1. 13.3. Objective of material handling.
The common hand shovel and the baskets were the only material handling tools,
until some years ago, but now due to increasing demand for sophisticated handling
equipment, material handling system has been revolutionized all over the world.
The main objective of the efficient materials handling is to decreases the costs.
Materials handling equipment does not come under the production machinery but is an
auxiliary equipment which can improve the flow of materials which in turn shall reduce
the stoppages in production machines and thus increases their production. In brief
followings are the objectives.
(1) Cost reduction by:
(i) Decreasing inventory level
(ii) Utilizing space to better advantage
(iii) Increasing productivity.
(2) Waste reduction by:
(i) Eliminating damage to material during handling
(ii) Being flexible to meet specific handling requirements of different nature.
(iii) Making Proper control over stock during in and out handling.
(3) Improve Working conditions by:
(i) Increasing productivity per man-hour.
(ii) Increase in machine efficiency through reduction of machine down time
(iii) Smoothing out workflow
(iv) improving production control.
(4) Improve working conditions by:
(i)
Providing safe working conditions
(ii)
Reducing worker’s fatigue
(iii)
Improving personal comfort
(iv)
Upgrading employees/workers to productive work.
(5) improve distribution by:
(i)
Decreasing damage to products during handling and shipping.
(ii)
Improving location of storage facilities.
(iii)
Increasing the efficiency of shipping and receiving.
13.5. Principle of material handling.
A material handling system should be able to move and store the material effectively with
minimum effort, maximum safety and in the shortest time. Following are some of the
important guiding principles of economical handling:
(1) Using the principle of containerization, unit load or pelletization, materials to be
moved should be aggregated into a larger unit size and the unit size should be same for
all materials. The materials are typically carried on the pallet or some other standard size
container for unknown as unit load should be as large as possible / practical.
(2) Transport the full unit load whenever possible instead of practical loads. Load the
material handling equipment to its maximum safe limit loading.
(3) Minimize the distances moved by adopting shortest distances possible. Generally the
realization of this principle is layout design dependent.

2. (4) Follow the straight-line flow rule i.e. the material handling, path should be a straight
line. This rule is consistent with the principle of shortest distance.
(5) Minimize the non-move of terminal time. The total time required for movement of
material is some of the actual move time and time taken in loading, unloading and other
allied activities.
Which do not involve actual transport of material.
(6) Utilize gravity principle for assisting the movement of materials wherever
possible with due consideration to safety and risk of product damage.
(7) Follow the mechanization principle. Employ mechanical aids in place of manual
labour in order to speed up material movement, increases the efficiency and
economy of the system where possible.
(8) Integrate the materials handling with the other system working in the enterprise
including receiving, production inspection, packaging storage warehousing and
transportation etc.
(9) Integrate the material flow with the flow of information required on handling and
storage systems. Such information for various items moved should include
identification, picks point and destination point in order to improve the efficiency
of the system.
(10)
Changes in sequence of production operations may be suggested in order
to minimize back tracking and duplicate handling.
(11)
Effective, efficient, safe, standard, appropriate flexible and optimum sized
material handling equipment should be selected.
(12)
The handling equipment should not interfere with the production lines.
(13)
Run conveyors overhead and stack load on top of each other or in racks
should be as high as safety permits.
(14)
Make accurate and complete analysis for installation, operation and
maintenance cost of proposed devices (in case of suggested change)
(15)
Provide right equipment at right time.
13.6. Selection of material handling equipments
The usual production cycle consist more in coning the materials than converting them
into final product. Hence sufficient attention must be given in fitting the internal
transport (material handling arrangement) system in the manufacturing plant so as to
constitute a single unit. If it is insufficient it may cause delays and decrease efficiency
of the production system which results in the increased cost of production. Hence this
problem should be given due consideration and material handling equipment should
be utilized unless it is quite sure that these will be cheaper than manual means of
handling. The selection of material handling equipments depend upon the followings:
(1) Nature of the product & its perishability
(2) Volume of production.
(3) Shape and size products.
(4) Method of production
(5) Sequence of operations.
(6) The production rate of the industrial unit.
(7) Space availability and type of layout used

3. (8) Number of times the material are to be handled and distance to be covered
(9) Possibility of future expansion if any in the plant.
(10)
Power availability
(11)
Initial cost of installation, operation and maintenance costs.
(12)
The location of assembly, testing beds
(13)
The availability and wages of unskilled labour.
(14)
Depreciation costs.
(15)
Design of material handling equipment its capacity, strength and rigidity.
It is clear from above that the selection of materials handling equipment
depends on so many factors and it is difficult to make any recommendation with out
taking into consideration the practical aspects of the problems.