SMU563
TEACHING NOTE
SMU-19-0045TN KYY: STORAGE ASSIGNMENT IN A UNIT-LOAD
WAREHOUSE
BY PROFESSOR YUN FONG LIM
AND PROFESSOR MARCUS ANG
, SMU-19-0045TN KYY: Storage Assignment in a Unit-load Warehouse
KYY: STORAGE ASSIGNMENT IN A UNIT-LOAD WAREHOUSE
This note serves as a facilitator’s guide to the KYY: Storage Assignment in a Unit-load Warehouse
case study. After a brief case synopsis, the note describes the learning objectives and key lessons.
Assignment questions are listed and a teaching plan to guide the discussion and to answer the
questions is presented.
Case Synopsis
It is June 2019, and Lillian Lim of Mackor Consultancy, a third-party consultancy in Singapore, is at
the newest warehouse of her client, KYY Group, a major third-party logistics provider.
Headquartered in Singapore, KYY’s business activities span Asia.
In 2013, the company started construction of a US$200 million logistics hub. With two million square
feet of warehouse space and a million square feet of office space, it would house the KYY Group’s
headquarters, as well as its research and warehousing facilities. The new logistics hub was due to
open in late 2019, and would comprise the latest supply-chain and logistics automation technology.
Lim’s company was hired to do a study on the improvements that could be made to increase the
profitability of KYY’s warehouse operations at the hub. To do this, she needs to understand the
expected pattern of supply and demand for goods at the warehouse, and the current process of storage
and retrieval of inventory. She has to make a presentation on her preliminary findings in two weeks’
time to KYY Group’s senior management.
Learning Objectives
This case can be used in undergraduate and graduate classes to illustrate the effectiveness of different
policies for storage assignment in a unit-load warehouse. Students are expected to derive a suitable
linear programming model to determine a storage assignment policy.
The case reinforces the students’ skills in data processing, mathematical modelling, and numerical
computation. After completing the student assignment questions, the students will be able to:
a. Form a model based on the problem description and given data.
b. Build a linear programming model (LP) to solve an operations problem in a warehouse
and evaluate its solutions using the data.
c. Perform sensitivity analysis on the parameters of the system.
The case accomplishes the above objectives by requiring the students to understand the problem’s
objective using the problem description and the data provided. The students have to make reasonable
assumptions before they can build a linear program to solve the operations problem. After solving
the linear program, the students need to evaluate its solutions using the data provided. Finally, the
case also requires the students to resolve the problem and re-evaluate its solutions when the planning
2/13
TEACHING NOTE
SMU-19-0045TN KYY: STORAGE ASSIGNMENT IN A UNIT-LOAD
WAREHOUSE
BY PROFESSOR YUN FONG LIM
AND PROFESSOR MARCUS ANG
, SMU-19-0045TN KYY: Storage Assignment in a Unit-load Warehouse
KYY: STORAGE ASSIGNMENT IN A UNIT-LOAD WAREHOUSE
This note serves as a facilitator’s guide to the KYY: Storage Assignment in a Unit-load Warehouse
case study. After a brief case synopsis, the note describes the learning objectives and key lessons.
Assignment questions are listed and a teaching plan to guide the discussion and to answer the
questions is presented.
Case Synopsis
It is June 2019, and Lillian Lim of Mackor Consultancy, a third-party consultancy in Singapore, is at
the newest warehouse of her client, KYY Group, a major third-party logistics provider.
Headquartered in Singapore, KYY’s business activities span Asia.
In 2013, the company started construction of a US$200 million logistics hub. With two million square
feet of warehouse space and a million square feet of office space, it would house the KYY Group’s
headquarters, as well as its research and warehousing facilities. The new logistics hub was due to
open in late 2019, and would comprise the latest supply-chain and logistics automation technology.
Lim’s company was hired to do a study on the improvements that could be made to increase the
profitability of KYY’s warehouse operations at the hub. To do this, she needs to understand the
expected pattern of supply and demand for goods at the warehouse, and the current process of storage
and retrieval of inventory. She has to make a presentation on her preliminary findings in two weeks’
time to KYY Group’s senior management.
Learning Objectives
This case can be used in undergraduate and graduate classes to illustrate the effectiveness of different
policies for storage assignment in a unit-load warehouse. Students are expected to derive a suitable
linear programming model to determine a storage assignment policy.
The case reinforces the students’ skills in data processing, mathematical modelling, and numerical
computation. After completing the student assignment questions, the students will be able to:
a. Form a model based on the problem description and given data.
b. Build a linear programming model (LP) to solve an operations problem in a warehouse
and evaluate its solutions using the data.
c. Perform sensitivity analysis on the parameters of the system.
The case accomplishes the above objectives by requiring the students to understand the problem’s
objective using the problem description and the data provided. The students have to make reasonable
assumptions before they can build a linear program to solve the operations problem. After solving
the linear program, the students need to evaluate its solutions using the data provided. Finally, the
case also requires the students to resolve the problem and re-evaluate its solutions when the planning
2/13
