Abstract
This study focused on the influencing factors for a wide-aisle order picking system and found that the blocking time ratio is influenced by the picking density and number of picking faces. Under the condition of a one-to-one ratio between the picking and walking speeds, we construct a discrete-time Markov state transition probability matrix. We studied the steady state of the matrix, therein analysing the relationships among the blocking time ratio, pick density and number of picking faces, and we determined the extreme point of the blocking time ratio. The research results can provide reference for picking strategy selection and represent the theoretical basis of random process application research on logistics operation systems.
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Acknowledgements
The study is supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China “Research on the warehouse picking system blocking influence factors and combined control strategy” (No. 71501015), and Beijing the Great Wall scholars programme (No. CIT & TCD20170317), and the Beijing Collaborative Innovation Center.
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Zhou, L., Liu, H., Zhao, X. et al. Study on the estimation of blocking rate in wide-aisle picking system. Soft Comput 23, 4891–4902 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-3148-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-018-3148-3