Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Material handling'

Tableau d’honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2018-2019.
Les activités de distribution et d’entreposage sont des piliers importants de la chaîne d’approvisionnement. Ils assurent la stabilité du flux de matières et la synchronisation de toutes les parties prenantes du réseau. Un centre de distribution (CD) agit comme un point de découplage entre l’approvisionnement, la production et les ventes. La distribution comprend un large éventail d’activités visant à assurer la satisfaction de la demande. Ces activités passent de la réception au stockage des produits finis ou semi-finis, à la préparation des commandes et à la livraison. Les opérations d’un CD sont maintenant perçues comme des facteurs critiques d’amélioration. Elles sont responsables de la satisfaction d’un marché en évolution, exigeant des délais de livraison toujours plus rapides et plus fiables, des commandes exactes et des produits hautement personnalisés. C’est pourquoi la recherche en gestion des opérations met beaucoup d’efforts sur le problème de gestion des CDs. Depuis plusieurs années, nous avons connu de fortes avancées en matière d’entreposage et de préparation de commandes. L’activité de préparation de commandes est le processus consistant à récupérer les articles à leur emplacement de stockage afin d’assembler des commandes. Ce problème a souvent été résolu comme une variante du problème du voyageur de commerce, où l’opérateur se déplace à travers les allées de l’entrepôt. Cependant, les entrepôts modernes comportent de plus en plus de familles de produits ayant des caractéristiques très particulières rendant les méthodes conventionnelles moins adéquates. Le premier volet de cette thèse par articles présente deux importants et complexes problèmes de manutention des produits lors de la préparation des commandes. Le problème de préparation des commandes a été largement étudié dans la littérature au cours des dernières décennies. Notre recherche élargit le spectre de ce problème en incluant un ensemble de caractéristiques associées aux installations physiques de la zone de prélèvement, comme les allées étroites, et aux caractéristiques des produits (poids, volume, catégorie, fragilité, etc.). Une perspective plus appliquée à la réalité des opérations est utilisée dans notre développement d’algorithmes. Les déplacements liés à la préparation des commandes sont fortement influencés par le positionnement des produits. La position des produits dans la zone de prélèvement est déterminée par une stratégie d’affectation de stockage (storage assignment strategy). Beaucoup de ces stratégies utilisent de l’information sur les ventes des produits afin de faciliter l’accès aux plus populaires. Dans l’environnement concurrentiel d’aujourd’hui, la durée de vie rentable d’un produit peut être relativement courte. Des promotions peuvent également être faites pour pousser différents produits sur le marché. Le positionnement fourni par la stratégie d’hier ne sera probablement plus optimal aujourd’hui. Il existe plusieurs études mesurant l’impact d’une bonne réaffectation de produits sur les opérations de prélèvement. Cependant, ils étudient la différence des performances avec les positionnements passés et actuels. La littérature démontre clairement que cela apporte des avantages en termes d’efficacité. Toutefois, les déplacements nécessaires pour passer d’une position à une autre peuvent constituer une activité très exigeante. Ceci constitue le second volet de cette thèse qui présente des avancées intéressantes sur le problème de repositionnement des produits dans la zone de prélèvement. Nous présentons le problème de repositionnement des produits sous une forme encore peu étudiée aux meilleurs de nos connaissances : le problème de repositionnement. Plus précisément, nous étudions la charge de travail requise pour passer d’une configuration à l’autre. Cette thèse est structuré comme suit. L’introduction présente les caractéristiques et les missions d’un système de distribution. Le chapitre 1 fournit un survol de la littérature sur les principales fonctions d’un centre de distribution et met l’accent sur la préparation des commandes et les décisions qui affectent cette opération. Le chapitre 2 est consacré à l’étude d’un problème de préparation de commandes en allées étroites avec des équipements de manutention contraignants. Dans le chapitre 3, nous étudions un problème de préparation des commandes où les caractéristiques des produits limitent fortement les routes de prélèvement. Le chapitre 4 présente une variante du problème de repositionnement (reassignment) avec une formulation originale pour le résoudre. La conclusion suit et résume les principales contributions de cette thèse. Mots clés : Préparation des commandes, entreposage, problèmes de routage, algorithmes exacts et heuristiques, réaffectation des produits, manutention.
Distribution and warehousing activities are important pillars to an effective supply chain. They ensure the regulation of the operational flow and the synchronization of all actors in the network. Hence, distribution centers (DCs) act as crossover points between the supply, the production and the demand. The distribution includes a wide range of activities to ensure the integrity of the demand satisfaction. These activities range from the reception and storage of finished or semi-finished products to the preparation of orders and delivery. Distribution has been long seen as an operation with no or low added value; this has changed, and nowadays it is perceived as one of the critical areas for improvement. These activities are responsible for the satisfaction of an evolving market, requiring ever faster and more reliable delivery times, exact orders and highly customized products. This leads to an increased research interest on operations management focused on warehousing. For several years, we have witnessed strong advances in warehousing and order picking operations. The order picking activity is the process of retrieving items within the storage locations for the purpose of fulfilling orders. This problem has long been solved as a variant of the travelling salesman problem, where the order picker moves through aisles. However, modern warehouses with more and more product families may have special characteristics that make conventional methods irrelevant or inefficient. The first part of this thesis presents two practical and challenging material handling problems for the order picking within DCs. Since there are many research axes in the field of warehousing operations, we concentrated our efforts on the order picking problem and the repositioning of the products within the picking area. The order picking problem has been intensively studied in the literature. Our research widens the spectrum of this problem by including a set of characteristics associated with the physical facilities of the picking area and characteristics of the product, such as its weight, volume, category, fragility, etc. This means that a more applied perspective on the reality of operations is used in our algorithms development. The order picking workload is strongly influenced by the positioning of the products. The position of products within the picking area is determined by a storage assignment strategy. Many of these strategies use product sales information in order to facilitate access to the most popular items. In today’s competitive environment, the profitable lifetime of a product can be relatively short. The positioning provided by yesterday’s assignment is likely not the optimal one in the near future. There are several studies measuring the impact of a good reassignment of products on the picking operations. However, they study the difference between the two states of systems on the picking time. It is clear that this brings benefits. However, moving from one position to another is a very workload demanding activity. This constitutes the second part of this thesis which presents interesting advances on the repositioning of products within the picking area. We introduce the repositioning problem as an innovative way of improving performance, in what we call the reassignment problem. More specifically, we study the workload required to move from one setup to the next. This thesis is structured as follows. The introduction presents the characteristics and missions of a distribution system. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the literature on the main functions of a DC and emphasizes on order picking and decisions affecting this operation. Chapter 2 is devoted to the study of a picking problem with narrow aisles facilities and binding material handling equipment. In Chapter 3, we study the picking problem with a set of product features that strongly constrain the picking sequence. Chapter 4 presents a variant of the reassignment problem with a strong and new formulation to solve it. The conclusion follows and summarizes the main contributions of this thesis. Key words: Order-picking, warehousing, routing problems, exact and heuristic algorithms, products reassignment, material handling.

