MATERIAL HANDLING

INTRODUCTION

Material handling is the function of moving the right material to the right place in the right time, in the right
amount, in sequence, and in the right condition to minimize production cost. The primary material handling
objective is to efficiently move large quantities of inventory into and specific customer’s orders out of the
warehouse. The functions performed in a warehouse are classified as movement or Handling and storage.
Movement or handling is emphasized and storage is secondary. Handling is divided into

-Receiving

-In storage handling , and

-Shipping

Meaning

A material-handling system can be simply defined as an integrated system involving such activities as
handling, storing, and controlling of materials. The word material has very broad meaning, covering all kinds
of raw materials, work in process, subassemblies, and finished assemblies.
 OBJECTIVES/ROLE OF MATERIAL
HANDLING
1) Handling: The primary handling objective in a warehouse is to sort inbound shipment according to
precise customer requirements. The three handling activities are receiving, in-storage handling and
shipping.

2. Receiving: When material reaches the warehouse it has to be received by the warehouse. One of the
important activities here is to unload the goods from the transportation vehicle. Most of the time
unloading is done manually. Containerized or unit-load shipments considerably reduce the unloading time.

3. In-storage Handling: In-storage handling consists of all movement within a warehouse facility. The
two types of in-storage handling are transfer and section. Various transfers of goods happen within the
warehouse. The goods as soon as they are received in the warehouse are transferred to the storage area.
The second transfer may be required during order selection where goods are transferred from storage
area to order selection area. The final transfer of goods takes place when the goods are finally shipped
from the warehouse. Here the goods are transferred from the or election to the shipping or outbound
area. Selection activity basically involves selecting different materials and is grouped to meet the,
customer demand. The idea of using warehouse as a selection area is to reduce the overall transportation
cost.
4. Shipping: Shipping consists of checking and loading orders onto transportation vehicles.
As in receiving, shipping is manually performed in most systems.

5. Others:

• To Lowers unit materials handling cost

• To reduce manufacturing cycle time

• To provide better control of the flow of materials

• To provide better working conditions

• To provide Contribution for better quality by avoiding damages to products

• To Increase storage capacity

• To provide higher productivity at lower manufacturing costs

 PRINCIPLES OF MATERIAL HANDLING

1) Planning Principle: All material handling should be the result of a deliberate plan. Non-
plan movement of materials should be avoided as far as possible.

2) Standardization Principle: Material handling equipment, controls, and software should

be standardized. While standardizing it should be ensured that performance objectives and
flexibility in operations are not sacrificed.

3) Work Principle: Material handling work should be minimized without sacrificing

productivity.

4) Ergonomic Principle: human capabilities and limitations must be taken into

consideration while designing material handling tasks and equipments.

5) Unit Load: Unit load should be properly determined so that it accommodates all
materials and material handling becomes easier.
6) Space Utilization Principle: Effective and efficient use must be made of all available
space.

7) System Principle: Material handling and storage should be fully integrated so that there is
a smooth flow of materials in the warehouse.

8) Automation Principle: Material handling operations should be mechanized and/or

automated where feasible in order to improve operational efficiency. This will reduce
potentially unsafe manual labor operations.

9) Environmental Principle: Environmental impact and energy consumption such as petrol,

diesel, should be considered as criteria when designing or selecting material handling systems.

10) Life Cycle Cost Principle: Cost of equipment throughout its entire lifecycle and not only
its initial cost should be considered before selecting it.
 FACTORS AFFECTING SELECTION OF MATERIAL
HANDLING EQUIPMENT'S
The selection of materials handling equipment requires the attaining of proper
balance between the production problem, the capabilities of the equipment available,
and the human element involved. The ultimate aim is to arrive at the lowest cost per
unit of material handled.

1) Adaptability: the load carrying and movement characteristics of the equipment

should fit the materials handling problem.

2) Flexibility: Where possible the equipment should have flexibility to handle more
than one material, referring either to class or size.

3) Load capacity: Equipment selected should have great enough load-carrying

characteristics to do the job effectively, yet should not be too large and result in
excessive operating costs.

