Food Unit

Operation-
103
Lecture – 14
Date: 18-08-2024
By: M. Qazafi
 Contents

Unit Operations:

• Material Handling,

• Transportation and

• Packaging
Objective
By the time you have studied this unit, you should be
able to:
• understand the principles and methods of
transportation
• describe the various types of packaging material
and their selection for food packaging; and
• decide the suitability of different types of packaging
material.
Material handling
• Material handling is integral to the manufacturing
industry.
• It is a human activity -large number of people work as
dedicated “material moving machine operators”.
• The material handling equipment transports various
items in a variety of industrial settings such as moving
construction materials around building sites or moving
goods onto buses, trains, aircrafts, ships etc.
• The basic function of material handling is to choose
most appropriate material handling equipment which is
safe and can meet material handling requirements.
Aims
It aims towards:
• Improving the operational efficiency of the
company;
• Ensuring better control of flow of material;
• Providing better response to customers through
improved service delivery;
• and Promoting safety in material handling
Significance
Material handling is significant as it:
• Involves handling costs (can be 25% of the entire
manufacturing costs).
• Requires frequent handling of subcomponents (can
be 50 times in the manufacturing chain).
• Ensures increased safety.
• Decreases damages to parts and materials
Material handling
Involves:
• correct handling,
• sorting,
• moving of materials, equipment, and goods.
Proper material
handling
• Proper material handling results
• in shortening of delivery time,
• lowering overall costs of manufacturing,
• improving customer service, and
• reducing inventory
Dimensions of Material
Handling Movement
Efficient movement of goods into and out of storage
facilities.
1. Time: Readying goods for production or for customer
order filling.
2. Quantity: Due to varying usage and delivery rate of raw
materials and finished goods, material-handling systems
are designed to assure that the correct quantity of
product meets the needs of production and customers.
3. Space: Utilising effectively limited space by the
material-handling equipment in the warehouse and
plant
Material handling
systems
The handling of material is either manual or
automated.
• Manual handling involves manual methods to move
individual containers by lifting, lowering, filling,
emptying, or carrying them. Ergonomic
improvements can be used to modify manual
handling tasks to reduce injuries by reconfiguring
the tasks and using equipment such as lift/tilt/turn
tables etc., to reduce reaching and bending.
Manual handling can expose the workers to injuries
especially handling heavy equipment.
Material handling
systems
The handling of material is either manual or
automated.
• Automated handling equipment can be used to
reduce and sometimes replace the need to
manually handle material. Most of them require a
human operator for tasks such as
loading/unloading and driving. In a way it is
semiautomated. Automated handling is increasing
with advances in machine intelligence, and
robotics.
Objective of a material
handling system
The primary objective of a material handling system is
to reduce the unit cost of production; the others being:
a) Reducing manufacturing cycle time
b) Minimizing delays and damage
c) Promoting safety and improving working conditions
d) Maintaining or improving product quality
e) Enhancing productivity through
Material flow in a straight line
Material movement in as short a distance as possible Material
movement at one time
f) Material handling automation g) Controlling inventory
Material handling
equipment
• Industrial material handling equipment involves a diverse
range of tools, vehicles, storage units, appliances and
accessories involved in transporting, storing, controlling,
enumerating, and protecting products at any stage of
manufacturing, distribution, consumption, or disposal.
These can be grouped into four categories:
• storage,
• engineered systems,
• Industrial trucks, and
• bulk material handling.
Storage Equipment
These are usually non-automated used to hold or handle
reserve materials (buffer). These include:
• Racks, such as pallet racks, push-back racks, and sliding racks,
are a basic but important method of storage, saving floor
space while keeping their contents accessible.
• Stacking frames are stackable like blocks, allowing inventory,
such as containers of liquid, to be stacked to save space
without damage.
• Shelves used with bins and drawers, to store and organize
smaller and more difficult-to-manage materials and products.
• Mezzanines, which is an indoor platform to create more floor
space
Engineered Systems
These cover a variety of units that work cohesively to enable
storage and transportation often being automated. These include:
• Conveyors are devices that move material (or people)
horizontally or vertically between two fixed points.
• Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are independent computer-
operated trucks that transport loads along a predetermined
path, with sensors and detectors to avoid bumping into anything.
• Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) is a large
automated system for automatically placing and taking the
loads/materials or commodities from the storage or place where
they are stored. For example, the shuttle system is a mechanised
cherry picker that can be used by a worker or can perform fully
automated functions to quickly locate a storage item’s location
and quickly retrieve it for other uses
Industrial Trucks.
• Trucks can also be manual or powered. A stack
truck can be used to stack items, while a non-stack
truck is typically used for transportation and not for
loading. These include:
• Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV)
• Automated Electrified Monorail
• Storing Transfer Vehicle
Bulk Handling
Equipment
These are conveyor belts or elevators that move large quantities of
material such as food, liquid, or metals in loose bulk form, or in
packaged form through drums and hoppers.
These are:
• Conveyors of various types for different types of bulk material.
Stackers are usually automated, pile bulk material onto stockpiles.
Recliners retrieve materials from stockpiles, using bucket wheels, or
scraper. Bucket elevators use buckets attached to a rotating chain or
belt to carry material vertically. Grain elevators are tall buildings for
storing grain, having equipment to convey the grain to the top of the
elevator, where it is sent out for processing. Hoppers are funnel-
shaped containers that allow material to be poured or dumped from
one container to another. Silos are generally large storage structures
for bulk materials, without any equipment to convey the material to
the top like grain elevators
What is FIFO, FEFO and
LIFO?
What is FIFO, FEFO and
LIFO?
FIFO (First-In, First-Out)
• Oldest items are sold or used first.
• Items are placed at the front of the storage area or
shelf in the order they're received.