Linde Material Handling AB har på kort tid gått från att vara ett litet familjeföretag till att bli en av Sveriges största truckleverantörer. Orderingången har vuxit fort men stora delar av företaget har inte riktigt följt med i utvecklingen vilket har resulterat i att de idag har problem att hålla utlovade leveranstider och att leverera produkter av rätt kvalitet.Utifrån en kartläggning av processen från det att en truck säljs till dess att allt material finns hemma identifieras de brister och kritiska punkter som är roten till problemen. Processkartan i kombination med en nulägesbeskrivning ska ge ett antal förbättringsförslag där lösningar på problemen tas upp och analyseras.Den största bristen som identifierats i processen var främst avsaknaden av ett för företaget gemensamt planeringssystem. I dag använder olika avdelningar olika system vilka ofta består av avancerade Excelfiler och i andra fall av att information lagras i huvudet hos någon anställd. Detta i sin tur resulterar i svårigheter med uppföljning av de sålda truckarna. Det blir svårt att veta vem som göra vad och att säkerställa att allt som ska göras blir gjort i tid. I dagens till stora delar manuella system finns inte all information tillgänglig för alla alltid vilket försvårar arbetet för många och gör det svårt att se helheten i processen.En annan anmärkningsvärd brist som identifierades och som i hög grad påverkar produkternas kvalitet är avsaknaden av leveranskontroll av de delar som köps från de lokala leverantörerna. Detta resulterade förvånansvärt ofta i att defekta eller felaktiga produkter identifierades först när de skulle monteras på en truck. Ofta sker detta så långt efter leverans att det då är för sent att reklamera eller byta varpå en ny beställning måste göras vilket resulterar i en onödig extrakostnad.De lösningar som vi föreslagit på dessa och många andra problem som uppstår till följd av dem är främst en investering i ett MPS-system vilket skulle förbättra den interna informationshanteringen. Vidare föreslår vi också mer standardiserade konstruktioner för att undvika att konstruera nya lösningar till gamla problem, vilket ofta händer idag.Kontentan av de föreslagna förbättringarna är att skapa en mer standardiserad och förutsägbar process där alla parter vet vad som förväntas av dem och vad de kan förvänta sig av varandra.Linde Material Handling AB har på kort tid gått från att vara ett litet familjeföretag till att bli en av Sveriges största truckleverantörer. Orderingången har vuxit fort men stora delar av företaget har inte riktigt följt med i utvecklingen vilket har resulterat i att de idag har problem att hålla utlovade leveranstider och att leverera produkter av rätt kvalitet.Utifrån en kartläggning av processen från det att en truck säljs till dess att allt material finns hemma identifieras de brister och kritiska punkter som är roten till problemen. Processkartan i kombination med en nulägesbeskrivning ska ge ett antal förbättringsförslag där lösningar på problemen tas upp och analyseras.Den största bristen som identifierats i processen var främst avsaknaden av ett för företaget gemensamt planeringssystem. I dag använder olika avdelningar olika system vilka ofta består av avancerade Excelfiler och i andra fall av att information lagras i huvudet hos någon anställd. Detta i sin tur resulterar i svårigheter med uppföljning av de sålda truckarna. Det blir svårt att veta vem som göra vad och att säkerställa att allt som ska göras blir gjort i tid. I dagens till stora delar manuella system finns inte all information tillgänglig för alla alltid vilket försvårar arbetet för många och gör det svårt att se helheten i processen.En annan anmärkningsvärd brist som identifierades och som i hög grad påverkar produkternas kvalitet är avsaknaden av leveranskontroll av de delar som köps från de lokala leverantörerna. Detta resulterade förvånansvärt ofta i att defekta eller felaktiga produkter identifierades först när de skulle monteras på en truck. Ofta sker detta så långt efter leverans att det då är för sent att reklamera eller byta varpå en ny beställning måste göras vilket resulterar i en onödig extrakostnad.De lösningar som vi föreslagit på dessa och många andra problem som uppstår till följd av dem är främst en investering i ett MPS-system vilket skulle förbättra den interna informationshanteringen. Vidare föreslår vi också mer standardiserade konstruktioner för att undvika att konstruera nya lösningar till gamla problem, vilket ofta händer idag.Kontentan av de föreslagna förbättringarna är att skapa en mer standardiserad och förutsägbar process där alla parter vet vad som förväntas av dem och vad de kan förvänta sig av varandra.

Effective material handling plays a key role in cutting costs. Well-organized material handling can cut production cost by optimizing product transfer paths, decreasing the damage rate and by increasing the utilization of storage space. This report presents the development of an analysis system for StoraEnso Hylte’s paper reel database. The system extracts and classifies key points from the database which are related to material handling; like attributes related to the product (paper reel), forklift truck information and storage cell utilization. The analysis based on paper reels includes the damage rate and transfer paths of paper reels. A mathematical model is also presented, which tells us that the probability of damage per transport is more important than the number of transports for paper reels handling. The effect of decreasing non-optimal transportation (optimize the path) is very small.

