YARDESTIC INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION

NAME : DEBELE ZEWUDE ERENA

ID:MBAO/8655/15A
 Contents
1. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................1
1.1 OBJECTIVES OF MATERIAL HANDLING................................................................1
1.2 PRINCIPLES OF MATERIAL HANDLING.................................................................2
1.3 SELECTION OF MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENTS........................................3
1.4 EVALUATION OF MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM.............................................4
EQUIPMENT UTILISATION RATIO.................................................................................5
1.5 MATERIAL HANDING EQUIPMENTS.......................................................................5
1.6 GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF MATERIAL HANDLING
EQUIPMENTS......................................................................................................................7
1.7MATERIALS PLANNING AND CONTROL.................................................................8
1.8 TECHNIQUES OF MATERIALS PLANNING.............................................................8
1.9 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................10
1. INTRODUCTION
Materials handling is loading, moving and unloading of materials.To do it safely and
economically, different types of tackles, gadgets and equipment are used, when the materials
handling is referred to as mechanical handling of materials.

Since primitive men discovered the use of wheels and levers, they have been moving
materials mechanically. Any human activity involving materials need materials handling.
However, in the field of engineering and technology, the term materials handling is used with
reference to industrial activity. In any industry, be it big or small, involving manufacturing or
construction type work, materials have to be handled as raw materials, intermediate goods or
finished products from the point of receipt and storage of raw materials, through production
processes and up to finished goods storage and dispatch points.

Materials handling in a manufacturing process become essentially a manufacturing process

itself through integration into production line Malhotra (1997:1). Groover (2001:122)
highlights that despite its importance, materials handling is a topic that frequently is treated
superficially by the companies. However, other authors have perceived its relevance.
Materials handling makes production flow possible, as it gives dynamism to static elements
such as materials, products, equipments, layout and human resources (Chopra & Meindl,
2001:89). Furthermore, Asef-Vaziri & Laporte (2005:35) pointed out that an important
proportion of manufacturing expenses can be attributed to material handling and the most
critical material handling decisions in this area are the arrangement and design of material
flow patterns. This idea is shared by Ioannou (2002:97), which argues that an important
aspect of any production system is the design of a material handling system which integrates
the production operations.

1.1 OBJECTIVES OF MATERIAL HANDLING

Following are the objectives of material handling:

 Minimise cost of material handling.

 Minimise delays and interruptions by making available the materials at the point of
use at right quantity and at right time.
 Increase the productive capacity of the production facilities by effective utilisation of
capacity and enhancing productivity.
 Safety in material handling through improvement in working condition.

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  Maximum utilisation of material handling equipment.
 Prevention of damages to materials.
 Lower investment in process inventory

1.2 PRINCIPLES OF MATERIAL HANDLING

Following are the principles of material handling:
1. Planning principle: All handling activities should be planned.
2. Systems principle: Plan a system integrating as many handling activities as possible and
co-ordinating the full scope of operations (receiving, storage, production, inspection, packing,
warehousing, supply and transportation).
3. Space utilisation principle: Make optimum use of cubic space.
4. Unit load principle: Increase quantity, size, weight of load handled.
5. Gravity principle: Utilise gravity to move a material wherever practicable.
6. Material flow principle: Plan an operation sequence and equipment arrangement to
optimise material flow.
7. Simplification principle: Reduce combine or eliminate unnecessary movement and/or
equipment.
8. Safety principle: Provide for safe handling methods and equipment.
9. Mechanisation principle: Use mechanical or automated material handling equipment
10. Standardisation principle: Standardise method, types, size of material handling
equipment. 11. Flexibility principle: Use methods and equipment that can perform a variety
of task and applications 12. Equipment selection principle: Consider all aspect of material,
move and method to be utilised.
13. Dead weight principle: Reduce the ratio of dead weight to pay load in mobile equipment.
14. Motion principle: Equipment designed to transport material should be kept
in motion.
15. Idle time principle: Reduce idle time/unproductive time of both MH equipment and man
power.
16. Maintenance principle: Plan for preventive maintenance or scheduled repair of all
handling equipment.
17. Obsolescence principle: Replace obsolete handling methods/equipment
when more efficient method/equipment will improve operation.
18. Capacity principle: Use handling equipment to help achieve its full capacity.
19. Control principle: Use material handling equipment to improve production

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control, inventory control and other handling.
20. Performance principle: Determine efficiency of handling performance in terms of cost per
unit handled which is the primary criterion.

