CHAPTER 6

MATERIAL HANDLING
 6.1. DEFINITION
• Materials handling is concerned with the
movement of materials for short distances
generally within a warehouse, or between storage
areas and transport.
• Every time an item is moved it costs money, takes
time, and gives an opportunity for damage or
mistake.
• Efficient warehouses reduce the amount of
movement to a minimum, and make the
necessary movements as efficient as possible.
6.2. Some objectives of materials handling
include:
 Moving materials around a warehouse as required
 Moving materials quickly, reducing the number and length of
movements
 Increasing storage density, by reducing the amount of wasted
space
 Reducing costs, by using efficient operations
 avoid mistakes, with efficient material management systems.

These aims rely, to a large extent, on the choice of handling

equipment. This can affect the speed of movement, type of
materials that can be moved, costs, layout, number of people
employed, and so on.
 6.3. Principles of Materials Handling
1. Planning Principle. All MH should be the result of
a deliberate plan where the needs, performance
objectives, and functional specification of the
proposed methods are completely defined at the
outset.
2. Standardization Principle. MH methods,
equipment, controls and software should be
standardized within the limits of achieving overall
performance objectives and without sacrificing
needed flexibility, modularity, and throughput.
 Cont…
3. Work Principle. MH work (defined as material
flow multiplied by the distance moved) should be
minimized without sacrificing productivity or the
level of service required of the operation.
4. Ergonomic Principle. Human capabilities and
limitations must be recognized and respected in
the design of MH tasks and equipment to ensure
safe and effective operations.
5.Space Utilization Principle. Effective and efficient
use must be made of all available (cubic) space
 Cont…
6. System Principle. Material movement and
storage activities should be fully integrated to
form a coordinated, operational system
which spans receiving, inspection, storage,
production, assembly, packaging, unitizing,
order selection, shipping, and transportation,
and the handling of returns.
 Cont…
7. Automation Principle. MH operations should
be mechanized and/or automated where
feasible to improve operational efficiency,
increase responsiveness, improve consistency
and predictability, decrease operating costs,
and to eliminate repetitive or potentially
unsafe manual labor.
 6.4. Factors for selection of handling equipment

• 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.
• Selection of material handling equipment is an
important decision as it affects both the cost and
efficiency of handling system.
• The following factors are to be taken into account
while selecting the material handling equipment:
 1. Properties of the Material :
• Whether the material is solid, liquid or gas, and in
what size, shape and weight it is to be moved, are
important decisions and can be lead to a
preliminary elimination from the range of available
equipment under review.
• Similarly, if the material is fragile, corrosive or
toxic this will imply that certain handling method
and containers will be preferable
 2. Layout and Characteristic of the building:
• Another restricting factor is availability of space for handling.
• Low-level ceiling many preclude the use of hoist or cranes,
and the presence of supporting columns in awkward places
can limit the size of material handling equipment.
• If the building is multi-store, chutes or ramp for industrial
trucks may be used.
• Layout itself will indicate the type of production operation
(continuous, intermittent, fixed position or group) and
indicate some items of equipment that will be more suitable
than others.
• Floor capacity also helps in selecting the best material
handling equipment.
 3. Production Flow :
• If the flow is fairly constant between two fixed
position that are not likely to be changed, fixed
equipments such as conveyors or chutes can be
successfully used.
• If, on the other hand, the flow is not constant and
the direction changes occasionally from one point
to another because several products are being
produced simultaneously, moving equipments
such as trucks would be preferable.
 4. Cost Considerations:
• This is the most important consideration. The
above factors can help narrow the range of
suitable equipment, while costing can help in
taking the final decision.
• Several cost elements need to be taken into
consideration when comparisons are made
between various items of equipment that are all
capable of handling the same load.
• Initial investment and operating and maintenance
cost are the major costs to be considered.
 Cont….
• By calculating and comparing the total cost of
each items of equipment under consideration,
a more rational decision can be reached on
the most appropriate choice.
 5. Nature of Operations:
• Selection of equipment also depends on the
nature of operations like whether handling is
temporary or permanent, whether the flow is
continuous or intermittent and material, flow
pattern-horizontal or vertical.

6. Engineering Factors:
• Engineering factors such as door, ceiling
dimensions, floor space, floor conditions and
structural strengths are also taken in
consideration in the selection of equipment
 6.5. Goals of Material Handling

• The primary goal is to reduce unit costs of production

• Maintain or improve product quality, reduce damage of
materials
• Promote safety and improve working conditions
• Promote productivity
– material should flow in a straight line
– Use gravity! It is free power
– move more material at one time
– mechanize material handling & automate material handling
• Promote increased use of facilities
• Reduce tare weight (dead weight)- weight of an empty car,
vehicle, or container etc.
• Control inventory
 6.6. Handling of materials must be performed

• Safely
• Efficiently
• At low cost
• In a timely manner
• Accurately (the right materials in the right
quantities to the right locations)
• And without damage to the materials
 6.7 Categories of Material Handling Equipment

Material transport equipment - to move materials

inside a factory, warehouse, or other facility
Storage equipment - to store materials and provide
access to those materials when required
Unitizing equipment - refers to
(1) containers to hold materials, and
(2) equipment used to load & package the containers
Identification and tracking systems equipment - to
identify and keep track of the materials being moved
and stored
THANK
YOU!!!!!