A visually interactive expert system for a distribution center environment

The Warehousing and Distribution of miscellaneous case goods stored and retrieved in public or private warehousing offers an excellent opportunity to study and document rules for Storage and Retrieval systems. This study concerns the receiving, storing and shipping operations of a large Distribution Center having over 100000 storage locations for general merchandise. There are also several special storage areas for items requiring special handling such as liquids, food and fabric items, etc. The study includes developing decision rules depending on the product handled and palletizing rules depending on the case (carton) size, case quantity and weight and the stacking pattern. A preliminary study revealed that storage capacity increases of at least 4% (4000 additional pallet positions) could be achieved by optimum pallet stacking and another 5-7% by standardizing the wooden pallets themselves.