Finance

Supply chain

Business

Operations research

Algorithm

Risk analysis (engineering)

Engineering

Marketing

Build to order

Order (exchange)

Economics

Microeconomics

Order picking

Production (economics)

Order fulfillment

Computer science

Management science

State (computer science)

Warehouse

International Journal of Production Research

Market trends such as globalisation, increasing customer expectations, expensive industrial land and high labour costs cause a need for efficient order picking systems in practice. However, managers often do not implement findings from academic research on order picking planning into practice because researchers hardly account for practical factors (e.g. high-level storage, human factors, pick vehicle properties) or make unrealistic assumptions in their solution algorithms. A state-of-the-art review of the scientific literature on order picking planning (1) identifies and classifies highly influential practical factors, (2) shows the impact of these practical factors on order picking performance, and (3) illustrates how existing order picking planning models should be elaborated to account for practical factors. This study contributes to close the gap between research and practice by guiding future researchers to further increase the practical applicability of their research results.

Practical factors in order picking planning: state-of-the-art classification and review