Evaluating order throughput time in 2-block warehouses with time window batching

Abstract

Given the increased pressure on short delivery lead times, minimizing customer order throughput times is an important objective in warehousing operations. Warehouse managers can influence the responsiveness of their system through a number of controls, such as the order batching policy, the capacity of the picking and sorting operations, and the picking policy used (pick-and-sort versus sort-while-pick). This paper studies the impact of these controls on the average customer order throughput time in a numerical way, for warehouses with time window batching and separate picking and sorting functions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.