MATERIAL HANDLING:Material Handling involves the movement of materials manually or mechanically in batches or one item at a time within a plant.

The movement may be horizontal, vertical or the combination horizontal & vertical. It emphasizen upon the need of efficient & safe methods & equipments for material handling.

Function of Material Handling:1. To choose production machinery and in plant layout so as to estimate & eliminate as far as possible need of material handling. To choose most appropriate material handling equipment which is safe and can fulfill material handling requirements.

Factor to be consider while selecting a material handling equipment:1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Material to be moved. Plant building and layout. Type of production machines. Type material flow pattern. Type of production. Cost of material handling equipment. Life of equipment. Amount of care & maintenance required.

Importance of Material handling:1. Efficient materials handling is important to manufacturing operation:- Material sent by vendors must be unloaded , moved through
inspection and production operations to stores and finally to the shipping

department, These movements do not add value to the product but they do add to the cost,

2. Material Handling analysis is a subset of plant layout:- Plant layout

and material handling are all part of the design of a production facility and can hardly be treated as separate. Material Handling system and plant layout enhance effectiveness of each other, a good plant layout enables an operation to use the most efficient handling method. Efficient operation of appropriate material handling methods reduces costs and enables maximum capabilities to be derived from given production facility.

Objectives of Material Handling:1. Lower unit material handling cost. 2. Improved working condition and greater safety in the movement of material. 3. Contribute to better quality by avoiding damage to product by inefficient handling. 4. Increased storage capacity through better utilization of storage areas. 5. Higher productivity at lower manufacturing cost.

Material Handling cost:The cost of materials handling arise from two sources: the cost of owning and maintaining equipment and the cost of operating the system. While the cost of owning the equipment are generally known since entries are available in the books of accounts, the cost of operating the handling system are elusive as records are not generally maintained. Every effort should be made to reduce material handling cost, particularly because they do not add any value to a product. The product will not be worth any more to the consumer simply because it was moved, but it will cost the customer more. How to reduce handling cost? There are three fundamental way of minimizing the cost:

1. Eliminating the handling itself whenever and wherever possible. 2. Mechanising , largely by conveyors and power driven trucks, whatever handling still remains. 3. Making the necessary handling more efficient.

Factors Affecting the selection of Material Handling Equipment:The selection of materials handling equipment requires consideration of and attaining of proper balance between the following factors: i. ii. iii. Production problems. The capabilities of the handling equipment available. The human element involved.

The ultimate aim is to arrive at the lowest cost per unit of material handled.

i.

The production problem factors are:

a) Volume of production to be attained. b) Class of materials to be handled. c) The layout of plant and building facilities. For example, the handling equipment that can be economically justified for the manufacture of 1000 TV sets per day would be entirely different from the handling equipment needed in a plant manufacturing 20 steams turbine generators a year because the production rate, weight and class of materials needed are different.

ii.

Equipment factors to be taken into consideration include the following:

1. Adaptability: The load-carrying and movement characteristics of the equipment should fit the material handling problems. 2. Flexibility: Wherever possible, the equipment should have the flexibility to handle more than one material (class or size).

3. Load capacity: Equipment selected should have enough load-carrying characteristics to do the job effectively. 4. Power: The equipment should have enough power available to do the job. 5. Space requirement: The space required to install or operate materials handling equipment is also an important consideration. 6. Ease of maintenance: Equipment selected should be capable of easy maintenance at reasonable cost. 7. Environment: Equipment selected must conform to any environmental regulation.

iii. The human factors cannot be overlooked in the selection of

materials handling equipment. They are:
a) The capabilities of available manpower to operate the equipment. b) Safety of personnel ( those who operate it or come into contact with it)