Optimal Gate Assignment at Distribution Center: A Case Study

Undergraduate #387
Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Civil/Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering

Kevin Badaszewski - Savannah State University

Gate assignments for a distribution center (DC) or warehouse plays an crucial role in the operating cost of a DC. The gate assignment implies assigning appropriate gates for the inbound trucks as well as outbound trucks, also docking stock at some of the gates which are not used most occasions as storage or for cross-docking. Improper gate assignments for inbound and outbound trucks implies longer commutes for the works internal to the DC to either shelf the product or unshelf the product coming in or leaving the DC. Which is why this problem is very important for all warehouses/DC, however each DC has a unique set of policies making it slightly different and challenging to come up with a generic solution. In this research we propose optimal gate assignments by the amount of demand and supply, as the demand and supply increase, the optimal gate assignments also change appropriately. We consider a situation for a particular DC as part of the case-study. The current research addresses a few planning related questions at this DC. Simulation optimization method is employed to find the solutions, which include: optimal gate assignment for inbound and outbound operations, determine appropriate number of gates used for dock stack (cross block). How many gates for traditional put away and silo put away/ Various numerical experiments are conducted to come up with the best possible assignment for a given scenario? Future research will involve proposing a generic solution across most of the DC’s.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): This study was supported, in part, by a grant from NSF awarded to Jonathan Lambright, Dean of College of Sciences and Technology; and Suman Niranjan, Associate Professor for Operations Management, Director for Interdisciplinary Transportation Studies, Savannah State University, Savannah, GA.

Faculty Advisor: Suman Niranjan, niranjans@savannahstate.edu

Role: Developing the simulation model, and running the simulation. Validating and verifying the model. Conducting various numerical models with varying input parameters.