Control of continuously running material flow systems

The processes in many distribution centers are tuned towards continuous running material flow elements, e.g. articles are being put directly into the order box, which is passing a so called put-station. The challenge for the staff here is to work in accordance with the speed of the conveyor belt (if not, the order has to be transported to the exception handling area, which costs time and efficiency).

Furthermore, the working rhythm is defined by the sequence of orders. That typically leads to the situations, in which more or less load comes to the staff.

In this case the speed of the conveyor belt and the worker are to adapt to the pseudo-optimal order sequences. The graphic shows by the example of a single day lots of phases of over or under load (blue / red).

Using an optimal sequence the over or under load can be reduced or eliminated completely. This can be a base for increasing the speed of the material flow and enhancing the overall efficiency. The complexity of this sequence optimization consists in taking into account all the relevant areas at the same time. It requires an intelligent optimization technology to calculate huge numbers of different sequences for a few minutes.