A SEMINAR REPORT ON
“AUTOMATED MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEM”
WALCHAND COLLEGE OF ENGINERINNG, SANGLI
(AN AUTONOMUS INSTITUTE)
NAME :- GOSKEWAR PRATIK SHANKARRAO
ROLL NO :- 2017BTEME00208
BATCH :- M5
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INDEX
Sr Title Page No
No
1 INTRODUCTION 3
2 PRINCIPLES 3-5
3 NEW TRENDS 5-6
4 TYPES 6
5 REAL LIFE EXAMPLES 6-8
6 ADVANTAGES 8
7 DISADVANTAGE 9
8 REFERENCES 9 (https://www.palletrucks-
trolleys.com/news/post/principles-
of-material-handling, n.d.)
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INTRODUCTION :-
Nowadays, almost all industries heading towards mass production due to increase in demands
of particular product. Due to this, the productivity of an any industry plays very important role
to reduce lead time and to provide products to customers on time.
A modern survey states that 95% of total manufacturing time is taken by material handling
activity alone. Therefore, to increase productivity and reduce lead time engineers concentrated
on material handling techniques and came up with some of automated material handling system
due to which productivity can be increased
Also on other hand, in shipping industries like DHL, DTDC etc time management is very
important while withdrawal and placing the objects on right place and on right time. So, in
order to fulfil these requirements, industries employed such automated material handling
systems in their workstations.
PRINCIPLES :-
1. Planning principles
The planning principle states that all material handling operations should be the results of a
deliberate plan. The performance objectives, the need of the operation and the functional
specification should be defined from the very beginning.
2. Standardisation Principle
The standardisation principle of material handling believes that all methods,
equipment, controls, and software should be standardised within the limits of achieving
the performance objectives. This should not sacrifice the needed flexibility, modularity or
throughput.
3. Work Principle
The work principle of material handling believes that material handling work should be
minimised without hindering productivity or the service level requires for the operation.
4. Ergonomic Principle
The capability of humans and limitations should be recognised and respected. This should be
considered when designing the material handling tasks and equipment in order to ensure a safe
and effective operation.
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5. Unit Load Principle
This principle of material handling requires all unit loads to be appropriately sized. They should
also be configured to achieve the material for and the objectives at each stage in the supply
chain.
6. Space Utilisation Principle
Space Utilisation requires all available space is used effectively and efficiently.
7. System Principle
The system principle states that all material movement and storage activities should be
integrated to form a coordinated operational system. This should include the following things.
o Receiving
o Inspection
o Storage
o Production
o Assembly
o Packaging
o Unitising
o Order Selection
o Shipping
o Transportation
o Handling of returns
8. Automation Principle
Wherever possible, all material handling operations should be mechanised or automated. This
improves operational efficiency, increased responsiveness, improved consistency,
predictability and decreases operational costs and/or potentially unsafe manual labor.
9. Environmental Principle
The environmental principle of material handling believes that all environmental impact and
energy consumption should be considered when designing or selecting alternative equipment
and material handling systems.
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10. Life Cycle Cost Principle
Finally, a thorough economic analysis should account for the entire lifecycle of all material
handling equipment and resulting systems.(See 1)
NEW TRENDS :-
• Changing workforce
The workforce in material handling is getting older, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to
find qualified candidates entering the workforce who possess the necessary skills. The direction
suggests that over the next decade, this industry should join with the government and
educational system to help expand demographics to including women, younger workers,
disabled workers, and veterans.
• E commerce
The workforce in material handling is getting older, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to
find qualified candidates entering the workforce who possess the necessary skills. The direction
suggests that over the next decade, this industry should join with the government and
educational system to help expand demographics to including women, younger workers,
disabled workers, and veterans.
