Routing algorithm in warehouse with congestion consideration using an ACO with VLC support

For warehouse management, order picking is one of the most important factors since it is the most time consuming operation contributing to the overall warehouse operational cost. Moreover, if the picking congestion occurs when there are multiple order pickers, the consumed picking time will increase. Therefore, this paper presents the new routing algorithm to reduce the picking time for multiple pickers. The proposed routing algorithm is based on an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) combined with the indoor positioning supported by the Visible Light Communication (VLC) system. To validate the proposed algorithm, the experiment is done in the multiple-block picker-to-part warehouse of the construction material supplier. The experimental results show that the proposed routing algorithm is able to reduce the travelling time leading to reduce the order picking time.