Abstract
Global competitiveness leads industry to meet the customer needs by short lead time to market and quality products with low prices. Survival in such a market can be accomplished by either adopting latest technologies or improving the existing systems to the best possible level. Acquiring these technologies need heavy investments and consistent demands due to which small and medium industries skip this option and tend to opt for other choice that is: improve the existing system. Material handling activities contributes a significant investment in production cost. Effective handling system reduces total production cost while considering ergonomics issues improves the productivity. This paper presents a conceptual framework with material handling systems design and the effects of human factors to improve productivity by reducing cost and optimizing quality. The framework provides a general methodology for analyzing a manufacturing/production line. Procedure for its implementation is discussed in a hierarchical way and finally the framework is used to analyze the production lines of a petrochemical industry. The analysis results in successful improvement of the process with 15% increase in overall manufacturing cycle efficiency.
Highlights
In today’s modern world, Material Handling Equipment (MHE) has been playing an important role in the improvement of industries’ productivity
Huge investment is required to establish an advanced and well developed MHE system. It requires money and needs suitable personnel which can install and manage properly. This amount is recovered in terms of increasing productivity, proper MHE should be selected because it comprises 30-40% of the total production cost [1]
Complexity of MHE selection is contributed by different factors that are imposed by the environment, materials and facilities etc. [2]
Summary
In today’s modern world, Material Handling Equipment (MHE) has been playing an important role in the improvement of industries’ productivity. Huge investment is required to establish an advanced and well developed MHE system. It requires money and needs suitable personnel which can install and manage properly. This amount is recovered in terms of increasing productivity, proper MHE should be selected because it comprises 30-40% of the total production cost [1]. Complexity of MHE selection is contributed by different factors that are imposed by the environment, materials and facilities etc. Complexity of MHE selection is contributed by different factors that are imposed by the environment, materials and facilities etc. [2]
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