Research On Order Batching Problem Of Electronic Distribution Center

With the rapid economic and social development in China,the logistics industry has also developed rapidly in recent years.Distribution center is a key link of supply chain,and its impact on operation efficiency and service quality of supply chain can not be ignored.Sorting operation gathers lots of labor,material,and financial resources in the distribution center.Its efficiency directly determines consumers’ consumption experience and is an indispensable and important part of distribution center.However,with the rapid development of e-commerce logistics at recent stage,orders may increase sharply in a short time.In view of shortcomings of distribution centers in layout,management system,and sorting methods of order batching,the sorting operation will be inefficient and unable to meet the needs of consumers.This requires distribution centers to improve their efficiency in sorting operations.Undoubtedly,starting with order batching method is more economical,practical and operable than others.This paper aims at order batching problem in sorting operation and focuses on optimization.On the basis of previous research on single-area warehouse and single sorting equipment,this paper establishes a mathematical model of order batching on condition of multi-area warehouse and multiple picking equipment.Algorithms are designed and applied to an example,and can be uesd to reduce sorting distance.Firstly,the mathematical model of order batching is established.Aiming at order batching problem,the model assumption is made and the mathematical model is established.Then,algorithms are designed to solve the order batching mathematical model.Two main algorithms are designed,one is the traditional genetic algorithm,the other is the new firefly algorithm.Finally,an example is given.The specific warehouse parameters,the coding method of warehouse location,the calculation method of sorting distance and order batching process are given.The genetic algorithm and the firefly algorithm are used in batching.Combining the batching effect of the two algorithms,the firefly algorithm is optimized.Then the traditional genetic algorithm batching,firefly algorithm batching and improved firefly algorithm batching are compared and analyzed.The results show that the number of batches and the sorting distance of the firefly algorithm batching are improved,comparing with the genetic algorithm batching.The improved firefly algorithm batching has a further improvement effect.