i. Type of goods to be moved: controlled goods can include raw materials, work in progress, spare parts, packaging materials and finished products. Depending on the material type, dimensions, weights, product life and other characteristics, special temperature and humidity requirements may also need to be met, and all of these will influence the warehouse type and technology level. ii. Facility type, size and location: The type of operations, design capability, size and location of the warehouse will all be influenced, if not directly determined, by its exact role and location in the supply chain, as well as the location, capacity and location of any other service in the chain. The customer base, quantity of inventory, need for inventory reduction, timing in the supply chain and comprehensive service levels should all be taken into consideration when identifying the type, size and location of the warehouse. In terms of costs, it has been estimated by Rushton et al, (2000) that warehousing constitutes between 2% and 5% of a company's cost of selling and with the current improvement in corporate focus on return on assets , minimizing warehousing costs has become a business imperative problem. In recent times and considering the huge and noisy international competitive business environment, countless companies are automating their simple warehousing functions to achieve the growth in productivity rates or inventory turns needed for their warehousing operations to be cost-effective. At the same time, prolonged stress on customer service exacerbates the dilemma of warehouse managers who seek ways to reduce costs and improve customer service at the same time (Frazelle, 2001). 2.4 General warehouse operations... half of the paper. .....picking is the procedure for collecting products based on a specific request. The order picking process is performed manually or automatically and is driven by an order, which specifies the required products and quantities. Orders can be collected individually or in batches. There are two policies for collection: pick and sort (sequential) and sort while pick (simultaneous). Precise approximations of the role that picking plays in overhead costs vary from 50-75% of total operating costs (Petersen et al., 2004), to 65% of overhead costs and 50% of warehouse staff (Strack et al., 2010). Approximately 65% ​​of the total costs are equal to what Petersen et al. (1999) and Coyle, Bardi, and Langley (1992) propose. Van den Berg et al. (1999) found that costs among UK firms were slightly lower (60% share), while Tompkins et al. (2003) even maintain it 55%.