디지털피킹시스템의 동시 피킹 전략 기반 SKU 선별 및 구역 할당

Order picking is one of the major order fulfillment activities in distribution centers. Amid intense last-mile competition, enhancing picking productivity is essential for centers to ensure responsive order fulfillment. In this context, the digital picking system is widely used to efficiently sort items with high picking frequency. This system necessitates proper SKU selection and allocation to storage zones to improve picking performance. However, this necessity often conflicts with field observations, where SKUs are selected solely based on their picking frequency. To address this managerial challenge, this study proposes a novel strategy: the simultaneous picking of multiple SKUs, which could reduce the average picking time. This study introduces an integer programming model for the problem of SKU selection and allocation to storage zones, based on the simultaneous picking strategy, and suggests a genetic algorithm to solve it. Computational experiment results indicate that the algorithm performs favorably in terms of computation time and solution quality. Finally, the p roposed strategy is validated and managerial implications are drawn from a series of sensitivity analyses.