Mini-projects

This is work in process. Expected completion time: August 2007.

Here is a collection of activities for students of warehousing, logistics, supply chain, etc. They offer an opportunity to engage with the data of a real business but without having to worry about data-gathering, data-cleansing, tool-building, etc. Unlike the larger scale projects, which are more akin to consulting engagements, each activity here focuses on a single issue. The work to be done is well-defined, the data has been cleaned and organized, and tools are provided. In short, these are more like homework problems. Any of these can be done comfortably within a week or, more casually, two.

All the software tools provided are written in Java and so are available to anyone. Furthermore, they may be used freely.

Warehouse activity profiling

Basic data manipulation

1. Set up the database as described here and the included links, and answer the questions about the given set of data.
2. Generate a “picks-by-location” table that lists the address of each section of shelf and the number of requests for an item stored there. Similarly, generate a “volume-by-location” table that lists the address of each section of shelf and the physical volume of product flowing from that section. What are the ten locations most frequently visited? What are the ten locations with greatest flow?

Advanced data manipulation

For the data of the preceding project, answer the following questions about the structure of customer orders. (Note that this may require direct processing of the data files via some general programming language (Java recommended).

1. Construct the lines-per-order distribution: How many orders consist of a single line? How many of 2 lines? etc.
2. Construct the picks-per-order distribution: How many orders consist of a single pick? How many of 2 picks? etc.
3. Construct the zones-per-order distribution: How many orders are included within a single zone? How many within 2 zones? etc.
4. Compute sku “affinities”; that is, the number of times that each pair of skus appeared in the same order.

Visualization

Use the program Birds Eye View to reveal active areas within the warehouse represented by this map [PENDING].

1. Use the picks-by-location table you generated in the basic data manipulation activity to show the frequency of visit to each location. (Alternatively, use this different, prepared table [PENDING] in lieu of generating your own.)
2. Use the volume-by-location table you generated in the basic data manipulation activity to show the volume of product moving out of each section of the warehouse.

Stock placement, slotting

A unit-load, transshipment warehouse

For this warehouse which skus should be stored in rack and which in floor storage? How deep should the lanes of storage be?

A forward pick area where cartons are picked from pallets.

Use the pallet-slotting tool to answer the following questions for the given set of skus. Assume that a pick from the ground floor requires about 1 minute on average; a pick from a higher level requires about 2 minutes; and about 3 minutes are required to restock a ground floor pallet position from above.

1. How should 2,000 forward pallet positions be allocated?
2. How many less-than-pallet picks would you expect from the ground floor? How many from above?
3. How many full-pallet picks would you expect from the ground floor? How many from above?
4. How many restocks to the ground floor would be expected?
5. How much would an additional 50 ground floor pallet positions be worth (in person-hours)?
6. What is the approximate exchange rate between space (pallet positions on the ground floor) and time (person-hours)?

A forward pick area where pieces are picked from cartons.

Use the carton-slotting tool to answer the following questions for the sample data set:

1. How much benefit is conferred by those last 10 bays of flow rack?
2. How much would it cost in person-hours to slot in increments of 1/4-shelf rather than in 1/16-shelf so that the rack would be easier to manage?

A set of forward pick areas

Use the multi-mode allocation tool to assign space to a set of skus amongst a set of different forward pick areas. Here is a description of the skus [PENDING] and here a description of the possible storage modes [PENDING]. For a greater challenge, after allocating skus to the forward pick areas, use the pallet- and carton-slotting tools to produce detailed slotting plans.

Order-picking

Pick-paths

Use the Pickpath Optimizer to reveal how both total travel and flow time of pick-lines vary with batch size for the warehouse and order history given. For the given warehouse and set of pick-lines,

1. What batch size minimizes total walking?
2. How much is total travel reduced if it is possible for pickers to walk around the ends of the aisles (very top and very bottom of the warehouse)?