E-commerce, as an emerging marketing mode, has attracted more and more attention and gradually changed the way of our life. However, the existing layout of distribution centers can＇t fulfill the storage and picking d...E-commerce, as an emerging marketing mode, has attracted more and more attention and gradually changed the way of our life. However, the existing layout of distribution centers can＇t fulfill the storage and picking demands of e-commerce sufficiently. In this paper, a modified miniload automated storage/retrieval system is designed to fit these new characteristics of e-commerce in logistics. Meanwhile, a matching problem, concerning with the improvement of picking efficiency in new system, is studied in this paper. The problem is how to reduce the travelling distance of totes between aisles and picking stations. A multi-stage heuristic algorithm is proposed based on statement and model of this problem. The main idea of this algorithm is, with some heuristic strategies based on similarity coefficients, minimizing the transportations of items which can not arrive in the destination picking stations just through direct conveyors. The experimental results based on the cases generated by computers show that the average reduced rate of indirect transport times can reach 14.36% with the application of multi-stage heuristic algorithm. For the cases from a real e-commerce distribution center, the order processing time can be reduced from 11.20 h to 10.06 h with the help of the modified system and the proposed algorithm. In summary, this research proposed a modified system and a multi-stage heuristic algorithm that can reduce the travelling distance of totes effectively and improve the whole performance of e-commerce distribution center.展开更多
The current mathematical models for the storage assignment problem are generally established based on the traveling salesman problem（TSP）,which has been widely applied in the conventional automated storage and retri...The current mathematical models for the storage assignment problem are generally established based on the traveling salesman problem（TSP）,which has been widely applied in the conventional automated storage and retrieval system（AS/RS）.However,the previous mathematical models in conventional AS/RS do not match multi-tier shuttle warehousing systems（MSWS） because the characteristics of parallel retrieval in multiple tiers and progressive vertical movement destroy the foundation of TSP.In this study,a two-stage open queuing network model in which shuttles and a lift are regarded as servers at different stages is proposed to analyze system performance in the terms of shuttle waiting period（SWP） and lift idle period（LIP） during transaction cycle time.A mean arrival time difference matrix for pairwise stock keeping units（SKUs） is presented to determine the mean waiting time and queue length to optimize the storage assignment problem on the basis of SKU correlation.The decomposition method is applied to analyze the interactions among outbound task time,SWP,and LIP.The ant colony clustering algorithm is designed to determine storage partitions using clustering items.In addition,goods are assigned for storage according to the rearranging permutation and the combination of storage partitions in a 2D plane.This combination is derived based on the analysis results of the queuing network model and on three basic principles.The storage assignment method and its entire optimization algorithm method as applied in a MSWS are verified through a practical engineering project conducted in the tobacco industry.The applying results show that the total SWP and LIP can be reduced effectively to improve the utilization rates of all devices and to increase the throughput of the distribution center.展开更多
In solving application problems, many largesscale nonlinear systems of equations result in sparse Jacobian matrices. Such nonlinear systems are called sparse nonlinear systems. The irregularity of the locations of non...In solving application problems, many largesscale nonlinear systems of equations result in sparse Jacobian matrices. Such nonlinear systems are called sparse nonlinear systems. The irregularity of the locations of nonzero elements of a general sparse matrix makes it very difficult to generally map sparse matrix computations to multiprocessors for parallel processing in a well balanced manner. To overcome this difficulty, we define a new storage scheme for general sparse matrices in this paper. With the new storage scheme, we develop parallel algorithms to solve large-scale general sparse systems of equations by interval Newton/Generalized bisection methods which reliably find all numerical solutions within a given domain.In Section 1, we provide an introduction to the addressed problem and the interval Newton's methods. In Section 2, some currently used storage schemes for sparse sys-terns are reviewed. In Section 3, new index schemes to store general sparse matrices are reported. In Section 4, we present a parallel algorithm to evaluate a general sparse Jarobian matrix. In Section 5, we present a parallel algorithm to solve the correspond-ing interval linear 8ystem by the all-row preconditioned scheme. Conclusions and future work are discussed in Section 6.展开更多
