3D VISUALIZATION OF A CASE-BASED DISTANCE MODEL

Regarding to the conveyance of materials the assignment of stock-keeping units (SKUs) is one of the most important tasks in a warehouse. The units in the interest of their easier handling can be sorted into groups. To classifying SKUs the most frequently used method is the ABC analysis. The traditional approach implements a simplified scheme, which is mostly based on annual dollar usage. Classifying units according to one characteristic can lead to rushed result, because the assignment of stock-keeping units might be influenced by other factors, like number of orders, weight or lead time. In recent years a number of decision models have been developed in order to make it possible to consider more than one criterion in the same time. In general, in the case of representing a model the introduction of the algorithm is more preferable than the visualization of data. However the visualization of results can relieve the comprehension of the given problem and the way, how the model works, even in relation to sorting problems. The aim of this research is to introduce a plotting method which visualizes the results coming from the Case-based distance model developed by Chen, Kilgour and Hipel. This method strengthens the classification by providing separating nonlinear surfaces.