CHAPTER 3

THE EFFECTS OF FLOW AND

MOVEMENT ON PLANT OUTPUT
 1. WORKFLOW AND MATERIAL
MOVEMENT
• Warehouses, factories, banks, hospitals, etc., all have a common
requirement: in order to operate most efficiently they require an
orderly flow of materials-regardless of the fact that the materials
may be orders to be filled, food to be prepared and served.
• Today, these same, large mail-order houses now employ sortation
systems and, in some instances, have even installed computer-
operated stacker crane retrieval systems in order to improve the
control of merchandise moving into and out of storage.
• By providing an orderly flow of materials through a system it is
possible to avoid one of the common errors of material handling,
namely, back-hauling or the back-tracking of materials. This
simply means that once material has passed through an
operation it maintains its direction and does not retrace its path.
 What is material flow?
• The material flow is the most important factor in a
production company because products are created from
materials. Only if the products are sold can the factory
cover its costs. Therefore, it is imperative to move the
material between the appropriate steps of the value
chain directly and as quickly as possible.
•The material flow is a sequence of processes ranging from
the extraction of raw material via its processing,
reprocessing and machining up to the finished product and
delivery to the end consumer.
•Material flow, a model used in supply chain management,
represents the transportation of raw materials, parts, work-
in-progress inventory, and final products as a flow; flow is
how work progresses through a system
The path materials take
through a plant or
process can be shown
on a flowchart and floor
plan. These show not
only distances and
destinations, but also
time required, loads,
and other information to
suggest which type of
handling equipment will
be needed.
Straight – line flow in a plant
Back-tracking in a plant
 2. CONDUCTING A PLANT MATERIALS
HANDLING
The following 16 areas in materials handling
1) General Materials Handling
- Do aisles permit easy passage of MH equipment?
- Are aisles adequately marked?
- Are any aisles blocked?
- Are safe operating speeds of MH equipment practiced?
- Do intersecting aisles permit easy passage of equipment?
- Is there interference with MH equipment and walking
traffic?
- Does good housekeeping prevail?
- What is the condition of floors: - in working aisles? – In
main aisles? – Around machinery?
2) Manufacturing MH
- Is the handling of materials by direct labor held to a
minimum?
- Is there an adequate supply of materials at the
workplace?
- Are materials delivered to and removed from the
workplace without interruption in the work cycle?
- Is there good use of mechanical devices for loading,
and unloading machines?
- Are waste materials removed from the workplace
without interruption in the work cycle?
- Are department in-process storage areas: adequate?
Excessive?
- Are methods employed to load and unload the
following systems adequate: Washing and cleaning?
Painting? Heat treating? Shot blast?
- Are materials readily accessible to: assemblers?
machine operators?
- Is there good utilization of racks for storage of
materials on the assembly line or in the assembly area?
- Are subcomponents conveniently and effectively
located and arranged in relation to the assembly area?
- Are containers matched to materials storage?
- Are line shortages held to a minimum?
3) Warehousing MH
• Are racks properly designed for pallet and
container dimensions?
• Are racks components standardized?
• Are there designated locations in the warehouse
area for incoming and outgoing materials?
• Are there staging areas: adequate? Excessive?
• Is a locator system used for storing materials?
• Are misallocated materials held to a minimum?
• Are there written operating procedures for
the warehousing functions?
• Are fixtures stored and located properly?
• How much attention is given to fixture
purging, obsolescence, repair, preservation?
• Is MH equipment effectively used within the
warehouse operation?
• Are special racks used for high-volume part?
• Is there effective use made of tote boxes,
pallet racks, bins, etc.?
4) Packaging MH
• Does the plant have a packaging engineer?
• Does he effectively perform the in-plant functions of a
packaging engineer?
• Does he communicate with other plant packaging
engineers effectively?
• Is the unit load concept in effect within the materials
handling operation?
• If so, are the unit loads properly designed for use through
the entire manufacturing cycle?
