Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers in Industry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compind

A decision-support system for the design and management of

warehousing systems
Riccardo Accorsi, Riccardo Manzini *, Fausto Maranesi
Department of Industrial Engineering (DIN), ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, Bologna, Italy

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 24 May 2013
Received in revised form 15 July 2013
Accepted 29 August 2013
Available online 4 October 2013

The issue of material handling involves the design and operative control of warehousing systems (i.e.,
distribution centres), which allow matching vendors and demands, smoothing with seasonality,
consolidating products and arranging distribution activities. Warehousing systems play a crucial role in
providing efciency and customer satisfaction. The warehouse design entails a wide set of decisions,
which involve layout constraints and operative issues that seriously affect the performances and the
overall logistics costs.
This study presents an original decision-support system (DSS) for the design, management, and
control of warehousing systems. Specically, the proposed DSS implements a top-down methodology
that considers both strategic warehouse design and operative operations management. The DSS can
simulate the logistics and material handling performances of a warehousing system. Heuristic methods
and algorithms address several critical warehouse issues, such as the order picking process, which is
responsible for 55% of the overall costs in a distribution centre. The benets due to the adoption of the
proposed decision-support system are summarised as a dashboard of key performance indicators (KPIs)
of space and time efciency that allow logistics providers, practitioners, and managers as well as
academicians and educators to face real-world warehousing instances and to nd useful guidelines for
material handling.
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Logistics
Warehousing systems
Industrial storage systems
Decision-support system
Order picking
Material handling

1. Introduction and background

In recent years, enterprises have completely recongured their
supply chain to address increasing customer service levels and
demand variability. Warehouses play a pivotal role in the supply
chain, and requirements for warehousing operations have signicantly increased. Specically, the customer needs in terms of the
order accuracy and response time, order frequency, order quantity
and order size have dramatically changed with the global economy
and new demand trends (e.g., e-commerce). The literature has
widely debated the issues of warehouse design and management,
which is aimed at minimising the operation costs and time and
increasing the supply chain performance. Comprehensive surveys
on warehouse and industrial storage system topics have been
proposed by De Koster et al. [1], Gu et al. [2] and Dallari et al. [3].
The main function of the warehousing systems is to receive
products (from inbound or manufacturing lines), to store materials
until they are requested, and then, to extract products from
inventory and ship them in response to the customers orders.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 051 2090468; fax: +39 051 2090484.
E-mail address: riccardo.manzini@unibo.it (R. Manzini).
0166-3615/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2013.08.007

Fig. 1 illustrates a conceptual framework for classifying

warehouse operations, considering the denitions of entities,
processes, activities, and decisions as related to storage systems.
Products typically arrive in large units, such as unit-loads, and
standard or custom containers, or pallets, which cause the related
labour and handling activities to be less expensive. Incoming
products must be put away, which is the most signicant
warehouse function. The put-away process entails a set of
interdependent decisions [2]: given a warehouse conguration
(based on the layout parameters of Fig. 1), how much inventory
should be held for a generic SKU (the so-called allocation in Fig. 1),
and where should it be stored (the so-called assignment in Fig. 1)?
The warehousing system pursues the transformation of the
large and relatively homogeneous arrival materials into small,
frequent and heterogeneous output quantities in response to
customer demands. The small and frequent output quantities
result from the fullment of the customer order lists.
Order picking is one of the prime components of labour and
warehouse-associated costs. Two alternative congurations of
layout types are common for picking. One, the so-called multi-level
picking (see Fig. 1), executes high-level picking directly from
storage locations, which are all accessible by picking equipment
(e.g., turret-trucks). The other, the so-called forward-reserve

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R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

Fig. 1. Framework for warehouse design and operation issues.

(see Fig. 1), executes low-level picking from the easily accessible
forward area, which holds the bulk of the inventory for every
product in a larger, reserve storage area. When given a product for
which the inventory is low in the forward area, replenishment is
realised from the reserve. For an exhaustive description of the
patterns that are depicted in the proposed framework, a denition
of zoning, batching and routing in warehousing is given. The
zoning comprises partitioning the warehouse into different zones,
which correspond to work stations. Pickers are assigned to zones,
and workers progressively assemble each order, passing it along
from zone to zone. The batching comprises making a picker
retrieve multiple orders in one trip. Even though batching
represents a very useful approach to reduce travelling, it requires
the retrieved SKUs be sorted into a single order. Lastly, the routing
denes an appropriate sequence of items on the order list to ensure
a good route through the warehouse.
Overall, two main aspects lead to enhanced performance: the
warehouse design (1) and the operations control (2).
The rst aspect refers to the layout constraints and parameters
(illustrated in Fig. 1), the storage equipment and the high-level
strategic decisions on the total inventory of the facility. The second
addresses the warehouse operative activities, such as put-away,
replenishment and order picking, focusing on models, techniques,
and methodologies to enhance the operative performances (e.g.,
zoning, batching, routing). These two aspects signicantly affect
warehouse performances and have a direct inuence on the level of
service of the overall logistic chain (i.e., the steps before and after
the warehousing system of Fig. 1).
The literature proposes a wide set of warehouse KPIs that
include the throughput capacity (the material ow processed
through the warehouse per time unit), the storage capacity, the
response time (the time within the order arrival and its shipment),
the cost rate, and the cost per unit of material ow shipped by the
warehouse. All of these metrics are affected by the management of
space and time, which are critical for every logistic process.
Generally, the contributions of the literature address the
problem of warehouse design rather than the management of
warehouse operations separately. Gu et al. [2] describe inbound/
outbound processes and review the literature, classifying the
papers on the basis of the scope of analysis, the adopted method
and the type of the observed warehouse (e.g., automated,
conventional multi-aisle storage systems).