The world is becoming more and more globalized. The transportation and trading of goods across borders are becoming more frequent. All this is putting greater demands on companies dealing with material handling and distribution of supply. Material handling with forklifts is an area which is associated with risk of accidents.  Statistics from both the US and Europe shows that damages to material and personnel is frequent. A certain area that is in need of improvement is the handling of material on high storages. These storages can be as high as 15m. When stacking and picking pallets at those heights it is very hard for the driver to get a good view of the pallet and handle the material in a safe way. There are several support systems available on the market today, to aid drivers with handling material on these heights. The question to be answered in this thesis is, how good are these systems and what systems should be recommended to users of forklifts? By the use of a literature study, where both available products on the forklift market as well as support systems from other markets were studied I got a good overview of available technologies. Using this information and methods for product design a number of technical concepts was generated. The concepts were limited to technologies that are available today. Because of that some technologies and concepts were overlooked. Most of the concepts consisted of a camera and a display used in different ways. A first evaluation of the concepts was made. Four concepts were chosen to be further evaluated. These four concepts were: Camera with guide lines Camera without guide lines Fork tip camera with guide lines No Camera. (benchmark) The concepts were then evaluated, tested and graded using the five criteria: Time (productivity), Safety, physical ergonomics, Usability and Preferred concept. The results showed that the concept consisting of the by TMHE used fork camera (2 above) combined with a new display and guide lines was the best support system. The result is fairly reliable because of the many different evaluation techniques used and the fact they all point the same concept. The validity however should be investigated further during a more extensive field test.

Business Intelligence (BI) is as an academic subject a rather unexplored research field and within the business context, BI leads an ambivalent existence. BI is foremost used either as a term capturing other intelligence terms or as a denotation for decision-support systems. Within this Master Thesis, BI is therefore approached as an umbrella concept covering both these offshoots. The Thesis is centered on a Case Study conducted at Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) and the initiated process of defining and enhancing Strategic Business Intelligence. TMHE has divided their BI in Strategic and Operative BI, where the latter has been in focus historically.

The Case Study indicates that it is neither pragmatic nor illustrational to define BI as an umbrella concept and that BI is too complex to be described only in one dimension (i.e. in Strategic and Operative). A new structure is proposed in which BI is described with three frameworks (Activities, Categories, and Processes); in order to better capture the complexity of the subject. As a way to improve the BI work within TMHE, an information needs analysis was conducted among the top and middle management using a modification of the World Mapping Method. The outcome of the analysis was suggestions of potential areas for coordination of information needs. To improve issues of handling of unstructured information within TMHE, there is a need for change of the organizational culture. The concepts of Wiki, RSS, and Enterprise Search, all connected to Enterprise 2.0, are seen as tools that could help the organization.

Keywords: Business Intelligence, BI, Strategic Business Intelligence, Operative Business Intelligence, Information Needs Analysis, Unstructured Information, World Mapping Method, Information Handling, Enterprise 2.0, Wiki, RSS, Enterprise Search, Toyota Material Handling

Background: Material handling is a large part of a company´s internal work and represents between 15 % and 70 % of the total cost of a manufactured product. By improving the internal handling of material, more efficient distribution and manufacturing flows are possible. The material handling process is an input to the production and assembly process that has to be defined and mapped so that it can be improved. The material handling process studied at Volvo CE Braås includes goods receiving, storage, packaging as well as the order/delivery process to assembly, and will finish with the material transport to the assembly line.

Research questions: How can the material handling process, from goods receiving to assembly line, at Volvo CE in Braås be described by using VSM? What kinds of waste can be identified? By proposing a future-state map, how can the identified problems and waste be reduced or eliminated?

Methodology: This thesis is a descriptive case study and was conducted with a deductive approach. Data was collected by our own observations, personal interviews, statistics, benchmarking and questionnaire. The scientific credibility of this thesis was secured by for example using many sources, avoidance of assumptions, studying a common process and following standardized steps of the VSM tool.

Conclusions: The material handling process was described in the separated areas of goods receiving, storage and assembly line. Visualization was given in a current-state map. Five different kinds of waste were identified. Finally, suggestions of improvements were presented along with a future-state map.

Suggestions on future research: A more detailed VSM including information flow and lead times could be studied. Scenario simulations of critical areas within the material handling process could be preformed. Furthermore, an ABC classification of articles and storage locations can be done to optimize storage.

Manufacturing Systems are subject to increasingly frequent changes in demand in terms of number and type of products they produce. It is impractical to continually reconfigure the facilities, but it is possible to modify the material handling arrangements so that the selected equipment is the most appropriate for the current requirements. The number of decisions that need to be made coupled with the rate at which decisions must be taken adds significant difficulty to the problem of equipment selection. Furthermore there are relatively few experts who have the necessary range of knowledge coupled with the ability to use this knowledge to select the most appropriate material handling solution in any situation. Access to such experts is therefore greatly restricted and decisions are more commonly made by less experienced people, who depend on equipment vendors for information, often resulting in poor equipment selection. This research first examines the significance of appropriate material handling equipment choice in dynamic environments. The objective is to construct a computer based expert system utilising knowledge from the best available sources in addition to a systematic procedure for selection of material handling equipment. A new system has been produced, based on the Flex language, which elicits from the inexperienced user details of the handling requirements in order to build an equipment specification. It then selects from among 11 handling solution groups and provides the user with information supporting the selection. Original features of the system are the way in which the knowledge is grouped, the ability of the procedure to deal with quantifiable and non-quantifiable equipment and selection factors, selection of decision analysis method and the validation of the final choice to establish confidence in the results. The system has been tested using real industrial data and has been found in 81% of cases to produce results which are acceptable to the experts who provided the information.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (leaf 65).
Currently the material handling in NPC Singapore is done manually via forklift trucks. As the production volume increases and a new product launches, the current capacity will not be sufficient for 2012. In order to avoid the production loss and increase the operational efficiency, four solutions have been tested, including forklift trucks and labor extension, Kanban redesign in staging areas, conveyor implementation in staging areas and automating the transportation between the warehouse and production via implementing AGVs or transfer cars. In this thesis research we specifically analyze the use of AGVs and transfer cars. By implementing two transfer cars in 2012, the system capacity will remain adequate until 2018. This investment provides a $364,165 net present value and a 29% internal rate of return.
by Changhui Zhao.
M.Eng.

