Material Handling

Ten Principles of Material Handling

PLANNING
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. A material handing plan defines the material (what) and the moves (when and where); together they define the method (how and who).

KEY POINTS: The plan should be developed in consultation between the planner(s) and all who will use and benefit from the equipment to be employed. Success in planning material handling projects generally requires a team approach involving suppliers, consultants when appropriate, and end user specialists from management, engineering, computer and information systems, finance and operations. The material handling plan should reflect the strategic objectives of the organization as well as the more immediate needs. The plan should document existing methods and problems, physical and economic constraints, and future requirements and goals. The plan should promote concurrent engineering of product, process design, process layout, and material handling methods, as opposed to independent and sequential design practices.

STANDARDIZATION
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, anticipation of changing future requirements.

KEY POINTS:

The planner should select methods and equipment that can perform a variety of tasks under a variety of operating conditions and in Standardization applies to sizes of containers and other load forming components as well as operating procedures and equipment. Standardization, flexibility and modularity must not be incompatible.

WORK
Material handling work should be minimized without sacrificing productivity or the level of service required of the operation.

KEY POINTS: Simplifying processes by reducing, combining, shortening or eliminating unnecessary moves will reduce work. Consider each pickup and set-down, or placing material in and out of storage, as distinct moves and components of the distance moved. Process methods, operation sequences and process/equipment layouts should be prepared that support the work minimization objective. Where possible, gravity should be used to move materials or to assist in their movement while respecting consideration of safety and the potential for product damage. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

ERGONOMIC
Human capabilities and limitations must be recognized and respected in the design of material handling tasks and equipment to ensure safe and effective operations. Definition: Ergonomics is the science that seeks to adapt work or working conditions to suit the abilities of the worker.

KEY POINTS: Equipment should be selected that eliminates repetitive and strenuous manual labor and which effectively interacts with human operators and users. The ergonomic principle embraces both physical and mental tasks. The material handling workplace and the equipment employed to assist in that work must be designed so they are safe for people.

UNIT LOAD
Unit loads shall be appropriately sized and configured in a way which achieves the material flow and inventory objectives at each stage in the supply chain.

KEY POINTS: Less effort and work is required to collect and move many individual items as a single load than to move many items one at a time. Keep in mind that the load size and composition may change as material and product moves through stages of manufacturing and the resulting distribution channels.

SPACE UTILIZATION
Effective and efficient use must be made of all available space.

KEY POINTS: In work areas, cluttered and unorganized spaces and blocked aisles should be eliminated. In storage areas, the objective of maximizing storage density must be balanced against accessibility and selectivity.

SYSTEM
Material movement and storage activities should be fully integrated to form a coordinated, operational system which spans receiving, inspection, storage,production, assembly, packaging, unitizing,order selection, shipping, transportation and the handling of returns.

KEY POINTS: Systems integration should encompass the entire supply chain including reverse logistics. It should include suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and customers. Inventory levels should be minimized at all stages of production and distribution while respecting considerations of process variability and customer service.

AUTOMATION
Material handling operations should be mechanized and/or automated where feasible to improve operational efficiency, increase responsiveness, improve consistency and predictability,

KEY POINTS: Pre-existing processes and methods should be simplified and/or re-engineered before any efforts at installing mechanized or automated systems. Computerized material handling systems should be considered where appropriate for effective integration of material flow and information management. Treat all interface issues as critical to successful automation, including equipment to equipment, equipment to load, equipment to operator, and control communications. All items expected to be handled automatically must have features that accommodate mechanized and automated handling.

ENVIRONMENTAL
Environmental impact and energy consumption should be considered as criteria when designing or selecting alternative equipment and material handling systems.

KEY POINTS:

Containers, pallets and other products used to form and protect unit loads should be designed for reusability when possible and/or biodegradability as appropriate. Systems design should accommodate the handling of spent dunnage, empty containers and other by-products of material handling. Materials specified as hazardous have special needs with regard to spill protection, combustibility and other risks.

LIFE CYCLE COST

A thorough economic analysis should account for the entire life cycle of all material handling equipment and resulting systems.

KEY POINTS: Life cycle costs include capital investment, installation, setup and equipment programming, training, system testing and acceptance, operating (labor, utilities, etc.), maintenance and repair, reuse value, and ultimate disposal. A plan for preventive and predictive maintenance should be prepared for the equipment, and the estimated cost of maintenance and spare parts should be included in the economic analysis. A long-range plan for replacement of the equipment when it becomes obsolete should be prepared. Although measurable cost is a primary factor, it is certainly not the only factor in selecting among alternatives. Other factors of a strategic nature to the organization and which form the basis for competition in the market place should be considered and quantified whenever possible.

Pallet Basics 101

In order to help you determine the type of pallet that will work best for your circumstances here is some general information on the various types of pallets that are available.

Stringer pallets
The stringer pallet is the most commonly used pallet in North America, and the most popular size is 48 long x 40 wide. This particular pallet is used extensively in the grocery industry and is designed to maximize load capacity in trucks. There are hundreds of different size stringer pallets and there are many factors that determine which size or type of pallet is right for your product or application. The amount of weight to be put on the pallet, the type of moving equipment, the kind of automation equipment, the particular product, the cost, and the type of racking or storing system are all important aspects to consider when selecting a pallet.