Typically, warehousing problems are non-polynomial (NP)

problems and have a very large amount of real-world data to
manage. Therefore, user-friendly and timeless solutions for the
warehousing issues are ambitious aims for computer-based
applications.
The remainder of this study describes the conceptual design
and development of a decision-support system (DSS) for the
strategic design and the management of operative activities in a
warehousing system. Specically, it supports the design of
complex multi-zone forward-reserve picker-to-part storage
systems and provides multi-scenario simulation for KPI assessments. The DSS implements sets of heuristic methodologies to
support data-oriented analyses and performance enhancement.
The management and control of warehousing system (i.e.,
industrial storage system) activities and processes range among
various design alternatives and involve different expertise. For
example, the problem of layout design, the denition of the total
storage capacity, the determination of the number of aisles, the
types of racks, the locations of the products (i.e., stock-keepingunits or SKUs) within the storage area, the stock per each SKU,
and so on, involve interrelated areas and are challenging but can
be addressed through a unique modelling formulation. The
majority of the contributions reviewed in the literature [13]
focus on a single aspect of the warehousing problem, thereby
ignoring the integration of multi-purpose approaches.
The proposed DSS develops a top-down methodology for the
comprehensive design of a warehousing system that allows
for the decision-maker to develop and compare different
congurations and scenarios in a user-friendly computer
environment. It implements multi-scenario simulation techniques to address real-world case studies, to highlight the
interdependency among decisions and to identify useful guidelines about warehousing issues.
DSSs are computer-based tools that have been adapted to
support and aid complex decision-making and problem
solving [4,5]. Research in this area typically highlights the
importance of information technology in improving efciency
adopted by users to make decisions, improving their effectiveness
[6,7]. Specically, the literature reveals the benets of using
computer-based systems to support logistics management,
especially in the areas of logistics, transportation, and warehousing
[810].

R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

Rouwenhorst et al. [11] and Svestka [12] develop interactive

decision support systems that are aimed at the conceptual design
of dedicated storage systems to store and retrieve pallet loads (i.e.,
unit loads). Other studies present tools for managing order picking
systems (OPS) (i.e., less-than-unit loads), which support the
analysis of operating data (e.g., the SKU master le, order master
le, inventory master le) to determine the requirements for the
OP operations and storage capacity [13,14].
Currently, the literature does not provide any contributions that
can combine warehouse design and operations patterns into a
unique analysis, as suggested in the proposed DSS.
The proposed DSS is written in a high-level programming
language (C#) that utilises a relational database that can gather,
store and manage datasets from a real-world warehousing
instance. Warehousing systems generally collect tens or hundreds
of thousands of SKUs, with customer demands of millions of order
lines per year, while managing inbound-outbound processes,
quality checking, and scheduling shipments. For this purpose,
industry invests in the development of integrated information
solutions, which are referred to as warehouse management
systems (WMS). These commercial systems provide a real-time
view of material handling, often advising the efcient use of space,
labour, and equipment [15]. Nevertheless, WMS solutions comprise management systems that have no functionalities that are
related to decision-making on warehouse design and optimisation.
The lack of systemic methodology on this topic highlights the
need to provide a DSS that can gather data from real-world
instances and implement sets of effective heuristics to rapidly
support decision processes on warehousing design and management. The aim of this study is to illustrate an innovative
architecture of DSS for the analysis of warehousing systems while
considering the layout features, storage equipment, allocation and
assignment problems, adopting numerical simulations to assess
results, statistics and performances.
The expected results of the proposed computer aided system
can be exploited by disseminating knowledge among logistic
providers, practitioners, and managers, by educating and improving industrial engineer expertise and by analysing real-world case
studies.
The remainder of this study is organised as follows. Section 2
presents a design-support methodology for warehousing systems and reports a more relevant denition of the main leverage
of analysis. Section 3 illustrates the developed DSS functionalities through graphic user interfaces (GUIs) and the datamanagement section. Section 4 gives a picture of the potential
results and analyses that were conducted through the application of proposed DSSs to real-world industry instances. Lastly,
Section 5 discusses the conclusions and provides directions for
further research.
2. Solving warehouse design and management issues: a topdown procedure
The proposed DSS implements a top-down procedure for the
design and management of a forward-reserve OPS, as illustrated by
Accorsi et al. [16]. This methodology organises procedures, models,
and algorithms in an organic sequential decision to provide a wide
set of solutions for storage layout, storage allocation, and storage
assignment. The decision-maker conducts a sequence of analyses,
generating sets of alternative warehouse congurations to be
assessed through a what-if multi-scenario simulation. The goal
performance is the minimisation of the total travelled distance due
to picking, which represents 55% of the overall warehouse costs.
The reduction in the distance means a reduction in the number of
travelling material handling solutions (e.g., forklifts and guided
vehicles) that are necessary to move materials, a reduction in the