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores
In the recent past, market requirements and consequently the production lines changed too. With the customization of products and the growing number of products to produce, the dy-namism and flexibility of the lines are now requirements of extreme importance. A traditional approach indicates great difficulty in satisfying those needs and as such has appeared some proposals in order to solve them. The proposed approaches are mostly related to scheduling and production planning. The transportation system is not usually inserted in the control architecture and system reconfiguration, constantly being put aside in order to this issue. This work proposes architecture to support self-organized transportation system, where it performs control functions and management. The architecture was developed for a system com-prising conveyors where the stations operate. The proposed work is a multi-agent architecture that use Dijkstra’s algorithm to improve the routing of products and materials. The main features of architecture are load balancing pre-sent in conveyors and ability to plug and unplug stations in runtime. The architecture was first tested in a virtual environment in order to check the behavior of the same and was subsequently tested in a real industrial cell in order to demonstrate its use in a real system.

The prevention of incidents and injuries is fundamental for any industry activity since those events may result in serious economic, environmental, and human losses. Due to the centralization of Linde filling operations within Sweden, several of their plants are being phased out to move the production to Enköping. The elevated raise of Linde's production led to a high increase of forklift drivers and stock levels and consequently brought up the number of incidents related to forklift driving. This thesis aims to obtain knowledge to mitigate forklift truck related safety hazards as well as understand how to eliminate risks and unsafe situations at this type of operation. This project was divided into 3 phases. Phase I consisted of understanding operations routines and its safety risks, assessing Enköping site internal state (with a safety survey, and several visits and interviews), and benchmarking the most common practices based on other companies' forklift-related processes (with visits and interviews). In phase II, parallelly to ISite software implementation, studies utilizing different engineering tools (Spaghetti Diagram, VSM, Fishbone Diagram, and FMEA) were performed in order to gather information and understand how to optimize the site's forklift-related safety. In this phase, a tailored observational KPI was developed in order to assess the site independently of incident measurement regarding four groups: Site, Pedestrian activity, Forklift operation, and Forklift operator behavior. In phase III, all data acquired was discussed, and conclusions were made based on the data analysis and discussions of the results of Phase II implementation allied with the theoretical references. The survey findings showed the high degree of importance given to safety at Linde in Enköping. It also revealed, in addition to all engineering tools applied, which elements should be focused in order to optimize the forklift trucks operational safety (mainly related to Technology dimension). Based on the benchmark comparison, it is possible to allege that the absence of a maintenance facility is the main disadvantage of Linde in Enköping. In contrast, the usage of I-Site fleet management software represents an important step towards safety. The I-Site knowledge and the awareness of its benefits grew among management and operators as setup issues, and technical malfunctioning was eliminated. The observational KPI has obtained preliminary overall values above 0,82 for all groups (on a scale of 0 to 1), proving itself capable of measuring the safety performance and identifying risks and unsafe situations.
Att förebygga incidenter och skador är grundläggande för all branschaktivitet eftersom dessa händelser kan leda till allvarliga ekonomiska, miljömässiga och mänskliga förluster. På grund av centraliseringen av Lindes fyllningsverksamheten inom Sverige har flera av deras anläggningar fasats ut för att flytta produktionen till Enköping. Den utökade produktionen på Linde Enköping skapade behov av fler truckförare, högre lagernivåer och ökade följaktligen antalet incidenter relaterade till gaffeltruck. Avhandlingen syftar till att få kunskap för att mildra säkerhetsrisker för gaffeltruckar samt förstå hur man kan eliminera risker och osäkra situationer vid denna typ av verksamhet. Detta projekt delades in i tre faser. Fas I bestod av att förstå driftsrutiner och dess säkerhetsrisker, utvärdera det interna tillståndet på Linde Enköpings arbetsplats (med en säkerhetsundersökning, flera besök och olika intervjuer) och benchmarka de vanligaste metoderna baserat på andra företags gaffeltruckrelaterade processer (med besök och intervjuer). I fas II, parallellt med I-Site-programvaruimplementering, utfördes studier med olika tekniska verktyg (Spaghetti Diagram, VSM, Fishbone Diagram och FMEA) för att undersöka och förstå hur man optimerar verksamhetens gaffeltruckrelaterade säkerhet. I denna fas utvecklades en skräddarsydd observations-KPI för att utvärdera verksamheten oberoende av att mäta incidenter avseende fyra grupper: Plats, fotgängare, gaffeltruck och beteende för gaffeltruck. I fas III diskuterades alla förvärvade data, slutsatser gjordes baserade på dataanalysen och diskussionerna om resultaten av fas II-implementering tillsammans med teoretiska referenser. Undersökningsresultaten visade hur högt säkerhet prioriteras vid Linde Enköping. Den avslöjade också, utöver alla tillämpade konstruktionsverktyg, vilka element som bör fokuseras på för att optimera truckens driftssäkerhet (främst relaterad till teknikdimension). Baserat på den benchmarking som genomfördes är det möjligt att hävda att frånvaron av underhållsanläggning är den största nackdelen med Linde i Enköping. Däremot är användningen av mjukvara för I-Site-flottanhantering ett viktigt steg mot säkerheten. Kunskapen om I-SITE och medvetenheten om dess fördelar växte bland ledningen och operatörerna när installationsproblem och tekniska funktionsfel eliminerades. Utfallen för observations-KPI har erhållit preliminära totalvärden över 0,82 för alla grupper (i en skala från 0 till 1), och visar sig kapabel att mäta säkerhet i genomförande samt att identifiera risker och osäkra situationer.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006.
Dr. Yih-Long Chang, Committee Member ; Dr. Martin Savelsbergh, Committee Member ; Dr. Leon McGinnis, Committee Co-Chair ; Dr. Gunter Sharp, Committee Chair ; Dr. Doug Bodner, Committee Member ; Dr. Joel Sokol, Committee Member.

