Chp.

7
Material Handling

Chp. 7 Prof. Ankita Rastogi

 Introduction to Material Handling
➢ Material handling is a process that involves movement, protection, storage
and control of materials.

➢ Material handling system decides the speed of movement of goods, service

and information within organisation and between the seller and customer.

➢ It determines the company's response level to internal and external

customers requirement. Before product reaches to the final customer, it
passes through a series of handling processes.

➢ Around 15 to 20% of the cost of the product is spent on material

handling.
➢ Material handling is an important and specialised function of industrial
activity. Even though this activity does not add to the value of the product, it
is essential from the point of space and time utility (when and where it is
required)

➢ Material handling can be direct and indirect.

➢ For example in car manufacturing:

Direct is steel, rubber, plastic, aluminium.

Indirect is screws, bolts, disposable gloves, etc.

➢ Any avoidable amount spent on materials or any loss due to wastage of

material increases the cost of production.
 MATERIAL HANDLING DOES NOT ADD VALUE TO THE PRODUCT;
IT ONLY INCREASES ITS COST

The process of material handling involves:

1) Materials are transported from supplier to the plant.

2) Unloaded inputs are moved to storage spaces and stacked.

3) Stored inputs are moved to manufacturing location.

4) Semi-finished products are moved from one location to another within the
plant or from one to another outside processing unit.

5) Finished goods are moved to warehouses for packing/ stacking.

6) Finished goods are dispatched to customers.

Thus, material handling does not add value to the product; it only increases its
cost.
 Objectives of Material Handling
1) The basic objective are safe and timely movement of materials at designated
place when required. Maximum storage in minimum space at lowest possible
cost.

2) Reduction in cost of production: Efficient and effective material handling

equipment’s save time, reduces wastages and allows uninterrupted production
which results in reducing production cost.

3) Better utilisation of material handling equipment’s: Material handling

equipment's are very costly and requires preventive maintenance.

It is one type of capital expenditure, therefore it must be utilised to its full

capacity.

This is possible by using standard equipment's, regular maintenance and

equipment with multiple use, this helps to prevent breakdown and better use of
equipment's.
4) Better customer service: The basic aim of MH is to ensure regular flow of raw
materials to production unit and finished product to market at right time and price.
Customers are satisfied with delivery on time and goods in a usable condition.

5) Improve working condition: This objective relates to safety and security of

materials, machines and in particular of Human Resource working in the material
handling system.

The following suggestions are worth considering for safety of labour and
handling equipment's:

Avoid carrying heavy loads at a time, incorrect postures like bending, twisting or
standing for long time.

Train and educate workers to follow safety instructions to reduce stress and risk of
accidents.

Insist on using protective equipment such as safety goggles, gloves, safety shoes
Steel helmets, etc.
6) Better utilisation of warehousing space: Making optimum use of available
space (length, width and height) is a major objectives of material handling.

Measures suggested for better space utilisation:

Storing material correctly with the help of cranes, lift trucks, conveyor belts for
faster loading and unloading of goods.

Redesigning the warehousing layout to reduce wastage, improve safety and

security and minimise flow of material time between two or more operations.

Select suitable size and specification of handling equipment’s for handling heavy
material and hazardous or dangerous material.

7) Waste reduction: It means minimising damages to material during material

handling, making proper control over inflow and outflow of inventory, minimise
the distance between two operations and many more measures are recommended
for waste reduction.
 Principles of Material Handling
Unit Load Space
Principle Utilization
Principle
Ergonomic Systems
Principle Principle

Work
Principle Automation

Standardisation Environmental
Principle Principle

Principles Of
Material Life Cycle
Planning
Handling Cost
Principle
 There are 10 principles of MH:

1) Planning principle:

Material handling system should be designed after analysing needs and

performance objective of the organisation so that it help the organisation to
fulfil its needs and achieve its objectives.

2) Standardization principle:

Material handling methods, equipment's control and software should be

standardized as far as possible.

3) Work principle:

Material handling equipment should be such that human efforts gets reduced
to minimum without sacrificing productivity or level of service required for
operation.
4) Ergonomic principle:

Ergonomic principle states that human capabilities and limitations must be

recognised and material handling system should be designed in such a way that it
should be human friendly and the equipment should be such that it ensures safe and
effective operations.

5) Unit load principle:

A unit load is one that can be stored or moved as a single unit at one time. The size
of cartons or package should be in uniform which helps in easy handling.

6) Space utilisation principle:

The material handling system result in optimum utilisation of space of warehouse.

The focus should be on utilising the cubic space rather than floor space.

7) Systems principle: (software)

Material movement and storage activities should be fully integrated to form a proper
operational system which will result in less confusion and congestion in work.
8) Automation:

Material handling operations should be automated as far as possible as it will

result in improved operational efficiency, increased consistency, etc.

9) Environmental principle:

Environmental impact and energy consumption should be considered as

criteria when designing material handling system one should keep in mind its
adverse effect on environment and it should not create any damage to
environment.

