Clearly, minimising the average travel distance (or, equivalently, total travel distance) is only one of many
possibilities. Another important objective would be minimising the total cost (that may include both
investment and operational costs). Other objectives which are often taken into consideration in warehouse
design and optimisation are to:
• minimise the throughput time of an order
• minimise the overall throughput time (e.g. to complete a batch of orders)
• maximise the use of space
• maximise the use of equipment
• maximise the use of labour
• maximise the accessibility to all items