Monday, November 7, 2016

The Different Types Of Equipment In Material Handling Transportation

By Roger Snyder


Material handling is a type of transportation that is often utilized in most buildings for transportation or movement of materials. It uses different equipment that may either be semi automated, automated or manual and this includes the consideration for storage, control, and protection of the facilities. These processes are being done in the warehousing, consumption, disposal, manufacturing, and distribution.

Material handling is very important in logistics and manufacturing. From time to time, items are being transported through a conveyor or a lift truck or some other types of material handling transportation equipment for warehouses, retail stores, and manufacturing plants. This process is also required to most jobs in production since the operators use this in transporting various goods in industrial settings.

Manual handling is the type of this transportation where in containers are being moved by workers with the use of their hands in emptying, lifting, filling, lowering, and carrying the containers. But this kind of transportation often exposes the workers to physical conditions that result to having serious injuries such as musculoskeletal disorders. It involves sprains and also strains to upper limbs, lower back, and shoulders.

The most common handling type that is being used as an alternative for material manual handling is the semi automated. It is because the human operators will still be needed due to some difficulties in unloading, driving, and loading. These tasks may be very difficult for machines to perform even if there are already some advancements of robotics, sensing, and machine intelligence.

Transportation facilities are used in moving materials from location to location while the positioning materials are used for manipulating materials in only one location. The materials also have its sub categories and these are the conveyors, industrial trucks, and the cranes. There are also manual materials that can be applied without using any equipment.

The conveyors will be used if a material is frequently moved between some specific points in fixed path, and also if there is a sufficient volume flow for justifying a fixed investment for conveyor. Conveyors have different types which include bulk load and unity load and the location may either be on floor, overhead, in floor. Examples of bulk conveyors are troughed belt, screw conveyors, magnetic belt, and bucket.

Cranes will be used for transporting goods loads in a vertical or horizontal variable path in restricted areas. And also, these are used if there is an insufficient volume flow or intermittent flow. Cranes are considered to be more flexible compared to conveyors since the loads are handled with respect based on their weight and shape.

But when compared to industrial trucks, this is less flexible since it only operates in restricted areas. Most of the cranes are utilizing tracks and trolley for the horizontal movement and utilizing hoists for the vertical movement. Types of cranes include bridge, stacker, jib, and gantry cranes.

The industrial trucks do not have licenses to be driven in the public roads. The purpose of these is for the movement of materials in some variable paths, also, when there is insufficiency in its volume flow. The trucks have more flexibility than cranes and conveyors because areas of movement are not restricted.




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