The storage location assignment and interleaving problem in an automated storage/retrieval system with shared storage

Abstract

Storage location assignment and interleaving policy are two closely related problems in warehousing management. This paper addresses the location assignment and interleaving problem at the same time in an automated storage/retrieval system with duration-of-stay based shared storage policy. Based on the heuristics for single command operation, a two-step procedure is developed to solve the problem. A tabu search algorithm is proposed to improve the solution for medium and large sized problems. The computational results indicate that the tabu search algorithm is effective in finding high quality solutions, and efficient in solving large sized problems.

Keywords:

• automated storage and retrieval system
• location assignment
• interleaving
• tabu search

Acknowledgements

The authors thank two anonymous referees for their insightful comments that led to an improved version of the article. They also thank the GERAD and the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering of Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal for their financial support.