What Are Common Types of Material Handling Equipment?

Material handling is a crucial aspect of any business, serving for the management of goods and warehouses throughout the entire lifecycle of products. Material handling will often vary based on the type of business that one is running, but it generally covers operations such as inventory storage and processing, product packaging and protection, material transfer and storage, warehouse management, and much more. Whether your form of material handling leans more toward storage and handling or taking advantage of engineered systems, it is important that one has all the handling equipment they need to be successful.

Storage and Handling Equipment

For those working with products or goods, it is critical to have a solution for storage and handling, allowing for better organization, safety, and other benefits. Storage and handling equipment covers items such as bins, shelves, racks, drawers, and stacking frames, and all are used to store or secure items that are not currently in use or are not being transported. While larger equipment types may work well with automated equipment, smaller products are often more difficult to organize, requiring workers to sort and store such goods by hand. When choosing a solution for your needs, it is important to determine how much storage you may require, and whether you need to prioritize freeing up floor space or protecting fragile items.

Industrial Transportation Vehicles

When it comes time to move goods between locations, businesses will often utilize industrial trucks. To begin, a vehicle such as a forklift will be operated to transfer heavy or bulked items from a storage area and into a transportation vehicle like a truck. Additionally, there are various other types of industrial trucks that are commonly used for standard warehouse operations, including side loaders, automatic guided vehicles, order pickers, platform trucks, pallet trucks, and various others. While many industrial transportation vehicles feature forks or flat surfaces to make transporting pallets and products easier, hand-operated trucks will require manual loading.

Engineered Systems

As previously mentioned, certain operations in a warehouse or facility may benefit from the use of automated systems. Generally, automated systems are used for the transportation of large amounts of goods with ease, saving manpower and time. Common forms of engineered systems for material handling include robotic delivery systems, automated storage and retrieval systems, conveyor belts tape, and more. Oftentimes, warehouses and facilities rely on engineered systems for moving items to and from assembly lines and storage.

Bulk Material Handling Solutions

When handling a large amount of goods or products, it can be highly beneficial to have solutions in place for handling items in bulk to increase efficiency. Bulk material handling equipment is often used to manage or move bulk materials when they are situated as a single unit or loosely gathered together. Silos and hoppers are both common forms of bulk material handling equipment used for the management of goods, and bulk storage racks or storage boxes are similar solutions. Meanwhile, conveyor belts and elevators are also forms of bulk material handling solutions, albeit serving for the bulk transportation of items rather than the storage of such items.

How To Choose Between Options

Before committing to a major investment, it is important to determine your particular material handling needs so that a perfect solution can be found. Generally, the most important factors to review are movement, time, quantity, space, and safety. For something like movement, it is important to determine how products move from production to shipment so that you can expertly plan out the equipment required to maintain efficiency. Additionally, figuring out how fast you are moving items and how many items are being moved at a time can also determine how much equipment you may require, what forms of storage to focus on, and more. Once you have narrowed down your individual needs, allow the team at ASAP Industrials to help you source everything you require with ease.

Owned and operated by ASAP Semiconductor, we present customers access to an unrivaled inventory of over 2 billion new, used, obsolete, and hard-to-find products that cater to a diverse set of industry verticals. As you explore our offerings, take advantage of our RFQ service to request quotes for your comparisons with ease. Upon receiving a completed form, our team will quickly craft a customized solution that caters to your needs, all within 15 minutes or less. Give us a call or email today and connect with an industry representative who would be more than happy to assist you however necessary!


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August 17, 2022
December 29, 2020

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