Block Pallets
Increasing in popularity over the last few years, block pallets are accessible from all 4 sides using powerjacks and handjacks. This feature makes them an attractive option in tight spaces, however their design does not always perform well when under heavy load in racking systems.

Pallet Glossary

Annularly threaded nail pallet nail with annular (ring) threads rolled onto shank; ring nail; ring shank nail; ring-threaded nail Base structured assembly designed to support unit load Bearing surface interface between pallet elements and components Bin multi-sided superstructure to be mounted on a pallet base, with or without a cover; also known as a pallet box Block rectangular, square, multi-sided, or cylindrical deck spacer Block pallet a type of pallet with blocks between the pallet decks or beneath the top deck Chamfer machined or molded inclined surface along part or full length of edges of deckboards between stringers or blocks to facilitate passage of fork-arm wheels of pallet trucks and to guide tines of fork lift truck during entry into pallet; bevel

Collar fixed, hinged, removable, or collapsible horizontal framing members to tie together vertical elements of pallet superstructure Combo pallet remanufactured pallet which contains a mixture of recycled and new components Deckboard element or component of a pallet deck, perpendicular to the stringers or stringerboards Deflection the amount of flexural deformation of a pallet or pallet component due to the weight of an imposed load; sag Fastener a device for connecting pallet components to form integral structures, such as nails, staples, screws, bolts, lag bolts, adhesives and welds Fastener shear index (FSI) measure of the estimated shear performance a given fastener relative to that of a high-quality base nail Free span the distance between spacers within the pallet; distance between external pallet supports, as in a warehouse rack Handling a single pick-up; movement as a result of picking up, transporting and setting down of an empty or loaded pallet Hardwood a wood from broad-leaved tree species (not necessarily hard in texture or dense) like Birch, Maple, Oak and Tamarack Helically-threaded nail nail with screw-like threads; drive screw nail ISPM 15 International Standards of Phytosanitary Measures Publication No. 15 Guidelines for regulating wood packaging material in international trade Lateral collapse failure of pallet connections caused by excessive lateral force in direction perpendicular to stringer axis or parallel or perpendicular to stringerboard axis Limited-use pallet a pallet designed for an average of up to nine trips, assuming an average of five handlings per trip and an average handling environment, before first repair; shipping pallet MIBANT angle fastener bend angle providing indication of (fastener) toughness and bending resistance MIBANT device (Morgan Impact Bend Angle Nail Tester) a standard impact nail and staple tester used to determine impact-bending resistance and toughness of nails and staples multiple-use pallet a pallet designed for repeated uses for more than one unit load with an average minimum life-to-first repair of 10 trips or more, with an average of five handlings per trip in an average handling environment; multiple-trip pallet; returnable pallet; reusable pallet; warehouse pallet; permanent pallet; general-purpose pallet; special-service pallet; throughtransit pallet Nail straight, slender, wire fastener made from endless wire by cutting the point and forming the head at the shank end opposite the point, designed to be drive, to hold two or more pieces of wood packaging together Notch filleted cutout in lower portion of the stringer to allow entry for the fork tine, usually 9 in length and 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 in height Pallet a portable, horizontal, rigid, composite platform used as a base for assembling, storing, stacking, handling and transporting goods as a unit load, often equipped with a superstructure Pallet size overall dimension of a pallet typically stated in terms of length followed by width and height; for example, a 48x40 pallet is 48 long and 40 wide; has 48 stringers or stringerboards and 40 deckboards Racked across deckboards (RAD) output of the PDS evaluation software describing the maximum load-carrying capacity and deflection of a wood pallet and its decks, where the warehouse racking frame supports the pallet only at the deckboard ends

Racked across stringers (RAS) output of the PDS software evaluation describing the maximum load-carrying capacity and deflection of a wood pallet and its decks, where the warehouse racking frame supports the pallet only at the stringer or stringerboard ends Repaired pallet pallet with damaged components replaced with new or recycled components, in order to reuse it Recycled pallet a pallet that has been used, discarded, salvaged, repaired or rebuilt in order to pass through another cycle or cycles of use Remanufactured pallet a pallet newly assembled from recycled components Skid a pallet without bottom deckboards or deck Slave pallet rigid pallet or platform; single, thick panel used as a support base for a palletized load in warehouse rack-storage facilities or production systems Softwood wood from coniferous or needle-bearing species of trees (not necessarily soft in texture or of low density) like Spruce, Pine or Fir Staple wire fastener formed by bending wire to form two legs of equal length and a crown connecting both legs at ends opposite leg points Stiffness resistance to external force, load, or generation of internal strain Strength resistance to flexural deformation in direction of applied force Stringer continuous, longitudinal, solid, or notched beam-component of the pallet used to support and space the deck components, often identified by location as the outside, interior or center stringer; bearer; runner Stringerboard in block pallets, the continuous, solid board member extending for the full length of the pallet, perpendicular to the deckboard and placed between the deckboards and blocks, to serve as support of deckboards or deck Stringer pallet a type of pallet with stringers between the deckboards or beneath the panel deck Trip typically a series of four to six handlings of the pallet, required to move a palletized unit load from the shipping point to the receiving point Uniform standard for wood pallets a comprehensive standard for the manufacture and repair of wood pallets thats available through NWPCA; also outlines best practices Unit load the assembly of goods or a single item on a pallet for handling, moving, storing or stacking as a single entity; it includes the supporting pallet