Regardless of the horizontal or vertical shelf layout, the shelf length direction is perpendicular to the main road direction. Our common warehouse layout is generally like this. Why is there such unity? First of all, let's analyze the design of e-commerce warehouse, which is based on the design of traditional warehouse. For traditional warehouses, as long as your warehouse is not round, the shelves or stacking positions of the warehouse are vertical or parallel to the wall, so as to maximize the use of space. When your shelf or crib has an angle with the wall, it will inevitably cause a waste of plane space, as shown in the following figure:
Therefore, in the traditional warehouse layout, in order to maximize the use of warehouse space, the edges of shelves or stacks are vertical or parallel to the wall.
But is it absolutely correct or the best choice to apply this consideration to the warehouse layout of e-commerce That's what I thought before, because everyone is doing it. I didn't feel ashamed until Big Fat and Little Fat showed me an article about shelf design in foreign warehouses. I didn't think about the source of my habit and the logic at that time, so I blinded my vision and couldn't acquire new knowledge.
The layout of the two warehouses mentioned in the article recommended by the author is as follows:
Comparing the following two layout methods, the author of that foreign article tested that V-shaped shelf layout 1 improved efficiency 1 1% above, and V-shaped shelf layout 2 improved efficiency by more than 23%.
So, how does the difference between the improvement of efficiency and the improvement of efficiency come from? I tried to explain this later. At the same time, I hope that friends who are good at mathematics can explain it from the perspective of function theory.
Why is there such an adjustment in the layout of traditional warehouses? Personally, I think that the warehouse layout of e-commerce is a main factor to consider the efficiency of picking. Because the delivery frequency of traditional warehouses is not high, the picking time and picking efficiency are not too high; However, the order processing characteristics of e-commerce determine its high requirements for improving picking efficiency. In the case of little loss in the utilization rate of warehouse area, it will be a meaningful work to adjust the shelf layout of warehouse and improve the picking efficiency.
Of course, at present, I haven't found the logical or theoretical support for the efficiency change. Warehouse layout, even the distribution rules of goods SKU, the distribution of goods in orders and other details will have an impact on picking efficiency.
In addition, it is difficult to set the optimal picking route for each warehouse shelf layout.