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Layout-Agnostic Order-Batching Optimization

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Computational Logistics (ICCL 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 13004))

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Abstract

Order-batching is an important methodology in warehouse material handling. This paper addresses three identified shortcomings in the current literature on order-batching optimization. The first concerns the overly large dependence on conventional warehouse layouts. The second is a lack of proposed optimization methods capable of producing approximate solutions in minimal computational time. The third is a scarcity of benchmark datasets, which are necessary for data-driven performance evaluation. This paper introduces an optimization algorithm, SBI, capable of generating reasonably strong solutions to order-batching problems for any warehouse layout at great speed. On an existing benchmark dataset for a conventional layout, Foodmart, results show that the algorithm on average used 6.9% computational time and 105.8% travel cost relative to the state of the art. New benchmark instances and proposed solutions for various layouts and problem settings were shared on a public repository.

Supported by the Wallenberg Autonomous Systems Program.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://github.com/johanoxenstierna/OBP_instances.

  2. 2.

    it is called “min_distance_to_slotting_zone” and can be found in a specs JSON in each instance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Lund University, Box 118, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden

    Johan Oxenstierna, Jacek Malec & Volker Krueger

  2. Kairos Logic AB, Lund, Sweden

    Johan Oxenstierna

Authors
  1. Johan Oxenstierna
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  2. Jacek Malec
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  3. Volker Krueger
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Correspondence to Johan Oxenstierna .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IEBIS, University of Twente, Enschede, Overijssel, The Netherlands

    Martijn Mes

  2. IEBIS, University of Twente, Enschede, Overijssel, The Netherlands

    Eduardo Lalla-Ruiz

  3. IWI-Institute of Information Systems, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Stefan Voß

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Oxenstierna, J., Malec, J., Krueger, V. (2021). Layout-Agnostic Order-Batching Optimization. In: Mes, M., Lalla-Ruiz, E., Voß, S. (eds) Computational Logistics. ICCL 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13004. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87672-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87672-2_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-87671-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-87672-2

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