• Have plant packaging and shipping guidelines been
established?
• What percent effectiveness in terms of supplier
cooperation has been achieved with these guidelines?
• Are unit loads identified correctly?
• Are packaging materials being recycled?
• How much dunnage is being incinerated, or
otherwise disposed of, that could be recycled?
• Is blocking and bracing of outgoing shipments being
performed effectively?
• Does the packaging take into consideration the unit
of issue, and is it possible to obtain modular units?
5) MH Equipment
• Does this facility maintain an up-to-date MH equipment
list?
• If yes, does the listing contain: (i) Equipment number?
(ii) Manufacturer? (iii) Year purchased? (iv) Equipment
specification? (v) Area assigned? (vi) Probable
replacement date? (vii) Initial cost? (viii) Attachments
added? (ix) Total dollar value of fleet?
• How precise are maintenance cost records, and how
effectively is cost control practiced? How precise is cost
per hour of operation for each vehicle?
• How well is the scheduled preventive maintenance (PM)
program working at this facility?
• Is the maintenance area(s) adequate?
• Is breakdown maintenance the only or main type of
maintenance
• performed?
• Is a daily operators checklist required to be completed by
each operator?
• If yes, is a reasonably effective control established to see
whether there is compliance?
• In general, is the proper MH equipment used to perform
MH tasks?
• Is MH equipment standardized throughout the plant?
• Are hour meters being used effectively?
• Is MH equipment being properly utilized through the use
of hour meter readings?
• Are material movements planned so that forklift
equipment travel is less than 300 feet per carry?
• Is standby/exchange equipment available?
• Are standby/exchange units color-coded according to a
standard?
• Are standby/exchange units properly exchanged for
PM purposes?
• Are mobile materials handling equipment units
assigned to the operating units by the MH engineer?
• Are MH equipment forecasts made sufficiently in
advance to avoid fiscal (not forecasted) Problems?
• Are replacement vehicles and equipment tied in with
add-on equipment?
6) MH Manpower Utilization
• Is there a manning table, or the equivalent, for
indirect labor functions in this facility?
• Is manual handling of materials held to a minimum?
• Is walking long distance for or with materials held
to minimum?
• Are "put and take" or mechanical manipulators used
for machine loading and unloading (or press
feeding) operations wherever possible?
• Do supervisors have control over the assigned labor
force?
• Is there a duplication of activities or assignments?
• Is the labor force assigned to a particular department
or work area in accordance with the work load?
• How much demurrage has been incurred during the
past 12months?
• Rate work pace for materials handling in this facility.
7) Shipping MH
• Is dock space adequate for handling materials?
• Are truck spots, dock plates, levelers, doors, or dock
lights adequate?
• Is shipping space congested, and do queuing
problems exist?
• Are blocking and bracing, and other shipping
materials, conveniently located to the shipping
floor.
• Can block and dunnage preparation be performed
more economically by a subcontractor or local
sheltered workshop?
• Are there idle employees awaiting job
assignments?
• Are shipping activities performed relatively close
to the last operations?
• In general, if snipping is performed in more than
one location at this
• facility, can physical locations be optimized?
8) Receiving MH
• Is there the least possible amount of hand unloading of
incoming materials?
• ls proper equipment used to handle incoming
materials?
• Is the space allocated for receiving adequate?
• Is there more than one major receiving area al this
facility? Can receiving locations be optimized?
• Are there idle employees awaiting job assignments?
• Are truck spots, dock plates, dock levelers, doors, or
dock lights adequate?
• Is receiving space congested, and do queuing
problems exist?
• Are dunnage and packaging material disposal problems
in evidence? Or does the facility have a systematized
method for handling trash?
• Is there much difficulty with supplier packing lists and
checking of materials?
• Are the inspection, quality, and receiving functions
properly coordinated?
9) Plant Layout – General
• What input does the materials handling engineer have in
planning new layouts or in revising existing layouts?
