Material Handling

Mate­r­i­al han­dling describes the process or process­es used to haul objects small dis­tances, whether inside a facil­i­ty itself or to and from a deliv­ery vehi­cle. This includes process­es like stock­ing shelves and trash removal. Because a busi­ness’ mate­ri­als are valu­able and some­times frag­ile, a mate­r­i­al han­dling sys­tem also fac­tors in meth­ods for pro­tec­tion, safe­ty, con­trol, and prop­er stor­age of these items. In oth­er words, mate­r­i­al han­dling isn’t just about mov­ing things, but mov­ing things in a smart, safe, and effi­cient man­ner. Mate­r­i­al han­dling plays an impor­tant role in most indus­tri­al and com­mer­cial facil­i­ties. If a busi­ness can­not eas­i­ly move prod­ucts around or store them in a sen­si­ble way, it will lose time, mon­ey, and put its employ­ees’ safe­ty at risk. Many indus­tri­al plants use auto­mat­ed sys­tems in con­junc­tion with man­u­al labor to han­dle its mate­ri­als, includ­ing con­vey­or belts and indus­tri­al robots for var­i­ous appli­ca­tions. Addi­tion­al­ly, those in charge of cre­at­ing a mate­r­i­al han­dling sys­tem will adhere to key prin­ci­ples that ensure effi­cien­cy. Some of these prin­ci­ples include stan­dard­iza­tion, unit load, ergonom­ics, envi­ron­men­tal con­cerns, and life cycle costs.