Material Transport Equipment

Five categories:
1. Industrial trucks
2. Automated guided vehicles
3. Monorails and other rail guided vehicles
4. Conveyors
5. Cranes and hoists
 Industrial Trucks
Two basic categories:
1. Non-powered
– Human workers push or pull loads
2. Powered
– Self-propelled, guided or driven by human
– Common example: forklift truck
 Nonpowered Industrial Trucks
(Hand Trucks)

(a) Two-wheel hand truck, (b) four-wheel dolly, (c) hand-

operated low-lift pallet truck

Pallets: a platform on which goods are placed for storage or

transportation
 Unit Load Containers

(a) Wooden pallet, (b) pallet box, (c) tote box

 Powered Trucks: Walkie Truck

• Wheeled forks insert into pallet openings

• No provision for riding; truck is steered by worker
using control handle at front of vehicle
 Powered Trucks: Forklift Truck

• Widely used in factories and

warehouses because pallet
loads are so common
• The basic unit is equipped
with two forks attached to
uprights for lifting standard
pallets.
• Capacities from 450 kg (1000
lb) up to 4500 kg (10,000 lb)
• Power sources include on-
board batteries and internal
combustion motors.
 Powered Trucks: Towing Tractor

• Designed to pull one

or more trailing carts
in factories and
warehouses, as well as
for airport baggage
handling
• Powered by on-board
batteries or IC engines
 Automated Guided Vehicles
An Automated Guided Vehicle System (AGVS) uses independently
operated, self-propelled vehicles that are guided along pre-defined
paths, and are powered by means of on-board batteries. AGVS use
unobtrusive pathways, unlike rail systems or conveyors where the
pathways are predefined and must be built into the plant layout.

Types of AGV:
– Driverless trains
– Pallet trucks
– Unit load AGVs
Automated Guided Vehicles: Driverless Automated
Guided Train
• This consists of a towing
vehicle pulling one or more
trailer carts to form a train.
• First type of AGVS to be
introduced around 1954
• It is often used to move
heavy payloads over long
distances in warehouses or
factories with or without
intermediate pick-up or drop-
off points along the route.
 Automated Guided Vehicles: AGV Pallet Truck
• The pallet is loaded
by the operator who
then steers the truck
to the guide-path.
• Used to move
palletized loads along
predetermined routes
• Vehicle is backed into
loaded pallet by
worker; pallet is then
elevated from floor
• Worker drives pallet
truck to AGV guide
path and programs
destination
 Automated Guided Vehicles:
Unit Load Carrier

• Used to move unit loads

from station to station
• Often equipped for
automatic loading/unloading
of pallets and tote pans
using roller conveyors,
moving belts, or
mechanized lift platforms
 Rail-Guided Vehicles
Motorised vehicles that are guided by a fixed rail system constitute
a third category of material transport systems.
If the system uses just one rail it is called a monorail system;
whereas it can also consist of a two-rail system.
Monorails typically operate from a suspended position overhead,
while two-rail systems are generally found on the plant floor.

Overhead Monorail
 Cranes and Hoists
Handling devices for lifting, lowering and transporting
materials, often as heavy loads
• Cranes
– Used for horizontal movement of materials
• Hoists
– Used for vertical lifting of materials
• Cranes usually include hoists so that the crane-and-hoist
combination provides
– Horizontal transport
– Vertical lifting and lowering
 Hoist
Used to raise and lower loads, it consists of one or more fixed
pulleys, one or more moving pulleys, and a rope/chain/cable that
connects the pulley system together.
The load is attached to the moving pulley(s) by means of a hook, or
other mechanism.
The more pulleys a hoist has, the greater the mechanical advantage
it can display; whereby mechanical advantage is formulated as the
ratio of the load weight to the driving force required to lift the
weight.
The driving force is applied either manually, or by electric or
pneumatic motor.
 Bridge Crane
Consist of one or two horizontal
suspended beams fixed between
rails on either end, the whole
structure being held in place by
the building structure. The hoist
trolley moves the length of the
bridge, while the bridge itself
can be moved the length of the
rails in the building.
Vertical lifting is achieved by
the hoist, and orthogonal
movement by the rail system
along which the hoist trolley
travels.
Gantry Crane
Jib Crane