202400647 5 ECTS MSc IEM

Warehousing 2026

MSc Industrial Engineering and Management | Course introduction

Read the warehouse, test interventions, and explain the trade-offs

Breno Alves Beirigo

Course instructor

Industrial Engineering and Business Information Systems University of Twente Enschede, Netherlands

Date

August 31, 2026

Course structure, learning sequence, assignments, assessment, and guest lectures.

Syllabus Course Website

Course architecture

01

What you will learn

01 Read the warehouse

Trace the mission, flows, workload, service, and constraints.

02 Design an alternative

Connect network, storage, layout, picking, and automation decisions.

03 Assess the trade-offs

Compare storage, layout, and picking interventions with reproducible evidence.

The course follows one question: How do activity, storage, layout, and picking decisions affect performance in a real warehouse?

Introduce the course as a connected design problem rather than a set of independent techniques. Students should see every model as evidence for a warehouse decision.

Course dates and topics

Week 36
Aug 31–Sep 6Warehouse Operations and Performance Diagnosis

Week 37
Sep 7–13Distribution Network Design and Warehouse Location–Allocation

Week 38
Sep 14–20Storage Systems, Policies, and Storage Location Assignment

Week 39
Sep 21–27Storage Space Requirements, Forward–Reserve Allocation, and Replenishment

Week 40
Sep 28–Oct 4Warehouse Sizing, Layout, and Material-Handling System Design

Week 41
Oct 5–11Order-Picking System Design and Control

Week 42
Oct 12–18Robotized and Automated Warehouse Systems

Week 43
Oct 19–25Integrated Warehouse Design and Performance Evaluation

Guest: 9 Sep | Guest replacing Monday: 12 Oct | Exam: 26 Oct, 13:45-16:45

The sequence adds one decision layer each week to the same warehouse design argument. Point out the two guest dates and the exam date before moving to the weekly rhythm.

How each week works

01
Monday Lecture

Build the week's decision map and work through selected evidence.

02
Your time Self-study

Complete the guided slide trail and prepare the next assignment milestone.

03
Apply Tutorial or guest session

Resolve assumptions, test the model, and connect it to practice.

Lecture → self-study → application → next assignment milestone

There is no required preparation before the Monday lecture. Self-study follows the lecture and prepares students for the tutorial, guest session, or assignment milestone.

Assignments and assessment

02

Five milestones, one real warehouse

Teams of two build one evidence chain. Each milestone has its own 10-point rubric, applied to the final management report.

Milestone 1 · 10 points · Peer-reviewed Diagnosis and activity profiling

Establish the operational baseline from the real warehouse data.

Milestone 2 · 10 points Conceptual twin and product assignment

Represent the operation and design the product-assignment intervention.

Milestone 3 · 10 points Layout design

Structure and evaluate a feasible layout intervention in the real warehouse.

Milestone 4 · 10 points Picking design

Design and evaluate picking interventions in the real warehouse.

Milestone 5 · 10 points Intervention trade-off analysis

Compare the interventions and formulate the management implications.

The five rubrics contribute 10 raw points each, for 50 coursework points. Milestone 1 is peer-reviewed before final submission; peers provide formative feedback, while the teaching team applies the official rubric to the revised evidence in the final report. Milestones 2, 3, and 4 investigate product assignment, layout, and picking interventions. Milestone 5 makes the cross-intervention trade-offs explicit.

One final assessed package

Management report Maximum 12 pages

Five concise parts, each assessed with its own 10-point rubric.

Reproducible evidence Plug-and-play code

One documented execution path reproduces the submitted results.

Individual verification Oral defence

Explain and defend the complete report, assumptions, results, and code.

Point allocation: five milestone rubrics × 10 points = 50 coursework points. The oral defence verifies individual ownership; it is not a sixth point-bearing rubric.

The report and code form one assessed evidence package. “Plug-and-play” means the teaching team can reproduce the submitted results through one documented execution path without editing the analysis. The individual defence tests whether each team member understands the complete submission. Because the five milestone rubrics already allocate all 50 coursework points, the defence does not add a separate score.

Warehouse design decisions interact

Changing one design area can change the performance of the others.

Figure 1: The warehouse’s network role, demand, service requirements, and capacity constraints define its operating context. The five design areas are interdependent, and performance evaluation guides revision (Gu et al. 2010).

How the course is assessed

50% Five milestones

Five rubrics × 10 points

Final report + code
Individual oral defence

50% Final exam

Closed-book multiple-choice exam

50 raw points
Individual assessment

100% Course total

Assignments and final exam

50 coursework points
50 examination points

The five milestone rubrics contribute 50% of the final grade. Each rubric is marked out of 10 points and applied to its corresponding part of the final management report, supported by the submitted code. The oral defence verifies individual understanding but adds no separate points. The final examination contributes the remaining 50%; its raw-score threshold is 30 out of 50.

Exam format

Monday, October 26
13:45–16:45 Closed book
Multiple choice
50 points Raw passing threshold: 30/50

Recall: Zoning, batching, and wave picking

From the 2025 examination

Which statement about order picking is correct?

1. Zoning can be applied in a parts-to-picker system.
2. Batch picking means that only articles of the same SKU are picked within one picking route.
3. Wave picking releases orders for a common destination sequentially across multiple warehouse areas.
4. All statements are correct.

Correct answer: A. Zoning applies to picker-to-parts and parts-to-picker systems. Batch picking combines customer orders, not necessarily one SKU. In wave picking, orders for a common destination “are released simultaneously for picking in multiple warehouse areas” (De Koster et al. 2007, 484).

Reveal the answer after students have committed to an option. Use the cited definition to distinguish wave picking from sequential release.

Calculation: Single-command cycle travel

Adjacent locations are one distance unit apart.

Order set I: SKU 1, \(N\) times
Order set II: SKUs 2, 3, and 4, \(N+1\) times

Adapted from the 2025 examination

Using shortest-path round trips and one pallet retrieval per cycle, what is the total travel distance?

1. (8(N+1))
2. (6(N+1))
3. (4(N+1))
4. (2(N+1))

Correct answer: A. A single-command cycle returns to the I/O point after each SKU retrieval.

This item is adapted from the 2025 examination. Reveal the answer only after students have calculated the round-trip contributions.

Calculation explained

SKU	Location	Round trip (distance units)	Contribution (distance units)
1	C · at I/O	0	\(0N\)
2	A	2	\(2(N+1)\)
3	B	4	\(4(N+1)\)
4	D	2	\(2(N+1)\)

\[ 0N + 2(N+1) + 4(N+1) + 2(N+1) = \boxed{8(N+1)\text{ distance units}} \]

Operational interpretation. The southwest SKU creates no travel because it is stored at the I/O point. The northeast SKU creates the longest round trip. Option C, \(4(N+1)\), would treat SKUs 2–4 as one multi-command tour and violates the stated policy.

Model the expected answer structure: state the operating policy, calculate each contribution with units, sum them, and interpret the result. Do not present only the option letter.

Guest lectures

03

Confirmed guest sessions

Wednesday, September 9
15:45–17:30 Warehouse Planning and Improvement

Stijn Huuskes
Bolk Business Improvement

RA2503

Monday, October 12
15:45–17:30 ADAPTO and Warehouse Automation

Jan van Eldik and Fenne Peeters
Toyota and Vanderlande

RA2503
Replaces the Monday lecture

Listen for the decision, the constraint, and the evidence used to justify the solution.

Present the guests as part of the course evidence chain. Ask students to connect each session to their assignments and record evidence they can use.