4) Power: Enough power should be available to do the job.

4) Speed: Rapidity of movement of material, within the limits of the
production process or plant safety, should be considered

5) Space requirements: The space required to install or operate materials

handling equipment is an important factor in its selection.

6) Supervision required: As applied to equipment selection, this refers to the

degree of automaticity designed into the equipment.

7) Ease of maintenance: Equipment selected should be easily maintained at

reasonable cost.

8) Environment: Equipment selected must conform to any environment

regulations.

9) Cost: The consideration of the cost of the equipment is an obvious factor in

its selection.
10) ENGINEERING FACTORS: Selection of equipment also depends on
engineering factors like door and ceiling dimensions, floor space, floor conditions and
structural strength.

11) EQUIPMENT RELIABILITY : Reliability of the equipment and supplier

reputation and the after sale service also plays an important role in selecting material
handling equipment's.
 Systems of Material Handling
1) Manual Material Handling
Manual handling refers to the use of a worker’s hands to move
individual containers by lifting, lowering, filling, emptying, or carrying
them. It can expose workers to physical conditions that can lead to
injuries that represent a large percentage of the over half a million cases
of musculoskeletal disorders reported in the U.S. each year, and often
involve strains and sprains to the lower back, shoulders, and upper
limbs.
2) Merchandised Material Handling
In this system some aspects of manual material handling system which was
initially done by labour are merchandised through the use of various material
handling equipment’s. This method involves both manual effort &
merchandised work.
3) Sem- Automated Material Handling

Semi-Automation is a process or procedure that is performed by the combined activities of

man and machine with both human and machine steps typically orchestrated by a centralized
computer controller. Semi automated systems are high density storage systems that allow
you to store multiple pallets in a deep lane configuration. The system also gives you the
flexibility of retrieving pallets from any lane with multiple SKU locations without driving
into the system.
3) Automated Material Handling

Whenever technically and economically feasible, equipment can be used to reduce and
sometimes replace the need to manually handle material. Most existing material handling
equipment is only semi-automated because a human operator is needed for tasks like
loading/unloading and driving that are difficult and/or too costly to fully automate. However,
ongoing advances in sensing, machine intelligence, and robotics have made it possible to
fully automate an increasing number of handling tasks.
 TYPES OF MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT

A) Fixed path – Fixed route no change eg: Conveyor or elevator

B) Variable Path – Route, direction can be changed eg: Truck, AGV et

Some of the material handling equipment are as follows:

1. Conveyors- It is Gravity or powered devices and used for moving loads from one
point to point over fixed paths.

a.Belt Conveyor-Motor driven belt usually made of metal fabric

b. Chain Conveyor -Motor driven chain that drags material
along a metal side base.
c. Roller Conveyor - Boxes , large parts or units loads roll on top of a series
of rollers mounted on a rigid frame.
2. Cranes, Elevators and Hoists-These are overhead devices used for moving varying
loads intermittently between points within an area.

• Cranes –Devices mounted on overheard rail or ground wheels or rails .They lift,
swing and transport large and heavy materials

• Elevators –Types of cranes that lift materials –usually between floors or buildings

• Hoists- Move vertically or horizontally. May be air hoist , electric hoist, chain hoist
3. Industrial Trucks- May be electric, diesel, gasoline or liquefied petroleum.

4. Pipelines – They are closed tubes that transport liquids by means of pumps or
gravity.
5. Automated Guided Vehicle:-AGV are battery – powered driverless vehicles that are controlled by
computer. AGV are often used in automated warehouse operations. No operators, flexibility in paths,
signals through wires on floor and remote control computer reqd.
6. Industrial Robots:-Industrial robot is an automatically controlled reprogrammable mechanism that
can perform a variety of functions. Robots are useful in warehouses where an extreme condition of
temperature and noise exists. It has Built in control – can be programmed and hence very versatile
7.Fortlift Truck: A forklift is a powered industrial truck used to lift and
move materials over short distances.