MATERIAL HANDLING: PRINCIPLES &

EQUIPMENT DESCRIPTION
Definition of Material Handling:
“ Material Handling embraces all of the basic
operations involve in movement of bulk,
packaged, & individual products in semisolid
or solid state by means of machinery, & within
the limits of place of business”

By: MHI (Material Handling Institute)

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 OBJECTIVE OF MH
1. To increase efficiency of material flow by
ensuring availability of materials when &
where they needed
2. To reduce MH cost
3. To improve facilities utilization
4. To improve safety & working conditions
5. To facilitate mfg processes
6. To increase productivity
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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES
All Equipments in MH are classified in three
main types, i.e
1. Conveyors:
Conveyors are used for moving materials
continuously over a fixed path. Examples of
different conveyors are; roller, belt, & chute
conveyors

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
Belt conveyor Conveyor m/cs

Handconveyor Roller Conveyor

Hand Conveyor Roller Conveyor

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
1. Conveyors:
Advantage
1. Permits high capacity for moving large number of items
2. Their speed is adjustable
3. Handling combined with other activities such as processing & inspection is
possible
4. They are versatile & can be on floor or overhead
5. Temporary storage of loads b/w work station is possible (particularly
overhead conveyors)
6. Load transfer is automatic & does not require the assistance of many
operators
7. Straight line paths or aisles are not required
8. Utilization of the cube is feasible through the use of overhead conveyors

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
1. Conveyors:
Disadvantages:
1. They allow a fixed path, serving only limited areas
2. Bottlenecks can develop in the system
3. A breakdown in any part of the conveyor stops the
entire line
4. Since conveyors are fixed in position, they hinder
the movement of mobile equipment on the floor

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
2. Cranes & Hoists
Cranes & Hoists are items of overhead
equipment for moving loads intermittently
within a limited area. Bridge cranes, monorail
cranes, & hoists are examples of this basic
equipment type

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
2. Cranes & Hoists:
Bridge Crane

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
2. Cranes & Hoists:
Jib Cranes

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
2. Cranes & Hoists:
Monorail Cranes & Hoists

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
2. Cranes & Hoists
Advantages:
1. Lifting as well as transferring of material is possible
2. Interference with the work on the floor is minimized
3. Valuable floor space is saved for truck rather than
being utilized for installation of handling equipment
4. Such equipment is capable of handling heavy loads
5. Such equipment can be used for loading &
unloading of materials
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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
2.Cranes & Hoists
Disadvantages:
1. They require heavy investment (especially bridge cranes)
2. They serve a limited area
3. Some cranes move only in straight line & thus can not make turns
4. Utilization may not be as high as desirable since cranes are used
only for a short time during daily work
5. An operator has to be available for operating some types, such as
bridge cranes
Applications:
Shipyards & heavy equipment production facilities

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
3. Trucks
Hand or Powered Trucks move loads over
varying paths Examples of such Trucks
include Lift Trucks, Fork Trucks, Trailer Trains,
& Automated Guided Vehicles

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
3. Trucks
Lift Trucks:

lec # 21 & 22 14
 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
3. Trucks
Hand Trucks:

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
3. Trucks
Fork Trucks:

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
3. Trucks
Trailer Trains:

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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
3. Trucks
AGVs:

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 PRINCIPLES OF MH
 There are no definite rules that can be followed
for achieving a successful material –handling
system.
 There are, however, several guidelines that can
result in reducing the system cost & in enhancing
efficiency
 These guidelines are known as Principles of
Material Handling
 There are 20 Principle of Material Handling
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 PRINCIPLES OF MH (Cont..)
1. Planning: Plan all MH & Storage activities to obtain
maximum overall operating efficiency
2. System Flow: Integrate as many handling activities as is
practical into a coordinated system of operations covering
vendor, receiving, storage, production, inspection,
packaging, warehousing, shipping, transportation, &
customer

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 PRINCIPLES OF MH (Cont..)
3. Material Flow: Provide an operation sequence & equipment
layout optimizing material flow
4. Simplification: Simplify handling by reducing, eliminating, or
combining unnecessary movements &/or equipment
5. Gravity: Use gravity to material handling whenever practical
6. Space Utilization: Make optimum utilization of the building cube
7. Unit Size: Increase the quantity, size or weight of unit loads or
flow rate
8. Mechanization: Mechanize handling operations
9. Automation: Provide automation to include production, handling
& storage functions

