It will not take much time to define those equipments which are used for material handling, but analysis and implementation of suitable equipments will surely take some time. Broadly, various instruments and huge machines which are used for carrying and transferring industrial products are known as material handling equipments. Some of these tools are trolleys, cranes, forklifts and loaders.
These material handling systems use mechanical, electrical, hydraulic as pneumatic forces to perform their tasks.
Classification of these equipments can be done on the basis of the power and process they use.
Transporting Instruments: As the name suggests, these instruments are used for transportation of industrial raw materials and processed goods from one location to another. Major sub-categories for this classification of those equipments which are used for material handling are conveyors, cranes and trucks.
Positioning Instruments: These instruments are used to provide the most appropriate positional direction to the industrial goods so that they can be stored and transported later on in the best possible intact position. These instruments are majorly used in industries because these work in a single location to complete all tasks of material handling, transporting and storing. Some of the common examples are balances, air film devices and dock levelers.
Unit Load Formation Instruments: These are mainly used for restricted quantity of industrial materials. This is so because restricted carriage of quantity enable the instrument to maintain balance while transporting single but heavy load. Palatalizes, crates, pallet racks and tote pans are some common examples of these instruments.
Identification Instruments: These are used to collect information about the flow of industrial materials in a warehouse and communicate for the same. Some of these types of equipments which are used for handling industrial material are bar codes, magnetic tapes, radio frequency tags, electronic data interchange, portable data terminal and machine vision.
Storage Instruments: These are very commonly used for buffering of the industrial raw materials for a period of time. Some of these instruments include flow-through racks, push-back racks and drive-through racks.
The process of storing industrial raw materials, transporting them to the workshop and further transportation of the finished goods to the warehouse calls for certain type of equipments which are used for handling material effectively. For this, not only the size of the equipments but their weight, temperature and chemical conditions will also count. However, to employ specialized instruments is really essential for improving the efficiency of the work force and maximization of safety standards.
