Amazon randomizes warehouse item storage

[rcjordan]

While I did not write a "picking order' module for our wholesaler system (overkill), I suspect most supply houses use them now. In short, they sort the incoming order to provide the shortest path through the warehouse while filling the order.  Amz turns this system on its head. Watch vid.

http://www.businessinsider.com/inside-amazon-warehouse-prime-now-2017-7

[DrCool]

>>Amz turns this system on its head

This is pretty much how our warehouses work. I was shocked when I first saw it and saw these bins with 10 different random items in them. But I can see the logic beyond it. I was also surprised that a "picker" isn't necessarily filling one order. They are pulling items for multiple orders at once and it all gets sorted out further down the line. Seems counter-intuitive but at scale it makes a lot of sense.

[rcjordan]

I've been thinking about how this is coded, though the nitty-gritty is way above my level.  I'm guessing they set up a blob of locations under each item's SKU. When an order comes in, say for 10 items, they run the Traveling Salesman algorithm against each extracted individual location stored in all 10 blobs.  Just think of the size of that matrix --particularly for popular, high volume items stocked in many locations! Not too terribly long ago, this would have taken a Cray.

[rcjordan]

<added>
>pulling items for multiple orders at once

*SLAPS forehead*  Of course! Makes perfect sense ...once you break the grid mentality.  I wonder how many orders to you give a picker, typically?

[DrCool]

>>I wonder how many orders to you give a picker

A picker will rarely fill any one single order if there are multiple products in that order. The system will know what level and aisle the picker is on and just give them a list of everything needed from that aisle at any given time for all the orders currently in the system. So they might get one item for an order, another picker will get another item, and another picker might get one. Everything a picker picks goes into a bin and then it goes to a few different levels of sorting stations. It isn't until a ways down the line that the actual order is compiled.

On one "run" a picker will generally have enough items to fill a bin and will rarely have to go more than one or two aisles away from where they are. Maybe 20 items or so at a time.