In distribution center (DC), at the time of forming a batch, by considering the order holding time and picking time in the system, an algorithm based on the first-come, first served based (FCFS) rule is presented. In the proposed algorithm, both order picking factor and order holding factor are used in order to reflect the throughput of the system and response of orders.;Furthermore, some simple batching policies for considering the order holding time in the system are presented. They may result in meeting its customers' requirements for larger numbers of smaller orders and rapid turnaround. They reflect the well-known supply chain management (SCM) concept by taking the customer's need into consideration. Their performance measure of order response time that consists of order picking time and order holding time is evaluated and compared.;Finally, this thesis also develops a new optimization-based joint order batching and picking framework for warehousing and distribution systems. The nested partitions (NP) method that integrates global sampling of the feasible region and local search heuristic is applied to this problem. To speed up the computation, the improved NP-algorithm is developed. Also, by taking the special structure of the problem in account, an improved NP method in terms of small computational time is developed.