Material handling involves the efficient movement of materials and products throughout the supply chain. It aims to move the right materials to the right place at the right time in the most cost-effective manner. Material handling equipment includes transport equipment like conveyors, cranes, and automated guided vehicles; storage systems like racks and bins; and unitizing equipment. The goals of material handling are to reduce production costs, maintain quality, promote safety, and increase productivity through principles such as planning, system integration, simplification, gravity usage, space optimization, and automation.

1. MATERIAL HANDLING

2. Material Handling
• 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 cost of MH estimates 20-25 of total
manufacturing labor cost in the United
States [The Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA)]

3. Material Handling
• According to American society of material
engineers
“Material handling is an art & science
involving the moving, packing & storing of
substances in any form.”
• It involves movement of material mechanically
& manually in batches or one by one within the
plant.

4. The most successful brands in the world uses
material handling and logistic solutions to gain
competitive edge
Toyota
Wal-Mart
Disney
Coca Cola
NASA
John Deere
Mitsubishi
Pepsi-Cola

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

6. Overview of Material Handling
Equipment
• Material handling equipment includes:
– Transport Equipment: industrial trucks,
Automated Guided vehicles (AGVs), monorails,
conveyors, cranes and hoists.
– Storage Systems: bulk storage, rack systems,
shelving and bins, drawer storage, automated
storage systems.
– Unitizing Equipment: palletizers
– Identification and Tracking systems

7. I. Cranes and hoists:-
• Over head bridge cranes

8. o Jib Cranes

9. • Gantry crane

10. • Electrical hoists

11. Automated Guided Vehicles

12. • Elevators

13. • Stacker Crane

14. • Winches

15. • Monorail

16. II. Conveyors:-
o Belt Conveyors

17. • Roller conveyors

18. • Bucket conveyors

20. • Screw conveyors

21. • Vibratory conveyors

22. IV. Trucks

23. • Tractors

24. • Trailers

25. • Rails

26. V. Ropeways and cableways

27. VI. Pipelines

28. VI. Auxiliary equipments
o Weighing equipments

29. • Containers

30. • Pallet loader and unloader

31. • Ramps

32. • Dock boards

33. • Dock levellers

34. 20 Principles of Material Handling
1.The Planning Principle
– Large-scale material handling projects usually
require a team approach.
– Material handling planning considers every
move, every storage need, and any delay in
order to minimize production costs.
– The plan should reflect the strategic objectives
of the organization as well as the more
immediate needs.

35. 2.The systems principle: MH and storage activities
should be fully integrated to form a coordinated, operational
system that spans receiving, inspection, storage,
production, assembly, …, shipping, and the handling of
returns.
– Information flow and physical material flow
should be integrated and treated as concurrent
activities.
– Methods should be provided for easily
identifying materials and products, for
determining their location and status within
facilities and within the supply chain.

36. 3. Simplification principle
– simplify handling by reducing, eliminating, or
combining unnecessary movement and/or
equipment.
– Four questions to ask to simplify any job:
• Can this job be eliminated?
• If we can’t eliminate, can we combine movements to
reduce cost? (unit load concept)
• If we can’t eliminate or combine, can we rearrange the
operations to reduce the travel distance?
• If we can’t do any of the above, can we simplify?

37. 4. Gravity principle
– Utilize gravity to move material whenever
practical.
5.Space utilization principle
– The better we use our building cube, the
less space we need to buy or rent.
– Racks, mezzanines, and overhead
conveyors are a few examples that
promote this goal.

38. 6.Unit load principle
– Unit loads should be appropriately sized
and configured at each stage of the supply
chain.
– The most common unit load is the pallet
• cardboard pallets
• plastic pallets
• wooden pallets
• steel skids

39. 8.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.
– ASRS is a perfect example.

40. 10. Equipment selection principle
– Why? What? Where? When? How? Who?
– If we answer these questions about each
move, the solution will become evident.
11. The standardization principle
– standardize handling methods as well as types
and sizes of handling equipment
– too many sizes and brands of equipment results
in higher operational cost.
– A fewer sizes of carton will simplify the storage.

41. 12. The dead weight principle
– Try to reduce the ratio of equipment weight to
product weight. Don’t buy equipment that is
bigger than necessary.
– Reduce tare weight and save money.
13. The maintenance principle
– Plan for preventive maintenance and scheduled
repairs of all handling equipment.
– Pallets and storage facilities need repair too.
14. The capacity principle
– use handling equipment to help achieve desired
production capacity
– i.e. material handling equipment can help to
maximize production equipment utilization.