THE EFFECT OF MATERIAL HANDLING ON THE PROFITABILITY OF AN ORGANIZATION

INTRODUCTION Material Management, as practiced in business today, can be defined as “a confederacy of traditional material activities bound by a common idea. The idea of an integrated management approach to planning, comersion flow and distribution of products materials form the raw materials state to the finished state. (Iornum, 2007). The above definition implies that material management is generally concerned with the flow of materials from the source of supply through the production line to the final consumers. This means that material management includes such function as the primary responsibilities of purchasing plus other major procurement responsibilities like Inventory Control, traffic, receiving, warehousing as well as production planning and control. Cater Douglas also defined material handling as the aggregate of those ordinary courses of business which are in the process of production of goods or services to be available for sale. Material are significant portion of most firms of assets which accordingly requires substantial investment in order to keep these inventories from becoming unnecessarily large, material must be managed effectively. In modern business greater emphasis have being put in material handling. It concern in material management is to provide materials in the right condition at the right time. It implies that the handling procedures should be able to: i)Retain appropriate stock level ii)Ensure proper use of stock iii)Ensure that inventory is fully amounted for Jonny Ater – defines material handling as the movement and protection of materials goods and products through the process of maintaining, distribution, consumption and disposal. Material handling should be controlled and carried out properly if a huge standard of efficiency and cost effectiveness is to be achieved. B.K Bharabo defines material handling as the art and science of moving, packing and storing of material in any form. 1.2Statement of the Problem Material handling in manufacturing organization is an important aspect of production process. Many companies engage diverse strategies to achieve organizational goal through material handling. The control of material handling as it affects PHCN is the unavailability of material in store and proper reconciliation of possible loss to business through interruption of production or failure to met orders with the handling cost of stock. Here in Nigeria, a cursory look at our economic problem will appear to suggest the non-adaptation of materials management which is a product of our industrial philosophy that has made our manufacturing sector over important dependent. Though, the organization (PHCN) under the study has advanced stores and way of obtaining their materials, but lack proper personnel to handle the material is a problem.
DEFINITION OF MATERIAL HANDLING Iornum (2007) defines material handling as an aspects of material management which is concern with the safety of material in transit with the regularity of delivery, as well as the flow of materials. According to Badi (2004) Materials handling refers to the movement of materials inside the work premises from raw materials stage to finished product storage. Maximum movement activity takes place on work-in-progress. Material handling is actually the process of moving through a full cycle of operations form the procurement of raw materials, include reception and storage prior to use, handling into and between processes and the handling of the finished goods,  packaging, storage and distribution. In other words, materials handling is the art of moving things economically and safety when used properly, material handling result into some the linking of all the processed within the functions of business into a single efficient machine or system. However, materials handling absorbs time, manpower and money. It adds nothing to the value of items, but only its cost. Materials handling must therefore be controlled and carried out properly if a high standard of efficiency and cost effectiveness is to be achieved. Better material handling reduces: a)Handling cost b)Space cost c)Damage for poor handling and storage d)Labour cost e)Fatigue f)Production waiting time on one hand,  But materials handling increases: a)Effectiveness and quality controls b)Safety level c)Productive capacity level d)Efficiency in receipt, storage and dispatch proper material handling requires a lot of pre-planning which should begin with a systematic analysis of the nature of the handling problems at hand.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter focuses on the area of study methods, procedures and modalities used in collecting data for this study. It also brings to lime light the problems encountered in the process, dwell on choice of subject, check for bias and analysis of results. 
AREA OF STUDY The study is conducted in the material related units of PHCN Kaduna North Local government area of kaduna state. These units includes i.Materials management department which is the hub of material and its related activities  ii.Production department which is the major customer i.e. users of materials in PHCN iii.Power plant and utility units that is responsible for maintenance work in PHCN the justification for using these units as area of study is that they are the major  units that deals with materials and materials related activities in PHCN and they are used to examine the impact of material handling in profitability level of the organization under study and also to determine the weakness of material handling in the organization so as to provide useful suggestion on how to handle such problem identified.