In the era of digital commerce, the surge in online shopping and the expectation for rapid delivery have placed unprecedented demands on warehouse operations. The traditional method of order fulfilment, where human order pickers traverse large storage areas to pick items, has become a bottleneck, consuming valuable time and resources. Robotic Mobile Fulfilment Systems (RMFS) offer a solution by using robots to transport storage racks directly to human-operated picking stations, eliminating the need for pickers to travel. This paper introduces combi-stations, a novel type of station that enables both item picking and replenishment, as opposed to traditional separate stations. We analyse the efficiency of combi-stations using queueing theory and demonstrate their potential to streamline warehouse operations. Our results suggest that combi-stations can reduce the number of robots required for stability and significantly reduce order turnover time, indicating a promising direction for future warehouse automation.

翻译：在数字商务时代，线上购物激增与快速配送的期望对仓储运营提出了前所未有的要求。传统订单履行方式中，拣货员需遍历大型存储区拣选商品，这一过程已成为瓶颈，消耗了大量时间与资源。机器人移动拣选系统（RMFS）通过使用机器人将存储货架直接运输至人工操作拣选站，消除了拣货员行走的需求，提供了一种解决方案。本文引入了组合工作站这一新型站点，其支持商品拣选与补货双重功能，有别于传统分离式站点。我们运用排队理论分析了组合工作站的效率，并论证了其简化仓储运营的潜力。研究结果表明，组合工作站能够降低维持系统稳定性所需的机器人数量，并显著缩短订单周转时间，为未来仓储自动化指明了有前景的发展方向。