Chapter 9 : Storage and

Warehouse Systems
Abdulrahim Shamayleh
Industrial Engineering Department

Warehouse Layout Model

Storage Equipment

utomated Storage & Retrieval Sy

Requirement of efficient and

effective handling of materials
within various department :
keeping storage space accessible
Selecting proper placement of every
inventory item
Implementing appropriate storage
policies
Keeping adequate control of storage
policies

A comprehensive storage system

includes:

Building housing the storage facility

Storage medium
Dock areas
Processing rates
Location of inventory (supplies, intermediate
material and final products)
Material handling system
Workers in charge of storage operations

Receiving and shipping

Receiving an shipping operations are affected
by the equipment selected and the movement
pattern
Object of a total-system storage and
warehousing system design:
Choice of means of transportation,
Scheduling of transportation activities, and
The integration of storage and material handling
operations

Inbound operations include: receiving and put

away
Outbound operations include: processing,
picking, checking, packing, and shipping

Receiving and put away

Receiving operations: include all those
performed from the time the order is
placed until the products are received at
the inbound dock
Put away operations starts with the
confirmation of location, order quantity,
and product batch identification code
main objective is to determine the most
effective storage location for the incoming
products

Operations of the put away

process:
Ensure entire product receipts are
validated before products are
prepared for their distribution
Allow some put away to occur prior
to receiving every item on purchase
order
Place products directly in their final
locations when received

Processing customer orders

It starts when the order is received
Typical activities :
verifying availability of items,
Generating pick lists to consolidate the order,
Scheduling order picking and shipping
operations,
Document the entire process

Grouping and releasing order activities can

be accomplished by a warehouse
management system WMS. Coordinate
warehouse activities

Order picking
Picking means retrieving
Process of selecting and retrieving specified
items from a warehouse in specified
quantities to satisfy customer order
Levels of picking an order:
Pallet picking
Layout picking
Case picking
Split-case picking
Broken-case picking

Stock keeping Unit (SKU): unique numeric

identifier for systematic tracking

Diagramming the Flow - Functional Flow Network

Full Pallets
Cases
Mixed Pallets

Accu
m
&
Sort

Palletiz
e

Pallet
Rack

Place oriented Function

Jim Apple
Art of
material
handling

Movement oriented Function

Shipping

Receiving

Flow
Rack

Order picking
There are four procedure for picking
orders which are defined in terms of
three parameters:
1. Pickers per order,
2. Number of orders processed,
3. Picking periods per shift

Procedure for picking orders

Discrete picking: one worker picks one order of one

type of products at any particular time
promotes faster service, and allows accountability for
the condition and completeness of an order
Disadvantage : long travel times
Zone picking: picking area is divided into several
sections; one for each type of product, and one
picker is assigned to each section
Group picking: one picker is in charge of retrieving
items of one type of a product at a time for a group
of orders
Wave picking: one picker is assigned to each order,
considering the requirement of one type of a product
at a time. Shift is divided into several picking periods

Combined picking procedures:

Examples
Combine the zone and group pickings
procedures. Multiple pickers, multiple types of
products picked at a time, one picking period
per shift
Combine zone and wave picking procedures.
Multiple pickers, single type of product picked
at a time, multiple picking periods per shift
Combine zone, group, and wave picking
procedures. Multiple pickers, multiple type of
product picked at a time, multiple picking
periods per shift

Packing and shipping

Operations from time an order is placed until the
product are finally shipped
Packing is an activity that supports the shipping
process. It is labor intensive process
Shipping is part of Customer Service Quality
Increased customer satisfaction
Reduced delivery times and errors
Increased sales order throughput
These goals can be advanced by
Streamlining the order configuration process
Providing management visibility to the orders in process
Avoiding configurations errors and shipment delays

Cross docking
Logistics of directly moving finished product
from the manufacturing plant to the customer
with minimum material handling efforts
Benefits:
Reduction of the need for handling and storing
inventory
Increased emphasis on satisfying demand in a timely
manner
Streamlining of the supply chain
Reduction of operating costs
Increased throughput
Reduction of product damage and product
obsolescence

Placing the Warehouse in the Supply Chain

Supply

Distribution
DIRECT SHIP
DISTRIBUTOR

consolidate

CROSS-DOCK

consolidate
Storage
CONVENTIONAL

Jim Apple- The art of

material handling

Customer

Dedicated and Random

Storage
Storage warehousing can be implemented in
3 ways:
Rent in public warehouse on basis of storage
volume for a specified period of time
For long term storage need- lease a warehouse
Operate a private warehouse as separate division

Storage capacity of a warehouse: amount of

storage space required to accommodate the
materials to be stored in order to meet a
desired service level

