MATERIAL HANDELING
Material handling is the movement,
protection, storage and control of materials and products
throughout manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, consumption and disposal.
Meaning of Material Handling:
Material
handling may be considered a specialized activity for modern manufacturing
units. From the time, the input material or raw materials enter the industrial
unit and go out of the unit in the form of finished products, these are handled
at all stages in between, no matter, on the shop floor or in the stores.
It has
been estimated that the average material handling cost is roughly 30 to 60% of
the cost of production. This is so since majority of production time is
consumed in handling materials before, during and after the manufacture.
However, this cost can be reduced by proper selection, operation, maintenance
and layout of material handling devices but cannot be totally eliminated.
“Material
handling” refers to the movement of materials from the store room to the
machine and from one machine to the next machine or work station during the
process of manufacture.
The
material handling problem must be analysed thoroughly at the time planning of
various machines and tools needed before erection of factory building.
While
designing new plants, materials handling is a prime consideration and several
existing plants can be modified by the utilization of modem material handling
devices. The cost of production is decreased by the use of these devices since
these devices increase output, improve the quality and speed up the deliveries.
Functions
of Material Handling:
Following
are the important functions of material handling:
(i) To select machines/equipment and
plant layout to eliminate or minimize material handling requirements, i.e., to
select most efficient, safe and appropriate material handling equipment, which
can fulfil material handling requirement at minimum cost.
(ii) To
minimize the material handling cost by way of:
(a)
Minimization of movement of semi-finished items during the production process.
(b)
Planning movement of optimum necessary pieces in one unit.
(c)
Minimization of distance moved.
(d)
Increasing speed of material handling operation through mechanization.
(e) By
elimination/minimization of back tracking and duplicate handling.
(f) By
utilization of gravity for material handling.
Principles 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 principles of containerization, unit load or palletization, 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 a
pallet or some other standard size container for convenience in handling. The
materials and containers are known as unit load. So the 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.
(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 times. The total time required for movement
of material is sum 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, increase the efficiency and economy of
the system where possible.
(8)
Integrate the materials handling system 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 for 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 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.
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