Heavy duty areas in facilities face diverse challenges that include processing, storing, and moving difficult-to-handle material. Downtimes can be cost-intensive; therefore, it’s essential to work with specialists to help you choose suitable material handling solutions for your facility. Safety, reliability, and efficiency are necessary for your business’s bottom line, and Hovair’s ergonomic equipment offers it all.
However, the term ‘material handling system’ is quite broad. Many items fall under the definition of storage units to heavy load handling systems. Any equipment that helps with storage, transportation, and control of loads at any production stage can be classified as material handling equipment. Here are the major categories of material handling technologies used in heavy-duty areas.
Main Categories of Material Handling Systems
Bulk Material Handling Equipment
Bulk material handling refers to bulky items’ control, storage, and transportation. Handling metal items, liquids, beverages, food, and many other items can be examples of this application.
Conveyor belts are a good example, as they help move loads from one part of the production process to the other. Sometimes hoppers and drums are used to funnel loose bulk items to enable easy packaging or manipulation.
Pneumatic heavy load handling systems by Hovair are also an incredible alternative for those looking for energy-efficient systems with high resistance qualities.
Engineered Systems
Automated guided vehicle systems are another type of material handling technology that enables seamless transportation without needing extra manpower. Many are switching to robotics or ASRS or Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems that are engineered to add aisles, shelves, and racks. The entire system can be operated manually or automated and computerized to mitigate the need for repetitive manual tasks. These engineered systems can also be with processes to enhance productivity and efficiency.
Industrial Trucks
While the term can be applied broadly to many diverse applications and types of equipment, the one common feature of all industrial trucks is that they all provide transportation. It could include large-scale motorized vehicles as well as small hand-operated devices. Some types can be driven while others, such as air pallets, are added to the fleet to simply add to the heavy load handling process.
Some types of trucks require additional equipment for lifting. Air beams and lift decks or air bearings prove helpful in such situations. You can simply place the air bearing modules below the object you want to move and introduce compressed air. The air bearings will lift the load from the ground and easily float to a new destination without requiring straining manual force.
Storage Equipment
Storage EquipmentMost storage units encompass items that aren’t automated. This includes stacking frames, shelving, sliding racks, and other equipment used to hold materials and products when they’re not being used. It could be short- or long-term periods for holding items when entering or leaving the production process or when a suitable buildup is required to stock finished goods.
Storage equipment ensures all materials are stored neatly and conveniently to ease transportation. Suitable storage solutions add to any company’s efficiency and help prevent bottlenecks from impacting other systems further down the production line. Moreover, the better utilized the available space will be, the more items can be stored efficiently.
If you’re ready to make your facility efficient with pneumatic load moving systems, browse Hovair’s material handling equipment to find the type that best suits your facility.
We offer a broad range of heavy load handling systems at competitive pricing, including lifting & rigging equipment, durable air bearings, industrial turntable systems, air casters, air skates, air beams, load leveling airbags, automobile turntables, commercial turntables, industrial turntables, and many other air caster material handling solutions.
Schedule a consultation with us to speak to our qualified experts. They can work with you to understand your facility’s unique needs as we walk you through the process of streamlining cutting-edge moving systems for heavy loads. Call us now to get a free quote!