Non-binding placement of inventory in a materials handling facility

A system, comprising:

• a data store that stores a data representation of a plurality of item storage locations in a materials handling facility;
• and
• at least one computing device in communication with the data store, the at least one computing device being configured to perform a method comprising:
• receiving, by the at least one computing device, a first event relating to a movement of a first item en route to or in the materials handling facility, the first event generated based at least in part on scanning a first item identifier on the first item;
• determining, by the at least one computing device, respective capacities of individual ones of a plurality of item storage locations in the materials handling facility;
• in response to the first event, executing, by the at least one computing device, an approximation algorithm for solving the generalized assignment problem to determine a first set of optimal assignments of an inventory of items including the first item to the plurality of item storage locations in the materials handling facility, wherein determining the first set of optimal assignments further comprises:
• maximizing a profit in assigning the inventory of items to the plurality of item storage locations;
• updating, by the at least one computing device, the data representation to virtually assign the first item to a first item storage location in the materials handling facility according to the first set of optimal assignments;
• receiving, by the at least one computing device, a second event relating to a movement of a second item en route to or in the materials handling facility, the second event generated based at least in part on scanning a second item identifier on the second item;
• in response to the second event, executing, by the at least one computing device, the approximation algorithm for solving the generalized assignment problem to determine a second set of optimal assignments of the inventory of items including the first item and the second item to the plurality of item storage locations in the materials handling facility, wherein determining the second set of optimal assignments further comprises:
• maximizing the profit in assigning the inventory of items to the plurality of item storage locations;
• before the first item is physically stored in the first item storage location, updating, by the at least one computing device, the data representation to virtually reassign the first item from the first item storage location to a second item storage location in the materials handling facility according to the second set of optimal assignments;
• and
• causing, by the at least one computing device, the first item to be physically stored in the second item storage location.

A method, comprising:

• receiving, by at least one computing device, an event relating to a first item en route to or in a materials handling facility, the event being generated based at least in part on scanning an item identifier on the first item;
• determining, by the at least one computing device, respective capacities of individual ones of a plurality of item storage locations in the materials handling facility;
• updating, by the at least one computing device, a data representation of the plurality of item storage locations in the materials handling facility to virtually assign the first item to a first item storage location in the materials handling facility in response to the event, wherein assigning the first item to the first item storage location further comprises:
• maximizing a profit in assigning items to the plurality of item storage locations;
• after virtually assigning the first item to the first item storage location, determining, by the at least one computing device, that storage of a second item in the first item storage location would result in an increased profit over storage of the first item in the first item storage location;
• before the first item is physically stored in the first item storage location, updating, by the at least one computing device, the data representation to virtually reassign the first item from the first item storage location to a second item storage location in the materials handling facility, wherein reassigning the first item to the second item storage location further comprises:
• maximizing the profit in assigning the items to the plurality of item storage locations;
• and
• causing, by the at least one computing device, the first item to be physically stored in the second item storage location.