Further development of an innovative article allocation tool for distribution centers in cooperation with Kaufland

The Chair of Industrial Management at TU Dresden is looking forward to continuing its successful collaboration with Kaufland Stiftung & Co KG to develop an innovative item allocation tool. Based on a tool version from 2019, this is now to be adapted both to changing conditions in the supply chain and to further technical developments in warehouse logistics.

The allocation of articles within a distribution center to different storage and picking forms (e.g. normal warehouse vs. automated systems) in combination with the high number of different articles in food retailing represents a highly complex combinatorial decision problem. In order to be able to cope with all the associated restrictions and technical conditions, methods of operation research are transferred directly from research to practical application.

The first step is the methodical extension and evaluation of the previously used solution approach with regard to all new technical and operational framework conditions. In a second step, a suitable user interface will be developed to ensure that the optimization potential is fully exploited in practice.

Further information can be found on the project page.