• Mass personalisation
As customized and personalized order requests become more common, businesses are required
to have flexible manufacturing and automation systems. Also, consumers expect personalized
goods at mass production prices. Businesses need to increase their capabilities to support more
diverse orders with shorter turnaround times than in the past
• Robotics and atomization
Robotics and automation systems have helped businesses keep up with growing demands while
remaining cost-efficient. These advances in technology also assist in smooth order picking,
real-time tracking, and many other processes. Automated sorting systems are becoming more
affordable and available in various versatile configurations to accommodate single piece
picking in part-to-picker and picker-to-part configurations. Additionally, high-speed
automation is leading to technology that can load and unload trucks at the pallet and carton
level.
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• Sustainability
The industry has begun developing standard and accepted metrics to assess environmental
impact. As consumers become better understanding of the environmental consequences of the
products they purchase, transportation and material handling companies should continue
working toward reducing their energy use and environmental footprint.(See 2)
TYPES :-
• Manual
These are the systems which contains mechanical structure with electrical or electronically
powered unit. In such systems, human is required to operate it throughout its opration.
• Automatic
Material handling systems can be purely mechanical or a combination of electric-mechanical,
electronics-mechanical etc. In automated material handling systems, electronics and
mechanical concepts combined together to form a rigid and fully automated systems working
on commands given by computerized system. This computerized system is coupled to material
handling system and program are loaded in the computer and according to loaded program,
material handling system works. E.g- conveyer system of food industry.
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES :-
• Amozon’s KIVA system
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Traditionally, goods are moved around a distribution centre using a conveyor system or by
human operated machines (such as forklifts). In Kiva’s approach, items are stored on portable
storage units. When an order is entered into the Kiva database system, the software locates the
closest automated guided vehicle (bot) to the item and directs it to retrieve it. The
mobile robots navigate around the warehouse by following a series of computerized barcode
stickers on the floor. Each drive unit has a sensor that prevents it from colliding with others.
When the drive unit reaches the target location, it slides underneath the pod and lifts it off the
ground through a corkscrew action. The robot then carries the pod to the specified human
operator to pick the items. Kiva has two models of robots. The smaller model is approximately
2 feet by 2.5 feet, and one foot high and capable of lifting 1,000 pounds. The larger model can
carry pallets and loads as heavy as 3,000 pounds. Both are a distinctive orange color. The
maximum velocity of a robot is 1.3 meters per second.(See 3)
• Alibaba’s QUICKTRON system
The robots are made by Chinese company Quicktron. Despite being only slightly larger
than ordinary robot vacuum cleaners, the AGVs can travel 5 feet per second and carry up to
500 kg. The robots can rotate 360 degrees for easy access to shelves and can sense each other
to avoid collision. The Quicktron robots are very efficient, and automatically source a charger
when battery is running low.
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The AGVs receive instructions via Wi-Fi and are responsible for moving goods in the
warehouse. Activated once a shopper places an order on Alibaba’s Tmall site, the robot then
sends the shelf containing the parcel to a warehouse clerk, who will sort through the parcels
and later ship the order to the customer. Once a task is complete the robots return to await their
next order.(See 4)
• Automated conveyer belt
These type of conveyers are modified version of normal conveyers which are powered by servo
motors. In addition, number of sensors are employed in such system as per requirement and
application. These sensors sends continuous updates to electronic control unit which then
compares these signals with standards and take action according to it.(See 5)
ADVANTAGES :-
• Higher production rate in manufacturing industries.
• Quick retrieval and loading of goods in shipping industries or e-commerce warehouses.
• Reduces human accidents during handling of material.
• Tasks completes with more precision and timely.
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DISADVANTAGES :-
• Too expensive.
• Employment reduces to great extent.
• Maintenance required.
REFERENCES :-
1. https://www.palletrucks-trolleys.com/news/post/principles-of-material-
handling
2. http://www.umdautomatedsystems.com/blog/top-5-material-handling-
trends-changing-the-industry/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Robotics
4. https://placetech.net/analysis/worlds-smartest-buildings-alibaba-
warehouse-china/
5. https://www.nttinc.com/blog/conveyor-system-work/
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