Material Handling the Major Cost
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FOR every ton of finished product delivered to the consumer, between 50 and 100 tons of material had been moved during its manufacture, said Mr. James Steel, opening a world conference of distributors of Steels Engineering Products on Monday. The cost of handling materials varied in industry from 15-85 per cent, of the cost of the finished article, and in some stores a commodity might be moved 100 times before leaving the building.
Material handling in Britain was eslimated to cost £800m. a year, and in the U.S.A. it was calculated at a quarter of the wage bill, or approximately eight billion dollars. Behind one worker in the U.S.A. there was 8 h.p. of mechanical aid, behind one European
h.p. and behind One Asiatic )34 h.n.
Therein lay an opportunity not only to build up substantial business, but to benefit one's fellow men. Vast sums were invested by industry in order to reduce manufacturing costs by 5 per cent., but relatively small amounts spent on mechanical-handling plant could cut production charges by a quarter.
The conference, which concludes this week-end, is being attended by nearly 100 overseas distributors and agents from as far afield as Hong Kong.