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vehicle congestions, parking areas, costs of travelling, maintenance, labour, and other outcomes.
Thus, the feedback ow illustrated in Fig. 2 allows for the user to
rearrange his/her decisions to achieve efciency in both the
warehouse design and the operations. The following sub-sections
focus on the main decision steps.
2.1. Layout
The rst decision involves the design of the warehouse layout.
The study of a warehouse layout is based on the assessment of the
facility storage capacity. The proposed methodology is based on
the historical inventory and customer demand (or the demand
forecasts) that are assumed as input for a stock out risk evaluation
analysis that is aimed to establish the required storage capacity of
the warehousing system (i.e., designed from a green-eld).
The purpose of this step is to set the facility layout through the
denition of a set of parameters (see Fig. 1), such as the shape
factor, the number of aisles, the number of bays per aisle, the rack
sizes and types, and the characteristics of the unit load (i.e., the
pallet size or other container solutions). The DSS rationalises the
whole storage space by devoting different zones for different SKUs
in terms of the shape and size, which likely require specic racks or
equipment.
2.2. Allocation
The storage allocation strategies establish a fraction of the
overall available storage space in the forward area to be devoted to
the generic SKU according to specic criteria, given a certain time
horizon. An equal space (EQS) strategy devotes the same fraction of
space to each SKU, while an equal time strategy (EQT) ensures the
same number of restocks for each SKU given a selected time
horizon. Both of these strategies are renowned in industry and are
suitable for every storage context (i.e., cartons-cases picking). The
optimal strategy (OPT), as proposed by Bartholdi and Hackman
[17] and previously by Hackman and Rosenblatt [18], minimises
the restocking to the forward area for pieces-picking (i.e., the order
picking for the small parts). The proposed DSS implements
different so-called allocation strategies by which to congure
alternative scenarios of stock for every SKU. In the forward area
(i.e., the fast-pick area or the low-level locations), the choice of the
stock level to devote to each SKU affects the replenishment
activities as well as the picking processes because this choice
inuences the locations of the SKUs [16]. The system also supports
a pattern [17] to determine the sub-set of SKUs that maximise the
net-benet of the forward area, considering both the time savings
per pick (i.e., the pick from the forward vs. the pick from the
reserve) and the time for replenishment.
At this step, the decision-maker matches the allocation results
with layout features and eventually considers the opportunity to
return to the top for re-layout planning.
2.3. Assignment
The storage assignment strategies establish the appropriate
locations to assign to the SKUs in accordance with different
heuristics. The DSS asks the behaviour of selected SKUs within the
demand prole for a selected time horizon. Information on the
picking processes is collected to compute a panel of metrics used
for SKU classication. Specically, an index-based assignment
policy classies the overall set of SKUs according to the effective
criteria as the popularity (P) (i.e., number of requests per each
SKU), the turn-over (T) (i.e., the ratio of the demand to the
inventory for each SKU), the cube-per-order index (COI), the order
closing (OC) (i.e., the ability of an item to close an order). For a

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R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

Fig. 2. DSS top-down decisional methodology.

detailed description of such heuristics and methods for indexbased assignment policies, a recent literature contribution [16] is
recommended.
Another relevant aspect that can be considered through the
proposed DSS is the correlation among the SKUs that are requested
together by customers. Correlated-based assignment policies can
be applied to group SKUs that are requested together and assign
them to storage locations that are close to each other, to save on the
travelling needed for the picking activities. The implemented
correlated-based approach comprises the following three main
steps:
Correlation analysis. The level of correlation is generally
measured by introducing a similarity index among the SKUs. This
procedure allows comparing general-purpose similarity indices,
e.g., the Jaccard index proposed by McAuley [19] and certain
problem-oriented issues.
Clustering. This step concerns the adoption of hierarchical
clustering algorithms (e.g., single linkage, complete linkage, group

average) and different similarity-cut thresholds of a dendrogram

(i.e., value-based, percentile-based) [2022].
Cluster Assignment. This step computes the above-mentioned
metrics (i.e., popularity, turn-over, order closing) for each cluster of
SKUs (e.g., the popularity of a cluster is given by the weighted sum
of the popularity of the included SKUs) and to sort the clusters of
SKUs accordingly, as summarised in Accorsi et al. [16].
Regardless of the adoption of specic assignment policies (i.e.,
index-based or correlated-based), the assignment step returns a
list of SKUs (or a cluster of SKUs) that are sorted in accordance with
the selected criteria, to be properly matched with a list of locations,
ranked by the increasing value of the single-command (SC) path
(i.e., the distance to visit a location from/to a shipping/receiving
dock). The computation of the SC depends on the location of the
shipping and receiving docks (e.g., left/right corner, distributed,
same side, different side) and on the so-called aisle-visiting
strategies (i.e., mono- and bi-directional aisles). To t the layout
constraints multiple (i.e., approximately twenty), congurations of

R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

both aspects are implemented. Lastly, each SKU is assigned to the

most convenient available location in accordance with a greedy
heuristic approach.
2.4. Multi-scenario simulation
The set of decisions that were previously addressed by the DSS
(i.e., the layout design, allocation and assignment) provides a
specic conguration for a warehouse scenario. Multiple iterations
of the DSS allow for generating multiple warehouse scenarios,
which differ in their layout conguration, storage allocation, and/
or storage assignment criteria. In conclusion, a what-if multiscenario simulation of operative performances (i.e., travelling for
put-away, replenishment and picking) enables the decision-maker
to assess the best solution for the warehouse design and
management by the minimisation of the total travelling distance,
time and cost.
3. DSS functionality and design
The DSS provides a useful and user-friendly tool for managers
and decision-makers who have no background and expertise in
programming and software development but who frequently face
warehousing system design and operations issues. The DSS
implements database management system (DBMS) architectures
for data storage, models and heuristic algorithms and user-friendly
graphical user interfaces (GUI) that enable interactive queries,
reporting and graphic visualisation.
The proposed application is based on a stand-alone database.
Decision-process inputs with regard to operative features, costs,
and other parameters are generally handled by practitioners in
warehouse operations, whilst outputs comprise operative KPIs that
are usually tracked in the real world (e.g., the pick-rate, time/
travelling for picking). The SQL database architecture enables users
to gather, store and manage a very large amount of data quickly,
which is gatherable by users through dynamic queries. Furthermore, graphical 3D views of warehousing scenarios are drawn
automatically by an ad-hoc graphical user interface with AutoCAD1.
The application is organised around a main GUI that presents all
of the principle features and commands to load data or projects
and to save results. The tool enables the following main
functionalities:
 Design a new warehousing system (we call green-eld).
 Import the existing layout (we call brown-eld) to perform an
allocation-assignment analysis.
 Run the DSS for a complete layout-allocation-assignment
analysis of a generic warehouse zone (i.e., in accordance with
warehouse zoning).
 Merge single-multiple warehouse zones (i.e., in accordance with
warehouse zoning) as an aggregated system.
 Implement heuristics for storage allocation, assignment, singleorder picker-routing, order-batching.
 Develop a what-if multi-scenario analysis for the warehousing
KPIs.
 Draw a graphical 2D/3D warehouse in agreement with different
designed scenarios.
3.1. Database considerations
The DSS utilises the aggregated historical data that is stored in
the database as the foundation for the application of all of the
heuristics, methods, and analyses. This section focuses on the
information and data architecture as a basis of the proposed DSS. In
warehouse operations, the very large amount of data that is to be

