Pre-evaluation of Kaizen Plan Considering Efficiency and Employee Satisfaction by Simulation Using Data Assimilation-Toward Constructing Kaizen Support Framework -

Efficiency of work and employee satisfaction are important issues in distribution warehouses. However, operations, employees and layouts are totally different in each distribution warehouse. So it is necessary to develop the Kaizen Support Framework (KSF) including a simulator using data assimilation for appropriately realizing kaizen by considering such differences between various situations. In this study, we first designed the picking work model based on sensing data as a core part of the KSF, second developed the simulator with the model, and finally evaluated quantitatively zone picking as a kaizen plan by simulation. We confirmed that the kaizen plan is better than the current situation based on single picking in both efficiency and employee satisfaction. The evaluation result suggests the feasibility of supporting the kaizen activity using the simulator in the KSF.