This thesis describes the development and implementation of an Interleaving Warehouse Layout Model. Traditionally, the space allocated to items in a warehouse is determined on the basis of inventory cost considerations. With space requirements taken as given, the actual assignment of items to locations in the warehouse is carried out independently. Assuming an interleaving ("dual command") order picking method and the simple economic order quantity inventory model, it is demonstrated that the quantity and location problems must be considered simultaneously in order to achieve a minimum total cost (order picking cost plus inventory cost). A heuristic optimization technique is developed and applied to a set of realistic, hypothetical problems. This model allows warehouse management to assess the tradeoffs in handling costs among various stock arrangements and reorder quantities to achieve a minimum total cost. / Master of Science

Decision support systems are interactive, computer-based information systems that provide data and analysis tools in order to better assist managers on different levels of organization in the process of decision making. Data warehouses (DWs) have been developed and deployed as an integral part of decision support systems. A data warehouse is a database that allows to store high volume of historical data required for analytical purposes. This data is extracted from operational databases, transformed into a coherent whole, and loaded into a DW during the extraction-transformation-loading (ETL) process. DW data can be dynamically manipulated using on-line analytical processing (OLAP) systems. DW and OLAP systems rely on a multidimensional model that includes measures, dimensions, and hierarchies. Measures are usually numeric additive values that are used for quantitative evaluation of different aspects about organization. Dimensions provide different analysis perspectives while hierarchies allow to analyze measures on different levels of detail. Nevertheless, currently, designers as well as users find difficult to specify multidimensional elements required for analysis. One reason for that is the lack of conceptual models for DW and OLAP system design, which would allow to express data requirements on an abstract level without considering implementation details. Another problem is that many kinds of complex hierarchies arising in real-world situations are not addressed by current DW and OLAP systems. In order to help designers to build conceptual models for decision-support systems and to help users in better understanding the data to be analyzed, in this thesis we propose the MultiDimER model - a conceptual model used for representing multidimensional data for DW and OLAP applications. Our model is mainly based on the existing ER constructs, for example, entity types, attributes, relationship types with their usual semantics, allowing to represent the common concepts of dimensions, hierarchies, and measures. It also includes a conceptual classification of different kinds of hierarchies existing in real-world situations and proposes graphical notations for them. On the other hand, currently users of DW and OLAP systems demand also the inclusion of spatial data, visualization of which allows to reveal patterns that are difficult to discover otherwise. The advantage of using spatial data in the analysis process is widely recognized since it allows to reveal patterns that are difficult to discover otherwise. However, although DWs typically include a spatial or a location dimension, this dimension is usually represented in an alphanumeric format. Furthermore, there is still a lack of a systematic study that analyze the inclusion as well as the management of hierarchies and measures that are represented using spatial data. With the aim of satisfying the growing requirements of decision-making users, we extend the MultiDimER model by allowing to include spatial data in the different elements composing the multidimensional model. The novelty of our contribution lays in the fact that a multidimensional model is seldom used for representing spatial data. To succeed with our proposal, we applied the research achievements in the field of spatial databases to the specific features of a multidimensional model. The spatial extension of a multidimensional model raises several issues, to which we refer in this thesis, such as the influence of different topological relationships between spatial objects forming a hierarchy on the procedures required for measure aggregations, aggregations of spatial measures, the inclusion of spatial measures without the presence of spatial dimensions, among others. Moreover, one of the important characteristics of multidimensional models is the presence of a time dimension for keeping track of changes in measures. However, this dimension cannot be used to model changes in other dimensions. Therefore, usual multidimensional models are not symmetric in the way of representing changes for measures and dimensions. Further, there is still a lack of analysis indicating which concepts already developed for providing temporal support in conventional databases can be applied and be useful for different elements composing a multidimensional model. In order to handle in a similar manner temporal changes to all elements of a multidimensional model, we introduce a temporal extension for the MultiDimER model. This extension is based on the research in the area of temporal databases, which have been successfully used for modeling time-varying information for several decades. We propose the inclusion of different temporal types, such as valid and transaction time, which are obtained from source systems, in addition to the DW loading time generated in DWs. We use this temporal support for a conceptual representation of time-varying dimensions, hierarchies, and measures. We also refer to specific constraints that should be imposed on time-varying hierarchies and to the problem of handling multiple time granularities between source systems and DWs. Furthermore, the design of DWs is not an easy task. It requires to consider all phases from the requirements specification to the final implementation including the ETL process. It should also take into account that the inclusion of different data items in a DW depends on both, users' needs and data availability in source systems. However, currently, designers must rely on their experience due to the lack of a methodological framework that considers above-mentioned aspects. In order to assist developers during the DW design process, we propose a methodology for the design of conventional, spatial, and temporal DWs. We refer to different phases, such as requirements specification, conceptual, logical, and physical modeling. We include three different methods for requirements specification depending on whether users, operational data sources, or both are the driving force in the process of requirement gathering. We show how each method leads to the creation of a conceptual multidimensional model. We also present logical and physical design phases that refer to DW structures and the ETL process. To ensure the correctness of the proposed conceptual models, i.e., with conventional data, with the spatial data, and with time-varying data, we formally define them providing their syntax and semantics. With the aim of assessing the usability of our conceptual model including representation of different kinds of hierarchies as well as spatial and temporal support, we present real-world examples. Pursuing the goal that the proposed conceptual solutions can be implemented, we include their logical representations using relational and object-relational databases.

