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Special Issue: Decision models for the design, optimization and management of warehousing and material handling systems Special issue guest Editors Riccardo Manzini Department of Industrial Engineering ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – University of Bologna Bologna, Italy Yavuz Bozer Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI, USA Sunderesh Heragu University of Louisville Department of Industrial Engineering Louisville, KY, USA Introduction Warehousing and material handling (MH) cover a large number of very important topics in production/distribution systems and economics research, including the management of operations, the movement of products within the supply chain, the storage of products, among many others. Material handling and warehousing are critical topics of interest for industry, managers, practitioners, public and private research including academic researchbecause of various factors such as cost, efficiency, profit, environmental impact, risks, maintenance and safety. The subject of this special issue is the development of advanced models, solutions, technologies, and applications in warehousing and material handling, i.e. models, methods, algorithms, tools, and new technologies for the design, management and optimization of systems and devices as well as the use of effective software and hardware solutions to move products within the supply chain and through production/distribution systems. The focus is not on technology per se but on the associated managerial and resource allocation problems based on integrated approaches and solutions. The guest …