Dedicated Storage
Each product unit load is assigned to
a fixed location based on throughput
and storage space required
Products responsible for more of the
travel activity between warehouse
and the docks should be assigned to
location closer to docks

Dedicated Storage
A set of storage locations assigned to a
specific product

Decision variable
xjk = 1 or 0 for assigning or not assigning
product j to location k

Measure of effectiveness
Minimize total expected distance traveled

Notation
q = number of storage locations
n = number of products
m = number of input/output points (docks)
Sj = number of storage locations required by
product j
Tj = number of trips in/out of storage for
product j
pi = percentage of travel in/out of storage
to/from point i
dik = distance or time required to travel from
point i to location k

Mathematical model
n

j 1

k 1

Min
n

jk

Tj
Sj

( p i d ik ) x jk
i 1

1, k 1,..., q

j 1
q

jk

S j , j 1 ,..., n

k 1

x jk 0 ,1

for j 1 ,..., n; k 1 ,..., q

j 1

k 1

Min

Tj
Sj

( pi d ik ) x jk
i 1

fk =

pi dik

i 1

Min
j 1

Tj
Sj

k 1

fk xjk ) =

j 1

( f1j xj1 + f2 xj2 + + fq xjq )

Sj

Solution Procedure

Example
Warehouses dimensions: 40 x 40 ft
Storage Location: 10 x 10 ft
One receiving dock at the northeast corner of
the layout
One shipping dock at the midpoint of the west
side
Two products A and B
Product A: 100 pallets per week (TA=100)
Product B: 80 pallets per week (TB=80)
Product A requires 10 storage bays (SA=10)
Product B requires 4 storage bays (SB=4)

Random Storage
Incoming items are equally likely to
be stored among all available
storage spaces
Incoming items are stored in the
available location that is closest to
the input/output point (dock)
Advantage: better utilization of the
available storage space

Problem 9.1
Suppose that a 40-ft by 40-ft warehouse is used to
store two products P and Q under a dedicated
storage policy. The floor of the warehouse can be
represented as a grid with 10-ft by 10-ft cells, each
cell corresponding to one space storage unit. In this
grid, the left-bottom corner represents the location of
a dock. Pallets of products are moved between a
dock and the warehouse, along rectilinear distances.
The first product accounts for about 30% of the total
travel activity and the second one for the remaining
70%. The first product requires typically 6 storage
space units and second product requires 9 units per
day. Find the policy that minimizes total travel
distance.

Problem 9.2
A warehouse is 200' long and 100' wide with three docks
located as shown in the following figure, where the distance
between rows of storage locations is negligible. Two
products A and B are to be stored. Product A enters the
warehouse at dock1 at a rate of 600 pallet loads per month,
and is shipped from docks 2 and 3 at rates of 120 and 480
pallet loads per month, respectively. Product B enters the
warehouse at dock 1 at a rate of 1000 pallet loads per
month and is shipped from docks 2 and 3 at rates of 200
and 800 pallet loads per month respectively. Storage spaces
of 8000 and 12000 square feet are required for A and B,
respectively. The warehouse is arranged into bays of 20' by
20 and only one type of product can be stored in a given
bay. Assume rectilinear travel.

Problem 9.3
Consider a rectangular warehouse layout with 10
x 10 ft storage bays. The layout consists of four
rows and four columns of bays. There is one dock
located at the top-left corner of the layout. Two
classes of products A and B are to be stored
using dedicated storage. Class A items
represent 20% of the input/output activity
and have a requirement of 8 storage bays.
Class B items represent 80% of the input/output
activity and have a requirement of 8 storage
bays. Design an optimal layout. Include all work
needed to support your answer.

Problem 9.4
Suppose the storage area for a warehouse is as shown
below. Two input/output points serve the storage area,
with the overall activity being about 50% for each dock.
All movement is in full-pallet quantities. The storage area
is subdivided into 10x10 ft storage bays. Three classes of
products (A, B, C) are to be stored. Class A items
represent 20% of the input/output activity and have a
dedicated-storage requirement of 3 storage bays; class B
items generate 65% of the trip activity and have a
dedicated-storage requirement of 6 storage bays; class C
items generate 15% of the input/output activity and
have a requirement of 5 bays. Indicate the optimal
warehouse layout, showing all supporting calculations.

