Course of MT- 362
Material Handling
Lecture 2
Overview of previous lecture
• MH definitions
• Historical background
• Importance and requirements of MH
• Advantages and disadvantages of MH
• Types of loads
Stages in Material Handling
• It is important to consider different
options for material management
• These options mainly depends on the
- Material
- Economy
- Equipment
- Resources (human)
The same can also be
written in the form:
Man
Money
Material
Machine
These options contributes towards
efficient transfer of material
Stages in Material Handling
• The material management group
should always ask these questions:
- Why?
- What?
- When? & Where?
- How?
– By whom?
Thus if material handling is
necessary, then material transfer
methods and equipment will be
advised accordingly
MH Classification
• MH classification by equipment type
• MH classification by method
MH Classification by Equipment Type
Overview of material handling equipment
-
Transport Equipment
•
-
Equipment used to move material from one location to
another (e.g., between workplaces, between a loading
dock and a storage area, etc.). The major subcategories
of transport equipment are conveyors, cranes and
industrial trucks. Material can also be transported
manually using no equipment
Positioning Equipment
•
Equipment used to handle material at a single location so
that it is in the correct position for subsequent handling,
machining, transport, or storage. Unlike transport
equipment, positioning equipment is usually used for
handling at a single workplace. Material can also be
positioned manually using no equipment.
Transport equipment
Positioning equipment
Overview of material handling equipment
- Unit Load Formation Equipment
• Equipment used to restrict materials so that they maintain
their integrity when handled a single load during transport
and for storage. If materials are self-restraining (e.g., a single
part or interlocking parts), then they can be formed into a unit
load with no equipment.
- Storage Equipment
• Equipment used for holding or buffering materials over a
period of time. Some storage equipment may include the
transport of materials (e.g., the S/R (storage and retrieval)
machines of an AS/RS (automated storage, retrieval system),
or storage carousels). If materials are block stacked directly
on the floor, then no storage equipment is required.
Unit load formation equipment - pallets
Storage equipment
Tire Carousel
Carpet Carousel
Storage equipment
Overview of material handling equipment
- Identification and Control Equipment
• Equipment used to collect and communicate the
information that is used to coordinate the flow of
materials within a facility and between a facility and
its suppliers and customers. The identification of
materials and associated control can be performed
manually with no specialized equipment
Portable Data Terminals
Handheld
Identification and control equipment
MH Classification by Equipment Type
MH classification based on equipment type can also be
categorized as
AGV: Automated guided vehicle
MH Classification by Method
• MH can be of the following types:
- Manual
- Mechanized
- Automated
Manual Material Handling
• Manual material handling
involves the use of the
human body to lift, lower, fill,
empty,or carry loads
• The load can be animate (i.e.,
living thing e.g., a person or
animal) or inanimate (e.g., an
object)
• Most manufacturing or
distribution systems require
some manual handling tasks
Manual Material Handling
Mechanized Material Handling
• In this case, manual labor is replaced by equipments
• This type of material handling consists of equipment
and process controllers that handle materials in a
proven, systematic and mechanized manner
- Cranes
- Lifters
- Trucks
• These systems improve speed, efficiency and safety
• Mechanized material handling also requires full or
partial involvement of manual help
Mechanized Material Handling
Automated Material Handling
• Automated materials handling (AMH)
refers to any automation that reduces
or eliminates the need for humans to
load, unload, sort material or transfer
material
• Automated Material Handling System
Ensures Reliability and Repeatable
• In AMH systems, somewhere in the
process there may be a scanner to
read the bar code or a reader to read
the radio frequency ID (RFID) tag (or
both)
- RFID is non-contact use of radio-frequency
electromagnetic fields to transfer data, for
the purposes of automatically identifying and
tracking tags attached to objects
Automated Material Handling
Think of robots
MH Classification by Method
• Capabilities(power or ability to do something) of MH method can be
understand using the following table:
MH Methods Characteristics
Different characteristics can be judged for the type of MH methods
e.g., Manual method can handle less weight
Mechanized and automated can handle higher weights
Factors affecting MH
• The selection of materials handling
equipment requires the attaining of proper
balance between
- the production problem,
- the capabilities of the equipment available, and
- the human element involved
• The ultimate aim is to arrive at the lowest
cost per unit of material handled
• Selection of material handling equipment is
an important decision as it affects both the
cost and efficiency of handling system
Factors affecting MH
• The following factors are to be taken into account
while selecting the material handling equipment
-
Properties of the Material
• i.e., Whether the material is solid, liquid or gas, and
in what size, shape and weight it is to be moved,
are important decisions and can be lead to a
preliminary elimination from the range of available
equipment under review
• Similarly, if the material is fragile, corrosive or toxic
this will imply that certain handling method and
containers will be preferable to others
Factors affecting MH
- Layout and Characteristic of the building
• A restricting factor is availability of space for
handling
• Low-level ceiling many prevent the use of hoist or
cranes, and the presence of supporting columns in
awkward places can limit the size of material
handling equipment
- Production Flow
• If the flow is fairly constant between two fixed
position that are not likely to be changed, fixed
equipments such as conveyors or channels can be
successfully used
Factors affecting MH
- Cost Considerations
• This is the most important consideration
• Initial investment and operating and maintenance cost are
the major costs to be considered
• By calculating and comparing the total cost of each items of
equipment under consideration, a more rational decision can
be reached on the most appropriate choice
- Nature of operations
• Selection of equipment also depends on the nature of
operations like whether handling is temporary or permanent,
whether the flow is continuous or intermittent and material
flow pattern-horizontal or vertical
Factors affecting MH
- Engineering Factors
• Engineering factors such as door, ceiling
dimensions, floor space, floor conditions and
structural strengths are also taken in consideration
in the selection of equipment
- Equipment reliability
• Reliability (The probability that an item will perform a required function
without failure under stated conditions for a stated period of time )
of the equipment and supplier reputation
and the after sale services plays an important role
in selecting the equipment
MHE Marketing
Any commercial product passes through the following scheme:
Marketing is one of the important step to deliver a product from
the manufacturing set ups to the customers
MHE Marketing
• Marketing is the process of
communicating the value of a
product or service to customers,
for selling that product or service
• Marketing is the link between a
society’s material requirements
and its economic patterns of
response
• MHE marketing means to
emphasis the customers about the
need of MHE
• An effective marketing plan will answer such
questions as:
- What products will sell and in what volumes?
- At what prices?
- At what promotional costs?
- When and by what selling method?
MHE Marketing
• The main objective is to
highlight the usefulness of
MHEquipments
• Old conventional techniques
may be dangerous to human
and equipment safety
• MHE can efficiently and
easily perform all the tasks of
material transfer and storage
economically and within
minimum time frame.
MHE Marketing
• It is important that the MHE marketing
group/ company must be able to
understand the industrial and marketing
goals
• This can be done with providing new
marketing concepts and methodologies
• This may include
- Good presentation of MHE through
leaflets and internet web designing
- Organizing meetings with the users and
equipment manufacturers
- Convey prototype models
Provide surety about the performance of
the equipment
- Provide surety about after sales service