Selection of manual order picking concepts in a warehouse by means of simulation tools

Along with the lengthening of a product’s path from a producer to a customer, and with speeding up the flow of goods, information and finance in the chain of supply, the places where these flows and streams could be regulated are required. The control over the flow of material and non-material goods and the increase of the supply chain’s effectiveness are possible thanks to the units called logistic hubs, which are mainly represented by a warehouse. In this paper, the authors analyze the influence of the three most popular strategies of warehouse worker’s movements through the warehouse on order picking time. The simulation was carried out on the example of a real distribution warehouse which is owned by one of the leading discount stores networks in Poland. In the research, a special computer software, written for the purpose of the research, was used. This software enables matching the best order picking concept to the conditions of a given enterprise.