Route optimization
When optimizing routes, the aim is to achieve the shortest possible or optimal route from one picking item to the next. The reduction of routes is implemented in the course of two-stage picking.
The time from order entry to shipment should be kept as short as possible. This means that more orders can be processed and higher sales achieved thanks to the shorter processing time. However, a specific analysis of the current situation is required in order to implement route-optimized picking. On the one hand, as many items as possible should be available to the employee at the same time. On the other hand, several orders should be combined into one round, picked together and then sorted again into the different shipping units. Thus, route optimization includes the following criteria: increasing the item density, order bundling and increasing the item density per round.
Route optimization and the “traveling salesman problem”
The “Traveling Salesman Problem” is a classic problem in route optimization. It is based on the assumption that different destinations should only be reached once within a cycle, with a minimum time span. This optimization problem is a combination of the areas of “Operations Research” and “Theoretical Computer Science” and can be calculated using mathematical formulas.
To solve the traveling salesman problem, the lengths of all possible routes can be calculated and then the one with the shortest length can be selected, taking into account the available resources.
For more information on two-step picking, see Two-step picking – the basics.
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