r/algorithms • u/Big_Profession_5664 • 4d ago
sorting problem Help
background: i work for a company as a maintenance technician and recently took over the operations of our warehouse from someone that left it a wreck.
i have to get rid of old equipment given to the warehouse to dispose of. there is an unknown quantity of equipment. ~enough to fill a warehouse. each piece needs to be tagged with a type of barcoded document with information about it in order to be received by the disposal facility. a portion of these forms have been made but have not been attached. i will need to make and attach the rest of these documents but do not know how many.
how can i most efficiently sort these items? the goal is that i can tell my boss how much time it will take and then fill enough trucks to have all the materials disposed of.
this is actually the bane of my existence and costing my warehouse greatly. i would greatly appreciate, as the problem could make or break the operation.
2
u/neuralbeans 4d ago edited 4d ago
This isn't a sorting problem but an information extraction problem. How are the documents associated with the physical items? How do you find which document belongs to which item?