10) Life cycle cost:

The cost of material handling should be analysed in advance and should

favour the organisation. The cost of material handling should prove
beneficial and economical for the company.
Systems of Material Handling

Mechanised
Manual system system

Semi-
automated Automated
system system
 Manual system:

• It is the simple, cheapest and most commonly used material handling system.

• The workload is solely dependent on the labour and he has to carry the
material from one place to another.

• Materials are moved by lifting, pushing, pulling and carrying.

• This method is time consuming and not suitable to carry large volume of
goods.

• In this method there are high chances of errors and damage to the goods.

Eg: Hand carts, Wire Bins, Small Pallets

Mechanised system:
• In this system, some aspects of manual system which was initially done by
labour are mechanised through the use of various material handling
equipment's.
• It involves both manual efforts as well as mechanised work. In mechanised
system human effort is lesser as compared to manual system.
• It has the capacity to carry huge loads and it is most suitable for large scale
operations. For implementing the system high initial cost is required and it
also requires power supply or fuel to run the system.
• Faster movement of material result in saving of time and increased accuracy.
Eg: Conveyor Belts, Cranes, Elevators, Forklift trucks, Towlines, Tow tractor
with trailers.
 Semi-automated system:
• This is a combination of mechanical and automated system. A part of the
mechanized system is substituted by automatic handling equipment.
• The mechanical part is done by regular devices like conveyor belts, Forklift
trucks, etc. Whereas automated function is done by:
• Sorting devices (used along with conveyors for sorting and classifying
material with the help of sorting code).
• Robotics: these are machines with microprocessors used for performing
programmed activity. robots are very useful in warehousing where it is risky
and life threatening to workers.
Eg: AGV’s, Sortation, Robotics, Live Racks
Automated system:
• It substitute human requirements with automation or human factor is
eliminated or restricted to certain areas.
• Computerisation is an essential aspect of automation.
• Automated systems are custom made, attract high investment, very specific
and require trained and experienced staff to operate.
• Automated system increases productivity, improve efficiency, enhance the
speed and accuracy, time saving, reduce accidents, efficient use of
equipment's etc.
 Equipment’s used for Material Handling
Types of material handling equipment’s
Fixed path
equipment’s
Fixed path equipment’s are those
equipment’s which move in a fixed
direction.
They move from a fixed point to a fixed
point and their root cannot be changed.
Eg: Conveyors, Elevators
Variable path
equipment’s
Variable path equipment’s are those
equipment’s which have no restrictions in
the direction of movement.
They can move in any desired direction.
Eg: Trucks, AGV
 Some of the material handling equipment’s are as follows:
(Refer Manan Prakashan txt bk )
🔰Storage handling equipment:

• Pallets

• Racks

• Drive through racks

• Drive in racks

• Flow-through racks

• Push back racks

 🔰 Transport Equipment’s
• Conveyors

• Belt conveyor

• Roller conveyor

• Chain conveyor

• Overhead conveyor
 🔰Cranes, lift and move

• Overhead cranes

• Bridge cranes

• Jib cranes

• Gantry cranes
 🔰 industrial trucks (for Transport)

• Hand truck

• Dolly truck

• Floor hand truck

• Pallet trucks

• Walkie stacker

• Forklift trucks

• Automated guided vehicle (AGV)

 🔰 Identification and control equipment’s

• Barcodes

• Magnetic stripe card

• RFID

🔰Automated storage and retrieval system AS/AR system

Factors affecting selection of material handling
equipment’s
❖ Frequency of material movement:

It refers to the number of time materials are to be moved from one place to
another. In case of lower frequency; manual system should be used. In case
of higher frequency; mechanised automated material handling system should
be used.

❖ Distance of material movement:

It refers to the distance between origin and destination of material movement.

Distance depends upon various factors such as size of warehouse,
manufacturing process, distance between order picking and packaging etc. If
the distance is lower; manual system can be used. If the distance is higher;
mechanised or automated material handling system should be used.
❖ Quantity of materials:

If the quantity of material to be transferred from one location to another is

lower manual system can be used but in case of higher quantity mechanised
or automated material handling system should be used.

❖ Time constraint:

If the time available for shifting material from one location to another is short
then mechanised or automated material handling system should be used. But
if the time available is more then manual system can be used.

❖ Cost:

Cost basically involves the initial investment and cost of maintenance. If the
organisation has cost constraints, then it should use manual system. But if
organisation is willing to spend more taking into consideration long term
advantages, then it should use mechanised or automated material handling
system.
❖ Engineering factors:

Selection of material handling equipment also depends on various engineering

factors such as size of warehouse, type of warehouse, floor size and condition,
heights of warehouse structural strength, etc.

❖ Compliance with safety standards:

Workers safety is a prime responsibility of the employer. Thus, selection of

equipment also depends on safety standards such as emergency stop, audio/visual
warnings, adequate guarding, etc.

❖ Low maintenance cost:

The cost of maintenance should be analysed in advance and it should prove

beneficial and economical for the company.

❖ After Sales Service:

The spare parts should be readily available in the market and after Sales Service
also plays an important role in selecting material handling equipment's.