Paper Info
Title
Robust Storage Assignment in Unit-Load Warehouses
Abstract
Assigning products to and retrieving them from proper storage locations are crucial decisions in minimizing the operating cost of a unit-load warehouse. The problem becomes intractable when the warehouse faces variable supply and uncertain demand in a multiperiod setting. We assume a factor-based demand model in which demand for each product in each period is affinely dependent on some uncertain factors. The distributions of these factors are only partially characterized. We introduce a robust optimization model that minimizes the worst-case expected total travel in the warehouse with distributional ambiguity of demand. Under a linear decision rule, we obtain a storage and retrieval policy by solving a moderate-size linear optimization problem. Surprisingly, despite imprecise specification of demand distributions, our computational studies suggest that the linear policy achieves close to the expected value given perfect information and significantly outperforms existing heuristics in the literature. This paper was accepted by Gérard P. Cachon, optimization.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.1287/mnsc.1120.1543
Management Science
Keywords
Field
DocType
robust optimization model,robust storage assignment,demand distribution,unit-load warehouses,linear decision rule,expected value,linear policy,factor-based demand model,uncertain demand,proper storage location,unit-load warehouse,moderate-size linear optimization problem,robust optimization,uncertainty,transportation,production,linear,linear optimization,programming,inventory,decision rule
Decision rule,Mathematical optimization,Economics,Unit load,Robust optimization,Heuristics,Expected value,Perfect information,Ambiguity,Operating cost
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
58
11
0025-1909
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
12
1.01
23
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Marcus Ang1211.63
Yun Fong Lim2586.69
Melvyn Sim31909117.68