Types of Material Handling Equipment Explained
The types of material handling equipment used in warehouses, manufacturing plants and distribution facilities range from storage systems and transport equipment to lifting, positioning, unit-load and control systems. Understanding those differences is important because a pallet rack, lift table, crane and forklift may all be considered material handling equipment, but they solve very different operational problems.
One source of confusion is that there is no single classification system used in every industrial context.
Many commercial guides describe four broad categories of material handling equipment: storage and handling equipment, industrial trucks, bulk material handling equipment and engineered systems. MHI's educational material handling taxonomy takes a more functional approach, dividing equipment into transport, positioning, unit-load formation, storage, and identification and control equipment.
Both approaches can be useful.
For a facility manager or equipment buyer, however, the most important question is not what category name appears in a textbook. It is:
What must happen to the material, and which type of equipment performs that function best?
What Are the Main Types of Material Handling Equipment?
Material handling equipment can be grouped according to what the equipment does with the material.
A useful functional breakdown is:
Transport equipment — moves material from one place to another.
Positioning equipment — raises, lowers, rotates, tilts or otherwise positions a load at a workplace.
Storage equipment — holds materials or inventory until they are needed.
Unit-load equipment — groups or contains individual items so they can be handled as one load.
Identification and control equipment — identifies, tracks and coordinates material movement.
A separate commercial framework often groups equipment into:
Storage and handling equipment
Industrial trucks
Bulk material handling equipment
Engineered systems
The categories overlap because material handling equipment often performs more than one function. A crane transports and positions a load. A pallet both forms a unit load and interfaces with transport and storage equipment. An automated storage system combines storage, transportation and control.
MHI explicitly recognizes this functional overlap within its taxonomy.
Quick Answer
The easiest way to understand material handling equipment is by asking what must happen to the load:
Material Handling NeedEquipment TypeMove material between locationsTransport equipmentRaise, lower, rotate or orient materialPositioning equipmentHold inventory or materialsStorage equipmentCombine items into one manageable loadUnit-load equipmentTrack or control the movementIdentification/control equipmentHandle loose bulk materialsBulk material handling equipmentCombine several functions into a coordinated solutionEngineered material handling system
Most industrial facilities use several of these types together.
1. Transport Equipment
Transport equipment moves material from one location to another.
MHI identifies conveyors, cranes and industrial trucks as the principal subcategories of transport equipment.
The most important differences are usually:
Whether the route is fixed or variable
Distance traveled
Load type
Move frequency
Required flexibility
Floor versus overhead movement
Throughput
Conveyors
Conveyors are commonly used when material repeatedly travels between known locations.
Examples include:
Belt conveyors
Roller conveyors
Gravity conveyors
Overhead conveyors
Chain conveyors
Flexible conveyors
A conveyor can make sense when the path is predictable and movement occurs frequently enough to justify dedicated equipment.
It may be a poor choice when destinations change constantly.
Industrial Trucks
Industrial trucks provide greater route flexibility.
Examples across the industry include:
Forklifts
Pallet trucks
Walkie stackers
Platform trucks
Tow tractors
Order-picking trucks
Unlike a fixed conveyor, an industrial truck can generally travel to different destinations.
That flexibility is valuable in warehouses where inventory locations, staging areas or production needs change throughout the day.
Cranes
Cranes move loads through a defined operating area, often using overhead space rather than floor aisles.
Examples include:
Bridge cranes
Jib cranes
Gantry cranes
Monorail systems
Fredon offers crane systems and hoists, including workstation bridge cranes, jib cranes, gantry cranes and monorails. Fredon's current site also identifies pre-engineered and customized crane-system options.
Overhead handling can be particularly useful where material must be lifted and positioned around machinery, assembly operations or other defined work zones.
2. Positioning Equipment
Positioning equipment places a load in the correct location or orientation for the work being performed.
Unlike transport equipment, which primarily moves material between locations, positioning equipment generally manipulates material at or near a particular workplace.
MHI defines positioning equipment as equipment used to handle material at a single location so it is correctly positioned for subsequent handling, machining, transport or storage.
Examples can include:
Lift tables
Tilt tables
Turntables
Hoists
Balancers
Manipulators
Work positioners
Pallet positioners
Hydraulic Lift Tables
A hydraulic lift table can raise or lower a load so it reaches a more appropriate working or transfer height.
Fredon currently offers hydraulic lifts as part of its material handling equipment range.
The key difference between a lift table and a transport device is purpose.
A lift table primarily changes position or elevation.
A cart or truck primarily changes location.
Hoists
Hoists create another area of overlap.