Benefits:
• Reduces risk of expired or obsolete inventory,
minimizes waste, and easier to implement.
What is FIFO, FEFO and
LIFO?
FEFO (First-Expired, First-Out)
• Items with the earliest expiration dates are sold or
used first.
• Items are prioritized based on their expiration
dates.

Benefits:
• Reduces waste, ensures timely use of perishable
items, and maintains product freshness.
What is FIFO, FEFO and
LIFO?
LIFO (Last-In, First-Out)
• Newest items are sold or used first.
• Items are placed at the front of the storage area or
shelf in the reverse order they're received.

Benefits:
• Can be beneficial for items with increasing prices or
for tax benefits (in some regions).
When to use each
method:
• FIFO:
Non-perishable items, stable prices, and simple
inventory management.
• FEFO:
Perishable items, like food, pharmaceuticals, or
cosmetics, where expiration dates matter.
• LIFO:
Items with increasing prices, tax benefits, or for
specific accounting purposes.
Packaging
• The use of appropriate packaging and
transportation is one of these measures and when
properly applied can have a dramatic effect,
reducing losses and ensuring that products reach
the customer in the best possible condition.
• Appropriate packaging and transportation can
range from the proper use of containers in which to
transport produce to local markets, through to
sophisticated systems that can extend the shelf-life
of a processed foodstuff for a year or more
Essentially, packaging:
• Aims to provide protection from all types of external
damaging effects;
• Is an integral part of the food processing chain and helps
both producers and consumers to transport, store, sell,
purchase and use foods more efficiently;
• Is a means of ensuring that the product is delivered to the
user in known quantities and in the expected condition for
a specified shelf-life;
• Is a means of making the food more attractive in order to
promote its use and increase sales;
• Conveys information to customers about the type of food
they are buying, how to prepare it, its shelf-life, and that it
Distribution system for
a consumer good
• Production
• Packing
• Factory go down
• Sales go down
• Distribution go down
• Retailers storage
• Retail store shelf
• Consumer shelf
• Recycling - other use
• Reuse