Every product that moves through a warehouse, plant, or distribution center is touched by material handling equipment at least a dozen times before it ships. The right mix keeps product moving safely and cuts labor out of every step. The wrong mix creates bottlenecks, damage, and injuries you pay for twice. This guide breaks down the four recognized categories of material handling equipment, what belongs in each, and how to decide what your operation actually needs.
W.T. Hight has been specifying and supplying material handling equipment for facilities across the Northeast since 1866, so the framing here is practical, not academic.
What is material handling equipment?
Material handling equipment is the full range of tools, vehicles, storage systems, and engineered structures used to move, protect, store, and control materials throughout the manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution process. It covers everything from a simple hand truck to an automated conveyor line.
The industry groups all of it into four categories. Almost any piece of equipment you can name fits into one of them.
The 4 types of material handling equipment
1. Storage and handling equipment
This is the non-automated equipment that holds material when it is not being moved or processed. It is usually the largest category by footprint in any facility and the easiest place to recover wasted space.
Common examples:
- Pallet racking (selective, drive-in, push-back, pallet flow)
- Shelving and bins for small parts and cartons
- Mezzanines that add a second working level overhead
- Wire partitions, cages, and lockers for security and separation
- Modular drawer cabinets for tooling and high-value components
Storage equipment looks static, but the layout decisions you make here drive every labor cost downstream. Pick the wrong rack depth or aisle width and you lock in inefficient travel for years.
2. Engineered systems
Engineered systems are automated or semi-automated units that work together to move and manage material with minimal manual handling. Where storage equipment is selected off a catalog, engineered systems are designed around your throughput and product.
Common examples:
- Conveyor systems (gravity, belt, roller, powered)
- Automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS)
- Robotic and goods-to-person picking systems
- Sortation systems for high-volume distribution
These systems carry the highest upfront cost and the highest payback when volume justifies them. They are the right answer when labor is your constraint and your product mix is consistent enough to automate.
3. Industrial trucks
Industrial trucks are the powered and manual vehicles that transport material around the facility. This is the category most people picture first when they hear “material handling.”
Common examples:
- Forklifts (counterbalance, reach, order pickers)
- Pallet jacks (manual and electric)
- Hand trucks and platform carts
- Tow tractors and tuggers
- Stackers and walkie stackers
Industrial trucks are flexible: one forklift can serve many tasks. That flexibility is also their weakness, because flexible equipment is rarely optimized for any single task. High-volume operations tend to move repetitive trips off trucks and onto conveyors over time.
4. Bulk material handling equipment
Bulk material handling equipment moves and stores loose materials, liquids, granules, and powders, rather than discrete packaged units. It is essential in food, agriculture, chemical, mining, and similar industries.
Common examples:
- Bulk conveyor belts
- Hoppers, silos, and stackers
- Bucket and grain elevators
- Drums and bulk containers
If your product is measured by weight or volume instead of by the case, this is your category.
So, is a forklift material handling equipment?
Yes. A forklift is one of the most common pieces of material handling equipment, and it sits in the industrial trucks category. But “material handling equipment” is far broader than forklifts alone. A facility can run efficiently with very few forklifts if its storage and conveyor systems are designed well, and many modern operations are deliberately reducing forklift trips to cut both labor and aisle-collision risk.
What is the most common material handling device?
The pallet is the most common material handling device in the world, and the equipment built around it (pallet jacks, pallet racking, and forklifts) makes up the backbone of nearly every warehouse. Standardizing on pallet handling is usually the single highest-leverage decision a growing facility makes, because it lets storage, transport, and trucking all share one common unit.
How to choose the right mix for your facility
You rarely buy from just one category. The goal is the right combination for your product, volume, and building. Work through these questions:
- What are you moving? Discrete packaged goods point you toward storage equipment, trucks, and conveyors. Loose or bulk material points you toward bulk handling.
- How high is your throughput? Low and variable volume favors flexible industrial trucks. High and consistent volume justifies engineered conveyor and automation.
- How is your space constrained? If you are out of floor space but have ceiling height, a mezzanine or taller racking recovers capacity without a building addition.
- Where is your labor going? Map the trips your team repeats hundreds of times a day. Those repetitive paths are the first candidates to move from manual carts onto conveyors or powered equipment.
- What are your safety and security requirements? Controlled inventory, DEA-regulated storage, and high-value tooling need wire partitions, cages, and secured cabinets designed into the layout, not bolted on later.
The cheapest equipment list is almost never the cheapest operation. The right specification is the one that lowers your cost per unit handled over the life of the building.
Where W.T. Hight fits
Most distributors sell you a product. We specify a system. Because we carry storage equipment, casters and mobility, conveyors, mezzanines, in-plant offices, and secured storage under one roof, we can lay out the full handling flow for your facility and supply every category in it, rather than leaving you to stitch vendors together.
If you are planning a new facility, expanding, or fixing a bottleneck that has been costing you for a while, talk to our team about a material handling solution built around how your operation actually runs.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 4 types of material handling equipment? The four types are storage and handling equipment (racking, shelving, mezzanines), engineered systems (conveyors, AS/RS, robotics), industrial trucks (forklifts, pallet jacks, carts), and bulk material handling equipment (conveyors, hoppers, silos for loose material).
What is the most common material handling device? The pallet, along with the equipment built around it: pallet jacks, pallet racking, and forklifts. Pallet handling is the backbone of nearly every warehouse and distribution operation.
Is a forklift material handling equipment? Yes. A forklift is a type of industrial truck, one of the four categories of material handling equipment. It is one of the most common pieces of equipment, but it is only a small part of a complete handling system.
What is material handling equipment used for? It is used to move, store, protect, and control materials throughout manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution, reducing manual labor, preventing product damage, and improving safety and throughput.