The literature identifies perceptions of data quality as a key factor influencing a wide range of attitudes and behaviors related to data in organizational settings (e.g. decision confidence). In particular, there is an overwhelming consensus that effective customer relationship management, CRM, depends on the quality of customer data. Data warehouses, if properly implemented, enable data integration which is a key attribute of data quality. The literature highlights the relevance of formulating problem statements because this will determine the course of action. CRM managers formulate problem statements through a cognitive process known as enactment. The literature on data quality is very fragmented. It posits that this construct is of a high order nature (it is dimensional), it is contextual and situational, and it is closely linked to a utilitarian value. This study addresses all these disperse views of the nature of data quality from a holistic perspective. Social cognitive theory, SCT, is the backbone for studying data quality in terms of information search behavior and enhancements in formulating problem statements. The main objective of this study is to explore the nature of a data warehouse's customer relationship data quality in situations where there is a need for understanding a customer relationship problem. The research question is What are the inner and inter construct associations of the quality of data warehouse customer relationship data for problem enactment? To reach this objective, a positivistic approach was adopted complemented with qualitative interventions along the research process. Observations were gathered with a survey. Scales were adjusted using a construct-based approach. Research findings confirm that data quality is a high order construct with a contextual dimension and a situational dimension. Problem sense making enhancements is a dependent variable of data quality in a confirmed positive association between both constructs. Problem sense making enhancements is also a high order construct with a mastering experience dimension and a self-efficacy dimension. Behavioral patterns for information search mode (scanning mode orientation vs. focus mode orientation) and for information search heuristic (template heuristic orientation vs. trial-and-error heuristic orientation) have been identified. Focus is the predominant information search mode orientation and template is the predominant information search heuristic orientation. Overall, the research findings support the associations advocated by SCT. The self-efficacy dimension in problem sense making enhancements is a discriminant for information search mode orientation (focus mode orientation vs. scanning mode orientation). The contextual dimension in data quality (i.e. data task utility) is a discriminant for information search heuristic (template heuristic orientation vs. trial-and-error heuristic orientation). A data quality cognitive metamodel and a data quality for problem enactment model are suggested for research in the areas of data quality, information search behavior, and cognitive enhancements.

