%0 Journal Article
%T Material Handling Equipment Selection Using Weighted Utility Additive Theory
%A Prasad Karande
%A Shankar Chakraborty
%J Journal of Industrial Engineering
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/268708
%X Better utilization of manpower, providing product flexibility, increasing productivity, decreasing lead time, reduction in handling cost, increased efficiency of material flow, and enhancement of production process are some of the most important issues influencing material handling (MH) equipment selection decision. As a wide variety of MH equipment is available today, selection of the proper equipment for a designed manufacturing system is a complicated task. Selection of suitable MH equipment for a typical handling environment is found to be a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. As the selection process is found to be unstructured, characterized by domain dependent knowledge, there is a need to apply an efficient MCDM tool to select the most suitable MH equipment for the given application. This paper applies weighted utility additive (WUTA) method to solve an MH equipment selection problem. The ranking obtained using the WUTA method is compared with that derived by the past researchers which proves its potentiality, applicability, and accuracy to solve complex decision-making problems. 1. Introduction Material handling (MH) is an activity that uses the right method to provide the right amount of the right material at the right place, at the right time, in the right sequence, in the right position, and at the right cost [1]. An MH system is responsible for transporting materials between workstations with minimum obstruction and joins all the workstations and workshops in a manufacturing system by acting as a basic integrator. The MH task accounts for 30¨C75% of the total cost of a product, and efficient MH can be responsible for reducing the manufacturing system operations cost by 15¨C30% [2]. These figures justify the importance of MH cost as an element in improving the cost structure of a manufacturing organization. An efficient MH system greatly improves the competitiveness of a product through the reduction of handling cost, enhances the production process, increases production and system flexibility, increases efficiency of material flow, improves facility utilization, provides effective utilization of manpower, and decreases lead time [3]. The functions performed by MH equipment can be classified into four broad categories, that is, (a) transport, (b) positioning, (c) unit formation, and (d) storage. Usually, all the MH functions are composed of one or more combinations of these four primary functions. Equipment in transport category simply moves materials from one point to another, which includes conveyors, industrial trucks, cranes, and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jie/2013/268708/