Spatial-temporal Finite Element Analytics for Real-time Order Fulfillment in Smart Forward-reserve Warehousing

Abstract:

As order fulfillment in e-commerce becomes more complicated, the burden falls on distributors to satisfy customer demands in a timely and precise manner. A forward-reserve strategy is typically applied to improve service level and efficiency in e-commerce warehousing, which subdivides the storage area into a reserve area and a forward area. After receiving products from suppliers, SKUs (stock keeping units) are firstly stored on pallet racks in the reserve area. Then some of the SKUs will be moved to the forward area for order picking, where operations can be more efficient due to the smaller area and reduced travel distance. However, extra replenishment effort, occupied space and cost are important issues to be concerned for global optimality.

This study intends to propose an effective order fulfillment framework considering a smart forward-reserve warehouse with application of AGVs (automatic guided vehicles). We mainly focus on four topics, namely, replenishment between the two areas, order picking within the AGV forward area, shelf storage location design and forward-reserve warehouse configuration. The concept of spatial-temporal finite element analytics will be adopted, which slices the time and space into finite elements such that studies can be conducted in each single element and thus the problem complexity can be reduced.