MATERIAL HANDLING

 Haynes defines “Material handling embraces the basic operations in

connection with the movement of bulk, packaged and individual products in
a semi-solid or solid state by means of manually or power-actuated
equipment and within the limits of individual producing, fabricating,
processing or service establishment”.

 Material handling does not add any value to the product but adds to the cost
of the product and hence it will cost the customer more.

 So the handling should be kept at minimum. Material handling in Indian

industries accounts for nearly 40% of the cost of production.

 Out of the total time spent for manufacturing a product, 20% of the time is
utilized for actual processing on them while the remaining 80% of the time
is spent in moving from one place to another, waiting for the processing.

 Poor material handling may result in delays leading to idling of equipment.

 OBJECTIVE: The main objective of material handling is
to reduce the number of handlings as well as the overall
cost of material handling equipment's and reducing the
distances through which the materials are handled.
 Lower unit material handling cost
 reduction in manufacturing cycle time through faster
movement of materials and by reducing the distance
through which materials are moved.
 Contribution towards a better control of the flow of
materials through the manufacturing facility.
 improved working conditions & greater safety in the
movement of materials.
 higher productivity at lower manufacturing cost.
PRINCIPLES OF MATERIAL HANDLING:
Basic Guidelines to be followed:
 Eliminate Handling: if not make the handling distance as short
as possible.
 keep moving: if not, reduce the time spent at the terminal points
of a route as short as possible.
 use simple patterns of material flow: the simplest path is a
straight line path of flow which minimizes the handling distance
between two points. If not reduce, backtracking other
congestions.
 carry pay loads both ways: if not, minimize the time spent in “
transport empty” by speed changes and route relocations.
 carry full loads: if not, consider increasing the size of unit load,
decreasing carrying capacity, lowering speed or acquiring more
versatile equipment.
 use gravity: if not, try to find another source of power that is
reliable and inexpensive.
General principles:
 Materials should move through the facility in direct flow
patterns, minimizing zig-zagging or backtracking.
 related production process should be arranged to provide
for direct flows of materials.
 mechanized material handling devices should be
designed and located so that human effort is minimized.
 heavy & bulk material should be moved to shortest
distance during processing.
 system flexibility should allow for unexpected
breakdowns of materials handling equipment, changes in
production system & technology
 Factors affecting the selection of material
handling equipment
Three factors:
 production problem
 capabilities of the handling equipment's availability
 human element involved

Production Problem Factors:

 Volume of production to be attained
 Class of materials to be handled
 the layout of plant and building facilities.

e.g. handling equipment for 100 Sets of TV production is

different from manufacturing10 set of steam turbines.
 Equipment Factors: the load carrying and movement
characteristics of equipment should fit the material
handling problem
 Flexibility: flexibility of the equipment to handle more
than one material
 Power: sufficient availability of power to handle the job.
 speed: speed of movement handling must be as high as
possible within limits of production process and plant
safety.
 Human Factors: Human factors can be overlooked as
 capability of available manpower to operate the
equipment
 safety of personnel (people who operates it or who come
in contact with it)
 EVALUATION OF MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM

 The evaluation and effectiveness of the material handling

system can be measured in terms of the ratio of the time
spent in the handling to the total time spent in production.
 This will cover the time element. The cost effectiveness can
be measured by the expenses incurred per unit weight
handled.
 It can be safely said that very few organizations try to
collate the expenses and time in this manner so as to
objectively view the performance and to take remedial
measures. 
 the performance of material handling system can be
evaluated with following ratios:
 Material handling ratio
 Direct labour handling ratio
 Management/ operation ratio
 equipment utilization ratio

EQUIPMENT UTILISATION RATIO

 Equipment utilization ratio is an important indicator for
judging the materials handling system.
 This ratio can be computed and compared with similar
firms or in the same over a period of time.
 It may be necessary to compute to know the total effort
needed for moving materials.
Materials Handling Labor (MHL) ratio. This ratio is
calculated as under:
 MHL= Personnel assigned to materials handling/Total
operating work force
 Direct Labor Handling Loss Ratio (DLHL): In order
to ascertain whether the handling system delivers
materials to work centers with maximum efficiency; it is
desirable to compute direct labor handling loss ratio.
The ratio is:
DLHL = Materials handling time lost by direct labor/ Total
direct labor time
 The efficiency of materials handling mainly depends on the following
factors:
 Efficiency of handling methods employed for handling a unit weight
through a unit distance,
 Efficiency of the layout which determines the distance through which
the materials have to be handled,
 Utilization of the handling facilities, and
 Efficiency of the speed of handling.

