Request a free offer
We look forward to learning more about you and your project.
What is meant by material flow?
Simply put, material flow is the journey a product takes through a company. It encompasses everything that happens to an item: from its arrival as raw material at the factory gate, to processing in the factory, to shipment to the customer.
How material flow works
Material flow is like the course of a river. To ensure that everything runs smoothly, goods must remain in constant motion. If there is a bottleneck somewhere—for example, because a forklift is missing or a component is on the wrong shelf—a traffic jam forms. This costs time and money.
It's not just about moving boxes. Every physical package also has information associated with it, known as the “data flow.” The system needs to know at all times: What's in the box, where should it go, and what's the next step? Logistics only works smoothly when information and goods flow at the same pace.
The tasks in practice
In companies, material flow is divided into three areas:
- Arrival and storage: The goods are unloaded, checked, and sorted so that they can be found quickly. The aim here is to keep the distances between the truck and the shelf as short as possible.
- Production and transport: The material is taken from the warehouse and brought to the machine. Good material flow ensures that employees do not have to wait for replenishment or get buried under mountains of material.
- Shipping: The finished product is packaged and loaded. Here, the process must be timed so that the packages are ready for pickup on time.
Why good material flow is important
Optimized material flow ensures order and speed. If the distances are short and the processes follow on logically from one another, the company saves valuable time. It also reduces the risk of goods being damaged or lost. Ultimately, it's about avoiding waste: unnecessary distances, excessive searching, and capital tied up in the form of too much stored goods.