Problem 9.5
Consider a rectangular warehouse of dimension 3 by 3
bays. Each storage bay is of size 20 x 20 ft. There are
two products A and B and one dock located at the middle
of the left-hand side of the warehouse. Product A
requires 4 storage locations and product B requires 3
storage locations. Product A represents 20% of the
input/output activity and Product B represents 80% of
this activity. (a) Find the optimum dedicated-storage
layout; (b) find the expected distance traveled for
dedicated storage; (c) if randomized storage is used,
such that each bay is equally likely to be used for
storage, find the expected distance traveled; (d)
compute an upper bound for randomized storage that
will yield an expected distance traveled equal to or less
than that for dedicated storage.

Models for Determining Storage

Capacity
Service Level Approach
Based on the desired service level
Cost-Based Approach
Total storage cost of the facility

Service Level Approach

Amount of storage space is
minimized subject to the constraint
that a specified probability of
space shortage, (0< <1) is not
exceeded
Probability 1- is the service level
When does space shortage occur?
(it is assumed that shortage is met
using leased storage space)

Randomized storage

Cost-Based Approach
Find total storage space by minimizing the
sum of costs associated with owned and
contracted storage space
Doesnt take service level into consideration
Costs consist of:
Fixed (purchasing material handling equipment)
Variable (given per storage area unit)

It is assumed that the required storage

capacity can be satisfied with owned and
leased storage area

Own storage case

Leased storage case

Storage Capacity
Determination

1. Randomized storage
Incoming items are equally likely to
be stored in any available location
(closest to dock)
2. Full turnover-based storage
items with larger ratios of activity
levels to storage space are allocated
to the location closer to the dock
Storage capacity is determined by
minimizing the total storage cost while
satisfying the desired service level

Randomized storage

Owning vs. leasing

Find for each breakpoint of the piece
wise linear cost function (owning and
leasing)

Solve using Newton-Raphon (N-R)

method

 Read Dedicated Storage Policy /

Section 9.5

Warehouse Storage Systems

Warehouse basic functions:
Receive
Store and protect
Pick according customer requirement
Prepare for shipping

Warehouse functions depend on proper selection

and utilization of the warehouse equipment
Aspects in determining which warehouse
equipment to purchase
Scope of job
Suitability of equipment
Safety
Purchase and operating costs

STORAGE SYSTEMS
CAROUSELS
RACK STORAGE
AS/RS (Automated Storage Retrieval
Systems)

CAROUSELS STORAGE
Reliable , simple,
and highly efficient
High storage
density
Brings inventory to
order picker
instead of having
the order picker
traveling to the
inventory location

CAROUSELS STORAGE
ADVANTAGES
High pick rates
Motorized, computer controlled and independent
rotating aisles of shelving
Parts are carried to the picker rather than the
picker going to the parts like in the case of racks
Mostly set up in pods of 2 or 3
Pick rates vary from 80-200 picks/person hour

CAROUSELS STORAGE
DISADVANTAGE
Adding more people cannot significantly
increase pick rate
Only one picker can operate at a given
time
Thus reduces the ability of the warehouse
to respond to surges in demand

TYPES OF CAROUSELS
STORAGE
Horizontal Carousels
Vertical Carousels
Independent Rack Carousels

HORIZONTAL CAROUSEL

FEATURES
It is a series of rotating bins of adjustable
shelves driven on the top or bottom by a motor
Rotation takes place on an axis perpendicular to
the floor at about 80 feet/minute
Horizontal lengths vary from 15 feet to 100 feet
Height varies from 6 feet to 25 feet
Prices start from $5000 and increases with the
number of bins and weight capacity

VERTICAL CAROUSEL

FEATURES
It is a horizontal carousel placed on its end
and enclosed in sheet metal
Height ranges from 8 feet to 35 feet
They include excellent item protection and
security
Only one shelf of items is exposed at a time
All items cannot be looked at, at the same
time
Prices range form $10,000 onwards

INDEPENDENT RACK CAROUSELS

FEATURES
They are multiple one level horizontal
carousel stacked on top of one another
Order picker accesses several pick locations
at any time
Each levels operate independently and have
their own power and communication link
Hence they are very costly

RACK STORAGE SYSTEMS

One of the primary
methods of material
storage
Utilizes the vertical
space in the
warehouse
Highly cost efficient

RACK TYPES
Walk Through Racks
Push Back Rack
Very Narrow Aisle
Racks
Drive-in Racks
Gravity Flow Racks
Mobile Racks

Double Deep Racks

Rollout Shelf Racks
Reel Racks
Cantilever Racks
Stacker Systems
Wire Coil Racks
Sheet Storage
Racks

WALK THROUGH RACKS

FEATURES
Provides easy accessibility to the
adjacent aisles
Pickers time is greatly reduced
Allows more lighting into aisles
Higher utilization of vertical space