 In conclusion, it can be said that an effective material handling system

depends upon tailoring the layout and equipment's to suit specific
requirements.
 When a large volume has to be moved from a limited number of
sources to a limited number of destinations the fixed path equipment's
like rollers, belt conveyors, overhead conveyors and gauntry cranes
are preferred.
 For increased flexibility varied path equipment's are preferred.
MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENTS:
Material handling equipment’s can be classified into two
categories, namely:
 Fixed path equipment's, and
 Variable path equipment's.
 a. Fixed path equipment's which move in a fixed path.
Conveyors, monorail devices, chutes and pulley drive
equipment's belong to this category.
 A slight variation in this category is provided by the
overhead crane, which though restricted, can move
materials in any manner within a restricted area by virtue
of its design.
 Overhead cranes have a very good range in terms of
hauling tonnage and are used for handling bulky raw
materials, stacking and at times palletizing
 Variable Path equipment: Variable path equipment's have
no restrictions in the direction of movement although their
size is a factor to be given due consideration trucks,
forklifts mobile cranes and industrial tractors belong to
this category.
 Forklifts are available in many ranges, they are
controllable and various attachments are provided to
increase their flexibility.
1) CONVEYORS
 Conveyors are useful for moving material between two
fixed workstations, either continuously or intermittently.
 They are mainly used for continuous or mass production
operations indeed, they are suitable for most operations
where the flow is more or less steady.
 Conveyors may be of various types, with rollers, wheels
or belts to help move the material along: these may be
power-driven or may roll freely.
 The decision to provide conveyors must be taken with
care, since they are usually costly to install; moreover,
they are less flexible and, where two or more converge, it
is necessary to coordinate the speeds at which the two
conveyors move.
2) INDUSTRIAL TRUCKS
 Industrial trucks are more flexible in use than conveyors
since they can move between various points and are not
permanently fixed in one place.
 They are, therefore, most suitable for intermittent
production and for handling various sizes and shapes of
material.
 There are many types of truck- petrol-driven, electric,
hand-powered, and so on.
 Their greatest advantage lies in the wide range of
attachments available; these increase the trucks ability to
handle various types and shapes of material.
3)CRANES AND HOISTS
 The major advantage of cranes and hoists is that they can
move heavy materials through overhead space.
 However, they can usually serve only a limited area. Here
again, there are several types of crane and hoist, and within
each type there are various loading capacities.
 Cranes and hoists may be used both for intermittent and
for continuous production.
4)CONTAINERS
 These are either ‘dead’ containers (e.g. Cartons, barrels,
skids, pallets) which hold the material to be transported but
do not move themselves, or ‘live’ containers (e.g. wagons,
wheelbarrows or computer self-driven containers).
 Handling equipment's of this kind can both contain and
move the material, and is usually operated manually.
5) ROBOTS
 Many types of robot exist. They vary in size, and in
function and control.
 While many robots are used for handling and transporting
material, others are used to perform operations such as
welding or spray painting.
 An advantage of robots is that they can perform in a
aggressive environment such as unhealthy conditions or
carry on arduous tasks such as the repetitive movement of
heavy materials.
 

Wheel conveyor
Screw conveyor roller

Belt conveyor Roller conveyor

Platform truck
 Fork truck

Spiral Chute
GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF
MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENTS
 As material handling adds no value but increases the
production cycle time, eliminate handling wherever
possible. Ideally there should not be any handling at all..
 Sequence the operations in logical manner so that
handling is unidirectional and smooth.
 Use gravity wherever possible as it results in conservation
of power and fuel.
 Standardize the handling equipments to the extent possible
as it means interchangeable usage, better utilization of
handling equipments, and lesser spares holding.
 Install a regular preventive maintenance programme for
material handling equipments so that downtime is
minimum.
 In selection of handling equipment’s, criteria of versatility and
adaptability must be the governing factor. This will ensure that
investments in special purpose handling equipment’s are kept at a
minimum.
 Weight of unit load must be maximum so that each ‘handling
trip’ is productive.
 Location of stores should be as close as possible to the plant
which uses the materials. This avoids handling and minimizing
investment in material handling system.
 Application of OR techniques such as queuing can be very
effective in optimal utilization of materials handling equipment’s.
 A very important aspect in the design of a material handling
system is the safety aspect. The system designed should be
simple and safe to operate.
 Ensure proper coordination through judicious selection of
equipment’s and training of workmen.
RELATION BETWEEN MATERIAL HANDLING & PLANTLAYOUT
 There is a close connection between the concepts of plant layout and material handling.
A good plant structure can ascertain the least material handling process and inexpensive
material handling equipment. The material handling factors to be considered while
designing the plant layout are:

1) Excessive material movement damages the materials and causes loss of valuable man-
hours in shifting materials. A layout should be designed such that it suits the
manufacturing requirement of the products and reduces the material handling to
minimum.

2) If the workers are compelled to search through the entire workshop for a particular
material, their productive time is bound to go wasted. For maximum utilization of their
time the plant should be equipped with:
a) Clearly identified and well-named functional areas.
b) Distinct areas for raw materials, tools, work-in-process, inspection and finished
goods.

3) For an effective and speedy movement of materials there should be an effective use
of:
a) Bins, trolleys, racks and trays to keep materials instead of placing them on floors
b) Proper packaging techniques before dispatching
c) Conveyors, chutes, inclined planes and gravity feed bins to automate, materials 
movement.
 4) Public utilities should be located at easily accessible distances and
should not require distant walks on part of the workers

5) Economical use of space should be aimed. Machines and

equipment's should be placed in such a way that there is a minimal or
no wastage of space and yet there should be optimum choice for
expansion.

6) Maximum opportunity for greater width of aisles, heights of

ceilings and other areas of storage so the need of later alterations will
be reduced

A good plant layout thus facilitates an efficient material handling

system. It offers minimum material handling by making material
movements shorter, faster and economical.
 Overcrowding is prevented. Delays in supplying are avoided due
smooth manufacturing activity and hence it is generally desirable to
adopt a good plant layout that facilities minimum handling