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 PRINCIPLES OF MH (Cont..)
10. Equipment Selection: In selecting handling equipment,
consider all aspects of the material handled, the movement, &
the method to be used
11.Standardization: Standardize handling methods as well as
type & sizes of handling equipment
12. Adaptability: Use methods & equipment that can best
perform a variety of tasks & applications when special-
purpose equipment is not justified
13. Dead Weight: Reduce the ratio of dead weight of mobile
handling equipment to load carried
14.Utilization: Plan for optimum utilization of handling
equipment & manpower

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 PRINCIPLES OF MH (Cont..)
15. Maintenance: Plan for preventive maintenance & schedule
repairs of all handling equipments
16. Obsolescence: Replace obsolete handling methods & equipment
when more efficient methods of equipment will improve
operations
17. Control: Use material Handling activities to improve control of
production, inventory & order handling
18. Capacity: Use handling equipment to help achieve the desired
production capacity
19. Performance: Determine the effectiveness of handling
performance in terms of expense per unit handled
20. Safety: Provide suitable methods & equipment for safe handling

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 IMPORTANCE OF MATERIAL
HANDLING:
Importance of material handling can be studied under following aspects.
• Movement: It is associated with the transfer of goods into and out of
storage facilities or within these facilities. Efficiency of material handling
can be achieved by efficient transfer of goods to, from and within the
storage facility.
• Time: Aspect of time can be studied from production and customer's
perspectives. In case of production, it refers to the time required for
bringing the raw materials to the production site. Efficiency is said to have
been achieved, if it has to encounter problems of work stoppage, higher
inventories and increased space of storage.
• Quantity: Quantity refers to the amount of raw materials/finished
goods transferred from/to an organization. It accurate estimation
results in delivering right product to the right customer at the right
time in right quantity.
• Space: Space refers to the warehouse/plant capacity used by the
material handling equipment. Such space will be fixed. However,
efficiency of operations can be achieved by efficiently utilizing this
space.
 OBJECTIVES OF MATERIAL HANDLING:
1. Increased usage capacity: It is mainly focused to increase the effective
usage capacity of a warehouse. Both horizontal and vertical capacities of a
warehouse needs to be utilized in an efficient manner, such that the firm
must achieve both economies of scale and scope.
2. To minimize Aisle Space: 'Aisle space' refers to a passage present between
the rows of shelves. If materials are handled with care, this can be reduced
to a great extent so as to accommodate more quantity of materials than
they have been used to do it before.
3. Reduces Handling Frequency: In case of logistics management, materials
initially move from the source to the warehouse, then they can be
transferred to an order selection areas where they can be picked up and
made into orders and then finally, to their shipment areas where they are
ready for final consumption by the customers. During all these stages,
several unnecessary movements of goods can be practiced by a firm which
has to be avoided in order to enhance the operational efficiency of ware-
house. Thus, firms should design material handling system
4. Develops Effective Working Conditions:
It focuses mainly on the development of secure and safe working
environment where employees develop s sense of safety while working in
an organization.
5)Automated Movement: Automated material handling system reduces the
Burdon of manual labor by combining them with automated systems, because
there are certain areas where operations cannot be performed with out making
use manual labors. The best example might be the activities associated with
the order picking area. Hence, an organization needs to develop an
environment in such a way that it would stimulate people to perform the job
efficiently.
6 )Improved Logistics Service: It helps in improving the efficiency of logistics
system by effectively fulfilling the customer requirements. It is responsible for
the conveyance of goods to customers on time and in proper quantities. Due
to efficient movement of goods into warehouse or properly locating the stock
or by accurately filling the orders and also by properly preparing orders for
shipment to customers, material handling forms a crucial component of an
outbound logistics. This objective is greatly emphasized by the logistics
manager which makes him to strive hard to ensure that the customer's orders
and the production requirements are responded and met quickly and
efficiently.
7) Eliminating short-distance warehouse movements
8) Minimizes Cost: By incorporating flexible material handling within the
 FUNCTIONS OF MATERIAL HANDLING

1. It selects the type of machine, equipment and plant layout, so

that the material handling requirements can be
minimized.
2. It includes the choice of convenient, effective and protected
material handling equipment.
3. It helps in reducing the material handling cost by considering the
following..
4. minimum movement of semi finished products during the
manufacturing.
5. Planning of movement of number of parts under one unit
6. Minimizing the travelling distance between the departments.
7. By increasing operational speed of handling through
mechanization.
8. Removing backtracking and duplicate handling.
9. use of gravity for material handling.
 CHARSCTERISTICS /FEATURES OF MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT:

