Studying Order Picking in an Operating Automobile Manufacturing Plant

Order picking is the process of collecting items from an assortment in inventory. In previous studies, we focused on carefully-controlled, internally-valid studies comparing the speed and accuracy of various versions of mobile order picking systems. However, such studies lack the ecological validity of testing on a manufacturing line with experienced employees fulfilling actual orders under time and accuracy constraints. In this work we discuss our experiences from planning and conducting a study in a large automobile company.