Faculty members Kevin Gue and Alice Smith have been chosen as lead investigators for a three-year, $255,000 National Science Foundation grant with University of Arkansas faculty member Russ Meller. Their project, “Collaborative Research: Non-Traditional Designs for Order Picking Warehouses,” includes developing new warehouse designs that improve order picking operations. Picking aisles and cross aisles are traditionally built into a right-angled grid. The team’s new designs allow picking aisles and cross aisles to be configured into unique patterns that optimize the order picking process. Their research uses simulation models that wholesale and retail distribution centers can then use to cut labor costs. Results of their research will be featured on an interactive warehouse design website used by students, researchers and practitioners. U.S. companies spend an estimated $13 billion annually on order picking labor costs.