A hoist lifts and positions loads vertically and may travel horizontally when incorporated into a crane or monorail system.
That is why trying to force every piece of equipment into one rigid category can be misleading.
The more useful question is:
What function is the equipment performing in this application?
3. Storage Equipment
Storage equipment holds material while it waits for production, picking, shipment or another process step.
This is one of the largest material handling categories in warehouses and manufacturing facilities.
Examples include:
Pallet racking
Industrial shelving
Bins
Modular drawers
Storage cabinets
Cantilever racks
Flow racks
Mezzanine-supported storage
Pallet Racking
Pallet racking is designed around palletized inventory.
Fredon's pallet racking offerings include selective rack, drive-in/drive-thru rack, pallet-flow rack and cantilever rack.
Different systems address different storage priorities.
For example:
Selective rack prioritizes access to individual pallets.
Drive-in or drive-thru rack increases storage density for applications with relatively fewer product types.
Pallet flow rack supports gravity-assisted first-in, first-out inventory movement.
Cantilever rack supports long or unusually shaped products such as pipe, lumber and tubing.
The equipment is all storage equipment, but the operating characteristics are very different.
Industrial Shelving
Smaller items, cartons, components and hand-picked inventory may be better suited to shelving.
Fredon's industrial shelving includes open and closed configurations designed for industrial storage applications.
The basic selection question becomes:
How should the material be presented when someone needs to retrieve it?
That is more useful than simply asking which storage system fits the most material.
4. Unit-Load Formation Equipment
Unit-load formation equipment combines or restrains materials so multiple items can be handled as one load.
MHI describes this category as equipment that restricts materials so they maintain their integrity while being handled as a single load during transportation and storage.
Examples include:
Pallets
Skids
Totes
Containers
Bins
Crates
Load restraints
Pallet boxes
Unitization is one of the fundamental ideas behind efficient material handling.
Imagine moving 40 cartons individually.
If those cartons can safely be placed on a pallet and moved as one unit, the number of handling actions can be reduced dramatically.
The unit load also creates a common interface among:
storage equipment → transport equipment → loading equipment → shipping
That interoperability is why pallet and container dimensions can influence equipment decisions throughout a facility.
5. Identification and Control Equipment
Identification and control equipment provides the information required to coordinate material flow.
Examples can include:
Barcode labels
Barcode scanners
RFID systems
Sensors
Inventory tracking equipment
Control systems
Warehouse-management interfaces
MHI includes identification and control as a separate material handling category because physical movement and information flow are closely connected.
A pallet can be stored perfectly from a physical standpoint and still create an operational problem if nobody can reliably determine:
What it contains
Where it belongs
How much inventory exists
Where it should go next
Modern material handling therefore includes both physical flow and information flow.
Where Do Bulk Material Handling Equipment and Engineered Systems Fit?
This is where the two popular classification approaches differ.
Many current commercial guides group material handling equipment into four categories:
Storage and handling
Industrial trucks
Bulk material handling
Engineered systems
Those categories are useful, but they organize equipment differently from MHI's functional taxonomy.
Bulk Material Handling Equipment
Bulk equipment handles material primarily in loose form rather than as discrete cartons, pallets or individual pieces.
Examples across industry can include:
Hoppers
Silos
Bulk conveyors
Bucket elevators
Stackers
Reclaimers
Feeders
Bulk handling applications can include products such as:
Grain
Powders
Minerals
Sand
Aggregate
Granules
Scrap
Loose process materials
The important distinction is not merely size.
Bulk material is generally handled as a quantity of loose material rather than discrete unit loads.
Engineered Material Handling Systems
An engineered system combines equipment, controls, layout and workflow into a coordinated solution.
Examples can include combinations of:
Conveyors
Storage equipment
Controls
Transfer devices
Lifting equipment
Automated equipment
Identification systems
The term is broad because the actual system depends on the operation.
A system is not simply a collection of products.
The equipment must interface correctly.
For example:
Conveyor height → workstation height → container dimensions → lifting equipment → storage configuration
If any interface is wrong, the entire material flow can suffer.
How the Major Equipment Types Compare
Equipment TypePrimary FunctionTypical ExamplesBest Question to AskTransportMove material between locationsConveyors, industrial trucks, cranesWhere must the load travel?PositioningChange load position or orientationLift tables, hoists, tilters, positionersWhere must the load be positioned?StorageHold material until neededRacking, shelving, cabinetsHow must inventory be stored and accessed?Unit LoadCombine items for handlingPallets, totes, containersHow can multiple items move as one load?Identification/ControlCoordinate material flowBarcodes, RFID, sensors, controlsHow will the system know what moves where?Bulk HandlingHandle loose materialHoppers, silos, bulk conveyorsIs the material handled individually or in bulk?Engineered SystemsIntegrate multiple functionsIntegrated handling systemsHow should all handling steps work together?