179

handled is critical. Warehousing systems manage tens of

thousands of SKUs that are picked from thousands of locations
to full thousands of demand lines per day (see, for example, spare
parts storage and management systems in the automotive
industry). Warehousing activities are usually tracked by enterprise
WMSs. The preliminary step of analysis comprises ltering the
available historical information (e.g., the SKU master le,
inventory, demand) to build a comprehensive stand-alone database in accordance with the entity-relationship (E-R) diagram
illustrated in Fig. 3.
The developed DBMS represents an interface between the data
and the decision-maker. This system involves the processing of a
considerable amount of data (see Fig. 4), which is necessary to
describe univocally the characteristics of the warehousing
system.
This system comprises a relational SQL architecture that is
powered by AccessTM but is quickly replaceable by any other
commercial DBMS (e.g., MySQL1, DB21). The database
includes a set of tables (see Table 1) that allows for a
comprehensive description of the systems object of analysis
through a typical snowake structure. Meaningful preliminary
studies on the unied modelling language (UML) and E-R
diagrams are crucial to designing an informative architecture
with the tool and to aid in further code maintenance of the
modications [23,24].
This database architecture has various advantages. First, it
enables users to track the inventory and to localise a generic SKU in
both the forward and reserve storage areas. On the other hand, it
allows for a wide set of dynamic views and queries to create a
performance dashboard of the warehousing system.
The client side comprises a user-friendly interface made by
GUIs. The decision-maker plays opportunities to design a
warehouse zone from ground-zero (i.e., a green-eld scenario),
to add a new zone to an existing warehouse (called here an
expansion scenario) or to import an existing storage zone for an
allocation-assignment analysis (i.e., a brown-eld scenario).
A what-if multi-scenario simulation of put-away, replenishment and order-picking and outbound (e.g., picking) activities is
performed as a benchmark to assess the efcacy of each scenario
and the effectiveness of the adopted allocation and assignment
policies. To enhance the picking performances, an orderbatching algorithm (i.e., whose description is not in the scope
of this paper) based on a clustering approach is implemented as
a batching tool, and a travelling salesman problem (TSP)
heuristic (i.e., nearest neighbour) is developed as a routing tool.
3.2. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs)
GUIs enable the user to conduct analysis and to lead
decisions through the DSS. The main window presents a toolbar
to load or save a project. During any execution run, the user
species the domain and dataset object of analysis. Statistics
and results are summarised on the bottom of the control panel
as a quick report window to inform the decision-maker about
the computer processing. For each project, multiple warehousing scenarios can be developed. A what-if experimental
analysis based on a dynamic simulation can be conducted to
compare the performance of the warehousing system under
different congurations and operating conditions. At the end of
each simulation, the obtained results and KPIs are depicted and
stored into the appropriate tables of the database (see Table 1).
One of the advantages of saving the results of each run is the
opportunity to draw out effective guidelines for the design and
management of complex warehousing systems. The GUI
comprises distinct modules that are further detailed in the
following sub-sections.

R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

180

SKU
ORDERLIST
PK
PK
PK,FK1

INVENTORY

PK

ItemCode

FK1

Period
Description
Category
CartonLength
CartonWidth
CartonHeight
CartonVolume
CartonWeight
ULCode
WeightPerVolume
CartonPerUL
PiecesPerUL
WHCode

Period
OrderCode
ItemCode
PkdQty
PkdVolume
PkdWeight

PK,FK1
PK

ItemCode
Period
CartonStockFW
CartonStockRS
ULStockFW
ULStockRS

WH
PK

FK1

FK2

RACK

WHCode
PK

WHType
WHLength
WHDepth
Aisle
Bay
AisleWidth
CrossingAisleWidth
BMLength
BMWidth
BMHeight
LayerPerBM
ULPerBM
ULPerBMLayer
BMDepth
RackLevel
ColumnCode
BeamCode
CrossingCode
LevelsFW
ULCode
Routing
DockIn
DockOut

Code
Period
WHCode
PeriodFrom
PeriodTo
Batch
SimilarityIndex
ClusteringAlg
ThresholdPercentile
ThresholdValue
VehicleCode
OrderList

MBCode

FK1

WHCode
CoordinateX
CoordinateY
CoordinateZ
MBLength
MBWidth
MBHeight

FK1

LocCode
MBCode
ItemCode
Carton

ULCode
ULLength
ULWidth
ULHeight
ULWeight

OUTPUT
PK

Code
Period
OrderCode
Trip
ItemCode
PkdQty
DistanceHz
DistanceVt
DistanceHzDockOut
DistanceTotal
Time
DistanceRestock

SCENARIO
PK

UL

SIMULATION
PK

PK

PK

PK

RackType
Length
Tollerance
BaseX
BaseY

LOC

MB

VEHICLE
PK

VehicleCode
Description
VehicleType
VehicleLength
VehicleWidth
VehicleHeight
CurveRadius
LoadWeight
LoadUL
LoadVolume
SpeedHz
SpeedVt
AccelerationHz
AccelerationVt
LiftLimit
WHCode

RackCode

SimCode
WHCode
InvMngStrategy
StorageCapacity
ShapeFactor
AisleNum
BayNum
LocNum
RackLevel
PlantLength
PlantDepth
PlantHeight
ULCode
LayerPerMB
ULPerLayer
AisleWidth
CrossingAisleWidth
FWLevel
AllocationStrategy
AllocationFrom
AllocationTo
AssignmetIndex
AssignmentFrom
AssignmentTo
SimilarityIndex
POI1
POI2
POI3
POI4
POI5
ClusteringAlg
ThresholdPercentile
ThresholdValue
ClusterSorting
RoutingStrategy
DockIn
DockOut

Fig. 3. E-R diagram of the proposed DST.

