Basics of Material Handling | Types of Material Handling Equipment | MHE – supply chain | safety | hardware technology
Basics of Material Handling | Types of Material Handling Equipment | MHE
MHE breaks it into five categories. The first category is transport equipment which is used to move products from one place to another. This includes conveyors and cranes and it also includes fork trucks for moving pallets and semi-trucks for moving large loads.
In the future, we’re likely to see drones and autonomous trucks as transport equipment too.
The second category is positioning equipment. This includes things like lift tables, dock levelers, and many kinds of robots that improve safety and ergonomics.
Positioning equipment modifies the work environment to protect people from bending, falling, or having to lift heavy loads.
The third type of MHE is unit load formation equipment. Instead of handling individual products or boxes, we often pack them up into larger units. We could put them into totes or stack them on a pallet or even put them into a shipping container.
The fourth kind of MHE is storage equipment. There are manual systems like a racks that we use to store boxes and pallets and there are also storage robots, carousels, and automatic storage and retrieval systems or ASRS that automate many put away and picking steps.
And the fifth type of MHE is identification and control equipment. These are technologies that help us keep track of what things are and where they are. This includes barcodes and quick response codes and all of the devices that we use to print and to read them.
Many times we keep track of products and tools in the supply chain using little electronic devices called radio-frequency identification tags. RFID can make it easier to track where things are and to maintain accurate inventory information.
Moving and tracking the products in the supply chain can be expensive and dangerous. By knowing the different kinds of material handling equipment that are available and knowing how to use them correctly, you’ll be better prepared for your warehouse and you’ll be able to ensure that your supply chain is both safe and efficient.