Knowledge based decision support system in the design and control of warehouse operations

Abstract

Following the characteristics of build-to-order supply chain (BOSC) management, the emphasis in warehousing has already shifted from inventory stock control to dynamic and fast response operations. In warehousing, order pick-up is the most labor and capital intensive operation, ranked as the highest priority area for productivity improvement. Nevertheless, decisions on warehouse operations such as the selection of policies and resource allocation on order pick-up activities often rely on the tacit knowledge of the logistics service providers (LSP). Thus, the establishment of a knowledge-based decision support approach to support the decision making processes in warehouse operations has become a much sought research domain. This research paves the way for a novel approach to support decision making processes of policy selection and resource allocation in warehouse operations. The system, termed the Knowledge-based Decision Support System (KDSS), is proposed and constructed to support the decision making processes for the capture of logistics data, logistics information analysis and knowledge manipulation during the design and control of warehouse operations. To validate the feasibility of the proposed system in aiding the decision making processes during the resource allocation and policy selection stage, two case studies have been conducted in GENCO international logistics service company (USA) and in Eastern Terminal Logistics (ETL) freight forwarding company (Hong Kong), using the suggested approach. In both cases, the building of an essential domain into KDSS is critical. It is found that the efficiency of overall warehouse operations in these two companies is greatly improved, implying that KDSS is beneficial to other logistics service companies and industries that contain warehouse operations. In summary, the design and application of knowledge based technology with the decision support system for the design and control of warehouse operations is a novel concept as there are no similar systems reported in the literature or in current business practices. Most importantly, by using the system, both the reliability and productivity in warehouse operations are increased. The system development approach provides a roadmap for academic researchers. This will show the way to future research opportunities for the development of knowledge management technology for use in logistics engineering.