2021/08/20 by Xiying Yang, Guowei Hua, Yang, Xiying +6
Engineering · #Advanced Manufacturing and Logistics Optimization #Assembly Line Balancing Optimization #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Robotics (cs.RO) #Scheduling and Optimization Algorithms
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2108.09056
openalex publication_date 2021/08/20 · openalex created_date 2022/01/26 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We consider the problem of allocating orders to multiple stations and sequencing the interlinked order and rack processing flows in each station in the robot-assisted KIVA warehouse. The various decisions involved in the problem, which are closely associated and must be solved in real time, are often tackled separately for ease of treatment. However, exploiting the synergy between order assignment and picking station scheduling benefits picking efficiency. We develop a comprehensive mathematical model that takes the synergy into consideration to minimize the total number of rack visits. To solve this intractable problem, we develop an efficient algorithm based on simulated annealing and beam search. Computational studies show that our proposed approach outperforms the rule-based greedy policy and the independent picking station scheduling method in terms of solution quality, saving over one-third and one-fifth of rack visits compared with the former and latter, respectively.