Storage location management in the distribution center by heuristic method

This paper studies the characteristics of real petrochemical warehouse operations in Thailand, which uses storage management of block stacking in a randomization strategy. The current strategy results in inefficient operation and storage management inside the warehouse. The scope of this study is to analyze the historical data in the warehouse management system, including understanding the characteristics of each customer product behavior and current warehouse zoning to minimize the overall forklift traveling distance. The proposed method of dedicated storage with zoning strategy was applied using historical inbound and outbound data to evaluate the average distance traveled by the forklift trucks. The proposed method shows a significant reduction in overall forklift travel distances compared to the current randomization method. This suggests the potential benefits of implementing the strategy in real operations to enhance resource utilization efficiency.