PUSH BACK RACKS

FEATURES
Pallet loads are literally pushed back into the
rack
When pallet is retrieved, the deeper pallet load
automatically advance to the aisle
High density and high accessibility
Used to store large number of pallets for a long
time and then remove and ship them as
seasonal products
Used mostly in combination with drive-in racks

VERY NARROW AISLE

RACKS

FEATURES
Permits aisle widths less than 5 feet
Provide significant floor space reduction
Used at heights of 40 feet to 50 feet
Provides 100% selective storage
Pallets are accessed with turret or side loader lift
trucks
Sometimes racks are designed with top and
bottom monorails

DRIVE-IN RACKS

FEATURES
Used for bulky and light weight parts
Parts are mainly in cartons
Fork lift is the material handling device
used
Parts are typically stacked one over the
other in large numbers

GRAVITY FLOW RACKS

FEATURES
Used for parts in cartons
Parts are supported on rollers in the rack
system
Material transfer is done with ease
Easy to move parts along the same row as less
effort is required due to the presence of rollers

MOBILE RACKS

FEATURES
High density storage systems
100% utilization of pallet positions
Number of rows of racks mounted on mobile
bases
Storage carriages are driven by electric motors
Used mainly in cold or ultra-cold warehouses
where aisle space is at a premium
Used when speed of product movement is not a
major concern

DOUBLE DEEP RACKS

FEATURES
It is like placing two rows of racks together
Uses a deep reach lift truck for storage and
retrieval
Increases floor space usage to about 60% to 65%
Used for high throughput operations
Low initial cost
High productivity
Less equipment damage

ROLLOUT SHELF RACKS

FEATURES
Specialized storage
Mainly for delicate and costly parts
Used for dies, measurement tools

REEL RACKS

FEATURES

Special type of storage

Mainly for cables and wires in reels

CANTILEVER RACKS

FEATURES
Used to store long pipes and wood
Parts are stored using the fork lifts
Highly economical
Can be used till heights of 22 feet

STACKER SYSTEMS

FEATURES
Provided with an integral crane
Easy handling of heavy items
High storage and retrieval speeds
Eliminates fork lift usage

WIRE COIL RACKS

FEATURES

Used to store wire coils

Used to house rubber hoses and
hose assemblies

SHEET STORAGE RACKS

FEATURES
Store material in the form of sheets
Can be used to store glass
Permits a height of 10 feet

AUTOMATED STORAGE AND

RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS (AS/RS)

WAREHOUSE DESIGN STRATEGY

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Automated Storage & Retrieval System (AS/RS)

Have significant effect

when integrated into
manufacturing and
distribution processes
with the aid of a
computerized system
Each storage and retrieval
(S/R) machine operates in
a single aisle and services
storage racks on each
side of the aisle

 Bay: A vertical stack of unit loads from

floor to ceiling
Row: A series of bays located side by
side
Aisles: Spaces between rows
The aisles are used for stacker cranes
to move up and down between rows
Each crane serves both sides of an aisle
Light loads of less than 2500 pounds
require a 6- inch clearance for rack
support and crane entry
Heavier loads require 9 inches

 Racks may be 80-90 feet high

Served by computer-controlled

stacker
cranes carrying 3000-4000-pound loads
Can travel at speeds of 500 feet per minute
in aisles that are only 6 inches wider than the
cranes
Savings of as much as 20 percent of the
inventory cost
Fully mechanized system requiring little
labor to operate
Single operator can handle a warehouse with
1000s of parts
Minimizes need of material handling
equipment and material handling operations

AUTOMATED STORAGE AND

RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS (AS/RS)
Improved Space Utilization
75 % of rack space can be
recovered
High saving in pickers time
Allows quick access to goods
via a system of shelves
operating on a shuttle
mechanism
It brings the exact pick/store
location to the operator
Increases retrieval productivity
by more than 2.5 times

AUTOMATED STORAGE AND

RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS (AS/RS)
Access area of the system is ergonomically
designed to present stored items at an
ideal height for picking
High employee safety and improved
throughput

Unit Load: W x L x H
L

H
W

Crane

Rack

Bay
Height

Bay

AS/RS Design Process

1. Dimensions and weight of the load to be
stored
2. Number of units to be stored
3. Throughput rate per hour
4. Number of cranes needed
5. Number of rows required
6. Building height and load height
7. Number of bays
8. System length
9. System width

throughput per hour

Number of cranes =
(cycles/hour)x(efficiency)

height of storage building

oads stacked per bay(load
= height + clearance between stacks)

T
N
CE
-1

H
V
1
hc
number of units to be stored
Bays per row =
(number of rows)x(number of loads vertically stacked per bay)

U
B
2 NV

ystem width = (aisle unit) x (number of cranes)

