1,721,084 research outputs found
INNOVATIVE METHODS AND MODELS FOR INTEGRATED WAREHOUSE PICKING SYSTEMS DESIGN
Full text linkThe warehouse picking area is the zone within a warehouse in which the shipping units for the customers are created, through the pick of the required products from the various stocking locations. When there is the presence of human operators, walking or travelling within the warehouse aisles to retrieve the items needed by the customers and reported on their picking lists, the picking system is called manual picker-to-parts picking system. Although several automated solutions have been developed so far, these kind of systems are still the most widespread ones, since the presence of human pickers warrants great flexibility as well as relatively low investment costs. Due to its peculiarities, warehouse picking is often referred to as the most cost- and time-consuming activity in a warehouse, accounting for about 50% of all operating costs. Furthermore, this aspect becomes even more critical considering the recent trends that characterise the current logistics context, in which the goods are expected to be delivered always in a faster way, in small quantities and with a high service level. This need of fulfilling the customer orders in a very small time window translates into a consequent deep necessity for practitioners and warehouse managers of improving the performances of the picking activities.
In such a background, the present dissertation aims at proposing a set of innovative methods and procedures useful for warehouse manual picker-to-parts picking systems design. In particular, it is based on the main assumption that the improvement of the picking performances can be achieved by reducing the time needed to process the picking orders. Following the research by Tompkins et al. (2010), reporting which time components are the most impacting ones during a picking tour, this thesis proposes some actions and, subsequently, some methods leading to travel time reduction, product search time reduction, item physical pick time reduction and, finally, overall time reduction.
The thesis is structured into 4 main parts:
(1) Analysis of the current logistics context to define the operating conditions of the warehouse picking systems
(2) Proposal of actions for travel time reduction, arriving to the development of integrated procedures for the reduction of the distances travelled by the operators
(3) Proposal of actions for search and pick time reduction, defining the need of paperless picking adoption
(4) Proposal of actions for overall time reduction, through the study of the ergonomic impact of the picking activities
Part of the research has been carried out as a visiting Ph.D. Student at the Department of Law and Economics of the TUD - Technische Universität Darmstadt in Darmstadt, Germany, in collaboration with prof. Christoph Glock and Dr. Eric Grosse.
The research work presented in this thesis has also led to several scientific contributions, both in international conferences and international journals
Kit Preparation with Cobot-Supported Sorting in Mixed Model Assembly
Full text linkKitting is a common approach of materials supply with mixed-model assembly, by which components are supplied to the assembly process in pre-sorted kits. With kitting, the kit preparation is a labour intensive process and order batching is often applied to enhance efficiency. Here, improved quality and efficiency by means of automation is desirable, but knowledge of the potential of collaborative robots to support kit preparation with order batching is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential of cobots to support time-efficient kit preparation with order batching, when the pick task is performed manually and a cobot carries out the sort task. A modelling approach is applied with experimental data from laboratory experiments to compare the cycle time between fully manual and cobot-supported kit preparation with order batching. The findings suggest that a cobot-supported sort task leads to a comparable average cycle time, with less variability of the cycle time, when compared to the fully manual setup. The paper contributes several insights on the application of cobots to support kit preparation, and the model developed in the paper can be used by practitioners to assess the potential of cobots to support their processes for kit preparation. (C) 2019, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
New packaging solutions for sustainable fresh food supply chains and research agenda
No full textFood Supply Chains are paying more and more attention to adopt innovative packaging systems for their products in order to guarantee quality and to decrease their environmental and economic impacts.
In this paper, a critical analysis of traditional packaging solutions, such as cardboard boxes and reusable plastic containers (RPCs), has permitted to introduce two innovative packages: cardboard boxes with removable plastic films and RPCs with cardboard bottom. The solutions have been evaluated and analysed with new analytical models in several scenarios. At the end the research agenda shows the next steps of this study
Dual-tray vertical lift modules for fast order picking.
Full text linkIn the last years, new solutions for order picking systems have been developed both from industry and academics, especially for small items. They include innovative flexible automatic parts-to-picker systems and optimized picker-to-parts ones. One of these solutions consists in the use of Vertical Lift Modules (VLMs), a storage column in which small items are stored in extractable trays. In this paper, we study a new system composed by dual-tray VLMs where the operators perform picking and sorting activities. We propose several actions in order to improve the productivity of the entire system: 1) class based storage assignment of items inside the VLMs; 2) batch retrievals of items and 3) batch orders and batch retrievals with pick-and-sort activity. The impacts of these actions are evaluated with a simulation of the system using real data from an industrial cas
The Integrated Assembly Line Balancing and Parts Feeding Problem with Ergonomics Considerations
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Design and improvement of big-size products assembly lines: state of the art and characteristics
No full textThe ageing workforce challenge: investments in collaborative robots or contribution to pension schemes, from the multi-echelon perspective
No full textAchieving productivity and operator well-being: a dynamic task allocation strategy for collaborative assembly systems in Industry 5.0
Full text linkCollaborative robots, or cobots, offer a unique combination of productivity and flexibility that has led to significant growth in adoption over the past decade. Moreover, recently, there has been a shift towards a human-centered design of the workspace, known as one of the drivers of Industry 5.0, which prioritizes the well-being of operators. To achieve this, various human factors such as ergonomics, mental workload, personal skills, and capabilities need to be considered in the workspace design, and their impact on system productivity must be evaluated. The integration of a human and a cobot in the same workplace can affect the performance of the human operator, as the perception of the cobot can impact their work. This highlights the importance of taking human factors into account, as a lack of consideration in these aspects has contributed to the failure of many implementations. To link the objectives of productivity, flexibility, and human factors consideration, a dynamic real-tim..
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