Free-Layout Warehouse Work Planning With Staged Order Batching
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Solution Overview
Problem
In free-layout warehouses, existing methods for optimizing picking routes to minimize total movement distance face significant calculation loads due to the enormous number of possible combinations and the need for repeated Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) solving, making it impractical to apply order batching optimization effectively.
Innovation Solution
An information processing device and method that utilize order batching optimization by first specifying candidate routes and then exchanging travel orders within batches to minimize total movement distances, applying a sequential optimization approach that reduces calculation load and identifies optimal combinations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If order batching optimization is applied to minimize total movement distance in free-layout warehouses, then picking route efficiency is improved, but calculation load becomes excessively large due to enormous number of possible combinations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the complex optimization problem into two manageable stages: first generating candidate routes using heuristics, then optimizing travel orders within those routes. This segmentation reduces the calculation load from evaluating all possible combinations to evaluating only promising candidates, making the optimization feasible while maintaining high picking route efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary route generation using heuristic methods before applying detailed optimization. By pre-filtering and organizing candidate routes, the system reduces the search space for subsequent optimization, significantly cutting calculation time while preserving the ability to find near-optimal solutions for minimizing total movement distance.
2Manufacturing precision
If repeated Traveling Salesman Problem solving is performed to optimize picking routes, then route optimization is improved, but calculation load increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of solving the Traveling Salesman Problem repeatedly for all possible order combinations (excessive action), the patent applies TSP solving selectively only to optimized candidate routes generated by heuristics (partial action). This approach achieves sufficient route optimization precision while dramatically reducing calculation complexity by avoiding redundant TSP solves on poor-quality routes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the approach from optimizing all possible combinations to optimizing routes based on heuristic-generated candidates. By transforming the optimization parameter from 'all combinations' to 'candidate routes', the system maintains reasonable optimization precision while reducing calculation complexity through more efficient search strategies.
3Measurement precision
If all possible order combinations are evaluated to minimize total movement distance, then optimization accuracy is improved, but calculation scale becomes unmanageably large
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and focuses only on the most promising candidate routes generated by heuristics, rather than evaluating all possible order combinations. This extraction approach maintains optimization accuracy by concentrating computational resources on high-quality routes while dramatically reducing calculation scale to manageable levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces heuristic-generated candidate routes as an intermediary layer between the raw order data and the final optimization. These candidate routes serve as a filtered intermediate set that bridges the gap between complete enumeration (high accuracy but huge scale) and simple heuristics (low accuracy but small scale), achieving a balanced solution with reasonable accuracy and manageable calculation scale.
Data Source
AI summary
A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a work planning program for causing a computer to execute first specification processing of specifying, for each of candidate routes to sequentially travel work positions included in orders, each of combinations of the orders such that a total sum of movement distances, in which each of workers travels work positions specified by a combination of orders assigned to each of the workers in a case where the orders is assigned to the workers, satisfies a first condition, and second specification processing of selecting a candidate route in which the total sum of the movement distances of each of the workers satisfies a second condition among the candidate routes, and specifying a travel order in which the total sum of the movement distances of each of the workers satisfies a third condition by exchanging the travel order in the combination of the orders.