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Title
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The time-window strategy in the online order batching problem
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Author
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Abstract
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| When an order arrives at a warehouse it is usually assigned to a batch and a decision is made on how long to wait before assigning the batch to a picker and starting the picking tour. If the idle time of the pickers is minimised, the batch is immediately assigned, and the picking starts. Alternatively, if a time window is introduced, other orders may arrive, and more efficient batches may be formed. The method to decide how long to wait (the time-window strategy) is therefore important but, surprisingly, almost completely overlooked in the literature. In this paper, we demonstrate that this lack of attention is unwarranted, and that the time-window method significantly influences the overall warehouse performance. In the context of the online order batching problem (OOBP), we first demonstrate that the effects of different time-window strategies are independent of the methods used to solve the other subproblems of the OOBP (batching and routing). Second, we propose two new time-window strategies, compare them to existing methods, and prove that our methods outperform those in the literature under various scenarios. Finally, we show how time-window methods influence different objective functions of the OOBP when varying numbers of orders and pickers. |
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Language
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English
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Source (journal)
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International journal of production research. - London
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Publication
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Abingdon
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Taylor & francis ltd
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2024
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ISSN
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0020-7543
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DOI
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10.1080/00207543.2023.2263884
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Volume/pages
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62
:12
(2024)
, p. 4446-4469
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ISI
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001078289900001
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Full text (Publisher's DOI)
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Full text (open access)
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The author-created version that incorporates referee comments and is the accepted for publication version Available from 03.10.2024
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