Search Results for: material handling

Features of an Ideal Plant Layout

Abey Francis

Plant layout and design is an important component of a businesses overall operations, both in terms of maximizing the effectiveness of the production process and meeting the needs of employees. Plant layout refers to the arrangement of physical facilities such as machinery, equipment, furniture etc. within the factory building in such a manner so as to have quickest flow of material at the lowest cost and with the least amount of handling in processing the product from the receipt of material to the shipment of the finished product. It may be defined as a technique of locating machines, processes and plant services within the factory so as to achieve the right quantity and quality of output at the lowest possibleContinue reading

Marketing Logistics

Abey Francis

Logistics is a military term that refers to the management of various activities like transportation, inventory, warehousing right from the stage of processing the raw materials by the manufacturer to convert it into finished goods till they are made available to the customer for use. While logistics management helps to optimize the flow of material within the organization, supply chain management crosses the boundaries of organization extending material flow integration upwards to suppliers and also descending down to customers. Logistics basically represents two primary product movements, (i) Physical supply, concerned with supply of raw materials, component parts, and other related supplies necessary for the manufacturing process. This comes under the purchase function (Materials Management) and (ii) Physical distribution, concerned withContinue reading

Value Added Roles of Warehouses

Abey Francis

Nowadays, the warehousing is playing a very important role in the supply chain management. Due to the strong competitive market nowadays, the function of warehouse is requiring to extend to a wide range. The warehousing not only provides the function of holding or storage the goods but it also provides the value-added services to improve the performance of the supply chain. The value-added services provided by warehouses are including; Buffer: The warehousing is holding the goods for the downstream stages of supply chain. It is to balance the difference goods schedules and aim to deal the efficiency in the distribution process and achieve the economic of scale. Consolidation center: The warehouse is used for accumulates and consolidates the goods fromContinue reading

Total Cost Approach to Logistics

Abey Francis

Total cost approach to logistics is the key to managing the logistics function. Management should strive to reduce the total cost of logistics rather than the cost of each activity. So logistics must be viewed as an integrated system rather than the individual system, because reduction in one cost invariably lead to increase the cost of other components. Effective management and real cost savings can be accomplished only by viewing logistics as an integrated system and minimizing its total cost given the firms customer service objectives. So the main costs which are involved in logistics function are: Customer service level costs Transportation costs Warehousing costs Order processing and information costs Lot quantity costs Inventory carrying costs Customer Service Level CostsContinue reading

Characteristics of a Good Plant Layout

Abey Francis

The layout of a plant or facility is concerned with the physical placement of resources such as equipment and storage facilities, which should be designed to facilitate the efficient flow of customers or materials through the manufacturing or service system. The layout design is very important and should be taken very seriously as it can have a significant impact on the cost and efficiency of an operation and can involve substantial investment in time and money. The decisions taken with regards to the facility layout will have a direct influence on how efficiently workers will be able to carry out their jobs, how much and how fast goods can be produced, how difficult it is to automate a system, andContinue reading

Flexible Manufacturing System – Definition, Process and Features

Abey Francis

A Flexible Manufacturing System(FMS) is a manufacturing system in which there is a certain degree of flexibility that allows the system to react in the case of changes, whether predicted or unpredicted. Flexibility is the speed at which a system can react to and accommodate change. To be considered flexible, the flexibility must exist during the entire life cycle of a product, from design to manufacturing to distribution. Flexible Manufacturing System is a computer-controlled system that can produce a variety of parts or products in any order, without the time-consuming task of changing machine setups. The flexibility being talked about is generally considered to fall into two categories, which both contain numerous subcategories. The first category, Machine Flexibility, covers theContinue reading