3.2.1. Layout GUI

To begin the design of the warehousing system, the decisionmaker sets the total warehousing holding capacity. Given a dataset
on the historical demand or inventory, the user must guarantee the
overall level of the stock and properly organise the available space.
The leverage handled through the proposed DSS for the
conguration of the layout are the shape factor, the unit load
sizes, the unit load location, the base module sizes, the aisle width
and number, and the rack types, as illustrated in Fig. 5.

This GUI reports the characteristics of the layout conguration,

such as the total storage capacity, the numbers and sizes of the
aisles and bays, the storage saturation (i.e., the ratio of the storage
volume to the overall available volume), the number of SKUs
stored per each aisle or per each bay, etc.
Once the warehouse is designed (or imported), the DSS
computes the three-dimensional coordinates of all of the locations
and stores them into the database (see Fig. 3) for further simulation
analysis. The DSS even includes an AutoCAD1 application, which

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181

Warehouse
Data Input

SKU Master
File

Order History
File

Item Code
Item Description
Category
Package Size
Sales Price
Item Turn Class

Customer Code
Customer Address
Due Date
Item Ordered
Ordered Qty,
Weight or Volume

Inventory File

Item Code
Snapshot Date
Stocks Qty per Item
Storage Area

Inbound
Activity File

Layout
Features File

Delivery Code
Arrival Date
Due Date
Cross-docking
Item Code
Delivered Qty,
Weight or Volume

Storage Area Code

Storage Equipment
Storage Size
Type of Rack
Rack Sizes and
Properties
Num. of Locations
Size of Locations

Fig. 4. Data required to develop a DSS for warehousing issues.

adopts real-world rack libraries to make a bi-dimensional and

three-dimensional picture of the warehousing system.
Specically, this application allows for analysts and logistics
providers to import rack components (e.g., beams, columns) that
are taken from manufactures catalogues and congure a truthful
and accurate warehouse layout. The system evaluates the
maximum load weight of the inventory and checks for the
availability of appropriate rack components that are suitable in
their sizes and characteristics. Fig. 6a gives a picture of some threedimensional views of warehouses that result from the DSS
application. As a result, the detailed list of parts is given as a
rough estimation of the total investment.
3.2.2. Allocation GUI
This GUI allows for the user to compare different allocation
strategies that were attempted to allocate the appropriate storage
volume to a generic SKU within the forward area for a typical
forward-reserve picker-to-part OPS. The DSS encompasses four
main allocation strategies, three of which were previously
described in Section 2.2; one is hereby proposed, the so-called

EQT*, which allocates the appropriate storage space to each SKU

considering the demand in terms of the retrieved volume and pick
lines. This module has an open architecture that eventually allows
an easy implementation of other additional allocation strategies.
Fig. 7 illustrates the GUI such as is proposed to the decisionmaker. On the left, two input command windows (Rack Level (n.)
and Allocation Strategy) are presented to dene the number of
rack levels that are devoted to the forward area and to select the
allocation strategies by which to adopt. Thus, the user has the
opportunity to congure a low-level or high-level picking system
and assign the highest levels to the reserve storage area.
The calendar panel (on the left of Fig. 7) selects the horizon of
analysis, by ltering the dataset through dynamic SQL queries.
Different time batches are selected to compute the fraction of the
storage volume that is devoted to each SKU according to the
historical demand and inventory data. For example, given a
temporal batch (from August 31st, 2011 to September 28th, 2011),
a panel of allocation strategies accordingly allocates to every SKU
the storage volume, cartons, and unit loads within the forward area
(see the tables in the middle).

Table 1
DSS database tables.
Data
SKU
ORDERLIST
INVENTORY
WH

MB
UL
LOC
RACK
SCENARIO
VEHICLE
SIMULATION

OUTPUT

Contains data regarding the SKUs properties and characteristics and generally accounts for ten thousand rows
Contains the order history le of a horizon of analysis (e.g., a couple of years) and generally comprises millions of lines
Includes the inventory le for every SKU for all of the storage areas. Multiple inventory snapshots report the stock trends
Involves properties and features of the layout and storage areas (e.g., the shape factor, rack size, number of aisles and bays,
number of levels, location sizes). Through such a table, the DSS imports an existing warehouse system to be evaluated
according to allocation-assignment analysis
Includes the list of bays within the warehouse
Contains the properties and characteristics of the holding units and pallets in which the items are stored
Reports the list of locations with details on the bay, level, aisle, lling product and related quantity
Describes the type and characteristics of the commercial rack uploaded into the database. The sizes and load tolerance are reported
Summarises the setting of the layout leverage, allocation and assignment policies and all of the parameters and choices selected by
the decision-maker through the top-down analysis methodology. The results from each scenario by iteration are illustrated in Fig. 2
Includes the list of storage equipment (i.e., vehicles) and the related properties in terms of the operative performances
Reports the list of simulations that were conducted by the decision-maker. Multiple simulations might refer to different scenarios,
to compare their performances or to different time horizons adopted for the same scenario (i.e., to assess the trend in the
performances for a scenario)
Summarises the statistics of the simulation in terms of the travelled distance and time for each line of inbound (i.e., put-away,
replenishment) and outbound (i.e., picking) activities

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Fig. 5. Layout GUI.

