Facility Design and Material Handling

This chapter presents important insights into material handling systems. It stipulates the process to be followed when changing the material handling system for the better. This chapter provides the methodology that must be adhered to for the change to successful and effective. The first approach given in this chapter is preliminary analysis. First, one has to examine the current system and identify the areas of change. The next stage is to evaluate the resources and capabilities of handling the desired change (HK Systems 6). There should be enough room and resources to accommodate the changes to be made to the system. Once these factors are ascertained, the next process will be identification of the desired goals or results. The project’s goals must be measurable and be in line with the organization’s core objectives. This is what has been describes as phase one in designing methodology (HK Systems 9).

In phase 2, HK Systems (2006), purport that a system is designed to suit the specific needs addressed in phase one. The system designed should be able to solve the problems identified and also contribute to the set objectives. The change designed in this phase should be viable to the organization. It is for this reason that a ROI analysis has to be done to ascertain the viability of the project. In this analysis, the expected cash flows are determined from the expected output. Then profit is calculated (HK Systems 22).

The last phase discussed in this chapter describes how results can be managed (HK Systems 44). This touches on the sustainability of the project. The project needs on-going care to ensure it serves the company in future times. Technology has to be adhered to ensure the system designed does not become obsolete. There should be continuous audit of the system and modernization to keep the project running into the future (HK Systems 48).

Works Cited

HK Systems. Material Handling System Design Methodology. New Berlin,: HK Systems, 2006. Web.