W

N (3l 2)

System length = (width of bay + clearance) x (bays/row)+ (crane

clearance)
crane clearance usually is 25ft
L B ( w b) r

Example
Unit load: 36x48x24 pallet having a

weight of 1400 lb
75 dual cycles per hour
Each crane is 22 cycles per hour
Total storage is 18,000 unit loads
Height of the building is 80
Clearances of 4.5 from the ceiling and
6 from the floor for rack support
Clearance equal to 6 between stacks
Availability factor of 85% for cranes

L=4
H=2

Solution

1. Loads stacked per bay = [80 (4.5 + 0.5)]/[2 + 0.5] = 30

2. Number of dual cranes = 75/(22 x 0.85) = 4.01 = 5
3. Number of rows = 10
4. Bays per row = 18,000/(10 x 30) = 60
5. Width = (aisle unit) x (cranes) = [3(4)+2](5) = 70 feet
6. Length = (3 + 0.5) x 60 + 25 = 235 feet
7. Height = 80 feet

Problem 9.7
A manufacturing company wishes to
store a unit on a 24" x 48" x 20"
pallet having a weight of 2800 lb.
The throughput is 75 dual cycles per
hour. The total storage is 15,000 unit
loads. The height of the building is
75'. A total floor and ceiling
clearance of 2' is needed. Determine
the storage dimensions. Write all
specific assumptions.

Problem 9.8
A manufacturing company wishes to store a unit on
a 36x48x24 pallet having a weight of 1400 lb.
and 75 dual cycles per hour. The total storage is
15,000 unit loads. The height of the building is 75,
but clearances of 4.5 from the ceiling and 6 from
the floor for rack support are needed.
(a)Determine the number of stacks that can be
accommodated with the given height of the load.
(b)Determine the number of dual cranes needed.
(c)Determine the number of bays needed.
(d)Determine the storage dimensions.
Consider a clearance equal to 6 between stacks
and an availability factor of 85% for cranes.

Dock planning and design

most utilized facilities in the warehouse
system
Shipping/receiving
The objective is to make transportation of
materials between the warehouse and the
bed of the carrier safe and efficient
Factors to be considered in planning the
loading docks:
1. Dock location and design
2. Dock leveler selection
3. safety

Terms used in dock planning

Dock location
Location is chosen to minimize the inplant traffic and ensure safe movement
of trucks in/out of facility grounds
Factors that influence the selection of
the site for a dock
Truck access
Waiting area
Loading area
Maneuvering space

Truck Access
Move in counterclockwise direction
Safe standards should be ensured:
1. Wide angle mirrors for turning blind corners
2. Speed limits are posted
3. Pedestrian and vehicle flows are routed
separately
4. Roadways are separately designed for truck
traffic and flow f employees
5. Parking is prohibited in areas associated with
limited vision

Loading Areas
65 feet in front and 3 feet on each side

Waiting Areas
Enough waiting area to anticipate number of
vehicles
Waiting and parking areas should be properly
designed to avoid conflict with area for
maneuvering
Maneuvering Areas
Required to allow changes in the direction
position of large tractor-trailer combination
around the dock
70 feet outward from the loading area
Total distance from dock at least 120
(assuming 65 feet trailer)

Types of Dock locations:

Receiving and shipping docks are
combined in the same general
location at storage facility
When it is used?
Disadvantages?
Receiving and shipping docks are
assigned separate locations

Types of
Docks

Enclosed dock
Open dock
Sawtooth dock
Dock pier
Freestanding
dock

Dock design
Minimize the difference between heights of the
dock platform and the trailer bed
Allow diversity of vehicle to be used
Dimension to be considered: truck or trailer bed
height, total truck height, rear axle settings
Typical truck dimensions

Dock levelers
Platform like devices to bridge the gap
between the dock and the trailer
Types:
1. Edge-of-dock leveler
Economical
Attached permanently to door
A dock bumper
B outer lip
C inner lip
D bumper pad

2. Front-of-dock leveler
Limited range of height
Bolted to the concrete wall
Can be relocated
3. Vertical storing dock leveler
Parallel to the building
Installation on top of the dock

4. Recessed Dock Leveler

Greater operating range
allow access of wide trucks
Highest load capacity

Dock Safety
Result of Integration of diversity of factors
dock design, effectiveness of truck restraint, information
and communication, lightening conditions, training
programs
When properly combined promote the following benefits:
1. significant reduction of cross traffic interference
2. Proper location of staging and storing areas away from the
dock area
3. Adequate lighting conditions
4. Good communication system between dock workers and
truck drivers
5. Significant increase of the protection level required for the
operating of all material handling equipment