Storage space is often a precious resource to be handled, to

reach efciency and reduce operating costs. At this step, the
decision-maker can evaluate the net benet of the forward area,
according to the pattern that was briey introduced in Section 2.2.
The sub-set of SKUs, which maximises the net-benet of the
forward area, corresponds to the maximum value of the curve
depicted in Fig. 7.
If an existing warehouse zone/system is imported and loaded,
the AS-IS inventory per each SKU (i.e., the number of cartons and
unit loads in both the forward and reserve areas) is known, and
related data are stored into the database. Thus, the user can skip
the allocation module, which is not considered as leverage of the
analysis, leaping from the layout design module directly to the
storage assignment problem.
3.2.3. Assignment GUI
This GUI leads the decision-maker towards the assignment
issue by the denition of the appropriate location to assign to a
generic SKU in the forward area. Considering the horizon of
analysis (i.e., the same chosen for allocation analysis or different),
the user classies SKUs according to a set of proposed criteria or
metrics (i.e., the index-based functionality), to assess the correlation among the SKUs (i.e., correlation-based functionality) through
a clustering approach.
Both of the opportunities compute a ranked list of the SKUs
(eventually computing clusters of SKUs), respond to specic
criteria (see the previously cited popularity, turn, and order
closing), to be properly matched with a list of locations,
according to the procedure presented in Section 2.3. More than
twenty combinations for the sites of the shipping and receiving
docks (e.g., corner, middle, bottom-up) that affect the singlecommand time to access a generic location are considered.

Once the appropriate location in the forward area is assigned to

a specic SKU, the reserve area is accordingly arranged by the
adoption of greedy heuristics to reduce the distance between an
item and its reserve.
The results of the assignment module are store into the
database and are roughly illustrated as the birds eye view of the
designed warehouse zone. The birds eye view is a frame shot of the
SKU locations, where each SKU is differently coloured, and the
storage details (e.g., the location code, item code, and number of
cartons per item) are summarised. The DSS also lls the rack with
the SKUs in the designed layout in a three-dimensional view (see a
sample in Fig. 6b). By considering real commercial racks, the
decision-maker obtains a ready-to-print version of the designed
warehouse that is useful for equipment and systems manufacturers and providers as well as warehouse operators who are
responsible for put away and picking activities.
3.2.4. Simulation GUI
In warehousing operations, different categories of SKUs in
terms of the shape, volume, weight or size of packaging are
assigned to different zones, adopting different types of rack or
storage equipment according to a zoning approach. Several
congurations for the storage zones, separately and independently
designed through previous GUIs, are hereby saved and are further
selected by the decision-maker to be merged into a unique system
(see Fig. 8a).
This GUI enables us to congure articulated and complex
warehouses that are made by different storage zones, as
commonly occurs in real-instance warehousing problems (exemplied in the literature by [25]). Furthermore, this GUI matches
the decisional steps with what-if simulation analysis. By setting
the layout (i.e., merging the warehouse made by one or multiple

Fig. 6. (a and b) Three-dimensional views of warehouses designed with the DSS.

R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

183

Fig. 7. Allocation module of the DSS.

storage zones), the decision-maker imports the location coordinates for each zone and arranges them according to the overall
warehouse layout conguration.
The DSS calculates, for every location, the forward area and
reserves the travel path (in terms of distances) from the shipping
and receiving docks and those from/to each other (see Fig. 8b).
The what-if simulation analysis involves inbound (e.g., putaway, restocking) and outbound (e.g., order picking) operations
and provides a useful tool to assess system performances,
including costs (i.e., in terms of the travelled distance and time)
within a specic horizon of analysis. The DSS reports a complete
panel of statistics and KPIs to evaluate the efcacy and efciency of
the layout, allocation and assignment conguration. A list of
statistics includes the travelled distance (horizontal and vertical)
and time due to pick-path, travelled distance (horizontal and
vertical) due to put away and replenishment, time waste due to
stock-out, number of replenishments per each SKU, number of
visited aisles, as a metric of the vehicles congestions, spatial pickdensity, and other aspects.

4. Case study
In this section, the proposed DSS has been applied for the design
and performance assessment of a real-world warehousing system. In
particular, this case study addresses a spare parts management
system for an international brand of the automotive industry. A
logistic rm operating worldwide provides the logistics services of
transportation (inbound and outbound) and warehousing for an
important automotive company to supply the demand of spare parts
to hundreds of Italian dealers. This system is a regional distribution
centre (RDC) that accounts approximately 8000 SKUs as spare parts,
ranging from bonnets to screws. The high variability of SKUs in size,
weight, and shape is typical for automotive industry, and requires
proper storage management practices. The analysed system accounts
twenty-four aisles arranged in a multi-zones warehouse, which holds
four storage zones grouping homogeneous SKUs in size and shape of
unit load and similar in weight. Each storage area presents a different
type of racks, which is suitable to allocate a specic set of SKUs (e.g.,
cantilever for door, bin shelving for air-lter, etc.).

Fig. 8. (a and b) Simulation GUI: pre-setting.

