Picking rules for a carousel conveyor in an automated warehouse

Recent technological developments have revolutionized the design and operation of warehousing systems. Automatic storage/retrieval system (AS/RS), driven by computers, are becoming increasingly prevalent. The use of AS/RS requires computerized control algorithms to support scheduling and picking decisions. This paper considers the order picking problem of carousel conveyor systems. Several solution procedures, based on the characteristics of carousel conveyors, are presented for evaluating the performance of AS/RS. The analytical results can be applied directly for the scheduling of automatic warehousing systems.