• A) Materials
(i)Bulk ( in huge quantity)
(ii)Packaged
• B) Movement of materials
(i) In horizontal direction
(ii)In vertical direction
(iii)Both horizontal & vertical direction
• C) Supervision required for an equipment
(I). More
(ii)Less
(iii)Automatic or semi-automatic type
• D) Path to be followed for materials
(I)Variable
(ii)Flexible
(iii)Fixed area
• E) Mode of speed
(i). Variable
(ii)Fixed
(iii)Fixed or variable
• F) Source of power for the operation of an equipment.
(I) Electric. Power
(ii). Power from. I.C engine
(iii)Manual power
(iv)Gravity power
 VARIOUS TYPES OF MATERIAL HANDLING
1. Design features: According to design they are Ecal QsfiUed aIsPMENTS
1. Hoisting equipment
2. conveying equipment
3. surface and overhead equipment.
2. Nature and type of work: Equipments used for the movement and storage of materials at site are classified as
1. transporting equipments such as industrial trucks, cranes, conveyors.
2. Positioning equipments such as hoists, lifts, parts feeder, levelers etc.
3. Unit load formation equipments such as pallets, bags, crates, tote pans, cartoons etc.
4. storage equipments such as storage carousel, sliding racks, pallet racks, mezzanine etc.
5. Identification and control equipments such as magnetic stripe, bar codes, radio frequency tag, machine vision etc.
3.Working area: In this category, equipments are classified as
1. Unrestricted Area: equipments such as trucks, tractors, carts etc.., which are restricted to move in any direction.
2.Restricted Area: Equipments such as gantry cranes, overhead travelling cranes and stacker cranes, which are confined to
working area.
3.Line Restricted: Equipments such as lifts and elevators, conveyors, AGV's etc .. Which follows a continuous specified path for
transportation of materials.
4. Position Restricted: Equipments such as job cranes and other industrial robots which are fixed units and works in specified
areas from its position.
5. Auxiliary Equipments: Equipments used to improve the effectiveness of handling such as unit load carriers, dispatch
Equipments, assembling and securing Equipments.
4.Movement or Motion of Materials: According to path of move the equipments are classified as,
1. Vertical motion (for lifting and lowering)
2. Horizontal motion (for transportation)
3. combined horizontal and vertical motion
 MERITS/ADVANTAGES OF MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS

• It reduces the time required for handling the materials

• Reduction in material handling & indirect labor cost.
• Improvement on productivity
• Better usage of floor space & facility
• Least fatigue to the worker
• Improved work environment
• Reduction in bottle necks
• Greater flexibility
• Improvement in safety & reduction in accidents.
• Improved material flow ( Less back tracking
• It promotes a protected and clean material handling without any difficulty.
• it eliminates the idle time of workers and machines.
• Increases the flow rate of materials from one workstation to another..
• material handling is a secured process.
• Compact and better stocking of materials in good location available in
plant.
VARIOUS COST CONSIDERATIONS IN MATERIAL HANDLING

i. Initial cost of equipment

ii. Installation cost
iii. Operating cost
iv. Cost of suppliers, repairs, maintenance etc.
v. Depreciation cost.
vi. Taxes and insurance cost
vii. Obsolescence cost.
vii. Auxiliary equipment cost.
ix. License cost
x. interest on investment cost.
XI Rental of space.
xi. Probable salvage cost
 FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHILE SELECTING
MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT.

• The plant lay out (product and process layout)

• The type of process (either continuous or intermittent flow process )
• The sequence of operations to be performed for product.
• Type of process ( is it batch or JIT process)
• The plant building construction details
• The existing material handling equipments.
• The final cost of product.
• The physical & chemical properties of the material to be handled.
• The flexibility, reliability, speed and efficiency of material handling
equipment.
• The noise of machines and exhaust gases of material handling
equipment.
• The future costs of handling equipments maintenance & running
costs.
• The depreciation rate of equipment.
• The safety of employees during the material handling.
 HOW MATERIAL HANDLING IS RELATED TO PLANT LAYOUT

