Study on Goods Location Optimization of Automated Warehouses in Pharmaceutical Companies

In the pharmaceutical industry, the profit of the enterprise nowdays is more determined by warehouse cost, which can be significantly reduced by the reasonable distribution of goods. Considering the characteristics of goods (or drugs), a multi-objective optimization mathematical model for goods location is established in this paper. The optimization model is composed of a travel time model based on the input/output (I/O) frequency of goods and the speed change of stacker cranes when conveying goods. Meanwhile, taking into account strong goods correlation, finished products and raw materials are stored by class instead of by area, therefore, a within-class correlation model and a between-class correlation model are also comprised in the optimization model. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA - II) is exploited to resolve the goods location optimization problem in the pharmaceutical automated warehouses. The simulation results show that the optimization model make the goods distribution more reasonable.