ISE 312 Chapter 8 (Sule) Material Handling: Principles & Equipment Description
Spring Semester
Two Primary Reasons for study & careful planning of a material-handling system (MHS)
1. Material Handling costs are a large portion of production costs
2. Material Handling costs impacts the operation & design of a facility
Objectives
> Increase Throughput
> Decrease Inventory
> Decrease Operating Expense
Reducing Production Costs through efficient handling
> To increase the efficiency of material flow by ensuring the availability of material when
& where they are needed.
> To reduce the material handling cost.
> To improve facility utilization.
> To improve safety and working conditions
> To facilitate the manufacturing process.
> To increase productivity
Principles Of Material Handling:
1. Planning Plan all material-handling & 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.
3. Material Flow Provide an operation sequence & equipment layout optimizing material flow.
4. Simplification Simplify handling by reducing, eliminating, or combining unnecessary movements
and/or equipment.
5. Gravity Use gravity to move material 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, and storage functions.
10. Equipment In selecting handling equipment, consider all aspects of the material handled, the
movement, and the method to be used.
11. Standardization Standardize handling methods as well as type and 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.
ISE 312 Chapter 8 (Sule) Material Handling: Principles & Equipment Description
Spring Semester
14. Utilization Plan for optimum utilization of handling equipment & manpower.
15. Maintenance Plan for preventive maintenance & scheduled repairs of all handling equipment.
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, and
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.
Degrees of Mechanization:
1. Manual and dependent on physical effort (includes hand trucks)
2. Mechanized (power is used for driving)
3. Mechanized complemented with computers (extension of above with computers generating directions)
4. Automated (Minimal human intervention)
5. Fully Automated (computers perform on-line control)
Unit Load Concept:
Definition – a unit load the number of items arranged such that they can be handled as a single object.
Advantages:
> Move large quantities
> Cost per piece for movement is low
> Reduced frequency of moves
> Supports stacking of materials – better cubic space utilization
> Greater speed in loading and unloading the unit load
> Protection against damage
Disadvantages:
> Conflict with large unit loads and JIT
> Container handling – return, recycle, or waste
> Extra effort to load container and unload
Main Material-Handling Costs For Design & Operating MH Systems:
> Equipment: cost to purchase equipment & to install.
> Operating: cost to maintain, fuel, and operate. (Includes labor wages & injury compensation).
> Unit purchase: cost associated with purchasing the pallets & containers.
> Packaging
> Damage
> Money Invested
> Computer support systems
ISE 312 Chapter 8 (Sule) Material Handling: Principles & Equipment Description
Spring Semester
Productivity Ratios:
Material-Handling-Labor Ratio
MHL = Personnel assigned to MH / Total operating personnel
Aisle Space Percentage
ASP = Space occupied by aisles / Total space
Movement/Operation Ratio
MO = number of moves / number of productive operations
Damaged Loads Ratio
DL = number of damaged loads / Total number of loads
Relationship between Material Handling & Plant Layout
Common Objectives:
1. Effect on space
2. Flow pattern
Plant Layout analyzes the equipment & associated costs in order to locate the departments that will minimize the total material handling cost. MHS design analyses the plant layout for move length & move time.
Source & Destinations. Equipment ordered to meet these conditions. (Solve & modify until satisfactory design is found that meets objectives).
Material-Handling Equipment Main Types:
> Conveyors
> Cranes
> Trucks
Equipment Types:
Conveyors: Belt, Roller, Chute, Slat, Screw, Chain, Overhead Monorail, Trolley, Wheel, Tow, Bucket, Cart-on-track, Pneumatic tube
Cranes: Hoists, Overhead Cranes, Hydraulic Scissors lift
Trucks: Handcart, Tier platform, Hand lift, pallet jack, Power Driven hand truck, Forklift,
Material lift, Narrow-aisle, Tractor-trailer train, Drum lifter, Dolly,
Automated Guided Vehicle System
(Advantages/Disadvantages):
Conveyors: Moves large number of items, Combine operations (inspection), Temp storage,
Fixed path, breakdowns stop system, hinder movement of mobile equipment
Cranes Hoists: Space is saved, Heavy load, lifted
High investment, limited area, straight line, operator to run
Trucks/Carts: Serve different areas, lift, load, unload
Cannot handle real heavy loads, limited capacity, aisles, most driven, no combining
Screw Conveyor: Large spiral or screw contained in a channel or tube. Rotation moves part along path.
Slat Conveyor: Moving surface made up of slats
Chute Conveyor: Slide (metal) guides materials
Chain conveyor: endless chain directly carrying loads
Monorail: overhead track with trolleys & hooks (can be closed loop)
1