1.3 SELECTION OF MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENTS

Selection of Material Handling equipment is an important decision as it affects both cost and
efficiency of handling system. The following factors are to be taken into account while
selecting material handling equipment.
PROPERTIES OF THE MATERIAL
Whether it is solid, liquid or gas, and in what size, shape and weight it is to be moved, are
important considerations and can already lead to a preliminary elimination from the range of
available equipment under review.

Similarly, if a material is fragile, corrosive or toxic this will imply that certain handling
methods and containers will be preferable to others.
LAYOUT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BUILDING
Another restricting factor is the availability of space for handling. Low-level ceiling may
preclude the use of hoists or cranes, and the presence of supporting columns in awkward
places can limit the size of the materialhandling equipment. If the building is multi-storeyed,
chutes or ramps for industrial trucks may be used. Layout itself will indicate the type of
production operation (continuous, intermittent, fixed position or group) and can indicate
some items of equipment that will be more suitable than others. Floor capacity also helps in
selecting the best material handling equipment.
 PRODUCTION FLOW
If the flow is fairly constant between two fixed positions that are not likely to change, fixed
equipment such as conveyors or chutes can be successfully used. If, on the other hand, the
flow is not constant and the direction changes occasionally from one point to another because
several products are being produced simultaneously, moving equipment such as trucks would
be preferable.

 COST CONSIDERATIONS
This is one of the most important considerations. The above factors can help to narrow the
range of suitable equipment, while costing can help in taking a final decision. Several cost

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elements need to be taken into consideration when comparisons are made between various
items of equipment that are all capable of handling the same load. Initial investment and
operating and maintenance costs are the major cost to be considered. By calculating and
comparing the total cost for each of the items of equipment under consideration, a more
rational decision can be reached on the most appropriate choice.

 NATURE OF OPERATIONS
Selection of equipment also depends on nature of operations like whether handling is
temporary or permanent, whether the flow is continuous or intermittent and material flow
pattern-vertical or horizontal.
 ENGINEERING FACTORS
Selection of equipment also depends on engineering factors like door and ceiling dimensions,
floor space, floor conditions and structural strength.
 EQUIPMENT RELIABILITY
Reliability of the equipment and supplier reputation and the after sale service also plays an
important role in selecting material handling equipments.

1.4 EVALUATION OF MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM

The cost factors include investment cost, labour cost, and anticipated service hours per year,
utilization, and unit load carrying ability, loading and unloading characteristics, operating
costs and the size requirements are the factors for evolution of material handling equipment.
Other factors to be considered are source of power, conditions where the equipment has to
operate and such other technical aspects. Therefore, choices of equipments in organisation
will improve the material handling system through work study techniques. They usually
result in improving the ratio of operating time to loading time through palletizing, avoiding
duplicative movements, etc. Obsolete handling systems can be replaced with more efficient
equipments. The effectiveness of the material handling system can be measured in terms of
the ratio of the time spent in the handling to the total time spent in production. This will cover
the time element. The cost effectiveness can be measured by the expenses incurred per unit
weight handled. It can be safely said that very few organisations try to collate the expenses
and time in this manner so as to objectively view the performance and to take remedial
measures. Some of the other indices which can be used for evaluating the performance of
handling systems are listed below:

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EQUIPMENT UTILISATION RATIO
Equipment utilisation ratio is an important indicator for judging the materials handling
system. This ratio can be computed and compared with similar firms or in the same over a
period of time. In order to know the total effort needed for moving materials, it may be
necessary to compute Materials Handling Labour (MHL) ratio. This ratio is calculated as
under:
MHL=Personnel assigned ¿ materials handling ¿
Total operating work force
In order to ascertain whether is the handling system delivers materials work centres with
maximum efficiency, it is desirable to compute direct labour handling loss ratio. The ratio is:
Materials handling time lost of labour
DLHL=
Total direct labou r time
The movement’s operations ratio which is calculated after dividing total number of moves by
total number of productive operations indicates whether the workers are going through too
many motions because of poor routing. It should, however, be emphasized that the efficiency
of materials handling mainly depends on the following factors: (i) efficiency of handling
methods employed for handling a unit weight through a unit distance, (ii) efficiency of the
layout which determines the distance through which the materials have to be handled, (iii)
utilisation of the handling facilities, and (iv) efficiency of the speed of handling. In
conclusion, it can be said that an effective material handling system depends upon tailoring
the layout and equipments to suit specific requirements. When a large volume has to be
moved from a limited number of sources to a limited number of destinations the fixed path
equipments like rollers, belt conveyors, overhead conveyors and gauntry cranes are preferred.
For increased flexibility varied path equipments are preferred.

