Title: A comprehensive review and proposed framework to design lean storage and handling systems

Authors: Bhavin Shah; Vivek Khanzode

Addresses: National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Vihar Lake, Mumbai – 400087, India ' National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Vihar Lake, Mumbai – 400087, India

Abstract: The unprecedented increase in adoption of e-commerce in recent times asks for more efficient, flexible and agile warehousing due to product variants. All previous reviews broadly focus on warehouse design and operations ignoring the major function of providing effective buffering and efficient materials handling. Appropriate storage and handling device selection during warehouse design is significant as it improves materials movement, storage utilisation and productivity. This decision should be taken with adequate thought and care as it affects operating costs and performance throughout the lifespan of the warehouse. This paper critically reviews the current state-of-art of storage-handling systems literature and allied design issues as per the defined taxonomy. The objective is to investigate design issues from lean perspective, and the findings reveal the interrelationship between performance measures, solution approaches and wastes affecting leanness. The conceptual framework is presented to facilitate the design of lean storage and handling systems along with future scope as motivation of findings. This study may be of great help to the researchers who would like to explore the emerging field of lean adoption in storage and handling design.

Keywords: storage systems; handling systems; lean warehousing; warehouse design; performance measures; buffering; materials handling; storage utilisation; productivity; storage-handling system design.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2015.075025

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2015 Vol.7 No.4, pp.274 - 299

Received: 01 Jun 2015
Accepted: 26 Oct 2015

Published online: 29 Feb 2016 *

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