Material handling

Generally speaking, pharmaceutical manufacturers will ship their products within three types of packaging, each enclosing the other, like a Russian doll. At the innermost layer, there’s the package that comes into direct contact with the product. Engineers call this “primary packaging.” This may be a bulk unit, like a jar or a carton, or it may be a product individually packaged for consumers.

According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, most workplace accidents occur between the hours of 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. or, for late-shift workers, midnight to 6:00 a.m. Those are also the hours during which the typical human body most craves sleep.

Recycling metal scraps requires some serious material handling equipment. Huge, crane-like material handlers grasp, compress, and lift bales of scrap steel. Skid-steer loaders separate metals in the yard. Pick-and-carry vehicles stack layers of scrap into organized rows.

If you’re ready to go green at your workplace, you have a stake in the supply chain. From manufacturers to retailers, schools to medical facilities, every corner of the economy depends on moving goods and materials from point A to point B.

It is one thing for packaging manufacturers to bundle and ship a unit load of, say, collapsed cardboard boxes. It's quite another to handle blister packs, plastic bags, and bottles that don't fit neatly into boxes in the first place

Small plastic bottles don't always make for easy material handling, as any manufacturer could tell you. Bottles themselves are small enough, but the caps prove especially difficult to move in bulk. Too often, these difficulties are passed onto employees, who might have to engage in ergonomically risky movements — repeated motions, lifting heavy loads to transfer product — to keep the line moving.