlight operational problems. The suggested future research agenda highlights the importance of supportive aspects of the warehousing business, employment of real data in analysis and empirical research methods. The insights from practitioners stress the expected trends of business environment such as more volatile demand, higher desire for customized services and more expansion of e-commerce.

Influence of assortment allocation management in the warehouse on the human workload

“…In the study they demonstrated four basic indicators regarding time, quality, labour cost and efficiency. On the other hand, Davarzani and Norrman (2015) demonstrated in the research that majority of researches pertain to mathematical models and simulation models within the picking area ). HF aspects in the warehousing economy in relation to the picking phase, were formerly underlined by aforementioned .…”

Optimal Selection of Movable Shelves under Cargo-to-Person Picking Mode

“…Although there are few studies of the picking methods used in the cargo-to-person picking mode, the picking methods under the classical person-to-cargo picking mode are well-studied [10][11][12]. In the person-to-cargo picking mode, the picking process consists of the following steps: order-batching, sequencing and routing, and sorting [10].…”

“…The order-batching problem is a special clustering problem, and most research about this problem focuses on designing efficient algorithms for different objective functions [10][11][12]. Pan et al [13] developed an order-batching approach for a pick-and-pass system.…”

“…The static sequencing and routing problems are similar to the TSP and are NP-hard, and the dynamic sequencing and routing problem is more difficult. Most research on this problem focuses on designing efficient algorithms [10][11][12]. Lu et al [17] studied dynamic order-picking route problem and proposed a new routing algorithm for it.…”

The use of time series forecasting in zone order picking systems to predict order pickers’ workload

“…The gap between academic research and practice (Davarzani and Norrman 2015;De Koster, LeDuc, and Roodbergen 2007;Gu, Goetschalckx, and McGinnis 2007), as well as the fact that almost all research in order picking treats demand as given (De Koster, Le-Duc, and Roodbergen 2007) and ignores the determination of the number of personnel (Rouwenhorst et al 2000), are common conclusions in recent literature reviews on warehouse planning. These previously determined research gaps are filled in this study.…”