ABSTRACT
This work proposes anthropometric-based simulations to assess the ergonomic impacts imposed on workers by the repetitive motion in the Goods to Person (GtP) order picking strategies. Order picking strategies have always played an essential role in improving the efficiency in distribution centers, especially the ones serving e-commerce and online retailers such as Alibaba and Amazon. Strategies such as GtP can minimize human travel time but significantly increase the risk of repetitive motion injuries. GtP pushes each order picker to pick one item within seconds instead of minutes which translates into thousands of items per shift. While traditional approaches depend on human participation, the team proposes a validated human factor simulation to study various picking scenarios with different human statures while observing multiple ergonomics metrics. The outcomes indicate ergonomics pressure on pickers when pushed to perform repetitive motions to fulfill the rushed orders. The outcomes also reveal that workers with different anthropometry exhibit different ergonomics scores. Hence, the approach is suitable for assessing the ergonomics impact on multiple human models in various environments.
