Material Handling Systems

Design
CHAPTER 9

Dr. Nureddin KIRKAVAK

2010-11 Fall Semester
Çankaya University, Ankara
• Material handling means providing the right
amount of the right material, in the right
condition, at the right place, at the right time, in
the right position, in the right sequence, and for
the right cost, by using the right method(s).
• If the right methods are being used, then the MH
System will be safe and damage free
• MH is much more than simply MH. Material
Handling is an art and a science, that involves the
movement, storage, control, and protection of
material, with the objective of providing time and
place utility.
 1. Material Handling Costs

The main costs involved in designing and operating a MH

System are:
– Equipment cost, which comprises the purchasing of the
equipment and auxiliary components, and installations,
– Operating cost, which includes maintenance, fuel, and
labor cost, consisting of both wages and injury
compensation,
– Unit purchase cost, which is associated with purchasing
the pallets and containers,
– Cost due to packaging and damaged material
 2. Objectives
• The major objective of MH System design is reducing
production cost through efficient handling or, more
specifically:
– To increase the efficiency of material flow by ensuring the
availability of materials when and where they are needed.
– To reduce material handling costs.
– To improve facilities utilization.
– To improve safety and working conditions.
– To facilitate the manufacturing process.
– To increase productivity.
 3. Goals
The primary goal of material handling is to reduce overall unit
costs of production. The following subordinate goals are a
good check-list for cost reduction:
– Maintain or improve product quality, reduce damage, and
provide for protection of materials,
– Promote safety and improve working conditions,
– Promote productivity through;
• Material should flow in a straight line,
• Material should move as short a distance as possible,
• Use gravity! It is free power,
• Move more material at one time,
• Mechanize material handling,
 • Automate material handling,
• Maintain or improve material handling/production ratios,
• Increase throughput by using automatic material handling
equipment,
- Promote increased use of facilities by;
• Promote the use of the building cube,
• Purchase versatile equipment,
• Standardize material handling equipment,
• Maximize production equipment utilization using material
handling feeders,
• Maintain, and replace as needed, all equipment and develop a
preventive maintenance program,
• Integrate all material handling equipment into a system,
– Reduce tare (dead) weight,
– Control inventory.
 4. Models
• Models have been applied to the design and operations of
material handling systems, involving use of mathematical
programming, simulation, queuing theory, and network
models.
• Examples of applications: Conveyor systems, pallet
design and loading, equipment selection, dock design,
equipment routing, packaging, and storage system design.
• The selection of material handling equipment and its
assignment to departmental material-handling tasks: after
an initial screening has been performed by the designer to
determine the most promising candidates, the final
selection is to be made analytically.
• Each move can be performed by most or all of the candidate
equipment, thus for each move, there are different values for
the operating cost and time based on the equipment used.
• The problem requires selection of equipment among the
candidate set and assigning them to the moves such that a
move is not made by more than one item of equipment unless
they are of the same type (that is, each move is assigned to
only one equipment type) and all moves assigned to a piece of
equipment can be performed in the available time on the
equipment.
• The primary objective of the problem is cost (operating and
initial) minimization. There are also some secondary
objectives such as maximum utilization of equipment and
minimum variation in the selected types, but they are most
often compatible with the primary objective.
 Mathematical Model
Parameters to be used:
• q = total number of moves to be assigned,
• p = number of candidate equipment types,
• aij = {0/1} binary parameter; 1 if equipment type i can
perform move j, or 0 otherwise,
• Wij = total operating cost of performing move j by
equipment type i in the predetermined
• time period,
• Ki = capital cost of one unit of equipment type i in the
pre-determined time period,
• hij = total operating time required by equipment type i
to perform move j,
• Hi = available operating time of one unit of
equipment type i in the pre-determined time
period,
• i =index to be used for equipment types, i = 1, .. ,
p,
• j =index to be used for moves, j = 1, .. , q,
Decision variables:
• i = number of units of equipment of a selected
equipment type i that are required,
• Xij = {0/1} binary decision variable; 1 if
equipment type i is assigned to move j, or 0
otherwise,
 5. The scope

The first, and narrowest, the “conventional ”

interpretation;
– here the primary emphasis is on the movement of
materials from one location to another, usually
within the same plant. Very little attention is given
to the inter-relationships of the individual handling
tasks. Unfortunately, this is very common
interpretation of the scope of material handling.
A second interpretation is the “contemporary” point
of view,
– in which attention centers on the overall flow of
materials in a plant or warehouse; inter-relationships
between handling tasks are analyzed, and an effort is
made to develop an integrated material handling plan.
A third interpretation, the broadest, is the
“progressive” interpretation;
– this is the systems perspective, defining material
handling as all activities involved in handling
material from all suppliers, handling material within
the manufacturing or distribution facility, and
distributing finished goods to customers
 6. Material Handling Systems Design
• In designing new or improving an existing material handling
system, the six phased engineering design process should be
used:
– Define the objectives and scope for material handling system,
– Analyze the requirements for moving, storing, protecting, and
controlling material,
– Generate alternative designs for meeting material handling
system requirements,
– Evaluate alternative material handling system designs,
– Select the preferred design for moving, storing, protecting, and
controlling material,
– Implement the preferred design, including the selection of
supplies, training of personnel, installation, debug and start-up of
equipment, and periodic audits of system performance.
To stimulate the developers of alternative system
designs, the “ideal systems approach” should be
considered. As proposed by Nadler:
– AIM for the theoretical ideal system,
• It is a perfect system with zero cost, perfect quality,
no safety hazards, no wasted space, and no
management inefficiencies,
– CONCEPTUALIZE the ultimate ideal system,
• It is a system that probably would be achievable at
some point in the future, but is not achievable at the
present time because of a lack of available technology,
– DESIGN the technologically workable ideal
system,
• It is a system for which the required technology is
available; however, costs or other conditions may
prevent some components from being installed now,
– INSTALL the recommended system,
• It is a cost-effective system that will work now
without obstacles to its successful implementation.
• Relationship between Material Handling and Plant
Layout:
– The relationship between the two involves the data
required for designing each activity, their common
objectives, the effect on space, and the flow pattern.
– Specifically, plant layout problems require knowledge of
the equipment operating cost in order to locate the
departments in a manner that will minimize the total
material-handling cost.
– At the same time, in designing a material handling system
the layout should be known in order to have the move
length, move time, source and destination of the move.
– Because of this dependency, the only feasible way is to
start with one problem, use its solution for solving the
other, then go back and modify the first problem on the
basis of the new information obtained from the second,
and so on until a satisfactory design is obtained.
– Plant layout and material handling have the common
objective of cost minimization. The material handling
cost can be minimized by arranging closely related
departments such that the material moves only short
distances