Pick first, assign later: How to achieve shorter processing times in warehousing through late item allocation

To improve picking performance, many warehouses use order batching and/or zones in their picking areas. Both picking methods require an additional consolidation stage in which totes containing partial orders from multiple zones are sorted based on customer orders. The late assignment of products to orders in this processing step can be an effective lever for improving consolidation performance, according to a recently published study for which Nils Boysen (Uni Jena), Konrad Stephan (Uni Jena) and Felix Weidinger collaborated.

The article has been published in IISE Transactions:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24725854.2021.2004336