System design criteria for an ergonomic order assignment in picker-to-parts warehouses

Order picking is a labor-intensive process that imposes varying physical workload on workers. To address workforce heterogeneity and reduce health risks for order pickers, an ergonomic order assignment model (EOA) is developed to balance workload distribution among employees. This paper specifies the features of the model aiming at the reduction of physical workload and the achievement of its applicability in industry for picker-to-parts processes. Based on the framework of socio-technical systems with the subsystems human, organization, and technology, design criteria are derived to concretize the EOA. Requirements and limitations are discussed based on literature and industry findings, structured by the interfaces of the subsystems.