Fresh Food Distribution Center Storage Allocation Strategy Analysis Based on Optimized Entry-Item-Quantity-ABC

For labour-intensive field, appropriate storage location assignment is the best choice to increase order picking efficiency and reduce order cycle time, which satisfy customers and reduce cost at the same time. In this paper, we advance a storage location assignment for fresh food distribution center with a manual picker-to-parts picking system by using an optimized approach. To reflect the customer demand uncertainty, the orders received in a certain time range have been grouped and given the different coefficients according to the reference value of them. On that basis, the storage location can be designed optimally based on the Entry-Item-Quantity (EIQ) analysis, which can be used to resolve some orders picking issues, long-picking time and high inventory costs, caused by seasonal change of fresh food, unstable customer demand and repeat purchases. From the computational results, new storage allocation strategy achieves at most a 16% reduction in travel time.