An efficient storage strategy for retail e-commerce warehousing is important for minimizing the order retrieval time to improve the warehouse-output efficiency. In this paper, we consider a model and algorithm to solve the cargo location problem in a retail e-commerce warehouse. The problem is abstracted into storing cargo on three-dimensional shelves, and the mathematical model is built considering three objectives: efficiency, stability, and classification. An artificial swarm algorithm is designed to solve the proposed models. Computational experiments performed on a warehouse show that the proposed approach is effective at solving the cargo location assignment problem and is significant for the operation and organization of a retail e-commerce warehouse.

The allocation issues of the location of the cargo have affected the operational efficiency of retail e-commerce warehouses tremendously. Adjusting the cargo location with the change of the order and the operation of the warehouse is a significant research area. A novel approach employing the FP-Tree and the Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithms is proposed. Firstly, energy consumption and shelf stability are employed for the location-allocation. Secondly, the association rules among product items are obtained by the FP-Tree Algorithm to mine frequent list of items. Furthermore, the frequency and the weight of product items are taken into account to ensure the local stability of the shelf during data mining. Thirdly, another method of the location-allocation is obtained with the objectives of the energy consumption and the overall shelf stability along with the frequent items stored nearby that is conducted by the Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm. Finally, the picking order distance is obtained through two methods of the location-allocation above. The performance and efficiency of the novel introduced method have been confirmed by running the experiment. The outcomes of the simulation suggest that the introduced method has a higher performance concerning criterion called the picking order distance.

The toroidal drive can transmit large torque. However, it is a hard work to produce small toroidal stator which limits the miniaturization of the toroidal drive. Here, a novel toroidal drive with half stator is proposed for which the small stator can be produced easily. For the novel toroidal drive, three-dimensional design and the motion simulation are done; the forces and the contact stress in drive system are investigated; and the output torque is compared with one of the normal toroidal drives. Results show that the output torque of the toroidal drive with half stator is almost the same as the output torque of the normal toroidal drive, and the half stator toroidal drive is a good design for realizing the miniaturization of the toroidal drive.

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