1.5 MATERIAL HANDING EQUIPMENTS

Broadly material handling equipment’s can be classified into two categories, namely:
(a) Fixed path equipments, and
(b) Variable path equipments.
(a) Fixed path equipments which move in a fixed path. Conveyors, monorail devices, chutes
and pulley drive equipments belong to this category. A slight variation in this category is
provided by the overhead crane, which though restricted, can move materials in any manner

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within a restricted area by virtue of its design. Overhead cranes have a very good range in
terms of hauling tonnage and are used for handling bulky raw materials, stacking and at times
palletizing.
(b)Variable path equipments have no restrictions in the direction of movement although
their size is a factor to be given due consideration trucks, forklifts mobile cranes and
industrial tractors belong to this category. Forklifts are available in many ranges, they are
manoeuvrable and various attachments are provided to increase their versatility. Material
Handing Equipments may be classified in five major categories.

1. CONVEYORS: Conveyors are useful for moving material between two fixed
workstations, either continuously or intermittently. They are mainly used for continuous or
mass production operations—indeed,they are suitable for most operations where the flow is
more or less steady. Conveyors may be of various types, with rollers, wheels or belts to help
move the material along: these may be power-driven or may roll freely. The decision to
provide conveyors must be taken with care, since they are usually costly to install; moreover,
they are less flexible and, where two or more converge, it is necessary to coordinate the
speeds at which the two conveyors move.

2. INDUSTRIAL TRUCKS: Industrial trucks are more flexible in use than conveyors since
they can move between various points and are not permanently fixed in one place. They are,
therefore, most suitable for intermittent production and for handling various sizes and shapes
of material. There are many types of truck petrol-driven, electric, handpowered, and so on.
Their greatest advantage lies in the wide range of attachments available; these increase the
trucks ability to handle various types and shapes of material.
3. CRANES AND HOISTS: The major advantage of cranes and hoists is that they can move
heavy materials through overhead space. However, they can usually serve only a limited area.
Here again, there are several types of crane and hoist, and within each type there are various
loading capacities. Cranes and hoists may be used both for intermittent and for continuous
production.

4. CONTAINERS: These are either ‘dead’ containers (e.g. Cartons, barrels, skids, pallets)
which hold the material to be transported but do not move themselves, or ‘live’ containers
(e.g. wagons, wheelbarrows or computer self-driven containers). Handling equipments of this
kind can both contain and move the material, and is usually operated manually.
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5. ROBOTS: Many types of robot exist. They vary in size, and in function and
maneuverability. While many robots are used for handling and transporting material, others
are used to perform operations such as welding or spray painting. An advantage of robots is
that they can perform in a hostile environment such as unhealthy conditions or carry on
arduous tasks such as the repetitive movement of heavy materials. The choice of material-
handling equipment among the various possibilities that exist is not easy. In several cases the
same material may be handled by various types of equipments, and the great diversity of
equipment and attachments
available does not make the problem any easier. In several cases, however, the nature of the
material to be handled narrows the choice.

1.6 GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF MATERIAL

HANDLING EQUIPMENTS

The following guidelines are invaluable in the design and cost reduction of the materials
handling system:
1.As material handling adds no value but increases the production cycle time, eliminate
handling wherever possible. Ideally there should not be any handling at all!
2. Sequence the operations in logical manner so that handling is unidirectional and smooth.
3. Use gravity wherever possible as it results in conservation of power and fuel.
4. Standardise the handling equipments to the extent possible as it means interchangeable
usage, better utilisation of handling equipments, and lesser spares holding.
5. Install a regular preventive maintenance programme for material handling equipments so
that downtime is minimum.
6.In selection of handling equipments, criteria of versatility and adaptability must be the
governing factor. This will ensure that investments in special purpose handling equipments
are kept at a minimum.
7. Weight of unit load must be maximum so that each ‘handling trip’ is productive.
8. Work study aspects, such a elimination of unnecessary movements and combination of
processes should be considered while installing a material handling system.
9. Non-productive operations in handling, such as slinging, loading, etc., should be kept at a
minimum through appropriate design of handling equipment. Magnetic cranes for scrap

