Early identification of bottlenecks in internal warehouse transport are an important aspect of warehouse planning and improvement. SCDA uses computer models to analyze internal traffic flow in warehouses, allowing for improvement of warehouse layouts and forklift traffic planning – quickly, and early on in a project. For this we develop customized simulation models and animations, including heatmap visualizations and animations as well as collision reports and productivity loss estimates.

We develop tailored simulation models from scratch and simulate, measure, and animate bottlenecks in internal warehouse transport

Below animation shows a moving heatmap for 15 min time windows over a simulated work day in a aftermarket spareparts distribution warehouse. Internal transport in the warehouse is facilitated by (up to) 12 (twelve) manually operated forklifts. There are 6 dock doors and storage space is organized in high bay storage racks.

Simulation applications usually provide customized statistics reports, e.g. including results on

• dwell time per interchange
• forklift state time per state (e.g. waiting, moving, blocked, idle)
• position timeline
• speed timeline
• laden and unladen state per timestamp
• etc.

Simulation models allow planners to assess the impact of layout, equipment, capacities, and operational strategies on bottlenecks in internal warehouse transport

A simulation model can e.g. answer the following questions:

• What is the marginal throughput benefit of one additional forklift in the warehouse?
• What is optimal aisle length and width?
• How many dock doors are needed?
• Which dock door arrangement is optimal?
• Should one directional forklift transport be applied?
• What is the optimal aisle and rack configuration?
• What is the optimal amount of forklift operators per work shift?
• What is the required loading/unloading window (time) per truck, per shift or week day?

Other related SCDA articles, services, and content

SCDA develop custom warehouse simulation software and analytics applications from scratch. You can learn more about our services and similar case studies here:

• Link: Development / consulting hours: 10 hr
• Link: Pallet receival simulation (SimPy)
• Link: Shipping warehouse congestion analysis with the SCDA warehouse simulator

Linnart Felkl

Data scientist focusing on simulation, optimization and modeling in R, SQL, VBA and Python