It has been observed that plant layout is closely interrelated to material

handling system, as good layout provides the minimum rate of material
handling and eliminate re-handling. The material handling parameters to
be considered in designing plant layout are
1. Excess movement of materials: Can cause damage to materials and effects the valuable time of
workers in shifting the materials. Hence a well planned plant layout reduces the material handling
2. Time Utilization: Saving the worker's productive time by providing a good plant layout, enhances an
effective production. Plant layout should have minimum workman travel and clearly identified well-
named functional areas, distinct areas for raw materials, tools, work-in-process, inspection of finished
goods, et .
3. Economical use of Space: An important perception in plant layout is space. All the machines and
equipments have to be arranged in sequential and well-planned manner such that , no empty space
should be wasted. There should be a possibility of optimum choice of expansion in future.
4. Use of Miscellaneous Tools: The effective utilization of bins, trolleys, racks, trays, conventional
packing techniques, conveyors, chutes, inclined planes and gravity feed-bins reduce material
backtracking and unnecessary movement of workers. Thus effectiveness in manufacturing can be
obtained.
Therefore, a good plant layout provides an effective material handling. System which ensures
minimum material handling.
 DIFFERENT TYPES MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATED WITH DIFFERENT
PLANT LAYOUTS

• The different types of material handling equipment associated with different plant layouts are
• 1. Cranes, hoists,
• Industrial truck  Fixed position layout
•
• 2. Hand trucks, forklift,
• trucks. Automated trucks  Process Layout
• AGV's.
•
• 3. Conveyors.  Product layout
• 1.1.Cranes and Hoists: Cranes are used lowering, lifting and transporting heavy loads in a factory.
Provided with one or more hoists which can be used as a load lifting component with the help of pulley
wrapped with ropes or chains or cables. A hook is attached at the end of rope or chain or cables.
• 1.2 Powered industrial trucks are also used for transferring palletized loads, palletized container in a
factory.
• 2.1 Hand and Forklift Trucks: Hand trucks and forklift trucks are used for moving pallet loads or parts in
a factory.
• 2.2 AGV's: Automated guided vehicles are widely used for moving work-in-process materials along the
specified path in low and medium quantity production.
• 3 Conveyors: Mono-rails and other rail guided vehicles are used for moving single assemblies, products
or pallet loads along defined routes in a factory and also for moving large quanties of products over
a fixed routes.
CLASSIFICATION OF BASIC MATERIAL HANDLING
SYSTEMS:
1. EQUIPMENT ORIENTED SYSTEM:

• Over head system

• Conveyor system
• Tractor trailer system
• Fork lift truck and pallet system.
• Industrial truck system
• Under ground system.
 2.0 MATERIAL ORIENTED SYSTEM:
• Unit material handling system.
• Bulk handling system.
• Liquid handling system.
 METHOD ORIENTED SYSTEM

• Manual system
• Mechanized or Automated
system.
• Job shop handling
• Mass production handling system.
 4. FUNCTION ORIENTED SYSTEM
• Transportation devices, Trucks
• Conveying systems
• Transferring system
• Elevating system.
5a: FIXED PATH ORIENTED SYSTEM
• Conveyor
• Hoists
• Lift
• Crane
• Pallets
 .
5b: VARIABLE PATH ORIENTED SYSTEM

• Tractors
• Trucks
• Railways
• Aircraft
• Water
• DIFFERENT ACCIDENTS ENCOUNTERED BY FORK LIFT
TRUCK
• i. Loads being dropped/pushed onto employees.
• ii. Overturning of trucks.
• iii. Collision with static elements or knocking them on other
employees.
• iv. Employees being hit by the FLT
• v. Trapping injuries.
• Causes of Accidents by Forklift Truck
• Operators fault.
• Instability of load caused by shift in the centre of gravity.
• Using trucks for unsuitable premises.
• Lack of clear visibility.
• Due to insufficient skills of drivers and other employees working in
the regions where FLT is being used.
• Due to poor communication among employees working in that
area.
• Due to improper layout and markings on the premises.
• Inadequate ventilation and battery charging.
• Lack of maintenance of FLT
• using FLT for unsuited tasks.
• Due to over speed of trucks with heavy loads.
 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
3. Trucks
Advantages:
• They are not require to follow a fixed path of movement
& therefore can be used any where on the floor where
space permits
• They are capable of loading, unloading, & lifting, in
addition to transferring material
• Because of their unrestricted mobility, which allows
them to serve different areas, trucks can achieve high
utilization
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 MH EQUIPMENT TYPES (Cont..)
3. Trucks
Disadvantages:
• They cannot handle heavy loads
• They limited capacity per trip
• Aisles are require; other wise the trucks will interfere
with the work on the floor
• Most trucks have to be driven by an operator
• Trucks do not allow handling to be combined with
processing & inspection, as other type of eqpt do
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 DEGREE OF MACHANIZATION IN MH

• A MH System can be completely manual or

fully automated;
• Different degrees of mechanization also exist
between these two extrems
• Level of Mechanization in MH System is
classified with respect of Source of power for
handling, degree of human involvement &
computers in operating the eqpt

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DEGREE OF MACHANIZATION IN MH (Cont..)
Level of Mechanization can be classified as:
1. Manual & Dependent on Physical Effort:
This level also includes manually driven equipment such as hand
truck
2. Mechanized:
Power instead of physical effort is used for driving the eqpt. Some
trucks, conveyors, & cranes fall into this level. Here operators are
needed for operating the eqpt as opposed providing the power
3. Mechanized Complemented with Computers:
It is an extension of 2nd level
The function of the computers is to generate documents specifying
the Moves & Operations

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DEGREE OF MACHANIZATION IN MH (Cont..)

