MATERIAL HANDLING

Definition

Material handling is the techniques to employed to move, transport, store or distribute

materials with or without the aid of mechanical appliances

Handling materials, which is a major activity in storehouses and stockyards, is a costly

operation and therefore the methods and equipment should be efficient. As in many other
aspects of storekeeping, the approach depends on the nature of the business, the kind of stock
carried and the size of the accommodation.

Material handling and efficiency

Material handling equipment is used to increase output, control costs, and maximize
productivity. There are several ways to determine if the material-handling equipment is
achieving peak efficiency.

These include capturing all relevant data related to the warehouse’s operation, measuring
how many times an item is “touched” from the time it is ordered until it leaves the building,
making sure you are using the proper picking technology, and keeping system downtime to a
minimum. A special analytical data-set known as Stock-keeping units (SKUs) has been
devised to aid analysis of materials handling, which is obviously less efficient when a
material asset is handled any more than a minimally necessary number of times.

Benefits of proper Materials Handling

Carefully planned and operated materials- handling policies can result in the following
benefits

1. Reduced handling costs

2. Greater economy in use of space ( through higher storage density)
3. Reduced risk of damage to stocks
4. Reduced labour requirement
5. Less fatigue
6. Increased safety

Basic Consideration

Variety of factors affecting the handling of materials makes it very difficult to enumerate
all the basic principles. Each problem must be examined on its own merits according to
the physical and financial circumstances prevailing in the organization concerned.

The following points should be considered when examining any stores handling problem

1. The position of the store

2. Handle-ability of the material
3. The case of manual handling
 4. The method of packaging incoming material
5. Economy of movement
6. The selection of suitable machines
7. The storehouse layout
8. Training of operators.

Different Types of Material Handling Equipment

Material handling equipment encompasses a diverse range of tools, vehicles, storage units,
appliances and accessories involved in transporting, storing, controlling, enumerating and
protecting products at any stage of manufacturing, distribution consumption or disposal.

Categories of Material Handling Equipment

 
The four main categories of material handling equipment include: storage, engineered
systems, industrial trucks and bulk material handling.
 
Storage and Handling Equipment
 
Storage equipment is usually limited to non-automated examples, which are grouped in with
engineered systems. Storage equipment is used to hold or buffer materials during
“downtimes,” or times when they are not being transported. These periods could refer to
temporary pauses during long-term transportation or long-term storage designed to allow the
buildup of stock. The majority of storage equipment refers to pallets, shelves or racks onto
which materials may be stacked in an orderly manner to await transportation or consumption.
Many companies have investigated increased efficiency possibilities in storage equipment by
designing proprietary packaging that allows materials or products of a certain type to
conserve space while in inventory.

Examples of storage and handling equipment include:

Pallets
A pallet is the structural foundation of a unit load which allows handling and storage
efficiencies. It may be used for both storage and transportation purposes. Difference between
pallets and other storage equipment is that pallets are not only used within the organization to
which they belong but are frequently provided to suppliers to make up deliveries into unit
load and are also sent out carrying goods to customers. This practice is growing and with it
comes a need for a degree of standardization so that pallets may be interchangeable within
reasonable limits, and may be handled without difficulty by suppliers, manufacturers
customers and transport organizations all using similar mechanical equipment
Pallet Rack

Pallet rack is a material handling storage aid system designed to store materials on pallets.
Although there are many varieties of pallet racking, all types allow for the storage of
palletized materials in horizontal row with multiple levels

Selective pallet rack is an example of storage and handling equipment.

Storage shelves

Shelves may be used for many purposes, but they are most suitable for storing packaged
items, for example, small boxes of components, screws, ball bearing, tins of paint, fills etc

Shelf in the modern logistics activities, plays an important role in warehouse management to
achieve modernization,

The role and function of the shelf has the following aspects:

(1) shelf is a frame structure, can take full advantage of warehouse space, improve storage
capacity utilization, expanding the warehouse storage capacity.

(2) into the shelves of goods, and do not squeeze, material loss, can complete their functions
to ensure supplies and reduce the loss of the goods.

(3) Many new shelf structure and function is conducive to mechanization and automation of
storage management.
Bins
Metal or plastic bins are convenient for some stores, particularly loose components. They can
be made in various sizes, provided with handles and label holders and fitted into shelves
especially designed for the purpose. This type of equipment is particularly suitable for
random storage.

Drawer bin cabinet

Engineered Systems
 
Engineered systems cover a variety of units that work cohesively to enable storage and
transportation. They are often automated. A good example of an engineered system is an
Automated Storage and Retrieval System, often abbreviated AS/RS, which is a large
automated organizational structure involving racks, aisles and shelves accessible by a
“shuttle” system of retrieval. The shuttle system is a mechanized cherry picker that can be
used by a worker or can perform fully automated functions to quickly locate a storage item’s
location and quickly retrieve it for other uses.

 
Example of engineered systems include:

Automatic Guided Vehicle

An automated guided vehicle or automatic guided vehicle (AGV) is a mobile robot that

follows markers or wires in the floor, or uses vision, magnets, or lasers for navigation. They
are most often used in industrial applications to move materials around a manufacturing
facility or warehouse

The introduction of robotics into the warehouse has meant that it is now possible to automate
warehouses containing a great variety of items of different shapes, weights and sizes.
An automatic storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) is a combination of equipment and
controls which handles, store and retrieves materials as needed, with precision, accuracy and
speed under a defined degree of automation. System vary from relatively simple, manually
controlled order picking machines operating in small storage structures to extremely large,
computer controlled storage/retrieval system totally integrated into a manufacturing and
distribution process.

