Warehouse & Distribution Science: The book

This is a book-in-progress. We are still revising and extending this text and suggest you print only what you need as you need it.

Latest release

Warehouse & Distribution Science version 0.89 (pdf format, 5MB), released 20 August 2008.

If you prefer to receive this file on a CD, please send your postal address to John (dot) Bartholdi (at) GaTech.edu and I will mail you a copy at no charge.

Check the errata for known errors. And please report any errors you find.

Here is material to supplement the book. This includes software to evaluate and optimize warehouses, photo tours, class projects, and other links.

Teachers: Contact us for a teacher's edition that includes solutions to the exercises.

History

• 0.89
  • Significant improvement of chapter on selecting skus for a forward pick area for small parts. The approach is much cleaner, more accessible to students (everything is now based on the knapsack problem), and allows more general results.
• 0.87
  • Reduced file to one-third of its previous size
  • Added chapter on automation, including carousels, A-frames, and unit-load automated storage and retrieval devices
  • Included discussion of the recent work of Kevin Gue and Russ Meller on reducing travel in a unit-load warehouse by means of non-orthogonal aisles
  • Added a new computer program to search for and identify product affinities within a history of customer orders. This provides a practical tool and complements the discussion of affinity in the chapter on detailed slotting.
• 0.80, 0.81, 0.82, 0.83, 0.85
  • Corrected errors in the discussion of optimal lane depth for pallets (0.85)
  • Improved presentation on optimizing lane-depth in a unit-load warehouse (0.83)
  • New chapter on benchmarking (0.82)
  • Reduced size of book by sizing photographs more carefully
  • Preface does a better job of explaining point of view that unifies the content of the book
  • Rewrote many sections to better separate out the most technical parts so reader can more easily choose what they are interested in.
  • New material on sizing a forward-pick area for both picking cartons from pallets and for picking eaches from cartons
  • New material on warehousing around the world
  • Improved proofs to many theorems
  • Many new homework problems
  • Prepared supplementary tools to support warehouse activity visualization.
• 0.75, 0.76
  • Corrected many typos
  • Improved several technical arguments
  • New material on forward pick area for pieces, bucket brigades
• 0.70
  • New chapters on carton-picking, slotting, trends in warehousing around the world
  • Many new homework problems
  • Prepared supplementary tools to support slotting.
  • Prepared supplementary material to support warehouse activity profiling.
• 0.60
  • New chapter on pick-path optimization
  • Many new homework problems
  • Prepared supplementary tools to support warehouse activity visualization.