Impact of different unloading zone locations in transshipment terminals under various forklift dispatching rules

Operators of less-than-truckload terminals face the challenge of improving their efficiency to reduce handling costs and increase the performance of the terminal due to small profit margins. This paper uses material flow simulation to address the impact of different operational levers on a forklift-based internal transportation system. For a given I-shaped terminal two concepts of locating unloading zones are compared and evaluated concerning travel time of forklifts. In addition, different dispatching rules for the forklifts are implemented to reduce the empty travel time of the forklift and identify the potential for improvement based on a distance-optimized fleet control.