Manual, Powered and Automated Equipment Are Not Separate Functions
Another useful distinction is how the equipment is powered or controlled.
Material handling equipment may be:
Manual
Examples might include:
Hand carts
Dollies
Manual pallet trucks
Manually adjusted equipment
Manual equipment can make sense for light loads, short moves and lower handling frequencies.
Powered
Powered equipment may use:
Electricity
Hydraulics
Pneumatics
Internal combustion power
Battery power
Examples can include powered industrial trucks, powered lift tables, hoists and other handling devices.
Automated
Automated equipment can perform some or all of a handling function based on programmed controls.
Automation is therefore not necessarily a completely separate handling function.
A transport process, storage process or identification process can all have varying degrees of automation.
That is another reason equipment should be classified first by what job it performs and then by how that job is executed.
What Type of Material Handling Equipment Does Your Facility Need?
Start with the task rather than the product.
If the problem is storage...
Look first at:
Pallet racking
Shelving
Cabinets
Bins
Specialized storage systems
Then determine:
Load size
Load weight
SKU count
Required access
Inventory rotation
Available height
Picking method
If the problem is horizontal movement...
Evaluate:
Distance
Frequency
Fixed versus changing routes
Load size
Traffic
Required throughput
That helps determine whether a fixed transport system or flexible mobile equipment makes more sense.
If the problem is lifting...
Determine:
Load weight
Dimensions
Center of gravity
Required lift height
Number of lifts
Required horizontal movement
Operator interaction
Possible equipment families could include lift tables, hoists or cranes depending on the application.
If the problem is worker positioning...
Examine where workers must:
Bend
Reach
Lift
Twist
Rotate
Hold
Reposition
NIOSH's ergonomic guidance recommends considering equipment such as carts and dollies, scissor lift tables, load levelers, powered stackers, hoists, cranes and vacuum-assist devices as potential ways to reduce the physical demands of manual material handling tasks.
If the problem is loading or unloading trucks...
The material handling system may extend all the way to the loading dock.
Fredon's loading dock equipment includes hydraulic dock levelers, mechanical dock levelers, edge-of-dock levelers, vehicle restraints, dock locks, seals and shelters.
Dock equipment should be evaluated as part of the material path between the trailer and the facility rather than as an isolated building accessory.
If the material is a drum...
Drums can require specialized equipment because a single operation might require the drum to be:
Transported
Lifted
Positioned
Rotated
Poured
Palletized
Fredon's drum handling equipment includes drum trucks, dollies, palletizers, forklift attachments, rotators, rollers and mobile drum handlers.
That illustrates an important point:
One material can require multiple handling functions.
Why Capacity Alone Does Not Determine Equipment Type
A frequent mistake is beginning with:
“I need equipment rated for 2,000 pounds.”
Capacity matters, but that does not tell a supplier what kind of equipment is needed.
The buyer still needs to define:
What the load is
Its dimensions
Its center of gravity
Whether it is stable
Where it starts
Where it goes
How high it moves
How frequently it moves
How operators interact with it
What equipment comes before and after it
A 2,000-pound pallet going into rack storage presents a different problem from a 2,000-pound machine component being positioned at an assembly station.
The load weight is identical.
The handling function is not.
Think About Material Flow, Not Equipment in Isolation
Material handling equipment becomes more useful when viewed as a sequence.
Consider a manufacturing component:
Truck → receiving → storage → production → workstation → finished-goods storage → shipping
Different equipment types may appear at each stage:
Loading dock equipment
↓
Transport equipment
↓
Storage equipment
↓
Lifting or positioning equipment
↓
Workstation
↓
Transport equipment
↓
Storage
↓
Loading dock
The goal is not necessarily to maximize the performance of every individual machine.
The goal is to improve the flow of material through the complete system.
MHI's material handling principles include planning, standardization, work reduction, ergonomics, unit loads, space utilization, systems thinking, automation, environmental considerations and lifecycle cost.
Equipment Types Also Have Different Safety Considerations
Different equipment categories create different risks and regulatory considerations.
OSHA's General Industry Subpart N separately addresses material handling topics including powered industrial trucks, overhead and gantry cranes and slings.
OSHA 29 CFR 1910.176 also requires safe clearances where mechanical handling equipment is used, including aisles, loading docks, doorways and turns, and requires stored material to be stable and secure against sliding or collapse.
