Order picking is among the most expensive activities in warehouse logistics, making choosing an order picking system (OPS) one of the most important decisions for warehouse managers. Traditionally, the choice has been between automated and manual order picking systems. With the rise of e-commerce and the need for greater flexibility, robotic systems such as Robotic Mobile Fulfillment Systems (RMFS) have emerged as potential alternatives. Despite growing interest, many managers remain skeptical about their value. This study systematically compares an RMFS with traditional OPS, using autonomous vehicle storage and retrieval systems (AVS/R) and manual OPS (MOPS) as a reference, focusing on time, performance, and cost efficiency. Our results indicate that AVS/R systems are best for large, high-volume operations, while RMFS is a flexible and cost-effective choice, especially for e-commerce order volumes. RMFS offers steady use of resources and lower cost per order than MOPS, which have limits in throughput. Even though RMFS and AVS/R are quite different, RMFS is a worthwhile alternative.
Wenzel et al. (Tue,) studied this question.