Order picking efficiency: A scattered storage and clustered allocation strategy in automated drug dispensing systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yuan, Mengge, Zhao, Ning, Wu, Kan, Cheng, Lulu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Yuan, Mengge
Zhao, Ning
Wu, Kan
Cheng, Lulu
author_facet Yuan, Mengge
Zhao, Ning
Wu, Kan
Cheng, Lulu
contents In the smart hospital, optimizing prescription order fulfilment processes in outpatient pharmacies is crucial. A promising device, automated drug dispensing systems (ADDSs), has emerged to streamline these processes. These systems involve human order pickers who are assisted by ADDSs. The ADDS's robotic arm transports bins from storage locations to the input/output (I/O) points, while the pharmacist sorts the requested drugs from the bins at the I/O points. This paper focuses on coordinating the ADDS and the pharmacists to optimize the order-picking strategy. Another critical aspect of order-picking systems is the storage location assignment problem (SLAP), which determines the allocation of drugs to storage locations. In this study, we consider the ADDS as a smart warehouse and propose a two-stage scattered storage and clustered allocation (SSCA) strategy to optimize the SLAP for ADDSs. The first stage primarily adopts a scattered storage approach, and we develop a mathematical programming model to group drugs accordingly. In the second stage, we introduce a sequential alternating (SA) heuristic algorithm that takes into account the drug demand frequency and the correlation between drugs to cluster and locate them effectively. To evaluate the proposed SSCA strategy, we develop a double objective integer programming model for the order-picking problem in ADDSs to minimize the number of machines visited in prescription orders while maintaining the shortest average picking time of orders. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed strategy can optimize the SLAP in ADDSs and improve significantly the order-picking efficiency of ADDSs in a human-robot cooperation environment.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_08683
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Order picking efficiency: A scattered storage and clustered allocation strategy in automated drug dispensing systems
Yuan, Mengge
Zhao, Ning
Wu, Kan
Cheng, Lulu
Applications
Optimization and Control
In the smart hospital, optimizing prescription order fulfilment processes in outpatient pharmacies is crucial. A promising device, automated drug dispensing systems (ADDSs), has emerged to streamline these processes. These systems involve human order pickers who are assisted by ADDSs. The ADDS's robotic arm transports bins from storage locations to the input/output (I/O) points, while the pharmacist sorts the requested drugs from the bins at the I/O points. This paper focuses on coordinating the ADDS and the pharmacists to optimize the order-picking strategy. Another critical aspect of order-picking systems is the storage location assignment problem (SLAP), which determines the allocation of drugs to storage locations. In this study, we consider the ADDS as a smart warehouse and propose a two-stage scattered storage and clustered allocation (SSCA) strategy to optimize the SLAP for ADDSs. The first stage primarily adopts a scattered storage approach, and we develop a mathematical programming model to group drugs accordingly. In the second stage, we introduce a sequential alternating (SA) heuristic algorithm that takes into account the drug demand frequency and the correlation between drugs to cluster and locate them effectively. To evaluate the proposed SSCA strategy, we develop a double objective integer programming model for the order-picking problem in ADDSs to minimize the number of machines visited in prescription orders while maintaining the shortest average picking time of orders. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed strategy can optimize the SLAP in ADDSs and improve significantly the order-picking efficiency of ADDSs in a human-robot cooperation environment.
title Order picking efficiency: A scattered storage and clustered allocation strategy in automated drug dispensing systems
topic Applications
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.08683