CHAPTER 1 MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM DESIGN

1 CHAPTER1 MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM DESIGNS underesh S. Heragu and Banu EkrenUniversity of LouisvilleLouisville, Kentucky1 INTRODUCTION12 TEN PRINCIPLES OFMATERIAL Unit Space Life Cycle83 TYPES OF MATERIALHANDLING Automated Guided Hoists, Cranes, and Warehouse material Autonomous Vehicle Storage andRetrieval System164 HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT195 A MULTIOBJECTIVEMODEL FOR OPERATIONALLOCATION ANDMATERIAL HANDLINGEQUIPMENT SELECTION INFMS DESIGN216 Just-in-Time (JIT) Warehouse Inverse Storage267 AVS/RS CASE STUDY26 REFERENCES281 INTRODUCTION1 material HANDLING systems consist of discrete or continuous resources to moveentities from one location to another.

2 They are more common in manufacturingsystems compared to service systems. material movement occurs everywhere in afactory or warehouse before, during,and after processing. Apple (1977) notesthat material HANDLING can account for up to 80 percent of production material movement does not add value in the manufacturing process,half of the company s operation costs are material HANDLING costs (Meyers 1993).1 Many of the sections in this CHAPTER have beenreproduced from CHAPTER 11 of Heragu (2008),with MATERIAL2 MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM DesignTherefore, keeping the material HANDLING activity at a minimum is very importantfor to the increasing demand for a high variety of products and shorterresponse times in today s manufacturing industry, there is a need for highlyflexible and efficient material HANDLING systems.

3 In the DESIGN of a material han-dling SYSTEM , facility layout, product routings, and material flow control must beconsidered. In addition, various other factors must be considered in an integratedmanner. The next section describes the ten principles of material HANDLING asdeveloped by the material HANDLING Industry of America (MHIA). It presents aguideline for selecting equipment, designing a layout, standardizing, managing,and controlling the material movement as well as the HANDLING SYSTEM .

4 Anothersection describes the common types of material HANDLING systems. This chapteralso discusses types of equipment, how to select material HANDLING equipment,an operating model for material HANDLING , and warehousing issues. It ends witha case study that implements some of these PRINCIPLES OF material HANDLINGIf material HANDLING is designed properly, it provides an important support tothe production process. Following is a list of ten principles as developed by theMHIA, which can be used as a guide for designing material HANDLING PlanningAplanis a prescribed course of action that is defined in advance of implemen-tation.

5 In its simplest form, a material handing plan defines the material (what)and the moves (when and where); together, they define the method (how andwho). Five key aspects must be considered in developing a plan should be developed in consultation between the planner(s) andall who will use and benefit from the equipment to be in planning large-scale material HANDLING projects generallyrequires a team approach involving suppliers, consultants when appro-priate, and end-user specialists from management, engineering, computerand information systems, finance, and material HANDLING plan should reflect the strategic objectives of theorganization, as well as the more immediate plan should document existing methods and problems.

6 Physical andeconomic constraints, and future requirements and plan should promote concurrent engineering of product, processdesign, process layout, and material HANDLING methods, as opposed toindependent and sequential DESIGN Principles of material StandardizationMaterial HANDLING methods, equipment, controls, and software should be standard-ized within the limits of achieving overall performance objectives and withoutsacrificing needed flexibility, modularity, and throughput.

7 Standardization meansless variety and customization in the methods and equipment employed. Thereare three key aspects of achieving planner should select methods and equipment that can perform avariety of tasks under a variety of operating conditions and in anticipationof changing future applies to sizes of containers and other load-forming com-ponents, as well as operating procedures and , flexibility, and modularity must not be WorkThe measure of work is material HANDLING flow (volume, weight, or count perunit of time) multiplied by the distance moved.

8 material HANDLING work shouldbe minimized without sacrificing productivity or the level of service required ofthe operation. Five key points are important in optimizing the processes by reducing, combining, shortening, or eliminatingunnecessary moves will reduce each pickup and set-down that is, placing material in and outof storage as distinct moves and components of the distance methods, operation sequences, and process/equipment layoutsshould be prepared that support the work minimization possible.

9 Gravity should be used to move MATERIALS or to assist intheir movement while respecting consideration of safety and the potentialfor product damage (see Figure ). shortest distance between two points is a straight ErgonomicsErgonomics is the science that seeks to adapt work or working conditions to suitthe abilities of the worker. Human capabilities and limitations must be recog-nized and respected in the DESIGN of material HANDLING tasks and equipment toensure safe and effective operations.

10 There are two key points in the should be selected that eliminates repetitive and strenuousmanual labor and that effectively interacts with human operators and ergonomic principle embraces both physical and mental HANDLING SYSTEM DesignFigure Roller Conveyor (Source: Courtesy of Pentek) material HANDLING workplace and the equipment employed to assistin that work must be designed so they are safe for Unit LoadA unit load is one that can be stored or moved as a single entity at one time,such as a pallet, container, or tote, regardless of the number of individual itemsthat make up the load.