The purpose of this study is to examine single facility warehouse location models. The need for such a study is primarily two-fold. First, single facility warehouse location models which determine an alleged optimum location through a coordinate system have been developed. Secondly, the need for additional research is necessary because the approaches involving linear programming, simulation, or heuristic programming do not by definition generate an optimal location.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Supervised by Gary Hack. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-200). / This work seeks to create an approach to the incremental development of a warehouse district in the City of Boston. The focus of the thesis is on the generation of rules and an implementation process that will organize the interface between the public and private realms. This is achieved through an archaeology of the existing site form, the analysis of disassembled elements that suggest the shape of contextual patterns, and the process for assembling the transformation from a warehousing district to a mixed- use community. The organization of the physical fabric lends itself to a variety of opportunities as well as describes the physical limitations of change. The fit between the physical parameters and the potential program for recycling determines the dynamics of the public/ private interface. By designing and constructing the public network, the impact of unknown new uses can be predetermined and controlled. The evolution of the street as structure and the sequencing of pedestrian path as the primary movement system becomes the progenerator of new tenancies. The viability of the district is constructed by designing supportive networks of movement, security, communication and territory. The inter-locking of the wide range of uses forms an urban environment unique in its place. The intention is to provide a constructive process which contains the method of assembly for the interface of public and private, site and surroundings. The goal is to generate public place, while not constraining the program which remains open-ended. The process is as significant as the design itself; in that the development of Fort Point Channel and the warehouse district is a strategy problem where the actualization of the product is continuous and without end. The process is the framework for sustaining the goals, and Street as Structure is the working method that implements those goals. / by Darleen D. Powers. / M.Arch.

Atualmente, na atividade de armazenagem, os custos possuem grande importância no que se refere a custos, devido ao alto giro de mercadorias nos armazéns, que resulta em grandes quantidades de pedidos, e por terem os pedidos uma característica, que vem crescendo com grande ênfase nos últimos anos, devido a estabilização econômica brasileira, de serem pedidos com baixa quantidade de produtos, ou seja, uma pulverização dos pedidos, que há alguns anos atrás se mostrava de maneira completamente diferente, com pequenas quantidades de pedidos, mas com grandes quantidades de produtos. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo do uso da formulação de custeio de armazaenagem, substituindo o sistema tradicional chamado de \"custeio por absorção\", pela utilização do sistema ABC demonstrando maneiras eficazes em suas alocações de custos, a produtos e clientes, demonstrando sua superioridade em informações do processo, onde os custos são apurados de acordo com atividades consumidas por produtos ou clientes. Foi realizado um estudo comparativo em duas empresas, de pequeno e médio porte, onde foi possível analisar aspectos entre os dois sistemas de custeio, assim possibilitando uma melhor visão dos sistemas e uma tomada de custeio, assim o sistema ABC demostra superioridade em relação ao sistema de custeio por absorção, em aspectos como informações das atividades e dos custos. Deste modo, o sistema ABC aplicado em armazenagem mostra-se importante, ao demonstrar todas as posições de custo do sistema, proporcionado assim um ganho no posicionamento em relação a tomada de decisão, pelo fato de o sistema de absorção ser prejudicado pela falta de informações, tornando a administração lenta e com posicionamentos incorretos, prejudicando o bom desenvolvimento empresarial em um ambiente totalmente globalizado e competitivo, deixando a organização a margem de erros em suas tomadas de decisões. / Nowadays, in the activity of warehousing, the costs have great importance refering to the matter-costs due to the high turn of products in the warehouses, which results in great quantities of orders, and because the orders have a characteristic that is growing with emphasis in the last years due to an economical stabilization in Brazil, the one of being orders of few products, in other words, a pulverization orders, that some years ago showed a completeey different situation, a small quantity of orders, brit with a great quantity of products. This work presents a study use to a formulation of a warehouse cost, substituting the traditional system called \"Absorption cost\", by using the ABC system, demonstrating efficient ways in its cost directions, to products and costumers, demonstrating its superiority in the information about the process, where the costs are checked according to the activities consumed by products or costumers. In a comparative study accomplished between two companies-one large and the other small, it was possible to analize the aspects between the two cost systems, facilitating a better view the systems, and an accurate decision-making, where the ABC system shows superiority in relation to the \"Absorption cost\" system in some aspects as information about the activities and costs. Thus, the ABC system applied in warehousing shows great importance when demonstrates all the cost positions of the system, providing, then, a profit in the positioning in relation to the decision-making, because of the fact of the Absorption System being damaged by the lack of information, making the administration slow and with incorrect positioning, damaging the good enterprising development in totally globalized and competitive environment, leaving the organization exposed to errors in its decision-making.

