Purpose

In a volatile marketplace, warehouse management is fundamentally contingent of changes in its supply network environment. Flexibility is therefore a key logistics issue in distribution centre management. This study probes into the nature of warehouse flexibility in a supply network through simulation.

Design/methodology/approach

By using the FlexSim simulation tool the dynamic behaviour of the warehouse system are conceptualised, documented, simulated, analysed and evaluated.

Findings

Simulation revealed that external changes affect daily processes and the reorganisation of warehouse processes. Given the extensity of resource use, simulation also revealed that process reorganisation should not be a daily undertaking. This is because warehouse processes react in unpredictable and different manners to even the smallest disturbance from the environment. This reaction is not necessarily negative impending more long-term change of warehouse processes.

Originality/value

The warehouse is a complex system that self-adapts with limited need to calculate new optimised warehouse processes to counter changes in its environment. Rather than following deterministic optimisation procedures, the development of flexible resources is a key issue in warehouse management. The applied simulation model is generic and therefore applicable in other distribution centres pointing to how to monitor warehouse processes to in a pre-emptively develop warehouse flexibility through change of process context.

中文翻译：

---

仓库灵活性的偶然性

目的

在瞬息万变的市场中，仓库管理从根本上取决于其供应网络环境的变化。因此，灵活性是配送中心管理中的一个关键物流问题。本研究通过模拟探讨了供应网络中仓库灵活性的本质。

设计/方法/途径

通过使用 FlexSim 模拟工具，仓库系统的动态行为被概念化、记录、模拟、分析和评估。

发现

Simulation revealed that external changes affect daily processes and the reorganisation of warehouse processes. Given the extensity of resource use, simulation also revealed that process reorganisation should not be a daily undertaking. This is because warehouse processes react in unpredictable and different manners to even the smallest disturbance from the environment. This reaction is not necessarily negative impending more long-term change of warehouse processes.

Originality/value

仓库是一个复杂的自适应系统，需要有限地计算新的优化仓库流程以应对其环境的变化。灵活资源的开发不是遵循确定性的优化程序，而是仓库管理中的关键问题。所应用的仿真模型是通用的，因此适用于其他配送中心，指出如何通过流程环境的变化来监控仓库流程，以先发制人地开发仓库灵活性。