In semiconductor manufacturing, automated material handling systems (AMHSs) transport wafers through a complex re-entrant manufacturing process. In some systems, Overhead Hoist Transport (OHT) vehicles move throughout the facility on a ceiling-mounted track system, delivering wafers to machines and storage locations. To improve efficiency in such systems, this thesis proposes an adaptive dynamic routing approach that allows the system to self-regulate, reducing steady-state travel times by 4-6% and avoiding excessive congestion and deadlock. Our approach allows vehicles to be rerouted while in progress in response to changes in the location and severity of congestion as measured by edge traversal time estimates updated via exponential smoothing. Our proposed method is efficient enough to be used in a large system where several routing decisions are made each second. We also consider how the effectiveness of a AMHS layout differs between static and dynamic routing. We demonstrate that dynamic routing significantly reduces sensitivity to shortcut placement and allows an eight-fold increase in the number of shortcuts along the center loop. This reduces travel times by an additional 24%. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed routing approach, we use a high-fidelity simulation of vehicle movement. To test the impact of routing methods on layout effectiveness, we developed an associated Excel-based automated layout generation tool that allows the efficient generation of thousands of candidate layouts. The user selects from among a set of modular templates to create a design and all simulation files are generated with the click of a button.

Traditionally, teleoperation has been an expensive and lengthy process. This thesis shows that by incorporating off-the-shelf technology into a modular design, teleoperation can be developed rapidly and inexpensively. Within six months and a hardware cost of $20k, a group of Virginia Tech students and faculty converted a Case CX-160 excavator to teleoperated control. With full wireless functionality of the excavator's six degrees-of-freedom, ignition, and remote cameras at 3000 ft., the teleoperated design meets or exceeds customer demands. For over a year, the teleoperated excavator has demonstrated effectiveness, robustness, and durability in multiple unexploded ordnance (UXO) site remediation projects.
Master of Science

In real-word manufacturing environments, finding the right job sequences and their associated schedules when resource, precedence, and timing constraints are imposed is a difficult task. For most practical problems classical scheduling easily leads to an exponential growth in the number of possible schedules. Moreover, a decision time period of hours or even minutes is too long. Good solutions are often needed in real-time. The problem becomes even more complicated if changes, such as new orders or resource breakdowns, occur within the manufacturing system. One approach to overcome the challenges of solving classical scheduling problems is the use of distributed schemes such as agent or holonic-based control architectures. This dissertation presents an innovative control architecture that uses the holonic concept, capable of delivering good solutions when applied in dynamic environments. The general holonic control framework presented in this research has specific characteristics not found in others reported so far. Using a modular approach it takes into account all the categories of hardware and software resources of a manufacturing system. Due to its modularity, the holonic control framework can be used for assigning and scheduling different task types, separately or simultaneously. Thus, it can be used not only for assigning and scheduling transport tasks, but also for finding feasible solutions to the job assignment and scheduling of processing tasks, or to better utilize the auxiliary equipment and devices in a manufacturing system. In the holonic system, under real-time constraints, a feasible schedule for the material handling resources emerges from the combination of individual holon's schedules. Internal evaluation algorithms and coordination mechanisms between the entities in the architecture form the basis for the resultant schedules. The experimental results obtained show a percentage difference between the makespan values obtained using the holonic scheduling approach and the optimal values of under seven percent. Since current control systems in use in industry lack the ability to adapt to dynamic manufacturing environments, the holonic architecture designed and the tests performed in this research could be a part in the effort to build the foundations for the control systems of the next generation manufacturing systems.
Ph. D.

