A heuristic approach to warehouse layout with classbased storage.

WM 19

T. NICK LARSON}, HEATHER MARCH2 and ANDREW KUSIAKl

J Intelligent Systems Laboratory, Department of Industrial Engineering,

The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1527, USA 2Hon Industries. Inc., Muscatine, IA 52761-7109, USA

Received January 1995 and accepted November 1996

This paper presents a procedure for warehouse layout. It employs the principles of class-based storage to increase floor space utilization and decrease material handling.

Three phases of the procedure are outlined: (1) determination of aisle layout and storage zone dimensions, (2) assignment of material to a storage medium, and (3) allocation of floor space. An industrial case study illustrates the procedure for a warehouse required to store 739 different products totaling more than 10000 pallets of material.

An improved layout was developed and compared with the existing alternative. The proposed layout offered savings of more than 20000 square feet of floor space and an approximately 45% reduction in material handling distance.