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R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

The observed low-level single-order picker-to-part and

forward-reserve OPS represents a relevant sample to assess
the effectiveness of the proposed tool. The receiving and
shipping activities are decoupled and limited respectively to
the left and right of the dockside. Although the receiving and
shipping docks are distributed along the warehouse side, the
picking process starts on the bottom left corner of the system
and the ends on right bottom corner. These two control points
represent respectively the parking of walkie-stackers and rollcontainers and the sorting/packing station for the orders to be
shipped. The low-level storage area (i.e., the forward area) is
25,000 square metre wide. Customer orders, made by many
order lines, accounts on average 37 lines, results in long timeeffective picking missions, since the pickers has to achieve in
sequence products which are far located one from the others.
The presence of narrow aisles does not allow reverse back, and
the traversal visiting strategy is adopted either in real world
than in the simulation.
The complexity of the system bases on the disomogeneity of
both the SKUs and the processes. The increasing complexity of
modern supply chain shifts the role of warehousing systems in
addressing demand variability, pushing logistic providers to
handle both homogeneous and heterogeneous ows. Such a trend
results for the observed warehouse in articulated inbound/
outbound operations, which include the truck unloading, the
check of loads, put-away and replenishment, and the order picking.
A dashboard of KPIs involving put away, replenishment and order
picking missions allows the decision-maker to address operative
criticalities and propose strategies for both layout re-design and
operations improvements.

Table 2
The results of a multi-scenario analysis.

The DSS implements a what-if multi-scenario simulation to

compare how different allocation and assignment strategies affect
the performance of the inbound/outbound operations in the
observed warehousing system. The simulation analysis does not
involve layout leverage, which is common to any proposed
scenarios, since the client had no budget for layout re-design or
infrastructure refurbishing. For sake of brevity, the comparative
analysis regards just with the reduction of travel distances, as an
approximation of the operative time.
Table 2 illustrates the results of a simulation campaign
conducted on the historical set of inbound/outbound annual
operations, which account about 970,100 picking lines, and 25,500
replenishment missions. The colours yellow, red, and blue refers
respectively to the layout, allocation and assignment steps of
analysis implemented into the DSS (see Fig. 2).
The overall warehousing system is composed by the four
storage areas, which are independently designed in accordance
with the allocation and assignment policies. In particular, the
warehouse scenarios are organised through the adoption of the
following rules and parameters:





3
4
1
1

allocation strategies (i.e., EQS, EQT, OPT).

assignment strategies (i.e., popularity, COI, turn, OC).
visiting strategy (i.e., traversal).
routing heuristic strategy (i.e., nearest neighbour).

Different allocation strategies result, rst, in different values of

total replenishments within the observed horizon of time, and
second, if combined with different assignment strategies, in
inuencing the location of the SKUs in the forward area, thereby

R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

185

Table 3
Some tips from DSS implementations on real case studies.
Prole

Case 1

Case 2

Case 3

Client business
Product category
Client role

Grocery/catering
Food/drinks
Warehouse owner

Automotive
Spare parts
3PL

Heavy machinery
Spare parts
Warehouse owner

Complexity
Picking approach
Warehouse system
# SKUs
# Storage area
Storage area (m2)
Observed period (months)
Picking (lines/period)
Replenishment (lines/period)
Put-away (lines/period)

Carton-picking-by-pallet
Forward-reserve
1667
3
9000
12
19,953

Carton-picking-by-pallet
Forward-reserve
7386
4
25,000
12
970,147
25,426
44,729

Carton-picking-by-pallet
High-level forward
3235
1
5500
6
37,000

Allocation
Assignment

Allocation
Assignment

Allocation
Assignment

6
Picking
EQS; Correlated & P
18.11%

12
Picking; Replenishment;
EQS; P
16.73%

4
Picking
EQS; COI
22.57%

Purpose

Results
Simulated period (months)
Simulated process
Best Scenario
Travelling savings (D%)

affecting the total travelled distance for all inbound/outbound

operations. The illustration of the alternative warehouse scenario
allows the decision-maker to recognise the inuence of decisions
on SKU allocations and assignments in both the forward and
reserve storage areas. The saving of replenishment missions
occurred by EQT and OPT strategies, are not enough to justify their
implementation considering the overall costs. Indeed, the combination of an EQS strategy and popularity rule accomplishes
reducing the total travelled distance primarily because of the
picking activities.
This section gives a picture of the potential multi-leverage
analyses conducted through the proposed DSS. Signicant timesavings can be generated by a re-allocation and re-assignment of
SKUs within the forward area of a multiple zones warehousing
system. In the following section, the potential applications of the
proposed DSS will be described with the focus on the enhancement
opportunities in tackling real world instance and both strategic
and operative warehousing decisions.
5. Discussion
Despite of the increasing trend of lean paradigm in production
and distribution operations, warehousing systems are still necessary to address the demand variability and seasonality, to match
vendors and consumers in global trade, to hold products and
sustain the customer service level. The reduction in demanded
quantity joined by the customization of items, results in raising the
complexity of the warehousing operations, which are called to
achieve high performances and to make goods travelling fast
throughout the distribution pipeline.
The proposed DSS supports the decision-maker in addressing
warehouse operations, which are highly dependent by a broad set
of factors including the layout, the storage equipment and
infrastructure, the set of SKUs,the order prole, the SKUs turnover,
the routing policies for put away and picking missions, the goal
performances in terms of time efciency, space efciency or both.
The implementation of this tool for real-world instance has
different purposes. First, it supports the decision-maker in
handling long-term strategic decisions, based on the estimation
of requirements of space and investments (i.e., costs for racks and
storage equipments) necessary to arrange a new storage area from

