Integrated Order Picking and Multi-Skilled Picker Scheduling in Omni-Channel Retail Stores

Utilizing local brick-and-mortar stores for same-day order fulfillment is becoming prominent in omni-channel retailing. Efficient in-store picking critical to providing timely value-added delivery services. Despite numerous studies on traditional logistics warehouses and distribution centers, there scant research focusing with the multi-skilled workforce retail stores. We studied integrated Order Picking Heterogeneous Picker Scheduling Problem (OPPSP-Het) characterized OPPSP-Het a mixed-integer linear optimization model objective of minimization total tardiness all customer orders. A hybrid heuristic combining genetic algorithm variable neighborhood descent was designed obtain effective solutions. Extensive experiments were conducted validate performance proposed approach relative existing algorithms recent literature. further numerically showed effects size heterogeneous performance. lastly emphasized importance flexibility as cost-effective improving