5.1.1 Infrastructure design
Even though the literature is quite rich in this category,
different investigations are still lacking. It is necessary to
develop a systematic approach mapping the interaction
between departments to enhance the process design. This
design could improve by considering the requirements of
operations, characteristics of SKUs and overall strategy,
which are all dynamic. This dynamism is not considered in
the proposed algorithms. Furthermore, literature is mainly
devoted to the layout problem of stock keeping warehouses, and no research was found focusing on crossdocking warehouses. Finally, studies on design of shipping/
receiving areas are missing, while the main emphasis of the
literature is on storage departments. Infrastructure design is
the second most important concern of respondents. It is
covered in different fields of literature, but it is not the most
studied topic in any of them.