A hierarchical approach to warehouse design. Issue 21 (2nd November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sprock, Timothy; Murrenhoff, Anike; McGinnis, Leon F.
• Is Part Of: International journal of production research. Volume 55:Issue 21(2017)
• Page Start: 6331
• Page End: 6343
• Publication Date: 2017-11-02
• Subjects: warehouse design -- multi-disciplinary optimisation -- formal domain modelling -- SysML -- model-based system engineering; Factory management -- Periodicals; 658.57
• DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2016.1241447
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7543

Abstract

Abstract: The design of large complex systems, such as warehouses, requires multiple experts and analyses as well as methods to organise and integrate their knowledge. While there are many models for optimising individual aspects of warehouses, there is not, today, a comprehensive design methodology that incorporates and supports all of the design decisions and provides a method to effectively integrate the solutions to these subproblems into a complete warehouse system specification. In this research, we propose a hierarchical design decision support methodology based on decomposing the design problem into a set of subproblems and using a formal model of the system to integrate the solutions to these subproblems. The methodology enables a thorough search of the design space and the identification of many candidate designs for consideration by the design decision maker. The hierarchical design methodology is demonstrated with an example of designing a forward pick area.