Design of a RFID case-based resource management system for warehouse operations

  • Authors:

  • Harry K. H. Chow;King Lun Choy;W. B. Lee;K. C. Lau

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, Peoples's Republic of China;Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, Peoples's Republic of China;Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, Peoples's Republic of China;GENCO Distribution system, Pittsburgh, U.S.A.

  • Venue:
  • Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

In the past, the selection of resources to execute various warehouse operation services was done solely by experts. In this paper, a RFID-based Resource Management System (RFID-RMS) is designed to help users to select the most suitable resource usage packages for handling warehouse operation orders by retrieving and analysing useful knowledge from a case-based data warehouse for solutions in both time saving and cost effective manner. In addition, a pure integral-linear programming model using a branch and bound algorithm to define the optimum travel distance of forklifts is also developed and embedded in the proposed system. The proposed system, which is suitable for usage in a warehouse operation environment, enhances the effectiveness in formulating resource usage package and managing resource operation by integrating the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), case-based reasoning (CBR) technologies and the programming model for forklift route optimization. Through applying RFID-RMS in the GENCO Distribution System, a multinational logistics company, the utilization of warehouse resources is expected to be maximized while work efficiency will be greatly enhanced.