| Abstract: | 近年來，由於網路的普及，電子商務這種結合物流、金流與資訊流的商業交易模式也愈來愈普遍，我們也看到許多電子商務的成功與失敗的案例。研究指出電子商務的成功因素有許多，其中之一就是完善的物流服務。在早期，網路電商能以省下實體店面成本為其競爭優勢，時至今日，網購環境已臻成熟，消費者對虛擬通路所能提供物流服務的滿意度終將影響其營運績效。換言之，沒有良好的物流服務，網路電商是無法獲得消費者的肯定的。全球網路電商龍頭亞馬遜深知此道理，在2014年為了迎接年底的銷售旺季，開始啟用該公司的第八代物流中心。亞馬遜大舉部署了Kiva機器人來改善揀貨作業效率，以進一步節省人力與快速出貨。Kiva揀貨系統大幅顛覆傳統的揀貨方式，在傳統的揀貨系統，貨架是固定的，揀貨人員必須行至貨架進行揀貨；但是在Kiva揀貨系統，貨架則是可以移動的，Kiva機器人載貨架至揀貨人員面前來進行揀貨。自從亞馬遜使用Kiva揀貨系統後，大陸也有幾家公司開始模仿且陸續開發出類似的系統，並成功地被幾家著名網路電商所使用。另外，因Kiva揀貨系統的成功，亞馬遜也快速增加其Kiva機器人數量。如同製造業的「工業4.0智慧自動化製造」，利用Kiva機器人於揀貨自動化將是物流業邁向「物流業4.0智慧自動化物流」的重要里程碑。但是，Kiva揀貨系統的成功不是僅仰賴硬體設備的創新，同樣重要的是其系統內的作業管理、決策與控制問題的解決，因為這些問題的解決會影響系統的表現。本研究的目的是希望探討類Kiva揀貨系統，來瞭解它會有哪些作業管理、決策與控制問題；然後針對這些問題加以研究，並提出解決方法；最後，本研究將建立模擬模式來測試與比較所發展的方法。本研究規劃以三年的時間來針對類Kiva揀貨系統之可能的作業管理、決策與控制問題進行探討，並發展解決方法。本研究希望研究成果有實質的應用價值，因此，在方法發展上，本研究會重視方法於實際環境的可行性與有效性。雖然，目前國內廠商尚未有使用或是開發出類Kiva揀貨系統的產品，但是本研究相信類Kiva揀貨系統將會是物流倉庫智慧自動化的未來主流之一。因此，本研究相信本研究計畫成果將能對國內廠商，未來在使用或是開發類Kiva揀貨系統的產品上有所助益。 ;In recent years, due to the popularization of the Internet, e-commerce has become more and more popular. We have seen many successful and failed e-commerce cases. Research shows that e-commerce has many success factors and good logistics service is one of them. In the early days, e-commerce companies could save on brick and mortar store costs as their competitive advantages. Today, as e-commerce becoming more mature, the performance of e-commerce companies has also relied much on the quality of their logistics service. In other words, e-commerce companies cannot succeed without providing good logistics service to their customers. Amazon, the global e-commerce leader, knows this well. In 2014, it unveiled its eighth-generation logistics center which used Kiva robots to improve order-picking operations to meet the sales season at the end of that year. Kiva picking systems drastically change the traditional picking method. In the traditional picking system, the shelves are fixed and pickers approach the shelves for picking. However, in a Kiva picking system, shelves are removable. Kiva robots carry shelves to pickers for picking. Since the Kiva picking system was used by Amazon, several companies in China began to imitate and gradually develop similar systems that have been successfully used by several well-known Chinese e-retailers. Due to the success of its Kiva picking systems, Amazon has significantly increased the number of Kiva robots. Similar to the “Industry 4.0’s intelligent and automated manufacturing” in the manufacturing industry, using Kiva robots for picking operations will be an important milestone for the logistics industry toward the "Logistics 4.0’s intelligent and automated logistics center." However, the success of Kiva picking systems is not solely due to the innovation of hardware devices, equally important are the solutions to operations management, decision-making and control problems within the system, as the resolution of these problems greatly affect the system’s performance. The purpose of this study is to explore a Kiva-like picking system to understand what operations management, decision-making and control problems exist in the system; then we study these problems and propose solutions for them; and finally we build simulation models and conduct simulation experiments to compare the proposed solutions. This study plans to explore possible operations management, decision-making and control problems for a Kiva-like picking system and proposed solutions for them in three years. This study hopes that the research results will have substantive applicability, thus when developing methods, this study will pay attention to the feasibility and effectiveness of methods in the actual environment. Although, at present, domestic companies have not yet used or developed any Kiva-like picking systems, it is believed that Kiva-like picking systems will be one of the future mainstreams of intelligent and automated logistics centers. It is also believed the results of this research project will benefit domestic companies in their future adoption or development of Kiva-like picking systems. |
