Table of Contents

What is Material Handling | Material handling equipment

MATERIAL HANDLING

Introduction
For an ideal operation system, material handling is not a desirable activity. The reason is it does not add any value to the product but it adds only cost to the product. So when you design a layout you should see that the movement of materials should be minimum. The material handling equipment used mostly depends upon the type of production system to be adopted. In the case of flow line production system, the following material handling equipment are used.

Material Handling Equipment

Conveyors

1. Slat conveyor
2. Pusher bar conveyor
3. Roller conveyor
4. Belt conveyor
5. Wheel conveyor
6. Screw conveyor
7. Pivoted bucket conveyor
8. Apron conveyor
9. Spiral chute
10. Pneumatic conveyor
11. Trolley conveyor

In the case of job order/intermittent type production systems, the material handling equipment used are
1. Fork Truck
2. Platform Truck
3. Industrial Truck
4. Straddle carrier
5. Hand operated vehicles

In addition, CRANES and HOISTS are also used in the production system. Thus is not specifically related to particular system. All types of production system uses/this kind of material handling equipment.

The types of CRANES and HOISTS are :
1. Overhead traveling bridge cranes
2. Jib crane
3. Gantry crane
4. Air hoist
5. Electric Hoist
6. Chain hoist

There is no hard and fast rule that particular material handling system used only by the particular production system. But you can find that the trucks used in the flow line. Production as well as the conveyors used in the job order and intermitted production system.

Robots :

The word “robot” is also used in a general sense to mean any machine that mimics the actions of a human, in the physical sense or in the mental sense. It comes from the word robota, labor or work. The word robot first appeared in Karel Capek’s science fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) in 1921. The word was brought into popular Western use by famous science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.

A robot is an electro-mechanical or bio-mechanical device or group of devices that can perform autonomous or preprogrammed tasks. A robot may act under the direct control of a human or autonomously under the control of a programmed computer. Robots may be used to perform tasks that are too dangerous or difficult for humans to implement directly, such as radioactive waste clean-up, or may be used to automate mindless repetitive tasks that should be performed with more precision by a robot than by a human, such as automobile production. Robot can also be used to describe an intelligent mechanical device in the form of a human, a humanoid robot.

Types Of Industrial Robots -Robot Classification

Types Of Industrial Robots- Industrial robot applications

Major Components of Robots -Parts Of Robots

Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS)
An integrated FMS, AGVS, and AS/RS system provides an efficient and effective production system for manufacturing. Receiving, identification and sorting, dis-patching, placing in storage, retrieving from storage, packing, shipping, and record keeping have traditionally been considered the functions of storage systems. An AS/RS attempts to achieve these functions by automating most of these procedures in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
An automated storage and retrieval system is defined as: A combination of equipment and controls, which handles, stores and retrieves materials with precision, accuracy and speed under a defined degree of automation.

Automated Guided Vehicle
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV), popularly known as battery-powered driverless vehicles. AGVs are becoming an integral part of automated manufacturing systems. They are with programming capabilities for destination, path location, and positioning. The AGVS belong to a class of highly flexible, intel1igent versatile materialhandling systems used for materials loading and unloading throughout the facility.

Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is the advanced material handling applications. AGV play an important part in automating the manufacturing unit because they not only connect all faces of the factory by the horizontal movement of materials, but allow management to control and direct manufacturing processes.

Automated Guided Vehicle | Application and advantages