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The purpose of this paper is to share the Norwegian Repository Library (RL)’s experiences with an automatic storage for interlibrary lending (ILL).

This paper describes how the RL uses the automatic storage to deliver ILL services to Norwegian libraries. Chaos storage is the main principle for storage.

Using automatic storage for ILL is efficient, cost-effective and safe.

The RL has used automatic storage since 2003, and it is one of a few libraries using this technology.

Aims to outline the Norwegian National Library (NL)'s process of implementing a new organisational structure.

Addresses the new model of the NL, the historical background that initiated the process and then focuses on the Repository Library from its establishment until present. Discusses some of the opportunities for the Repository Library and outlines the initial goals of the institution: to provide new legal deposited documents to the inter‐lending system and to store low demand and surplus documents from other libraries in Norway, thus freeing space.

The influx of material has been greater than expected and storing problems occurred. Equipping with moving shelves did not give enough space and eventually an automatic storage system was built and started operations in summer 2003.

In the digital area, the NL has developed advanced storage capacity. So far the repository has not used digital resources, but in the future it will offer this to its clients. This will include both documents of digital origin, and traditional documents transferred to digital format.

Class‐based storage (CBS) partitions stock‐keeping units (SKUs) into storage classes by demand and randomly assigns storage locations within each storage class area. This study compares the performance implications of CBS to both random and volume‐based storage (VBS) for a manual order picking warehouse. In addition, this study considers the effect of the number of storage classes, the partition of storage classes, and the storage implementation strategy applied in the warehouse. The simulation results show that CBS provides savings in picker travel over random storage and offers performance that approaches VBS. Other operational issues having an impact on warehouse performance are examined. The results offer managers insight for improving distribution center operations.

This paper aims to develop an approach to design a warehouse that uses class-based storage policy in a way that minimizes both space cost and material handling cost.

The authors argue for and develop an optimization model for joint determination of lane depth, lateral width and product partitions for minimizing the sum of handling and space costs. In doing so, the assumption of perfect sharing is also relaxed. Using computational experiments, the authors characterize the operating conditions based on pick density and cost ratio. The authors further outline an approach to decide the conditions under which it is advantageous to implement multiple classes.

More classes are preferred when both the pick density and cost ratio are higher and vice versa. Factors such as demand skewness, lane depth and stacking height affect the space-sharing dynamics.

The paper gives the practical insights on when the conditions under which it is advisable to partition a warehouse into a certain number of classes instead of maintaining and when to maintain as a single-class block. It also gives a method to estimate the space-sharing factor, given a combination of operating parameters.

Very few studies have seen class-based storage policy in the context of block stacked warehouse layout. Further, block stacking designs have mostly been approached with the objective of minimizing just the space cost. This study contributes to the literature by developing an integrated model, which has the practical utility.

If you have used a personal computer to try to retrieve information from the Internet, you know that the process can be slow and frustrating. One of the main reasons for delay is often slow communications between your computer and the Internet. The typical Internet‐connected computer uses a modem that runs at 9.6, 14.4 or 28.8 kilobits per second (kbps) to send and receive information over an ordinary telephone line. A slow modem creates an information bottleneck.

The concept of flexibility in computer integrated manufacturing is introduced. A production control hierarchy is developed as an evolutionary method towards computer integrated flexible manufacturing (CIFM). A strategically comprehensive implementation model is presented. The components of CIFM are identified, defined and their relationships examined. Potential benefits from incorporating flexibility and integration are indicated.

If you think a modem that can handle 2400 bits per second (bps) is an unnecessary luxury, it is time to take another look at what these units offer.

We describe an automatic classroom capture system that detects and records significant (stable) points in lectures by sampling and analyzing a sequence of screen capture frames from a PC used for presentations, application demonstrations, etc. The system uses visual inspection techniques to scan the screen capture stream to identify points to store. Unlike systems that only detect and store slide presentation transitions, this system detects and stores significant frames in any style of computer‐based lecture using any program. The system is transparent to the lecturer and requires no software or training. It has been tested extensively on lectures with multiple applications and pen‐based annotations and has successfully identified “significant” frames (frames that represent stable events such as a new slide, bullet, figure, inked comment, drawing, code entry, application entry etc.). The system can analyze over 20000 frames and typically identifies and stores about 100 significant frames within minutes of the end of a lecture. A time stamp for each saved frame is recorded and will in the future be used to compile these frames into a jMANIC multimedia record of the class.

Cross-docking is a supply chain distribution and logistics strategy for which less-than-truckload shipments are consolidated into full-truckload shipments. Goods are stored up to a maximum of 24 hours in a cross-docking terminal. In this chapter, we build on the literature review by Ladier and Alpan (2016), who reviewed cross-docking research and conducted interviews with cross-docking managers to find research gaps and provide recommendations for future research. We conduct a systematic literature review, following the framework by Ladier and Alpan (2016), on cross-docking literature from 2015 up to 2020. We focus on papers that consider the intersection of research and industry, e.g., case studies or studies presenting real-world data. We investigate whether the research has changed according to the recommendations of Ladier and Alpan (2016). Additionally, we examine the adoption of Industry 4.0 practices in cross-docking research, e.g., related to features of the physical internet, the Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems in cross-docking methodologies or case studies. We conclude that only small adaptations have been done based on the recommendations of Ladier and Alpan (2016), but we see growing attention for Industry 4.0 concepts in cross-docking, especially for physical internet hubs.

To develop a decision support system (DSS) and improved management criteria for operating dispenser‐based single‐piece automatic order picking systems (AOPS) in distribution centers, able to reduce the need for manual decision making based on personal experience or subjective judgement.

Simulation was utilized to analyze the relationships between stochastic demand, setup parameters and performances of an AOPS. A set of rules was then defined to cost‐effectively select the values of setup parameters. A DSS was built incorporating the heuristic rules to dynamically update the equipment setup.

Manual management of an AOPS can be poorly efficient even if largely practiced. Significant economic benefits may result from rule‐based equipment setup instead of the traditional manual decision approach. This was verified resorting to a case study referring to the distribution center of a leading pharmaceuticals distributor in Italy. Major performances improvements resulted regarding manual operation by an experienced logistic manager, including a 40 per cent reduction of the cost per picked order line.

The proposed DSS is able to monitor the system behaviour over a specified time window and automatically set the values of the state variables for the next period. It is able to automatically define the set of items to be allocated on to the machine, to select the number of storage locations allocated to each item and set reorder levels and maximum picking quantities for each item, thus greatly simplifying the task of the logistic manager. Utilization of this DSS enables one to maintain a high level of picking automation efficiency while drastically cutting the required support personnel, thus significantly improving profit margins of high‐volume high‐rotation distribution centers.

The paper addresses, with original methodology, a practically relevant issue which is neglected in the literature. The paper is aimed at distribution centers managers seeking to improve the performances of AOPS and reduce their operating costs.