Industrial Logistics Systems Design: A Conceptual and Computational Foundation

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This research project will examine the work of experts as they design industrial facilities, specifically warehouses. The four phases of the research are: observing experts at work and collecting data on their work process and work product; analyzing collected data to develop models of the design process and design decision making; evaluating models and designs through panels of experts; and developing, instantiating, and evaluating a computational architecture and tools to support design decision making. The research approach combines the methods and tools of ethnographic studies, operations research, and information technology for distributed decision making. The successful completion of this research will provide a formal representation of the warehouse design process as practiced by experts, a computational architecture based on the formal representation, and examples of computational tools within the architecture. The research will improve the practice of warehouse design by bringing a consistent, repeatable discipline to warehouse design decision making, thereby enabling the development of commercially viable computational tools. The research will improve teaching by developing a coherent, formal process model, along with industrial case data. The research will impact future research by providing a platform for specific research addressing the optimization of specific warehouse design decisions.