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Ergonomic workplace design in the fast pick area

Author

Listed:
  • Alena Otto

    (Universität Siegen)

  • Nils Boysen

    (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)

  • Armin Scholl

    (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)

  • Rico Walter

    (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)

Abstract

The aging society in many developed countries has made an ergonomic workplace design to an important topic among researchers and practitioners alike. We investigate the workplace design for order pickers that manually collect items from the shelves of a warehouse. Specifically, we treat the storage assignment, i.e., the placement of products in shelves of different height, and zoning, i.e., the partitioning of the storage space into areas assigned to separate pickers, in the fast pick area of a warehouse. A fast pick area unifies the most fast-moving items in a compact area, so that workers are relieved from unproductive travel, but face extraordinary ergonomic risks due to the frequent repetition of picking operations. Concerning the health of (aged) workers, it is crucial to reduce such risks. Thus, we define a combined ergonomic storage assignment and zoning problem with the objective of minimizing the maximum ergonomic burden among all workers. This problem is formalized, and two construction heuristics and a tabu search procedure are proposed. Our results show that neglecting ergonomic aspects and only focusing on picking performance leads to much higher ergonomic risks of the workforce.

Suggested Citation

  • Alena Otto & Nils Boysen & Armin Scholl & Rico Walter, 2017. "Ergonomic workplace design in the fast pick area," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 39(4), pages 945-975, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:orspec:v:39:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s00291-017-0479-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s00291-017-0479-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Gruchmann, Tim & Klumpp, Matthias & Hanke, Thomas & Nestler, Kristina, 2018. "Innovative Kommissionier- und Umschlagkonzepte der Logistik - der fachliche Ansatz des Forschungsprojektes ADINA," ild Schriftenreihe 61, FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, Institut für Logistik- & Dienstleistungsmanagement (ild).
    2. Nils Boysen & Stefan Fedtke & Stefan Schwerdfeger, 2021. "Last-mile delivery concepts: a survey from an operational research perspective," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 43(1), pages 1-58, March.
    3. Gruchmann, Tim & Nestler, Kristina & Brauckmann, Alexander & Schneider, Julian & Fischer, Carsten & Hecht, Andreas, 2018. "ADINA - Hürden und Treiber für die Umsetzung innovativer Automatisierungstechnik und Ergonomieunterstützung der Intralogistik," ild Schriftenreihe 63, FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management, Institut für Logistik- & Dienstleistungsmanagement (ild).
    4. Olga Levkovych & Adriana Saraceni, 2023. "Efficiency in the Last Mile of Autonomous Ground Vehicles with Lockers: From Conventional to Renewable Energy Transport," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-28, November.
    5. Heiko Diefenbach & Simon Emde & Christoph H. Glock & Eric H. Grosse, 2022. "New solution procedures for the order picker routing problem in U-shaped pick areas with a movable depot," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 44(2), pages 535-573, June.
    6. Mirco Peron & Giuseppe Fragapane & Fabio Sgarbossa & Michael Kay, 2020. "Digital Facility Layout Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Tuyishime, Ange-Marie & Valilai, Omid Fatahi, 2022. "Sustainable last mile delivery network using social media data analytics," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Kersten, Wolfgang & Jahn, Carlos & Blecker, Thorsten & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Changing Tides: The New Role of Resilience and Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chain Management – Innovative Approaches for the Shift to a New , volume 33, pages 841-874, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    8. Diefenbach, Heiko & Emde, Simon & Glock, Christoph H., 2020. "Loading tow trains ergonomically for just-in-time part supply," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(1), pages 325-344.
    9. Boysen, Nils & de Koster, René & Weidinger, Felix, 2019. "Warehousing in the e-commerce era: A survey," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(2), pages 396-411.
    10. David Winkelmann & Frederik Tolkmitt & Matthias Ulrich & Michael Romer, 2022. "Integrated storage assignment for an e-grocery fulfilment centre: Accounting for day-of-week demand patterns," Papers 2209.03998, arXiv.org, revised May 2023.
    11. Fröhlich von Elmbach, Alexander & Scholl, Armin & Walter, Rico, 2019. "Minimizing the maximal ergonomic burden in intra-hospital patient transportation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(3), pages 840-854.
    12. Stefan Fedtke & Nils Boysen & Patrick Schumacher, 2023. "In-line kitting for part feeding of assembly lines: workload balancing and storage assignment to reduce the workers’ walking effort," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 45(3), pages 717-758, September.
    13. Boysen, Nils & Schwerdfeger, Stefan & Stephan, Konrad, 2023. "A review of synchronization problems in parts-to-picker warehouses," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(3), pages 1374-1390.
    14. Boysen, Nils & Briskorn, Dirk & Fedtke, Stefan & Schmickerath, Marcel, 2019. "Automated sortation conveyors: A survey from an operational research perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(3), pages 796-815.
    15. Boysen, Nils & de Koster, René & Füßler, David, 2021. "The forgotten sons: Warehousing systems for brick-and-mortar retail chains," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(2), pages 361-381.
    16. Tim Gruchmann & Annika Mies & Thomas Neukirchen & Stefan Gold, 2021. "Tensions in sustainable warehousing: including the blue-collar perspective on automation and ergonomic workplace design," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 151-178, March.
    17. Kersten, Wolfgang & Jahn, Carlos & Blecker, Thorsten & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), 2022. "Changing Tides: The New Role of Resilience and Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chain Management – Innovative Approaches for the Shift to a New Era," Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management, volume 33, number 33.

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