WAREHOUSE ROUTING HEURISTICS

STINNA KONGSDAL

Abstract. This article describes in short the different strategies available

for solving the warehouse routing problem. The problem consists of finding
a shorter route to pick up all the items assigned to an order. This paper
also introduces four different storage methods, which is related to the routing
strategies, since storage methods and routing strategies can either comple-
ment or work against each other. Storage methods are here based on product
turnover classificiation; the so-called ABC-analysis. This is discussed briefly
and the article concludes with a summary of which methods and strategies go
well together.

1. Routing Strategies
A routing strategy is a strategy by which the route through the warehouse is de-
termined. A route is a path in which the picker passes all items of an order. If the
objective is to reduce the order picking costs to a minimum, the route has to be as
short as possible.

In this paper we will use the following example of a warehouse.

Figure 1. The Example Warehouse

Date: November 23, 2012.

Key words and phrases. Picking, Warehouse Management, Routing, Inventory Optimisation.
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There can be as many aisles as needed, though the first part of the article only
considers warehouses without cross aisles (this is included in a later section).

There are several routing strategies available but not all of them are suited for
any situation. This paper deals with five different routing heuristics and an opti-
mal strategy. The advantage of using heuristics compared to an exact (optimal)
method is that they are easy to understand and form routes that are fairly con-
sistent in nature, which is why heuristic strategies are commonly used in practice.
Furthermore, exact methods tend to explode in size, and thereby also running time,
as the size of the warehouse increases.
1.1. The S-Shape Strategy. The S-shape strategy is also called The Traversal
Strategy. This strategy leads to a route in which the aisles, that are to be visited,
are totally traversed. Aisles where nothing has to be picked are skipped; thus aisles
are visited in the shape of an S. The picker enters an aisle from one end and leaves
the aisle from the other end, starting at the aisle closest to the depot.

After picking the last item, the order picker returns to the front end of the aisle.

Figure 2. Result of the S-Shape Routing Strategy

This strategy is used frequently, because it is very simple to use and to understand.
This also means that the heuristic is fairly simple to implement in most warehouses,
since it does not require a very high number of computations. The s-shape strategy
is suitable for most pick order sizes.
1.2. The Return Strategy. Using this strategy the order picker will always enter
and leave an aisle to the front end. No aisles are fully traversed as shown in figure 3.

Like with the s-shape heuristic, the return strategy is simple to understand and
simple to implement. Advantages and preferred storage methods will be discussed
later in this article.

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Figure 3. Result of the Return Strategy

1.3. The Midpoint Strategy. The midpoint strategy is very similar to the return
strategy. Here the picker enters the aisle closest to the depot (containing a pick)
and traverses it completely. When going to the next aisle the picker will only travel
as far as the midpoint of the aisle and then return to the back. The last aisle
containing a pick is traversed completely and the picker now goes through the last
half of the aisles.

Figure 4. Result of the Midpoint Strategy

This routing heuristic is useful when items picked most frequently are stored to-
wards both ends of the aisles.

1.4. The Largest Gap Strategy. In the largest gap strategy a picker enters an
aisle as far as the largest gap within an aisle. A gap is defined as one of the following
three:
Distance between any two adjacent picks
Distance between the first pick and the front aisle
Distance between the last pick and the back aisle
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The largest gap is the part of the aisle that is not visited by the order picker. If
the largest gap is between two adjacent picks, the picker performs a return route
from both ends of the aisle. Otherwise, a return route from either the front or back
aisle is used. The largest gap within an aisle is therefore the portion of the aisle
that the picker does not traverse.

Figure 5. Result of the Largest Gap Strategy

The largest gap heuristic is especially useful when the additional time to change
aisles is short and the number of picks per aisle is low.
1.5. The Composite/Combined Strategy. This is a combination of the s-shape
and the largest gap heuristics. In this routing strategy, a decision is made every
time all items of an aisle have been picked. The question is whether to go to the
rear end of an aisle or to return to the front end. These two alternatives have to
be compared with each other after which the one resulting in the shortest route is
chosen. Thus, after leaving an aisle a choice between the two alternatives ending
at the back and a choice between the two alternatives ending at the front has to be
made.