The problem of evaluating new manufacturing technologies, in particular, flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) is a complex one, as its interdisciplinary nature involves multiple variables. These variables are qualitative as well as quantitative, strategic, as well as technological, intangible as well as tangible. This dissertation deals with the problem of the overall evaluation process, in particular, the evaluation of material handling systems within FMS. In particular, automated guided vehicle systems (MVS) are studied from a technical viewpoint, as they are related to strategic and economic considerations. Two main evaluation frameworks are developed. One integrates multiattribute decision models, namely, the analytic hierarchy process or AHP and the displaced ideal model (DIM), and the other integrates analytical techniques with simulation modeling. As a by product, flexibility indices are also developed for MVS and linked to the fundamental aspects of the evaluation of new technologies. This research also shows how analytical techniques can be combined with simulation modeling to form a more extensive evaluation process that includes opportunity costs as well as the usual tangible costs. Finally, a technical analysis of FMS/MVS is done on some typical cell configurations using the flexibility indices developed in this research.
Ph. D.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.
This doctoral dissertation focuses on the application of Van-der-Waals’ forces in micromaterial handling. A micro-material handling system consists of four main elements, which include: the micro-gripper, the micro-workpart, the picking up position and the placement position. The scientific theoretical frameworks of Van-der-Waals’ forces, presented by Van der Waals, Hamaker, London, Lifshitz, Israelachvilli, Parsegian, Rumpf and Rabinovich, are employed in exploring the extent to which these forces could be applied in a micromanufacturing situation. Engineering theoretical frameworks presented by Fearing, Bohringer, Sitti, Feddema, Arai and Fukuda, are employed in order to provide an in-depth synthesis of the application of Van-der-Waals’ forces in micro-material handling. An empirical or pragmatic methodology was adopted in the research. The Electron Beam Evaporation (e-beam) method was used in generating interactive surfaces of uniform surface roughness values. E-beam depositions of copper, aluminum and silver on silicon substrates were developed. The deposition rates were in the range of 0.6 – 1.2 Angstrom/s, at an average vacuum pressure of 2 x 10-6 mbar. The topographies were analysed and characterised using an Atomic Force Microscope and the corresponding rms surface roughness values were obtained. The Rumpf-Rabinovich equation, which gives the relationship of the exerted Van-der-Waals’ forces and the rms surface roughness values, is used to numerically model the results. In the final synthesis it is observed that the e-beam depositions of copper are generally suited for the pick-up position. Aluminum is suited for the micro-gripper and silver is suited for the placement position in an optimised micro-material handling system. Another Atomic Force Microscope was used in order to validate the numerically modelled results of the exerted Van- der-Waals’ forces. The aim was to measure the magnitude of Vander- Waals’ forces exerted by the e-beam depositions and to evaluate their applicability in micro-material handling operations. The measurements proved that Van-der-Waals’ forces exerted by the samples could be used for micro-material handling purposes on condition that they exceeded the weight of the micro-part being handled. Three fundamental parameters, ie: material type, geometrical configuration and surface topography were used to develop strategies of manipulation of micro-materials by Van-der- Waals’ forces. The first strategy was based on the material type variation of the interactive surfaces in a micro-material handling operation. This strategy hinged on the fact that materials have different Hamaker coefficients, which resulted in them experiencing a specific Van-der- Waals’ forces’ intensity during handling. The second strategy utilised variation in the geometrical configuration of the interacting surfaces. The guiding principle in this case was that, the larger the contact area was, the greater the exerted Van-der-Waals’ forces would be In the analytical modelling of Van-der-Waals’ forces with reference to geometrical configuration, a flat surface was found to exert more force than other configurations. The application of the design, for purposes of manufacturing and assembling (DFMA) criteria, also proved that flat interactive surfaces have high design efficiency. The third strategy was based on surface roughness. The rougher the topography of a given surface was, the lesser the Van-der-Waals’ forces exerted were. It was synthesised that in order for a pick-transfer-place cycle to be realised, the root-mean-square (rms) interactive surface roughness values of the micro-part (including the picking position, the micro-gripper, and the placement position) should decrease successively. Hybrid strategies were also identified in this research in order to deal with some complex cases. The hybrids combined at least two of the aforementioned strategies.

Denna uppsats dokumenterar en fallstudie som gjordes hösten 2006 vid Linde Material Handling i Örebro. Företaget var på väg att expandera och planerade att utöka användningen av IT i verksamheten. I samband med detta gavs undertecknade i uppdrag att utforma en informationssäkerhetspolicy för verksamheten. I en litteraturstudie kunde det konstateras att det inte fanns några enklare riktlinjer för att utforma sådana policies, varmed syftet blev att göra detta. Genom en fallstudie på företaget där vi utformade en IS-policy för deras verksamhet, och även gjorde intervjuer med ledning och dokumentationsanalyser, utrönas vilka problem som kan uppstå och vilka överväganden som bör göras för att utforma en lyckad policy. Riktlinjerna kan användas av företag som känner igen sig i fallbeskrivningen. Vi har i arbetet avgränsat oss från att studera hur en policy ska införas eller utvärderas.

De riktlinjer vi utformade kan sammanfattas som följande:

* Utforma minimalistiskt

Policyn bör vara enkel, de föreskrifter och sidor som finns bör vara få till antalet och endast omfatta det absolut viktigaste.

* Tillgodose användaracceptans

Policyns innehåll ska inte uppfattas som kränkande eller alltför omständligt av de anställda.

* Formulera och ordna mål

Det är viktigt att se till att de säkerhetsmål som finns i verksamheten hjälper till att uppfylla de mer generella organisatoriska målen.

* Förankra i beslutande organ

Säkerhetsarbetet bör vara förankrat i ledningen.

* Uppdelning i delpolicies

Det kan vara aktuellt med olika delpolicies för olika delar av verksamheten

om dessa skiljer sig märkbart åt.

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att skapa en förståelse för hur Toyota Material Handling Sweden AB organiserar sitt arbete med internkontroll och styrning, samt vilka grundläggande förutsättningar som finns för att erhålla en god internkontroll.  Avgränsning: Denna studie är avgränsad till Toyota Material Handling Sweden AB och dess ekonomiavdelning. På grund av begreppets omfattning klargörs här att studien enbart kommer fokusera på den interna kontrollen och styrningen, det vill säga den kontroll företaget själva utför.   Metod: Denna studie präglas av en kvalitativ metod, en intern fallstudie för att nå djupare förståelse i studiens undersökta företag.  Teoretisk referensram: Den teoretiska referensramen i denna studie baseras på teorier och tidigare studier kring riskhantering, internkontroll, internkontrollens ramverk samt internrevision.  Empiri: I empirin sammanfattas primärdata bestående av en öppen intervju och två semistrukturerade intervjuer öga mot öga, varav en i kombination med en observation, samt sex intervjuer via mejl.  Slutsats: Toyota Material Handling Sweden AB har en väl utvecklad och ständigt närvarande internkontroll genom värderingar, rutiner och ramverket J-SOX. Företaget lägger stor vikt på att integrera alla individer i verksamheten för att nå målen. För att upprätthålla en god internkontroll utgör individerna en grundläggande förutsättning, tillsammans med utbildning, kompetens och uppföljning.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how Toyota Material Handling Sweden AB organizes their work in regards to internal control, as well as investigate what essential conditions that are necessary to receive good internal control.  Delimitation: This study is limited to the finance department of Toyota Material Handling Sweden AB. The scope of this study concerns internal control only, that is, the control that the company performs itself.  Method: This study is characterized by a qualitative method. An internal case study to gain a deeper understanding of the study's investigated company.  Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework in this study is based on theories and previous studies on risk management, internal control, internal control framework and internal auditing.  Empirics: The empirics summarizes primary data consisting of an open interview and two semi-structured interviews eye-to-eye, one of them in combination with an observation, and six interviews via email.  Conclusion: Toyota Material Handling Sweden AB has a well developed and constantly present internal control through values, routines and the J-SOX framework. The company highlights the importance of integrating all individuals into the business to achieve the goals. In order to maintain good internal control, individuals are an essential condition, together with education, competence and follow-up.

