COVID-19 Pandemic Implications for Order Picking Operations

The deadly global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chains and the working environment in most organizations. This paper looks at safety physical distancing implications on order picking operations using routing, storage strategies. Research shown that use of traversal some cases midpoint routing can yield near optimal results enable distancing. ABC does result less travel for workers but potentially more congestion. Picking strategies utilize zones naturally promote may not be feasible given volume layout distribution center. Overall, this shows managers still provide safe workspaces their employees while achieving cost effective results.