Role of Material Handling in Logistics

In the past several years, material handling has emerged as a new and complex science evolving rapidly. For moving the material in and out of warehouse, various kinds of equipment and systems are used depending on the type of products and volumes to be handled. These equipments are used for the movement of goods over a short distance for the purpose of loading and unloading operations. Material handling in warehouse is restricted to unitized form, which requires smaller size equipment. However, for bulk handling material at logistics nodes, such as shipyards, ports and airports, different types of equipments are used. In warehouse, the material handling opera­tion is performed at the following stages:

1. Unloading the incoming material from transport vehicles;
2. Moving the unloaded material to the assigned storage place in the warehouse;
3. Lifting the material from its storage place during order picking;
4. Moving the material for inspection and packing;
5. Loading the packages, boxes or cartons on to the transport vehicles.

Efficiency of the material handling equipment adds to the performance level of the warehouse. The internal movement of goods has a direct bearing on the order picking and fulfilment cycle. The warehouse is considered more labour intensive, if the material handling equipments are more sensitive to labour productivity than the manufacturing. There is much scope to reduce the labour and enhance the productivity by using the emerging technologies in material handling. A good material handling system will definitely enhance the speed and throughput of the material move­ment through the supply chain.

Source: Sople V.V (2013), Logistics Management, Pearson Education India; Third edition.