green-eld. Second, it addresses mid-term tactical decisions,

involving the denition of the storage areas devoted to picking
rather than bulk storage (i.e., forward-reverse low-level system vs.
high-level system), the size and shape of each storage area, and the
opportunity to set multiple storage areas dedicated to different
classes of SKUs. Tactical decisions include also the analysis of the
appropriate storage quantity to allocate to each SKU, thereby
affecting the reorder quantity from the distribution nodes at
previous stage of the supply chain. Third, the DSS handles
operative short-term decisions, based on the assignment strategies
of SKUs to locations, the denition of the best performing routing
policy, the selection of the retrieving strategy to adopt (i.e., singleorder vs. order-batching). The what-if multi-scenario simulation
analysis assesses the operative performances of each scenario,
providing improvements solutions and enhancement guidelines
with operative, tactical and strategic horizons of analysis.
Based on the described functionalities, it provides various levels of
assistance to different users. Specically, the DSS supports the third
part logistic (3PL) managers in facing daily concerns on the
management of multiple-client storage systems, characterised by
high-variability in items, storage racks, and turnovers. The tool
depicts a detailed dashboard of the operative performances of a
generic storage area (i.e., a generic client), with suggestion for tactical
and operational improvements and tips for scheduling labour among
different areas. Furthermore, the DSS offers to warehouse owners the
opportunity to simulate the operative savings (i.e., time, costs, and
space) achieved by the combination of allocation and assignment
strategies, which results in changing approaches for the management
of SKUs slotting. Finally, the DSS allows researchers approaching
different real case studies, testing the effectiveness of models and
heuristics on providing performing solutions and creating knowledge
over the most critical and recurrent storage issues.
Table 3 reports the obtained results by the implementation of
the DDS with three real case studies. These proles were selected
as the basis for system validation since they were most
representative for computational complexity and robustness of
enterprise datasets. Systemic analysis of the three proles
identies major opportunities for improvement over the AS-IS
scenario. The three proles differ for the industrial sector of
application, the set of SKUs, the purpose of the client and the
related implemented analyses.

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R. Accorsi et al. / Computers in Industry 65 (2014) 175186

Despite of the observed business, the DSS tends to support the

grouping of the fast-moving SKUs, grouped per afnity (i.e., Case
1), per popularity or cube-per-order index (i.e., Case 2 and Case 3),
within the most convenient storage areas, thereby eliciting the
need of dedicated golden areas, potentially supported by different
types of technologies (i.e., conveyor, semi-automated storage/
retrieving systems). The tool properly arranges the available
storage space for both forward-reserve and high-level storage
systems, involving the design of different storage areas, which
increases the pick density and space efciency of the system.
6. Conclusions
An original decision-support system for picker-to-part storage
system design and operations management is illustrated. The
proposed DSS comprises a user-friendly tool for supporting
practitioners, managers, decision-makers, and logistics providers
by addressing real case studies and experimental analyses over the
design and operations control of the storage systems. This tool
enables us to gather and store information from enterprise WMSs
and to elaborate, through an efcient DBMS architecture, a set of
data-oriented design solutions and congurations. The tool aims to
design multi-zone storage systems and implements a wide panel of
algorithms and methods that address different stages of analysis
(e.g., storage allocation, assignment, batching, zoning, routing).
Results and statistics on performances and costs due to a generic
warehouse scenario are computed through a what-if simulation
analysis. An implemented graphic interface draws two-dimensional and three-dimensional views of the designed storage
scenario, adopting real commercial rack components with the
purpose of providing a ready-to-print release of the warehouse for
logistic providers and engineers.
Further developments are expected on the implementation of
innovative methods, models and algorithms, to address warehouse
layout, storage allocation and storage assignment issues in the
presence of automated storage solutions and equipment for partto-picker systems (e.g., automated storage and retrieval systems
(AS/RS), mini-load, carousels).
A useful module, integrating a cam interface for barcode
reading, could be implemented to support the introduction and
registration of new SKUs and the updating of the enterprise SKU
master le. This functionality might respond to the problem of
periodical and partial storage rearrangement rather than overall
warehouse redesigning.
The educational purpose of this work is to provide a set of exible
interactive instruments to create and disseminate knowledge
among logistic providers, practitioners, and managers, and to
improve industrial engineers backgrounds and expertise over the
most critical storage issues. Lastly, the designed tool, similar to
any other computer-aided system, attempts to support, but not
replace, the decision-maker, who responds daily to strategic design
and operations management within a storage system.

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Riccardo Manzini is Associate Professor of Logistics and Operations, Reliability
& Maintenance in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of
Bologna (ALMA MATER STUDIORUM), Italy. His academic research principally deals
with planning, design and control of production systems with particular reference
to logistics and operations, optimisation and decision support systems, reliability
modelling and maintenance. He is the author of about 130 published papers on
production systems, logistics and reliability. Director of the Warehousing Center
and the Food Supply Chain Center at Bologna University. Author and Editor for
Springer of the book Warehousing in the Global Supply Chain. Advanced models,
tools and applications for storage systems (2012). Editor of the Special Issue
Decision models for the design, optimisation and management of warehousing
and material handling systems (IN PRESS 2013) for the International Journal of
Production Economics, Elsevier. He has carried out several research projects in
cooperation with and funded by private and public companies on logistics,
industrial plants and maintenance problems.

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Riccardo Accorsi is post-doctoral researcher at Department of Industrial

Engineering of the University of Bologna, Italy. In 2013, he defended his Ph.D. in
Mechatronics and Industrial Systems at the University of Padua, Italy. He received a
Master degree in Management Engineering at the University of Bologna, Italy, in
2009. His main elds or research are modelling and simulation applied to industry
and supply chain context, with particular focus on warehousing systems and
distribution networks enabling product lifecycle management.
Fausto Maranesi is a researcher at Department of Industrial Engineering of the
University of Bologna, Italy. In 2011 and 2009, he received respectively a Master
degree in Management Engineering and a Bachelor degree in Informatics
Engineering both at the University of Bologna, Italy. His current research interests
include warehousing modelling and simulation and computer applications for
manufacturing and logistics issues.