The optimization of a picker to product Order Picking System: a supporting decision tool based on a multi-parametric simulation approach

Modern fulfilment centers need to process a far higher volume of smaller orders with increasing picking costs. These picking costs can be up to 60% of total warehousing costs. Order picking is a process of gathering requested stock keeping units one order at a time, while picking operations involve a lot of large and medium-sized companies which belong to many industrial and service sectors. A significant example is now represented by the recent growth of e-commerce companies, which operate in growing global and extended markets. This study shows and measures the impact of alternative policies and configurations of manual picker to part order picking systems, with the aim of designing and optimizing robust facilities, minimizing global costs and maximizing their performances in terms of efficiency and customer service quality. The impact of the most critical and decisive parameters is quantified by a dynamic multi-parametric modeling of warehousing system and by using an integrated approach. Compared to the studies in the literature this approach is innovative. The analysis is based on modeling of thousands of what-if scenarios, which interactively support the management decision-making process. The effectiveness of simulation as a supporting decision tool is justified by the computational complexity of the whole design problem and by a set of innovative and practical results useful to system designer and controller.