Figure 6. Result of the Composite/Combined Strategy

This means there are always two possible routes to follow. As figure 6 shows all
picks in an aisle are completed before moving on to the next aisle.
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1.6. The Optimal Strategy. The optimal routing strategy is to formulate a

mathematical model that can calculate a shortest route, regardless of layout or
location of the items. Optimal routes will typically look like a mixture of s-shape
and largest gap.

Figure 7. Result of the Optimal Routing Strategy

A mathematical model will not be presented in this paper but can be found in a
previous paper also published on my website.

2. Dealing with Cross Aisles

All of the strategies described above can be applied in warehouses with cross aisles.
This article will not go into deeper detail about this but figure 9 shows two example
results using the s-shape heuristic and the largest gap heuristic in a warehouse with
cross aisles.

Figure 8. Example Warehouse with Cross Aisles

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A typical layout of a warehouse with cross aisles is shown in figure 8. With cross
aisles the warehouse is divided in several blocks, seperated by the cross aisles.
2.1. S-Shape and Largest Gap Heuristics with Cross Aisles. First main
aisle is fully traversed and the heuristic is then applied to one block at a time.

(a) S-Shape with Cross Aisles (b) Largest Gap with Cross Aisles

Figure 9. Example Results

3. Storage Methods
In order to further simplify and optimise the picking procedures in a warehouse it
is worth considering where items are put. I recommend looking into volume-based
storage, meaning most frequently accessed items should be located nearest to the
depot.

Figure 10 shows four different storage patterns, or methods, that can be applied
when using volume-based storage. A darker colour implies a more frequently ac-
cessed item.

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(a) Diagonal (b) Within Aisle

(c) Along Front Aisle (d) Along Front and Rear

Figure 10. Four Different Storage Types

Different storage methods favours different routing strategies. The conclusion later
in this article will sum up these relationships.

4. ABC-Curve
One way of grouping products in categories based on pick frequency is by use of an
ABC-analysis. The analysis is based on the well-known Pareto Rule and says that
app. 20% of your products will account for almost 80% of the total moves in your
warehouse.

To get a more varied product categorisation the ABC-analysis divides products

in three categories; A-items are about 15% of all your SKUs (stock keeping units)
and are products picked most frequently, B-items are about 25% of all SKUs and
are products picked with medium frequency, and C-items account for the remaining
60% of the SKUs and are not picked very often. These amounts are only used as a
rule of thumb and may vary from company to company.

Comparing with figure 10 the darkest colour indicate A-items and lighter colours
indicate B and C-items.

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Figure 11 shows four examples of ABC-Curves. The more skewed this curve is, the
higher difference between pick frequencies of A, B, and C-items. The curve coloured
with the lightest blue is linear (and hence not skewed at all), meaning that there
are no differencies in pick frequencies between the products.

Figure 11. Example of ABC-Curves

5. What To Use? - Conclusion

As mentioned before the preferred routing strategy is correlated with the chosen
storage method, which again is based on the skewness of the ABC-curve.

Table 1 summarises the relationship between these three concepts.

Routing Method # of picks ABC-Curve Preferred Storage Type

S-Shape all all within aisle
large less skewed within aisle/along front aisle
Return
small more skewed diagonal
Midpoint all more skewed along front and rear
Largest Gap all all within aisle
larger all within aisle
Combined
few all diagonal
larger all within aisle
Optimal
few more skewed diagonal
Table 1. The Preferred Type of Storage for Different Routing Strategies

Exactly which routing strategy or which storage method to choose will require an
in-depth analysis of your order patterns, order sizes, picking equipment etc.

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References
[1] Dr.sc. Goran Dukic & Prof.dr.sc. Cedomir Oluic, Order-picking methods: Improving
order-picking efficiency, Lecture Slides.
[2] www.rsm.nl: http://www.fbk.eur.nl/OZ/LOGISTICA/start.html, Rotterdam School of Man-
agement, Erasmus University, (1999).
[3] Garcia-Diaz, A. & MacGregor Smith, J.: Facilities Planning and Design, Pearson Educa-
tion, Inc., (2008).