A dedicated storage system is to be used in a facility you have been tasked to design. Management would like to position the goods in the dedicated storage area so that the costs of material handling are minimized. It has already been determined that accessibility is a high priority so single deep racks will be used. Management has studied similar facilities and provided the following data regarding the products being offered. Two racks facing each other are to be used sized at 3 slots x 3 slots with a 10’ aisle in between (see figure below). In addition, product 3 must be stored in the first row of slots.
a) Write the MIP/Binary Program optimization model (objective function, constraints, and decisions variables)
b) Using excel solver, solve the optimization model and determine where the products should be stored to minimize cost/travel.