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IJAT Vol.3 No.2 pp. 165-173
doi: 10.20965/ijat.2009.p0165
(2009)

Paper:

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A Fast Scheduler for Multiagent in a Warehouse

Jose Ildefonso U. Rubrico*, Toshimitsu Higashi**, Hirofumi Tamura***, Makoto Nikaido*, and Jun Ota*

*Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

**Logistics and Automation Division, Murata Machinery Ltd.
2 Nakajima, Hashizume, Inuyama-shi, Aichi, Japan

***Murata Systems, Ltd., 3 Minamiochiai-cho, Kisshoin, Minami-ku, Kyoto, Japan

Received:
December 3, 2008
Accepted:
January 5, 2009
Published:
March 5, 2009
Creative Commons License
Keywords:
scheduling, planning, multiagent, automation, split delivery vehicle routing problem
Abstract
A major goal in scheduling multiagent for warehouse picking is to decrease operating cost by minimizing makespan among transport agents. Computational time must be within ten seconds for real-sized instances. Orders are initially batched by solving the split delivery vehicle routing problem, resulting trips are assigned to agents to balance their picking time, and trips are assigned to minimize blocking delays among agents. Simulation results confirmed that our proposal reduces picking time an average of 11.48% over conventional approaches.
Cite this article as:
J. Rubrico, T. Higashi, H. Tamura, M. Nikaido, and J. Ota, “A Fast Scheduler for Multiagent in a Warehouse,” Int. J. Automation Technol., Vol.3 No.2, pp. 165-173, 2009.
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