Dimitris Mourtzis et al. / Procedia CIRP 79 (2019) 574–579
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Fig. 3. New warehouse design.
4.2 Warehouse simulation In our case, in order to as to simulate the warehouse operation and verify the proposed design a simulation tool named Enterprise Dynamics® 10 has been used. The two aforementioned design scenarios (existing and proposed) have been inserted in the simulation tool. The two models have identical modelling resources: i) 53 different products generated from 53 sources, ii) 3 different queues where all products hold before they pass from the palletizing stations, iii) 3 different assemblers which represent the 3 palletizing stations, iv) 2 different kinds of pallets with two different sources, v) 1 queue after each palletizing station where products wait until the forklift comes and dispatches them to the warehouse, vi) 1 forklift for transporting products, vii) The warehouse area where products are stored, viii) 1 queue for each exit where products hold to leave the warehouse and ix) 3 exits. All of them are properly linked and programmed so as to simulate the real industrial environment. The programming language used is 4D-Script. In Figure 4 a 3D screenshot of the simulation model is presented.
Fig.4. 3D representation of the suggested layout in Enterprise Dynamics. 4.3 Augmented Reality application for inventory management Together with the new layout design, an application that will support inventory management and warehouse operators’ guidance to the position of the product is suggested. Its functionalities are presented in Figure 5. The suggested layout facilitates and also necessitates the integration of the developed AR application, as more storage partitions are created so as to smoothen the transition to the new layout for the operators. To digitalise the process of registering input and output of products, QR codes are placed in the warehouse compartments and each pallet or product. With the new QR code-based system, inventory management is simplified and enables constant awareness of the available stock. Using the developed application, the operators can navigate and act more efficiently whenever a request is sent to the warehouse. The application offers three features: view available stock, find a product in the warehouse and report a new entry. In the first option, the operator or the warehouse manager may monitor the available stock. A top-down layout of the warehouse is presented, where a compartment may be selected to see what is stored in it. The two other functionalities aim to
Scan Product QR Code
Scan Shelf QR Code
Fig. 5. Augmented reality-based application for warehouse management support. Find Product AR Guidance
View stock in Warehouse
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