Optimization of die storage location considering travel distance and time: a case study of an automotive parts stamping shop

Every company seeks to have high volumes of production and distribution, using optimal allocation of stock inventories. The layout of warehouses is one of the important factors affecting the efficiency of the warehouse operations. The success of a manufacturing organization depends on the proper design of facilities supporting all production cycles. Out of all processes, order picking and restocking are receiving more attention, as they have been considered as very labor-intensive and costly operations. The assignment of stocks to locations is one of the most important issues that must be resolved in manufacturing system. The purpose of this research is to develop a dynamic die location planning system with the objective of reducing the overall stamping die handler's travel distance and time on the monthly basis. This research addresses a real warehouse logistic problem of an automotive stamping shop that performs picking and restocking of die sets with the attempt to generate an optimal layout for all die sets that will minimize the aggregate walking distance of operators handling the overhead crane. Given a set of production orders for die sets and their picking frequencies, the assignment of die sets to storage location is formulated as a 0-1 Linear Integer Programming model (LIP). Optimal solution is generated with minimum run time by using LINGO version 14.0 software solutions derived from using heuristic algorithms are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed LIP model.