文摘E-commerce, as an emerging marketing mode, has attracted more and more attention and gradually changed the way of our life. However, the existing layout of distribution centers can＇t fulfill the storage and picking demands of e-commerce sufficiently. In this paper, a modified miniload automated storage/retrieval system is designed to fit these new characteristics of e-commerce in logistics. Meanwhile, a matching problem, concerning with the improvement of picking efficiency in new system, is studied in this paper. The problem is how to reduce the travelling distance of totes between aisles and picking stations. A multi-stage heuristic algorithm is proposed based on statement and model of this problem. The main idea of this algorithm is, with some heuristic strategies based on similarity coefficients, minimizing the transportations of items which can not arrive in the destination picking stations just through direct conveyors. The experimental results based on the cases generated by computers show that the average reduced rate of indirect transport times can reach 14.36% with the application of multi-stage heuristic algorithm. For the cases from a real e-commerce distribution center, the order processing time can be reduced from 11.20 h to 10.06 h with the help of the modified system and the proposed algorithm. In summary, this research proposed a modified system and a multi-stage heuristic algorithm that can reduce the travelling distance of totes effectively and improve the whole performance of e-commerce distribution center.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.661403234)Shandong Provincial Science and Techhnology Development Plan of China(Grant No.2014GGX106009)
文摘The current mathematical models for the storage assignment problem are generally established based on the traveling salesman problem（TSP）,which has been widely applied in the conventional automated storage and retrieval system（AS/RS）.However,the previous mathematical models in conventional AS/RS do not match multi-tier shuttle warehousing systems（MSWS） because the characteristics of parallel retrieval in multiple tiers and progressive vertical movement destroy the foundation of TSP.In this study,a two-stage open queuing network model in which shuttles and a lift are regarded as servers at different stages is proposed to analyze system performance in the terms of shuttle waiting period（SWP） and lift idle period（LIP） during transaction cycle time.A mean arrival time difference matrix for pairwise stock keeping units（SKUs） is presented to determine the mean waiting time and queue length to optimize the storage assignment problem on the basis of SKU correlation.The decomposition method is applied to analyze the interactions among outbound task time,SWP,and LIP.The ant colony clustering algorithm is designed to determine storage partitions using clustering items.In addition,goods are assigned for storage according to the rearranging permutation and the combination of storage partitions in a 2D plane.This combination is derived based on the analysis results of the queuing network model and on three basic principles.The storage assignment method and its entire optimization algorithm method as applied in a MSWS are verified through a practical engineering project conducted in the tobacco industry.The applying results show that the total SWP and LIP can be reduced effectively to improve the utilization rates of all devices and to increase the throughput of the distribution center.
文摘In solving application problems, many largesscale nonlinear systems of equations result in sparse Jacobian matrices. Such nonlinear systems are called sparse nonlinear systems. The irregularity of the locations of nonzero elements of a general sparse matrix makes it very difficult to generally map sparse matrix computations to multiprocessors for parallel processing in a well balanced manner. To overcome this difficulty, we define a new storage scheme for general sparse matrices in this paper. With the new storage scheme, we develop parallel algorithms to solve large-scale general sparse systems of equations by interval Newton/Generalized bisection methods which reliably find all numerical solutions within a given domain.In Section 1, we provide an introduction to the addressed problem and the interval Newton's methods. In Section 2, some currently used storage schemes for sparse sys-terns are reviewed. In Section 3, new index schemes to store general sparse matrices are reported. In Section 4, we present a parallel algorithm to evaluate a general sparse Jarobian matrix. In Section 5, we present a parallel algorithm to solve the correspond-ing interval linear 8ystem by the all-row preconditioned scheme. Conclusions and future work are discussed in Section 6.