• Is a team approach used by the materials handling
engineer and the layout planner and processor in
developing new layouts?
9. Are work measurement studies made of existing
indirect labor methods before and after method
changes are made?
• Is there a layout detailing storage location
plantwide?
• When was the last survey made indicating how
much plant space was dedicated for storage?
(i) Less than one year ago?
(ii) Over one year ago?
• What possibilities exist for adding fixed path
handling equipment?
• Can layout changes be made to improve work flow?
10) Plant Layout – flow of Materials
• Has the flow of materials been planned?
• Does material flow in a straight line?
• Can back-hauling of materials be held to a minimum?
• Are aisles adequate to handle the flow of materials?
11) Plant Layout – Space Utilization
• Is there effective use of available floor space?
• Is there effective use of available cube?
• Are outside storage areas effectively used for material
storage?
• Is outside material stored adjacent to the point of use?
• Is outside storage material adequately protected?
• How much is spent on rust and corrosion removal?
• How much scrap, obsolescent material, or spoiled
inventory has been
• generated this past year because of unrotated stock?
12) Equipment Arrangement and Workplace
layout
• Are machines and equipment arranged for easy
delivery of material?
• Are machines and equipment arranged for
maximum operator
• efficiency?
• Are machines and equipment arranged to make full use
of machine capacity?
• If conveyors are used, are they at the proper height for
the operator?
• Does the operator have to bend into a container or tub?
Or can a tub tilter be used effectively?
• Can the operation be supplied by a hopper tub? Or
chute ?
• Can special trays or racks improve the efficiency of
operations of a particular activity or subsequent
operations either in this facility or interplant?
• Are machines arranged so that over-travel does not
extend into aisles or interfere with operators?
• Are machines and equipment arranged to permit
maximum flexibility for production changes?
• Is the work station arranged to hold the operator's
walking to a minimum?
• Is there adequate sit-down area for materials at the
workplace?
• Are materials placed as close to the operator as is safe?
Or, as is practical?
• Does the location of the supervisor permit overseeing
his area?
• What is the precision of piece counting, and what is its
effect on inventory, scheduling, and production control?
• Is good housekeeping practiced?
13) Planning
• Is there a materials handling plan? (i) Short range? (ii)
Long range?
• Is there layout planning? (i) Short range? (ii) Long
range?
• Do the plans establish goals and priorities utilizing
project planning techniques
14) Records and Report
• Are cost reduction savings monitored?
• ls there a procedure, or form, used for monitoring
savings?
• Are materials handling process reports required by this
plant's management? How often?
• Is there a lifting for total plant space and its
allocation by function, viz., manufacturing,
storage’ maintenance etc.?
• Is a monthly, quarterly, or yearly report issued to
management indicating the cost of maintaining
and operating MH equipment?
15) Materials Handling Awareness
• Does this plant have a designated materials
handling engineer (MHE)?
• Does he effectively perform the function of a
plant MHE?
• Does the materials Handling engineer review
all layouts as to their effect on all materials
handling activities?
• Is there integration and coordination
(exchange of information) between the
materials handling engineer and all other
manufacturing engineering functions,
materials control, product design,
maintenance, production control, inventory
control, purchasing, data processing, other
physical distribution operations, etc.?
• Are follow-up audits performed on all
materials handling and plant layout projects,
and is appropriate corrective action taken
when necessary?
• Is there an awareness of good materials
handling practice at all levels of management?
• Are industrial engineering techniques
employed in solving materials handling
problems?
16) Training
• Have materials handling line supervisors received
adequate classroom and on-the job training in the
functional responsibilities of their job?
• Have MH equipment operators received sufficient
and periodic training in the safe operation of their
equipment and job responsibilities?
• Is there a continuous program of in-house training to
improve the overall proficiency of materials handling
in the areas of supervisory and other staff personnel?
• Is there a training program for improving and/or
developing the techniques of layout Planning?