Warehouse Inbound Logistics

Challenge

For this project, we collaborated with a global logistics company specializing in supply chain management, freight transportation, and warehousing solutions across air, land, and sea. They sought to develop a simulation model in AnyLogic to analyze the efficiency of human resources in their inbound warehouse operations.

Solution

The simulation model served two primary purposes: first, as a communication tool to visualize resource utilization through data, and second, as an experimentation platform to assess the impact of system input changes on key operational KPIs.

The model represented the inbound warehouse operations from the arrival of trucks with pallets to the storage of pallets in designated put-away locations. The operations included:

• Inbound administrative work
• Unloading using forklifts
• Sorting
• First article inspection
• Material requirements planning

Pallet Types

Within this process, three pallet types exist, each following a distinct subprocess:

• Mono-Pallets GS1
• Mono-Pallets non-GS1
• Mixed Pallets

Outcome

All operational parameters (labeling time, breakbulk time, etc.) were configurable in an Excel file representing a specific scenario. The simulation model featured three views:

• Animation: Operations in 2D and 3D
• Internal Logic: The model's processing logic
• Statistics: Utilization, working hours, put-away information, and costs

Special attention was given to optimizing simulation speed using lightweight AnyLogic tools, ensuring compatibility with potential future optimization experiments.

Project Features

• Industry: Warehouse, Logistics
• Model: Discrete Events
• Duration: 1 month