Impact of pickup/delivery stations and restoring conveyor locations on retrieval time models of flow-rack automated storage and retrieval systems

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance of flow-rack automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) configurations considering a large mix of different product types, which has not been studied in the literature. Specifically, this paper derives expected retrieval time models by analysing the impact of pickup/delivery stations and restoring conveyor locations based on randomised storage and retrieval. From comparison of results, a number of remarks are stated and used to further work related to flow-rack AS/RS. Although flow-rack AS/RS are typically used only for a few types of items, where each bin is dedicated to a particular item, severe competition faced by manufacturing companies requires adoption of various technologies in order to provide practical solutions. These results show that flow-rack systems may be beneficial to reducing inventory levels, while maintaining product variety and responding to customers’ needs in a timely manner; thus they may be used to generate realistic production schedules that lower costs and increase customer satisfaction.

Keywords:

• Manufacturing automation
• Production systems
• Automated storage and retrieval systems

Acknowledgement

This collaboration was made possible by the support of the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs grant, ‘Development of Engineering Management Curriculum and Distance-Learning Methodologies in Algeria: An Educational Partnership’.