Simulating Storage Policies for an Automated Grid-Based Warehouse System

Robotic fulfillment systems are becoming commonplace at warehouses across the world. High-density, grid-based storage systems in particular, such as the AutoStore system, are being used in a variety of contexts, but very little literature exists to guide decision makers in picking the right policies for operating such a system. Storage policies can have a large effect on the efficiency and storage capacity of robotic fulfillment systems. We therefore introduce a discrete event simulation for grid-based storage and examine input storage policies under a couple of storage scenarios. Our simulation provides decision makers with an easy way of testing policies before implementing them in a real system, and shows that selecting the correct policy can lead to up to a 7% input performance improvement, and 60% better box utilization.