This means equipment selection should account for:
Operating clearance
Pedestrian interaction
Load stability
Storage stability
Equipment-specific requirements
Manufacturer instructions
Employee training
Inspection and maintenance requirements
A general guide cannot determine the specific requirements for every application, so applicable regulations, standards and manufacturer instructions should be reviewed for the equipment actually selected.
A Practical Material Handling Equipment Selection Matrix
Facility ProblemStart With This Equipment FunctionPossible Equipment FamiliesToo much pallet inventory on the floorStoragePallet rackingSmall parts difficult to organizeStorageShelving, bins, drawersHeavy components repeatedly liftedPositioning/liftingLift tables, hoists, cranesMaterial repeatedly follows same routeTransportConveyor-type systemMaterial destinations frequently changeFlexible transportIndustrial truck or mobile equipmentLong materials are difficult to storeStorageCantilever rackDrums difficult to move or dispenseSpecialized handlingDrum handling equipmentWorkers bend repeatedly to reach partsPositioning/ergonomicsLift or positioning equipmentReceiving and trailer transfer is inefficientDock handlingDock leveler or related dock systemItems are difficult to trackIdentification/controlBarcode, RFID or tracking systemLoose material must move continuouslyBulk handlingBulk conveyor, hopper or feederSeveral handling stages create bottlenecksSystem designIntegrated material handling solution
Questions to Ask Before Choosing an Equipment Type
Before deciding what type of material handling equipment you need, answer these questions.
What exactly is being handled?
Document:
Weight
Dimensions
Shape
Packaging
Stability
Fragility
Pallet or container dimensions
What must happen to it?
Does it need to be:
Stored?
Transported?
Lifted?
Lowered?
Tilted?
Rotated?
Staged?
Loaded?
Unloaded?
Identified?
Dispensed?
Where does the handling occur?
Identify:
Starting point
Destination
Distance
Height
Aisle width
Doors
Columns
Turns
Floor conditions
Clear height
How often does it happen?
An occasional move and a repetitive production move may justify completely different equipment.
What happens immediately before and after?
The selected equipment must interface with the rest of the process.
A cart that cannot properly transfer material to the workstation or a rack configuration that conflicts with handling equipment can shift the bottleneck rather than solve it.
Choosing Among Material Handling Equipment Types
Knowing the terminology is useful, but a facility does not become more efficient simply because every piece of equipment has been placed in the correct category.
The practical goal is to match equipment to:
material + movement + frequency + space + employee interaction + downstream process
Fredon Handling currently supplies equipment across several of these functions, including industrial shelving, pallet racking, cranes and hoists, hydraulic lifts, drum handling equipment and loading dock equipment.
When the right equipment type is not obvious, begin by describing the application rather than naming a product.
Provide the load, workflow, facility constraints, handling frequency and problem that needs to be solved. That gives a material handling supplier much more useful information for comparing possible solutions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the different types of material handling equipment?
Material handling equipment can be grouped by function into transport equipment, positioning equipment, storage equipment, unit-load formation equipment, and identification and control equipment. Commercial guides also commonly use a four-category framework consisting of storage and handling equipment, industrial trucks, bulk material handling equipment and engineered systems.
What are the four main types of material handling equipment?
The common commercial four-category framework is storage and handling equipment, industrial trucks, bulk material handling equipment and engineered systems. A separate article in this Fredon series will examine that four-category framework in greater detail.
Is pallet racking material handling equipment?
Yes. Pallet racking is storage material handling equipment because it holds and organizes palletized loads between handling activities. Different rack designs balance factors such as access, density, inventory flow and load characteristics.
Is a crane material handling equipment?
Yes. A crane is material handling equipment used to lift, transport and position loads within a defined operating area. MHI includes cranes within the transport-equipment portion of its material handling taxonomy.
Are forklifts material handling equipment?
Yes. Forklifts are powered industrial trucks used to lift and transport materials. Powered industrial trucks are also specifically addressed under OSHA's General Industry material-handling standards.
What is the difference between transport and positioning equipment?
Transport equipment primarily changes a material's location, while positioning equipment changes its orientation, elevation or working position at or near a specific location. A conveyor is primarily transport equipment, while a lift table is primarily positioning equipment.
What type of material handling equipment is best for a warehouse?
There is no single best type. Warehouses commonly require a combination of storage equipment, transport equipment, unit-load equipment, dock equipment and identification/control systems. The correct combination depends on inventory, SKU count, throughput, picking method, building layout and material flow.
How do I know which material handling equipment I need?
Start by defining the material, required task, movement distance, frequency, load dimensions, weight, facility constraints and employee interaction. Select equipment based on the required function first and compare specific products only after the application has been clearly defined.