Level of Mechanization can be classified as:

4. Automated:
Minimum human intervention is used for driving &
operating the eqpt, & most of these functions are
performed by computers.
Examples includes Conveyors, AGVs, & AS/RS
The equipment usually receives instructions form key
boards, pushbuttons, & tape or card readers

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 DEGREE OF MACHANIZATION IN MH (Cont..)

Level of Mechanization can be classified as:

5. Fully Automated:
This level is similar to the 4th level, but computers
perform the additional task of on-line control, thus
eliminating the need for human intervention
The cost & complexity of designing the system
increases as the degree of mechanization
increases. However, efficiency of operations &
labor savings can result
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 UNIT LOAD CONCEPT
Unit Load:
“ It is defined as number of items arranged such
that they can be handled as a single object”
Unit load can be accomplished by:
1. Palletization: It is assembling & Securing of
individual items on a platform that can be
moved by a truck or a crane

Palllet
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 UNIT LOAD CONCEPT (Cont..)
Unit load can be accomplished by:
2. Unitization: It is also the assembling of goods,
but as one compact load. Unlike Palletization
additional materials are used for packaging &
wrapping the items as a complete unit

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 UNIT LOAD CONCEPT (Cont..)
Unit load can be accomplished by:
3. Containerization: It is assembling of items in a
box or a bin. It is most suitable for use with
conveyors, especially for small items

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 UNIT LOAD CONCEPT (Cont..)
• In general, the factors that influence the
solution of the unit load type are the weight,
size, & shape of the material; compatibility
with the material handling equipment; cost of
the unit load; & the additional functions
provided by the unit load stacking &
protection of material

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ERGONOMICS OF MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENTS
• Ergonomics: Ergonomics is defined as the science
which deals with the study of work. It is also
concerned with the design of working systems.
Ergonomics relates or involves the man, machine
and environment in order to increase the efficiency
and productivity of the system.
HOW COST OF MATERIAL HANDLING DECREASES BY
IMPROVING THE MATERIAL HANDLING
TECHNIQUES:
i. Better utilization of space.
ii. Reducing material handling labour
iii. Minimizing the damage of material during material handling.
iv. Material handling should not be handled by skilled or semi-skilled
labour.
v. Reduction in process storage
vi Indirect labour expenses should be minimized on activities such as
quality control, storage inspection, shipping, tool room, repairing,
etc.
vii. Increasing the rate of production.
viii. Decreasing the inventory.
ix. Minimizing the cost on packing and other protective devices.
i. Load utilization: In load unitization, material handling must consider a
fundamental principle which states that the economy (earnings) of material
handling is directly influenced by the size of load handled. Put simply, it is
directly proportional to the number of trips ie., as the number of trips
increases, more number of labour is required to unload it which in turn
increases the cost of stacking. Hence, an entire process can be made
economical by reducing the number of trips for materials handling one of
the best method is by consolidating the small packages to form a single
load which is termed as load unitization. pelletization and containerization
are used for the accomplishment of a unit load.
• Pelletization: A pallet or a skid is a wooden platform usually
used for stacking goods during transportation and storage. It is
highly economically to keep the manufactured goods in the
form of stocks until the order fulfillment requires bulk
breaking . pelletization is also useful in optimal utilization of
space optimal utilization space and load unitization.
PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN ERGONOMIC FOR DESIGNING WORK
SYSTEM.
• work task
• work equipment
• work process
• work space
• work environment
• work stress
• work strain
• Work fatigue.
• TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR SAFETY OF MATERIAL
HANDLING EMPLOYEES
• Proper material lifting techniques for manual handling.
• The employees must be aware of different equipments available
for
material handling.
• Proper terminology of different equipments.
• The various operating procedures for different types of material
handling
equipments.
• Listing of different codes with respect to the corresponding
equipment.
• Different rules and regulation pertaining to specific types of
material handling equipment.
• Inspection of the equipment at regular interval.
• Proper work practice for handling and the use of safety devices.
•