Warehouse design through dynamic simulation

Intel's new processors in mid-1997 dramatically increased in speed and size over their ancestors. The increased size caused the box volume to increase beyond the capacity of the existing warehouses. New warehouses are under construction, among them an overseas facility. This warehouse is scheduled to be completed soon and will be the first site to implement a new warehouse management system. A simulation model was constructed to identify the labor and equipment required to support warehouse operations. With both the warehouse and warehouse management system still under construction when the simulation analysis was performed, model validation became extremely difficult. Regardless, partial model validation was possible given data from current operations. An in-depth look at how simulation modeling was used to aid in the design of a new warehouse is presented.