Unit Load Principle of Material Handling

Unit loads shall be appropriately sized and configured in a way which achieves the material flow and inventory objectives at each stage in the supply chain.

1. A unit load is one that can be stored or moved as a single entity at one time, such as pallet, container, or tote, regardless of the number of individual items that make up the load.
2. Less effort and work are required to collect and move many individual items as a single load than to move many items at a time.
3. Large unit loads are common both pre and post manufacturing in the form of raw materials and finished goods.
4. Smaller unit loads are consistent with manufacturing strategies that embrace operative objectives such as flexibility, continuous flow and just in time delivery.