What are the Material Handling Principles?

Material handling principles

The principles of materials handling which ensures effective and efficient handling of material are as follows:

1. Planning Principle: All material handling should be the result of a deliberate plan. Non-plan movement of materials should be avoided as far as possible.
2. Standardization Principle: Material handling equipment, controls, and software should be standardized. While standardizing it should be ensured that performance objectives and flexibility in operations are not sacrificed.
3. Work Principle: Material handling work should be minimized without sacrificing productivity.
4. Ergonomic Principle: human capabilities and limitations must be taken into consideration while designing material handling tasks and equipments.
5. Unit Load: Unit load should be properly determined so that it accommodates all materials and material handling becomes easier.
6. Space Utilization Principle: Effective and efficient use must be made of all available space.
7. System Principle: Material handling and storage should be fully integrated so that there is a smooth flow of materials in the warehouse.
8. Automation Principle: Material handling operations should be mechanized and/or automated where feasible in order to improve operational efficiency. This will reduce potentially unsafe manual labor operations.
9. Environmental Principle: Environmental impact and energy consumption such as petrol, diesel, should be considered as criteria when designing or selecting material handling systems.
10. Life Cycle Cost Principle: Cost of equipment throughout its entire lifecycle and not only its initial cost should be considered before selecting it.