METHOD FOR ELABORATION OF OPTIMAL STORAGE STRUCTURE

The paper shows a design conception for an existing warehouse elaborated for a forwarding and warehousing company. The conception can be applied to define an optimal storage structure based on a given warehouse floor area and available forecasts relating to types and volume of loading units (LU) to be stored. The LUs are coming in shipping containers, which should be managed as a unit and stored in a same place (in blocks) because these will be delivered together. Because of it the first phase of the design is the determination of optimal block dimensions in case of different types of loading units, aisle width and aisle directions. The study shows 4 possible alternatives for storage structure and blocks arrangement. Longitudinal and transversal aisle arrangements were taken into consideration in both of buildings of the warehouse. Authors elaborated 7 parameters relating to maximal storage capacity, maximal utilization of floor area and volume to compare the different structure alternatives and define the optimal storage structure.