The design of an RFID-enhanced autonomous storage planning system for 3PL warehouses
by Mandy Y.Y. Cheung, K.L. Choy, K.H. Tan, Henry C.W. Lau, Edmond L.H. Choy
International Journal of Value Chain Management (IJVCM), Vol. 3, No. 1, 2009

Abstract: The problems that are associated with storage planning in Third-Party Logistics (3PL) warehouses are especially dynamic and complex, yet storage policy on space utilisation goes comparatively unnoticed in warehouse management. From reviewing the literature and from a deep understanding of the industry, it is understood by the authors that are proper use of space allocation strategies and storage assignment policies can ensure the maximum utilisation of space resources. Storage and retrieval in the warehouse can also be improved and made more efficient. Therefore, this paper proposes a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-enhanced Autonomous Storage Planning System (RFID-ASPS) for 3PL warehouses to cope with the changing patterns of customer demand and with product variety. The system integrates RFID technology and a decision support system to provide optimal solutions to a variety of storage problems. The system is preliminarily demonstrated through an experimental study in a simulated warehouse environment. The results reveal that the integration of RFID technology with a rule-based decision support system has the advantage of providing reliable suggestions for storage planning problems in a shorter time and making better use of limited space than was achieved by using previous methods.

Online publication date: Sun, 04-Jan-2009

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Value Chain Management (IJVCM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com