Material handling is an essential in many industries, from logistics to manufacturing to food and beverage facilities. Each of these industries relies on the latest mechanically engineered systems to create highly efficient and productive workflows. While standard equipment solutions may work on a smaller scale, the best way to empower any material handling process is by investing in custom material handling solutions.
Types of Material Handling Solutions for Enhancing Productivity
A material handling system often involves multiple components, not just a single piece of material handling equipment. While there are many different types of equipment used in material handling—from industrial trucks to bulk material handling—here are a few efficiency-boosting favorites:
Conveyor Systems
Conveyor systems are one of the most popular systems for bulk material handling. These systems move materials throughout a facility and even through different stages of production to speed up assembly and organization. Custom conveyor systems like we design at Mathews Mechanical offer more than just a facility-specific layout. We design, install, and service all different kinds of conveyor systems to meet specific material handling needs. We also offer additional elements like cleated or sidewall belts for more complex systems.
Pallet Racking
Storage may seem like a basic, standardized part of material handling, but a great way to level up your material handling solutions is with customized storage. Pallet racking systems provide heavy-duty warehouse shelving to help store and organize bulk materials, large pallets, and other materials. A strong, sleek design built to the exact specifications of your facility’s storage can pair perfectly with pallet stackers and other material handling systems for a smooth, streamlined workflow.
Robotic Parts Handlers
Robotics and automation are the future of material handling systems, helping safely and efficiently manage sensitive parts and increasing productivity while easing manual labor. An automated assembly process significantly reduces the risk of workplace injury while greatly enhancing lead times, and robotic parts handlers can be customized and programmed to work with a vast array of assembly processes.
How Custom Material Handling Solutions Make a Difference
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with your material handling system is not customizing. Many problems in material handling can be solved with custom-designed solutions that directly address key obstacles in your facility and workflows.
Increased Efficiency
Efficiency is a major element we address in our engineering process for material handling at Mathews Mechanical. When designing a custom material handling solution, we always consider ways to improve the efficiency of existing processes to reduce lead times and increase production.
Reduced Downtime
Every minute counts when production is halted, making reliability integral to any material handling system. Customized systems are more likely to work for you because they are designed specifically to suit your needs and layout. For instance, a standard conveyor system may clog easier or wear down faster when moving abrasive, loose materials, but a custom conveyor system designed to address these issues with sturdier materials and additions like sidewall belts to stop materials from falling off and motor-driven rollers that only operate when they sense materials to reduce wear and tear on the system.
Custom material handling solutions from Mathews Mechanical have the added advantage of an expert mechanical engineering team being at your beck and call. We don’t just install the material handling system and leave you high and dry—our team will continue to provide preventative maintenance to reduce the likelihood of failures as well as 24-hour emergency service for those unexpected problems that stall production, reducing downtime exponentially.
Industry-designed Workflows
No two facilities are alike, even within a particular industry. With the amount of variation between industries and production processes, you need a custom material handling solution that is designed specifically for your needs. Custom material handling systems address industry-specific workflow needs such as:
- Handling large volumes of bulk materials
- Moving pallets of varying weights and sizes
- Organizing products and moving them in and out of storage
- Automating assembly workflows
- And working with sensitive materials
A food and beverage facility may require material handling solutions that are food-safe and avoid contamination whereas a logistics company doesn’t need that level of sensitivity but may require material handling equipment to quickly move products in and out of storage. Custom material handling systems address the specific requirements of a given industry and blend those needs with a layout built to match the facility’s space.
Experience Custom Material Handling with Mathews Mechanical
At Mathews Mechanical, we treat our relationships with our customers as a partnership. Everything we do is curated to the specific needs and desires of a customer while using our decades of mechanical engineering experience to design and install systems that will revolutionize their processes with incredible efficiency.
If you’re ready to explore how we can take your facility’s productivity to new heights, contact the Mathews Mechanical team today.
