一、报告时间

2025年4月8日10:15

二、报告形式

腾讯会议：357-591-092

三、报告人

王征  大连海事大学

四、报告主题

Dynamic Reposition of Racks during Uncertain Picking Processes in Robotic Mobile Fulfillment Systems

五、报告摘要

Robotic mobile fulfillment systems offer e-commerce retailers a new way to fulfill customer orders by having mobile robots move racks to workstations where pickers retrieve purchased products. While these automated parts-to-picker systems can significantly reduce labor costs, they introduce a new challenge: where to place a rack after it has been picked and returned to storage. The movement of each rack influences others, leading to continuous changes in storage availability and opportunities for repositioning, which can improve overall picking efficiency. This paper examines the dynamic repositioning of racks during uncertain picking processes in robotic mobile fulfillment systems. We developed a stochastic dynamic programming model aimed at minimizing the total distance racks are moved for picking. To tackle this challenge, we propose an approximation method to estimate the expected distance of racks likely to be picked later in the process. We then introduce an efficient heuristic for this approximation problem and provide a performance guarantee under various scenarios. Our experiments using real-world data shows that our approach significantly outperforms the company’s current policies. To facilitate the implementation of the rack repositioning concept, we developed a straightforward policy for the company, uncovering an important insight that challenges common assumptions about rack repositioning in robotic mobile fulfillment systems.

六、报告人简介

王征，大连海事大学航运经济与管理学院教授、博导、国家级青年人才、中国物流与采购联合会科技创新人物、Transportation Research Part E编委；在物流与供应链管理领域开展了系统深入的理论与应用研究工作，在包括Production and Operations Management、Transportation Research Part B、E、C、Annals of Operations Research、Computers & Operations Research等国内外学术期刊上发表论文70余篇；主持各类科研项目20余项；出版学术专著3部；作为第一完成人获中国商业联合会、中国物流与采购联合会科技进步一等奖，作为第二完成获中国智能交通协会科技进步二等奖；担任多个学术组织常务委员等。