MATERIAL HANDLING AND PACKAGING

Material handling is the movement of raw material, work-in-process (WIP) inventory, and finished products within a facility.
The art and science of moving, packaging, and storing of substances in any form.

A properly installed Material handling system can reduce the costs and labor, increase safety, increase productivity, reduce waste, increase capacity and improve service.

Symptoms of Inefficient Material Handling

Depending on the industry, material handling can account for 30 to 70 percent of the cost of manufacturing, so inefficiencies should be eliminated.

Objectives of Material Handling

Movement - Movement of product into, through, and out of warehouses. Efficient movement inside a facility helps control costs and improve customer service. Time Parts and raw materials must be available when needed at production stations, loading docks, and terminals.

Objectives of Material Handling

Quantity Goods must move in the right quantity between the production stations as well as to the customer

Space The material handling system should effectively use the available cubic space in the warehouse, terminal or plant.

Material Handling Systems and Equipment

There are 3 types of material handling systems manual mechanized and automated.

Types of Material Handling Systems

Manual material handling systems -Tend to be labor-intensive. Typical equipment would be hand dollies, drawers, low racks, pallet jacks, bins, and gravity flow conveyors. Manual systems yield low throughput because of a lack of handling speed. Also, they, use cubic space poorly. Most firms have modified manual systems to mechanized systems to increase efficiency.

Types of Material Handling Systems

Mechanized material handling System Is most efficient. It replaces some manual handling systems with mechanical movement. The forklift truck is the backbone of a mechanism material handling system. Other equipment found in this system include pallets, towlines, cranes, storage rack systems, and wheel conveyors.

Types of Material Handling Systems

Automated Material Handling System Most Sophisticated. It uses carousels, automatic storage and retrieval systems, item-picking equipment, optical scanners, high-rise rack systems, and robots. It can fully utilize the available cubic space in the facility. Automated systems seem superior in most situations, but are extremely costly, may require special types or sizes of facilities, and create serious problems when the system crashes.

The physical structure of the facility will often dictate the system to use. If the firm plans to build a new structure, the facility should be designed around the material handling system. The type of system also depends on the type and amount of equipment required. The equipment selection equation is :

What + Where + When = Equipment

The What refers to the type of material being handled in the facility.
Where refers to everything involved in routing the material throughout the facility.

When means the material must be in the right place at the right time.

Rules of Equipment Selection

Use mechanical equipment This reduces labor costs, decreases fatigue, improves safety, increases production, and speeds flow. Use existing equipment whenever possible Money can be saved if existing equipment can be utilized. Keep cost considerations in mind Any equipment selected should reduce the overall costs of material handling.

Standardize equipment Standardization reduces inventory, allows for interchangeability of equipment, and normally costs less to purchase. Integrate equipment it is required that the equipment chosen fits together into a smooth material handling system. Provide alternative methods It is possible that the system could break down. Therefore think about alternative methods of movement and of equipment.

Rules of Equipment Selection

Rules of Equipment Selection

Check facility limitations Some equipments requires special facility conditions (like smooth surface, clean) so it is important to inventory the facilitys limitations. Consider the unit cost Do not select equipment on its initial costs. Select it on the basis of comparative unit costs of handling.

Rules of Equipment Selection

Plan for the future Anticipate changing requirements of the material handling system. Do not overlook maintenance Some equipment costs considerably more to maintain than others. Make sure these costs are included in the overall analysis.

Principles of Material Handling

There are 10 principles of material handling. 1. Planning principle All material handling should be the result of a deliberate plan where the needs, performance objectives, and functional specification of the proposed methods are completely defined at the outset.

2.Standardization principle Material handling methods, equipment, controls, and software should be standardized within the limits of achieving overall performance objectives and without sacrificing needed flexibility, modularity and throughput. 3. Work principle Material handling work should be minimized without sacrificing productivity of the level of service required of the operation.

4. Ergonomic Principle Human capabilities and limitations must be recognized and respected in the design of material handling tasks and equipment to ensure safe and effective operations. 5. Unit load principle Unit loads shall be appropriately sized and configured in a way that achieves the material flow and inventory objectives at each stage in the supply chain.

6. Space utilization Principle Effective and efficient use must be made of all available space. 7. System Principle Material movement and storage activities should be fully integrated to form a coordinated , operational, system, that spans receiving, inspection, storage, production, assembly, packaging, unitizing,order selection,shipping,transportation, and the handling of returns.

8. Automation Principle Material Handling operations should be mechanized and/or automated where feasible to improve operational efficiency, increase responsiveness, improve consistency and predictability, decrease operating costs, and eliminate repetitive or potentially unsafe manual labor.

9. Environmental Principle Environmental impact and energy consumption should be considered as criteria when designing or selecting alternative equipment and material handling systems. 10. Life Cycle Cost Principle A thorough economic analysis should account for the entire life cycle of all material handling equipment and resulting systems.

Material handling productivity ratios

material handling ratios help judge the efficiency and productivity of the system. There are several material handling ratios :

1. Material Handling Labor Ratio

To get this ratio, divide the number of people assigned to material handling by the total number of operating personnel. The number can be found by counting employees or through payroll records.
MHL=Personnel assigned to material handling duties Total Operating Personnel

2. Handling Equipment Utilization Ratio

The main problem with this ratio is to determining theoretical capacity. Theoretical Capacity maybe either when machines are carrying a full load or when the machinery is in motion. The equation for this ratio is as follows:
HEU = Items or load weight moved per hour Theoretical Capacity

3. Storage Space Utilization Ratio

To get this ratio, divide the number of occupied cubic feet of storage space by the total number of cubic feet of storage space available. A common mistake in developing the total available space is to use only floor space and not cubic space. SSU = Storage space occupied _ Total available storage space

4. Aisle space percentage ratio

As space become more costly, available space must be better utilized. Aisles are necessary in a facility and should not be used for storage because of congestion problems. Like the storage space utilization equation, cubic feet of total space should be used. Aisle space ratios should be lower in automated material handling systems than in manual or mechanized systems. ASP = Space occupied by aisles _ Total space available

5. Movement/Operation Ratio (M/O)

This equation shows the overall efficiency of material handling operations. High ratios point to potential improvement by reducing handling steps or moving to mechanized or automated handling. M/O = _____Number of moves____
Number of productive operations

6. Manufacturing Cycle efficiency ratio (MCE)

It measures the effectiveness of product flows in the facility. It will provide insight into delays. To get this ratio, divide the time spent in production or storage operations by the time spent in the department.
MCE = __Time spent in facility structure operations Time spent in the facility structure

7. Damaged Loads (DL)

Its the final ratio. Nothing is more frustrating than having a product ruined by improper handling. It adds to the overall cost of operation without adding value to the product. DL = Number of damaged loads Total number of loads