chaos v order. chaos the winner kinda

[161488303349]

well chaos kinda wins bc order is brought to chaos

here is an article about how Amazon use chaotic storage to help them fill customer orders faster than if they used automation or ordered storage

http://www.ssi-schaefer.de/blog/en/order-picking/chaotic-storage-amazon/

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basically the way it works is that when supplies are delivered then they put on the next available shelf space closest to the delivery gate. when the person places the goods then they scan the goods barcode tag and the shelf barcode tag. the computer knows where they are then

the picker (person filling the customer order) gets a picklist off the computer that lists the shelf closest to them that have the goods on. when they do they scan the goods and shelf barcode tags so the computer knows they not there anymore

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the article not go into it but seems the computer must use some kinda algo to solve the travelling purchaser problem

what i think makes it clever is that the computer can learn from the picker staff. like quite a few of the staff will look at the list they get off the computer and go i can do this better/faster and pick in a different order. like a game. and they teach the computer to get better as they play/work

altogther is quite clever really i think

[solstyse]

That's actually a simple concept, and it's much more efficient than sorting. The way it basicaly works is that the computer takes inventory of each shelf, which is assigned an aplhanumeric number. When picking happens, then the computer simply goes in alphanumeric order to fulfill the order. And since quantity on hand is presumably checked each time an item is put into storage, it is much easier to verify the accuracy of the database. Really, the only thing more chaotic about it than a sort system is the appearance.

Even still, I imagine when this was first thought of, that the person who came up with the concept didn't find it easy to convince his supervisor to give it a try.

[161488303349]

yes can see the management going wut!!! when they first heard about it

is counter-intuitive to how humans like things normally

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the picking order algo must be quite clever. one of those simple but elegant ones. it addresses/solves the travelling purchaser problem and not the travelling salesman problem which you normally have to solve in a ordered/sorted storage. things like weight and size of each item also comes into picking order in warehouses

the purchaser problem has order of magnitude less than the salesman problem bc the same goods can be on/in different shelfs/bays/partitions. which is not true of ordered/sorted storage systems. even time to place at the supply end is greatly reduced in this system

is why i find the solution they came up with quite fascinating

[Alazarin Mondrian]

Unrelated to your topic, but according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, all systems will tend towards maximum entropy [chaos]. Therefore chaos wins every time. Looks like the folks at Amazon are exploiting chaotic motion.

[161488303349]

can understand what you mean about how entropy can reduce some things down to a chaotic looking representation. a bit like what solstye is saying

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gets into things like kolmogorov complexity going down this way. like what is the shortest string/path that a known coherency can be reduced to?

is the same kinda problem that the codeys face wanting to solve the deformer issue. is doable algorithmically but only for some in the same spacetime. meaning that for same length if some are reducible then more others must expand. pigeonholes and all that

the hard part is that kolmogorov/solomonoff/godel/etc show that kolmogorov complexity is uncomputable for the general case. and even when a solution for a known coherency is found then is typically found to be NP-hard

[Storm Clarence]

Just as a talking point, chaos can never win as it already exists before order comes into play.   Chaos can and does exist without order, however order can not exist without chaos.  Therefore, anytime order is structured it is done so around chaos, so order always wins.

 

[161488303349]

is pretty deep that

it raise the question: is anything chaotic? like how do you define chaos. is a bit like trying to define random

to make a definition then we have to put it into a context. but when we do/can then can we say that it is truly random or chaotic?

can do my head in thinking about stuff like this (:

[Storm Clarence]

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16 wrote:

is pretty deep that

it raise the question: is anything chaotic? like how do you define chaos. is a bit like trying to define random

 

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Everything is chaotic.  A strand of DNA is chaotic.  Order is what we bring to understand what 'it' is.   Chaos always exists.

 

[161488303349]

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Storm Clarence wrote:

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16 wrote:

is pretty deep that

it raise the question: is anything chaotic? like how do you define chaos. is a bit like trying to define random

 

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Everything is chaotic.  A strand of DNA is chaotic.  Order is what we bring to understand what 'it' is.   Chaos always exists.

 

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thats maybe a step to far

can see that chaos is a state of disorder tho. or a state that is unintelligble to us until it is

[Arkady Arkright]

Must play havoc with stock rotation, I hope they don't do it with perishables...

[Dillon Levenque]

 

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Arkady Arkright wrote:

Must play havoc with stock rotation, I hope they don't do it with perishables...

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No, it wouldn't do well on either of those things. The article kind of points that out: it's a terrific idea but it is only suitable for certain applications, and an online store selling a wide variety of products is one of those applications. It not only saves storage space, it allows maintaining lower on-hand quantities (thus reducing the need for rotation).

It takes advantage of the fact that barcode reading technology is already in use in the warehouse to ID product. Why not add labels to ID shelves and use the computer to link the two? The one thing the article mentions is the need to keep the database running. It would have to be a really well backed-up system. If someone asks, "Where is the hardback copy of 'East of Eden'?", the answer is not, "Over in Books, in the S's". It's "Check the computer.". Lose the computer and you are DONE.

I have to say that in spite of the article's point, I really don't see the technique as being all that chaotic. It appears chaotic to the eye, but the storage locations are being very carefully tracked. They're just not designated for anything special.