When developing powder handling solutions, it’s indeed critical to follow best practices to guarantee that all of the equipment and operations in a facility—manual, semi-automated, and automated—work together as a coherent system. A carefully designed process will enhance customer support, eliminate waste, lessen shipping times, and reduced average inventory cost in manufacturing, distribution, and transportation by analysing the powder handling solutions goals and trying to align them to guidelines such as the main Principles of Material Handling. These principles are as follows:
- At the start of the design process, define the requirements, strategy performance targets, and functional specifications of the proposed model and supporting technologies. The strategy should be created in a collaborative effort that includes consultants, suppliers, and end users, as well as administration, engineering, information systems, finance, and operations.
- Consistency: All material handling procedures, equipment, controls, and technology should be standardised and capable of performing several jobs under a wide range of operating circumstances.
- Work: Material handling procedures should be streamlined by decreasing, combining, shortening, or eliminating needless movement. Using gravity to help in material movement is one example, as is using straight-line motion as much as feasible.
- Work and working environment should be modified to support a worker’s talents, eliminate repetitive and intense physical labour, and prioritise safety.
- Unit load: Because transporting multiple individual goods together like a single load requires less effort and labour than moving several items one at a time, unit loads, such as pallets, containers, or totes of products, should be employed.
- Space utilisation: To make the most practical use of space inside a facility, maintain workspaces tidy and clutter-free, optimise density in storage rooms (not sacrificing access and flexibility), and utilise overhead space.
- Material flow and warehousing should be coordinated across all operations, including receipt, inspection, storage, manufacturing, assembly, packing, unitizing, and order selection, as well as shipping, transportation, and return handling.
- Environment: When developing the system, energy usage and potential environmental effect should be addressed, with regeneration and recycling procedures used whenever possible, and safe methods for handling hazardous chemicals created.
- Automation: When practicable and appropriate, automated handling technologies should be used to increase operational efficiency, responsiveness, uniformity, and predictability.
- Product lifecycle cost: For all system equipment mentioned, a life cycle cost analysis should be performed. Capital spending, implementation, installation, coding, education, testing of the system, operating, construction and maintenance, reuse value, and final disposal should all be factors to consider.