This dissertation covers the design and manufacture of an autonomous guided cart (AGC) for use in the material handling industry. General Motors South Africa (GMSA) requires a low-cost AGC for use in their Struandale plant. A budget of R35 000 per unit was proposed. The researcher, in collaboration with staff at GM, compiled a list of engineering requirements for the AGC. After research into the unique problems of the project, an examination of a previous design attempt by staff of GM Thailand, the researcher developed a new design, the subject of this report. Different solutions for each design problem were investigated before the design was finalised. A three-wheeled vehicle was designed making use of two motors in a differential-drive setup to control motion. Navigation is via a line-following mechanism, using an induction sensor-array in conjunction with a pre-laid metallic strip. To aid the design, the system was modelled to understand the different control elements at play. The researcher developed software for several aspects of the design: for the PLC controlling the system and motors; for a microcontroller that communicates with the PLC and a wireless module; for a computer server that communicates with a second wireless device, receiving information from the PLC; and a web interface to view this information. These form the SCADA integration of the project. The final product meets the GMSA specifications. It is a robot capable of towing a trolley of mass not exceeding 350 kg. While the robot is able to navigate a pre-laid route, it cannot reliably stop at marked locations. It is possible to monitor the system via a web-interface. The robot is capable of operating for an entire 8-hour shift before the batteries need to be recharged. The total cost of the prototype was R26 340.

In today’s fierce competitive global markets, customers are demanding adjustable lot sizes, shorter lead times, higher quality and flexibility; in short, they want it all. In order to stay competitive in the market, companies need to attain both customer satisfaction and cost reduction in production operations. Material Handling Systems (MHS) is the place to accomplish this goal, since they have a direct impact on production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to design an in-house MHS that could be efficient for the production it serves. With this intention, a case-study has been conducted in Bosch Rexroth Japan. During the study, the information gathered through various sources; interviews, observations and measurements. Further, the gathered data is evaluated according to main pillars of the theoretical framework, which includes design principles and physical elements, information and software, human and management. By analyzing the findings from literature review and empirical study, first problems and challenges related to MHSs are identified. Thereafter, possible features that the system should posses are elicited and a design is built out of the selected features. To conclude, the results show that the success is not solely depending on system’s physical attributes; on the contrary, it is more related to rapid and accurate information sharing within the system. Another vital element is the interaction between system and the people, who are utilizing and operating the system. In general terms, the research took MHS design problems from one-dimensional equipment selection processes and enriches them by adding information sharing, human and management angles to design steps.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Mobile lifter (ML) is a product that is used to lift loads or materials ranging from 20–600 kilograms (kg), and to move the loads to anywhere within the factory up to a height of 2.3 metres (m). The ML is ideal for loads heavier than human comfort, dangerous to touch by hands, requiring repetitive moving and not heavy enough for a forklift. As the need for labour rises and manufactures want to increase productivity, the ML becomes the solution. Currently, there is no company that specialises in ML, and that provides good service to the customers. HELM intends filling that gap in the markets. HELM plans to acquire exclusive distribution rights with a European base supplier of MLs. HELM will become the distributor of MLs in Southern Africa. HELM will have its base or office in Cape Town (CT), but also secure subcontractors in three other provinces, namely Gauteng, KwaZulu- Natal (KZN), and the Eastern Cape (EC). HELM will sell products from its supplier partner and it will offer services and a maintenance plan to its clients at a competitive rate. The ML can be used in manufacturing, wholesale, the retail trade and motor trade, and transport and storage. The three sectors account for over 35 percent of South Africa’s gross domestic product. The manufacturing sector is the largest sector with many industries. The most attractive industries are the fast moving consumer goods, automotive, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing industries. Although the industry or market is fragmented, Gauteng has the largest target market with over 9000 registered manufacturing enterprise. It is followed by KwaZulu-Natal, then the Western Cape and finally the Eastern Cape. The ML industry is still in its infancy, and HELM Solutions intend to sell 25 units in the first year, 33 in the second and then 36 in the third year. The current distributors of MLs only have one point of service per distributor in South Africa and MLs are non-core products for them. HELM also intends differentiating itself from other distributors by being a solution provider to clients, and not a product distributor. HELM wants to understand the clients’ business, understand their needs, and provide them with solution that will also increase their profit. This should give HELM a competitive advantage and make it difficult for clients to substitute the HELM products and service. Franck Tshilombo is one of the three entrepreneurs who will be directly involved in the business. He will start as the only employee of the business. He has been working with MLs for the past four years. His experience ranges from selling and marketing to ordering, assembling, service and maintenance of MLs. Kevin French brings experience in the financial field of investments. He holds a B Com degree and is a CFA charter holder. He has 25 years combined experience in financial services at large corporates and smaller entrepreneurial start-ups. He owns an investment management business and two paint distribution businesses. His experience includes starting new businesses, takeovers and turnarounds in financial services, and construction and electrical engineering. Collin Ramukhubathi who has a mechanical engineering degree and is an MBA candidate, has 15 years working experience in general management in construction and the mining sector. HELM Solutions require funding for fixed assets and working capital. The fixed asset will be funded by shareholders in the form of assets worth R30 000 and cash of R15 000. The amount of external funding required is R154 000. The desired funding should be in the form of an overdraft loan, as not all the funds will be needed in the beginning. This funding will be used towards the monthly expenses for the period of three months and towards increases in sales within the first five months. The funds will be needed during sales growth as the cash conversion cycle of the business is long. The overdraft loan is based on the interest rate of 12 percent. Based on these estimates, the loan will be fully repaid within 11 months.

