Order picking in narrow-aisle warehouses

Order picking in a warehouse consumes most of the stockroom labour because of the high frequency of transactions. This article presents an algorithm for order picking in narrow-aisle warehouses and describes its implementation using a spreadsheet. The algorithm is illustrated by an example, and the algorithmic method is compared with the current method of order picking in the food industry. Randomly generated problems show savings of up to 85 per cent in distance travelled by the pick-up vehicle. The manager of the warehouse, where the method has been implemented, confirmed that he has become more effective and efficient on order delivery by using it.