MHE FLEXI NARROW AISLE

1966

European Journal of Operational Research, 2014

Space required for the order picking area and labor required to perform the picking activity are two significant costs for a distribution center (DC). Traditionally, DCs employ either entirely wide or entirely narrow aisles in their picking systems. Wide aisles allow pickers to pass each other, which reduces blocking, and requires fewer pickers than their narrow-aisle counterpart for the same throughput. However, the amount of space required for wide-aisle configurations is high. Narrow aisles utilize less space than wide aisles, but are less efficient because of the increased likelihood of congestion experienced by pickers. We propose a variation to the traditional orthogonal aisle designs where both wide and narrow aisles are mixed within the configuration, with a view that mixed-width aisles may provide a compromise between space and labor. To analyze these new mixed-width aisle configurations, we develop analytical models for space and travel time considering randomized storage and traversal routing policies. Through a cost-based optimization model, we identify system parameters for which mixed-width aisle configurations are optimal. Experimental results indicate that annual cost savings of up to $48,000 can be realized over systems with pure wide or narrow aisle configurations.

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2019

This paper aims to empirically establish the effectiveness of a supermarket layout with a middle aisle splitting all other aisles, compared to a 'traditional' layout (without a middle aisle). Two supermarkets in Australia were matched by size, turnover, population/location, and general layout, except that Store 2 had a middle aisle. The research aims to: (1) explore the shopper traffic entering and existing the middle aisle, and interaction with endcap promotions (which have effectively been doubled by the creation of the middle aisle in Store 2), and (2) compare the two stores based on basket size (in items and dollars) and trip duration. These are typical supermarket metrics, which might differ due to increased opportunities for impulse purchases from the extra endcap displays in the middle aisle. Despite the middle aisle, results show that all performance metrics are almost identical between the two stores on the overall level. However, the store containing the middle aisle sees a higher proportion of trips for under 15 items. Overall use of promotional ends of aisles is the same across both stores, meaning that the use of each endcap is effectively halved. This means that the presence of a middle aisle does not bring any additional value in terms of making the store easier or quicker to navigate. It may provide additional benefits to retailers in terms of giving more promotional space to manufacturers, at the expense of making each endcap half as likely to generate interest. Our additional analysis of the traffic flow near the endcaps suggests that, in most occasions, shoppers pass through the aisle as if there was no break. These results are useful insights to retailers considering remodeling an existing store and manufactures buying endcap space in a store with a middle aisle.

The structural components of an aircraft consist mainly of thin plates stiffened by arrangements of ribs and stringers. Thin walled structure is a structure whose thickness is small compared to its other dimensions but which is capable of resisting bending in addition to membrane forces. Which is basic part of an aircraft structure, Thin plates (or thin sections or thin walled structures) under relatively small compressive loads are prone to buckle and so must be stiffened to prevent this. The determination of buckling loads for thin plates in isolation is relatively straight forward but when stiffened by ribs and stringers, the problem becomes complex and frequently relies on an empirical solution. The buckling of the thin plates is a phenomenon which could lead to destabilizing and failure of the aircraft structure; in this paper it is considered C cross section with variable geometry and length. The critical buckling loads have been studied for several combinations of the geometry parameters of the beam with the help of ANSYS and drown the result plots Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the cross section of the lipped channel beam with different lip lengths has been considered in the present work

12th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference and 14th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference, 2012

Short range air traffic is dominated by single aisle aircraft. The average seat count of delivered single aisles has grown considerably. Single aisles are handicapped by lengthy boarding and deboarding times. Aircraft with twin aisle cabin layout may alleviate the boarding problem. But those aircraft may suffer from increased cost of operation. This paper studies how much better twin aisles fare in turnaround operations and how much more they cost to operate. These figures are analyzed for a selection of capacities and mission ranges in order to analyze where twin aisles offer benefits. The general finding is that twin aisles are more suitable above 240 seats capacity, but may offer superior economics even for lower capacities at short distances.

Engineering and Management Innovation, 2007

Order picking is typically the most costly operation in a warehouse, and traveling is typically the most time-consuming task within order picking. In this study, we focus on the layout design for a rectangular warehouse, a warehouse with parallel storage blocks with main aisles separating them. We specifically analyze the impact of adding cross aisles that cut storage blocks perpendicularly, which can reduce travel times during order picking by introducing flexibility in going from one main aisle to the next. We consider two types of cross aisles, those that are equally spaced (Case 1) and those that are unequally spaced (Case 2), which respectively have equal and unequal distances among them. For Case 2, we extend an earlier model and present a heuristic algorithm for finding the best distances among cross aisles. We carry out extensive computational experiments for a variety of warehouse designs. Our findings suggest that warehouse planners can obtain great traveltime savings by establishing equally spaced cross aisles, but little additional savings in unequally spaced cross aisles. We present a look-up table that provides the best number of equally spaced cross aisles when the number of cross aisles (N) and the length of the warehouse (T) are given. Finally, when the values of N and T are not known, we suggest establishing three cross aisles in a warehouse.