Atualmente, na atividade de armazenagem, os custos possuem grande importância no que se refere a custos, devido ao alto giro de mercadorias nos armazéns, que resulta em grandes quantidades de pedidos, e por terem os pedidos uma característica, que vem crescendo com grande ênfase nos últimos anos, devido a estabilização econômica brasileira, de serem pedidos com baixa quantidade de produtos, ou seja, uma pulverização dos pedidos, que há alguns anos atrás se mostrava de maneira completamente diferente, com pequenas quantidades de pedidos, mas com grandes quantidades de produtos. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo do uso da formulação de custeio de armazaenagem, substituindo o sistema tradicional chamado de \"custeio por absorção\", pela utilização do sistema ABC demonstrando maneiras eficazes em suas alocações de custos, a produtos e clientes, demonstrando sua superioridade em informações do processo, onde os custos são apurados de acordo com atividades consumidas por produtos ou clientes. Foi realizado um estudo comparativo em duas empresas, de pequeno e médio porte, onde foi possível analisar aspectos entre os dois sistemas de custeio, assim possibilitando uma melhor visão dos sistemas e uma tomada de custeio, assim o sistema ABC demostra superioridade em relação ao sistema de custeio por absorção, em aspectos como informações das atividades e dos custos. Deste modo, o sistema ABC aplicado em armazenagem mostra-se importante, ao demonstrar todas as posições de custo do sistema, proporcionado assim um ganho no posicionamento em relação a tomada de decisão, pelo fato de o sistema de absorção ser prejudicado pela falta de informações, tornando a administração lenta e com posicionamentos incorretos, prejudicando o bom desenvolvimento empresarial em um ambiente totalmente globalizado e competitivo, deixando a organização a margem de erros em suas tomadas de decisões. / Nowadays, in the activity of warehousing, the costs have great importance refering to the matter-costs due to the high turn of products in the warehouses, which results in great quantities of orders, and because the orders have a characteristic that is growing with emphasis in the last years due to an economical stabilization in Brazil, the one of being orders of few products, in other words, a pulverization orders, that some years ago showed a completeey different situation, a small quantity of orders, brit with a great quantity of products. This work presents a study use to a formulation of a warehouse cost, substituting the traditional system called \"Absorption cost\", by using the ABC system, demonstrating efficient ways in its cost directions, to products and costumers, demonstrating its superiority in the information about the process, where the costs are checked according to the activities consumed by products or costumers. In a comparative study accomplished between two companies-one large and the other small, it was possible to analize the aspects between the two cost systems, facilitating a better view the systems, and an accurate decision-making, where the ABC system shows superiority in relation to the \"Absorption cost\" system in some aspects as information about the activities and costs. Thus, the ABC system applied in warehousing shows great importance when demonstrates all the cost positions of the system, providing, then, a profit in the positioning in relation to the decision-making, because of the fact of the Absorption System being damaged by the lack of information, making the administration slow and with incorrect positioning, damaging the good enterprising development in totally globalized and competitive environment, leaving the organization exposed to errors in its decision-making.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 184-192)

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-90).

Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / McGinnis, Leon - Committee Chair, Griffin, Paul - Committee Member, Hackman, Steve - Committee Member, Parsons, Len - Committee Member, Sharp, Gunter - Committee Member. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.