SYNERGY BETWEEN SHUTTLES AND STACKER CRANES IN DYNAMIC HYBRID PALLET WAREHOUSES: CONTROL STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Abstract

This article considers two dynamic hybrid pallet warehouses obtained hybridizing a shuttle-based warehouse with stacker cranes. We begin by describing their design and characteristics. Afterwards, we explain the control algorithms that were developed for them. Next, we illustrate the modalities of the discrete event simulation study we ran to investigate their performance. In conclusion, we discuss the results in terms of throughput of the simulation study to individuate the field of application for the two layouts of dynamic hybrid pallet warehouses in comparison to stacker crane-based and shuttle-based warehouses.