Warehouse operation management

Motivation. A warehouse team uses a traffic-light model to turn two dashboard percentages—occupancy rate and fill rate—into a status and a response. For this exercise, treat both rates as supplied inputs; you do not need to calculate them.

The model categorizes the warehouse’s status into four levels:

  • Green,
  • Orange,
  • Red, and
  • Black.

Evaluate the rows of Table 1 from top to bottom and use the first matching row. This priority rule resolves cases that satisfy more than one condition. Values exactly equal to 85% occupancy or 30% fill do not exceed those thresholds and are therefore Green unless a higher-priority row matches.

Table 1: Ordered traffic-light rules and responses for supplied warehouse occupancy and fill rates.
Scenario Metrics Action to be taken
Black Occupancy rate > 90% AND Fill rate > 35% Refuse deliveries
Red Occupancy rate > 85% AND Fill rate > 30% Review inbound plans daily and reduce inbound volume if needed
Orange Occupancy rate > 85% OR Fill rate > 30% Check the cause and consider moving or consolidating stock
Green Occupancy rate <= 85% AND Fill rate <= 30% No action needed

Problem. Write an algorithm that takes the supplied occupancy rate (OR) and fill rate (FR) as input and returns the first matching traffic-light color from Table 1.

Examples:

  1. Input: Occupancy Rate: 92%, Fill Rate: 36% Output: Black Explanation: Both the occupancy rate and fill rate exceed the thresholds for the Black scenario, indicating the most critical state.

  2. Input: Occupancy Rate: 87%, Fill Rate: 32% Output: Red Explanation: Both the occupancy rate and fill rate exceed the thresholds for the Red scenario, requiring several corrective actions.

  3. Input: Occupancy Rate: 88%, Fill Rate: 28% Output: Orange Explanation: The occupancy rate exceeds 85%, falling into the Orange category, which triggers preventive measures.

  4. Input: Occupancy Rate: 80%, Fill Rate: 25% Output: Green Explanation: Both the occupancy rate and fill rate are within the acceptable range, indicating normal operations with no need for intervention.

  5. Input: Occupancy Rate: 85%, Fill Rate: 30% Output: Green Explanation: Equal values do not satisfy the strict greater-than tests.