Material handling is a process that involves the movement, storage, protection, and control of products within a construction site, warehouse, or between a vehicle and a facility. It is one of the essential elements of any product during the entire lifespan in construction, warehousing, distribution, and disposal. 

 

This process incorporates various components including manual, semi-automated, automated systems to make it effective. Forklifts, telescopic handlers, loading and unloading trucks are some of the most commonly used equipment in material handling. 

 

The growing need for material handling 

It is almost every business that is in the manufacturing sector, warehousing, and construction industry demands a proper material handling system. These equipment are essential as they assist in the transport of goods, preventing any risks that might cause accidents, cutting the costs, and reducing any possible damages of products thus improving efficiency. There are many logistics and transport companies that support other businesses by providing a variety of material handling systems. However, it is important to consider working with a material handling equipment company that is trusted in the market. Van Adrighem Group is one of the global material handling experts that partners with many firms and supports them with their equipment to ensure the moving of heavy materials is done right.

At construction sites, material handling plays an important role in transporting items from one location to another. During this process, the safety of the people working in the facility should be a priority to maintain safe working environments for everybody and avoid compensation costs that arise from accidents. 

Also, material handling helps in keeping an organized facility which translates into improved performance since it is easy to find every product hence reducing time and monetary costs. Further, installing well-organized material handling is the key to improving work conditions for your staff and the customers. The correct material handling systems must also take care of the staff who work with the machines. 

Additionally, material handling systems ensure enhanced distribution of products, flow and process management control, inventory management, and control which minimizes downtime, therefore helping to keep higher profits. This is achieved through unit load and in-process handling techniques that entail the movement of many items in bulk and as a single unit while maintaining their original quality.

It is also possible to combine materials into a single unit and move them in fewer trips. This means the delivery of the products to the retailers and wholesalers will be done in time and prevent any multiple occurrences of damages due to poor packaging and storage during transportation. 

Moreover, material handling promotes optimized spaces where the items are stored orderly and with an enhanced space the overall production cost also reduces.

Principles of material handling 

The orientation principle is the first phase that involves the studying of available methods, problems before setting on a certain type of material handling. It encourages material handling to be conducted through a well-thought-out plan. There is also the standardization principle states that all the equipment, software, and procedures are supposed to be implemented with a role in achieving the objectives of the business. 

Material handling system principles also require the operations to follow coordinated and integrated storage activities that function to maintain the right condition of the materials while considering the environmental impacts as well as energy consumption for the equipment being used. It is equally important to simplify the available methods and operations through automation that results in efficiency, responsiveness, and consistency in delivery. 

Furthermore, the principles of material handling call for obsolesce where all the damaged or old and dysfunctional equipment are substituted with modern tools with special consideration of tax costs. Besides, when adopting new equipment consider its life cycle cost.

It is the desire of every progressive organization to utilize material handling systems and achieve its objectives. The most important factor to consider is the principles of material handling that allow systematic execution of tasks effectively while cutting cost.