Features of an Automated Warehouses

1. Automatic weighing of items on receipt or before issue

2. Automatic switching of incoming cartons from one ‘holding’ conveyor i.e a conveyor
on which goods are stocked) on to the next one available when the first one is full.
3. Automatic labelling of cartons
4. Identification of packages by photoelectric cell instruments which sense bar codes on
packages for different destination and switch them into the appropriate dispatch
conveyors by means of sorting levers or arms
The device can not only do this but arrangements can also be made for it to feed the
information into a computer at the same time.
5. Control panels with a facsimile of the warehouse showing by coloured lights the
position on each holding bank, receipts and issue dock and all intermediate conveyors.
6. Closed-circuit television by means of which the operator or operators controlling the
whole system can see what is going on at various key points.
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Robotic delivery systems

Types of conveyors
1. Fixed Path Conveying
Fixed path conveyances are advantages for periodic and continuous transport of material
between locations in warehouses and factories. They are also used to accumulate goods, store
packages, change elevations, and provide a continuous work surface on which progressive
assembly or processing can be performed.
Conveying systems Planning Criteria
  Product size and weight (or container characteristics if used).
 Distance
 Control requirements.
 Flow Rates.
 Obstructions and facility limitations.
 Human factors, including noise
 Environment.

2. Gravity Conveyors
These conveyors are the simplest and usually least expensive. They are useful where material
is moved for short distances and movement requirements are simple.
Three common types are chutes, skate wheels, and rollers. They are often used in conjunction
with powered systems. Pros and Cons are listed below
Advantages of Gravity Conveyors
 Excellent for elevation drops.
 Low initial and operating cost.
 Quieter operation than powered conveyors.
 Low maintenance
 Low profile.
 Easier to manually move products.
 Unlimited configurations allow use for wide range of product weight.
Disadvantages of Gravity Conveyors
 Less control of products on long runs, including failure to move once
stopped. NVENTORY
 Impractical for fragile products that are damaged by bumping or
crashing.
 Simulation and non-contact difficult.
 Tend to increase the work in progress.
 High pitch requirements.
 May require manual assistance.
3. Horizontal powered conveyors.
These are used to move material over moderate to long distances.
Live Roller
This type of conveyor is used for a variety of applications, loads, and environments, but they
area typically used for 30-50 [Link] loads in warehouses. They can provide brief periods of
product accumulation or dwell points. Live rollers can handle up to10,000lbs and can carry
irregular shaped containers. Live rollers are classified by their drive method, listed below.
Some disadvantages are containers:
Liver rollers are classified by their drive method, listed below some disadvantages are:
 Higher cost due to construction materials.
 Product slippage on rollers requires frequent tracking update and
diverter timing.
 Products cannot negotiate inclines over 7 degrees without manual
assistance.
 Power surges when accumulating on driving rollers; disrupting product
spacing.
4. Liver Roller Accumulation Conveyors.
These conveyors are used to regulate the flow of products into downstream operations by
providing a temporary buffer for excess products. Selection criteria depend on specific
applications. Proper product alignment is required when using accumulation conveyors.
Various releases are available, depending on conveyor speed. Three types of powered
accumulation conveyors
WAREHOUSING & INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
 Zero-pressure .The line pressure (horizontal pressure between products) is eliminated.
 Non-Contact. Products are always separated from each other.

5. Slider Bed/Roller Bed Conveyors

The slider bed consists of a moving belt operated across a steel support bed. The roller bed is
a belt supported by rollers. The slider bed is the least expensive powered conveyor, but
handles less loading than the roller bed. Roller beds require more power than live rollers. Belt
conveyors offer stable support, are used for heavy loads, and can be operated at high speeds.
The belt conveyors maintain product spacing to allow excellent material racking. These
conveyors are also used for inclines and declines of up to 30 degrees.
Belt conveyors are not used to accumulate products, but they can start and stop and they can
be used to remove products at the exist of an accumulator conveyor.
6. Roller Curves and belt Turn Conveyors
Curves and turns are used to change the direction of material flow. Roller curves are less
expensive than belt curves and they are the most common. They can be self powered or slave
driven. Belt curves are used to maintain product orientation and spacing. The flat surface also
allows handling of smaller, irregular sized products.
7. Sortation Conveyors
Sortation conveyors are used to identify packages, present packages to sortation equipment,
or sort packages to multiple locations.
8. Powered Overhead Conveyors
Powered overhead conveyors are used when system flexibility is desired or floor space is
congested because material flow paths are easily established and altered and obstructions are
minimized, enhancing freedom of movement. Additionally, drivers and other equipment are
offered some protection from the environment on the floor.
WAR
& INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
9. Vertical Conveyors
Vertical conveyors are used to lift or lower heavy loads between various levels in
intermittent-flow operations and where horizontal space is limited. Of the two vertical types,
the reciprocating is simpler, but the continuous supports a higher flow rate