Material Handling Systems
Meaning and Definition
In a manufacturing firm the raw materials are obtained from the suppliers and are stored in the stores room. They are issued to production departments and are moved inside the plant area from one process to another for the purpose of processing till they are converted into finished production. Finished products are section. The shipping section. The function of the materials handling is confined only to the movement of raw materials from the store room to the shipping section.
"Materials handling refers to the movement of materials from the store room to the machine and from one machine to the next during the process of manufacture"
According to the American Material Handling Society. " Materials handing is the art and science involving the movement packing and storing of substances in any form.
Thus materials handling function includes all types of movement vertical horizontal or combination of both and of all types of materials fluid, semi fluid and discrete items and of movements required for packaging and storing.