3D random stacking of weakly heterogeneous palletization problems

Random stacking is a new procedure by which boxes of various dimensions are loaded on pallets without a predefined pattern. The proposed heuristic has been developed in order to solve weakly heterogeneous/online palletization problems, in which boxes of different dimensions arrive online to the pallet loading area in random order. The main objectives of the heuristic are maximizing the volumetric pallet utilization, minimizing the work-in-process as well as the robotic palletization time. New performance indices are established: the Total Number of Sub-volume, the Partitioned Remaining Volume Load Capacity and the Total Zero Count. A computer program has been developed to simulate the palletization process. Ten simulations were conducted to generate the solution for different random sequences.