Published Article
This paper investigates the challenges of employing Van der Waals forces in micro-material handling since these forces are dominant in micro-material handling systems. The problems include the creation of a dust-free environment, accurate measurement of the micro-force, and the efficient picking and placing of micro-work pieces. The use of vacuum suction, micro-gripper's surface roughness, geometrical configuration and material type are presented as alternatives to overcome the challenges. An atomic force microscope is proposed for the accurate measurement of the Van der Waals force between the gripper and the micro-work piece.

In today’s world, simulation and optimization are playing a vital role in reducing the time, cost and preserving resources. In manufacturing industries, there are ample amount of problems that go on with the expansion of the industry. In such cases, to tackle these problems simulation can be helpful to check whether any change in the current situation makes any effect on the current efficiency of the overall plant. In the presented case study, a solution to the problem of internal and external logistics has been designed by using simulation and optimization to improve part of a material flow of an organization. Basically, the organization whose major production is established in the south of Sweden deals with the manufacturing and assembly of equipment. Before the dispatch, all of them go to the painting section which is the expansion of the present shop floor. However, the design and analysis of the material handling system to feed the new painting line which is going to be established by the organization is the aim of this case study. While achieving this aim the literature regarding the discrete event simulation, Lean and Simulation-Based optimization related to the material handling system has been done. Furthermore, the appropriate material handling systems along with the different scenarios were suggested to reduce the cost and the lead times between the production line and the new painting line. To support this process a methodology combining simulation, optimization and lean production has been implemented under the framework of the design and creation research strategy. In the Kaizen workshop organized at a company with managers and stakeholders, the designed scenarios were presented and after some discussion one of them was chosen and the selected scenario was designed and optimized. Moreover, the Simulation-Based multi-objective optimization has been helpful for the optimization of the designed model proposed as a final solution.

Con l’arrivo della pandemia di Covid-19 i trend di consumo e di vendita sono cambiati. Le persone sono state chiuse nelle loro case durante il lockdown impossibilitate a spostarsi se non per motivi di lavoro o salute. Un’unica cosa era possibile: andare a fare la spesa. Sostenibilità e igiene sono diventare le parole chiave. L’analisi del mutamento delle abitudini di vita e di acquisto dei consumatori si è necessariamente integrata con le nuove strategie che le imprese hanno dovuto formulare per sopravvivere in questo panorama. Le nuove tecnologie e lo sviluppo dei modelli di business verso il digitale sono risultati essere il percorso da intraprendere. L’obiettivo di questo studio è quello di determinare una soluzione che possa soddisfare i nuovi bisogni degli utenti, trovando una soluzione che sia adatta alle loro nuove aspettative nei confronti delle aziende. La formulazione della soluzione è stata identificata grazie all’integrazione con il mondo del material handling, ricercando risposte che si basassero sulla movimentazione dei materiali e sull’automazione dei sistemi. Unendo il mondo del material handling, delle aziende e, in primis, quello delle esigenze dei consumatori si è realizzato un prodotto-servizio che agevolasse l’esperienza di spesa. Viene così permesso l’acquisto di prodotti di qualità a prezzi minori, accorciando la catena di approvvigionamento, con una esperienza totalmente sicura dal rischio di contagio e nel rispetto dell’ambiente e dei produttori.

Both light-cured (LC) and chemically-cured (CC) acrylic resin custom tray materials are used at the Oral Health Centre, Faculty of Dentistry, University of the Western Cape. At present, the CC acrylic is the standard for formal undergraduate teaching and training. The LC material is not part of routine didactic teaching as little evidence-based scientific information is available with regards to its properties and its usage in the clinical environment. Negative effects have caused researchers to focus on alternatives and to research for other materials with more advantageous properties. The objectives of this study was to determine the linear dimensional shrinkage and fracture toughness of light-cured acrylic custom tray materials and compare it to the chemically-cured type. Also to evaluate the acceptance of light-cured acrylic resin custom trays by undergraduate students.

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2008.
Includes bibliographical references (leaf 60).
A sustainable and cost-effective material handling plan was developed in a pharmaceutical factory to support the rapidly growing production demand. Problem analysis was followed by the investigation of various solutions: automated guided vehicles, transfer cars, conveyors, Kanban redesign and additional forklift trucks. A return on investment (ROI) analysis was performed to justify the investment and implementation of Kanban redesign and the conveyors, which will provide sufficient capacity until year 2016. Transfer cars can be used when the demand for material handling further rises.
by Yizhe Cen.
M.Eng.

Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2015. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT.
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015. In conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 66-67).
As Amazon.com has grown, the company has invested in warehouse systems similar to those traditionally found in manufacturing. These systems are a complex and interconnected set of manned work processing stations linked together by conveyance. This thesis examines one such system, arranged as a set of parallel single piece workflow lines joined by a central computerized sorter that route work between lines, and examines the effect of sorter algorithms and line capacity on production output. Work studies, interviews, and a practical experiment suggest a deterioration in the feedback provided to the central sorter for work routing. A Monte Carlo simulation model of the system further supports this hypothesis, suggesting that system throughput is 11.7% lower than a system that perfectly routes work to line in a pull fashion. While perfect routing is not practically feasible, the thesis then explores two routing heuristics designed around starvation response and dynamic capacity analysis, which simulation suggest may yield a 6.73% increase in throughput. In doing so, the thesis provides a case study on process improvement using simulation to characterize a complicated mechanical production system that is otherwise analytically intractable.
by Willow Primack.
M.B.A.
S.M.