ANNEX 6.

4
A LIST OF QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOU
IN THE DESIGN OF YOUR PROJECT’S
MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM
 Is your inventory delivered on time, and does your storage arrangement needs
vertical or horizontal racks, cabinets, etc.?
 Will it be all right to deliver incoming materials directly to the work areas?
 Will the deliveries of your materials come in single trips, or several trips?
 Are your processes requiring heavy materials placed near your receiving areas?
 Do you need conveyors to handle the flow of your materials?
 Is your materials flow system a single-line flow only, or does it need several
flows or backtrackings?
 Why not use “gravity” for your materials flow if it is possible and will this be
practical or convenient?
 Are all your manual handling operations minimized?
 Will it be more economical for you to enter into sub-assemblies or into sub-
contracting?
 Does your materials handling system conserve space?
 Do your pathways get easily clogged-up as a result of your proposed operations
flow system?
 Are your conveyors, machineries, equipments and facilities checked for safety?
 If there are separated work areas, are they placed “within reach” of adjacent or
work-related areas?
 Do you have a contingency plan for your materials handling system in case of
emergencies?
 Are your products that are finished by one operator, or department/section easily
picked by the next?
 What have you done to minimize delays and bottlenecks?
 Is your flow easily accessible to inspectors?
 Have you determined vital inspection points in your work area?
 Does your sub assembled products need storage “in-between” operations?
 Are your transport containers designed to have the maximum speed of delivery
to their next operations/departments/sections?
 If you use lift trucks or other heavy materials, are they operated at the desired
efficiency rate?
 Does each of your materials handling proposals fit perfectly into your whole
system?
 Does your system reduces the incidence of walking and results in higher
efficiency and quality of your products?