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movement and loading in furnaces combination of excavators and tippers for ores loading
and unloading in mines are examples in this respect.
10. Location of stores should be as close as possible to the plant which uses the materials.
This avoids handling and minimizing investment in material handling system.
11. Application of OR techniques such as queueing can be very effective in optimal
utilisation of materials handling equipments.
12. A very important aspect in the design of a material handling system is the safety aspect.
The system designed should be simple and safe to operate.
13. Avoid any wasteful movements-method study can be conducted for this purpose.
14.Ensure proper coordination through judicious selection of equipments and training of
workmen.

1.7MATERIALS PLANNING AND CONTROL

Materials Planning has been defined as the scientific way of determining the requirements of
raw materials, components and other items needed for production within the economic
investment policies. It is rather a subsystem in the overall planning activity. There are many
factors, which influence the activity of material planning. These factors can be classified as
macro and microsystems.

Macro factors: Some of the micro factors which affect material planning are price trends,
business cycles Govt. import policy, etc.

Micro factors: Some of the micro factors that affect material planning are plant capacity
utilization, rejection rates, lead times, inventory levels, working capital, the delegation of
powers and communication.

1.8 TECHNIQUES OF MATERIALS PLANNING

The techniques of materials planning are:

(a) Bill of Materials Explosion and

(b) Past Consumption Analysis.

(a) Bills of materials explosion:

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The planning for materials management is aimed at determining the demand for the end-
products. This is possible only through farsightedness or forecasting. Therefore, forecasting
forms “the basis for materials planning. There are various techniques for forecasting. These
techniques are equally applicable to demand to forecast.

The techniques are:

(i) Moving averages method.

(ii) Exponential smoothing and Time series.

After the demand forecast, the exercise of materials planning starts. Requirements for various
materials are ascertained from the demand forecast. For this purpose, the bill of materials is
used through explosion charts. Here the use of computers is very effective for the
“exploding” bill of materials with demand forecasts. The bill of materials is prepared and
issued by the planning or engineering department in a standard form.

An explosion chart is just a series of bills of materials grouped together in a matrix form so
that combining the requirements for different components can be done. Materials planning
are usually made for a short period on a quarterly basis and at the beginning of every quarter;
it is quite natural to find that some materials are in short supply and some in excess. This can
be ascribed to the wrong forecasting.

To rectify such errors in the estimation of materials, quarterly planning is resorted to. In
engineering industries, even quarterly planning seems to be too long and realistic order is
placed with the suppliers.

(b) Past Consumption Analysis:

For continuously needed materials and the materials where no bill of materials is possible,
this technique of analysis is adopted- The past consumption data is analyzed and a projection
for the future on the basis of past experience and future need is made. To prepare such a
projection, “average” or “mean” consumption and the “standard deviation” are taken as bases
and as guidelines for each item.

These are all statistical tools and are very effective to absorb the stock of fluctuation in
consumption of direct and indirect materials where no straight-forward norms of

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consumption can be formulated. In the process industries, this technique is particularly
suitable.

1.9 CONCLUSION
To manufacture any product, it is necessary either that materials move from one step of the
manufacturing process to another or that operators move to the materials. The most common
practice, of course, is to move the materials. This movement of materials from one processing
area to another and from department to department necessitates the use of many personnel
and equipment and the handling of treatment tonnages of materials. Consideration for the
handling of work-in-processes materials, as well as raw material and finished goods, has
always been a part of the production systems design process. The material handling is
important activity in the logistics system. The speed of the material flow across the supply
chain depends on the type of the material handling equipment and the sophistication in the
system. In the logistics operation the material handling system is designed in and around the
warehouse. There is a strong concern to adjust the supply system in a company to achieve a
higher service level internally and to the outside customers. This brings to a higher
operational level and even a possible differential when compared with the other competitors
the investment in the material handling system will be sheer waste if it is not compatible to
the warehouse layout plan. The layout will create the obstacles for the free movement of
equipment and the goods. The mechanized equipment requires the space for the free
movement across the warehouse. They should have the accessibility to storage area for
material loading and unloading during storage and retrieval. In the mechanized version the
variety of equipment are used for the specific application. The range covers common types
are wheeled trolleys, forklift trucks, conveyors, cranes, towlines and carousal.

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