Types  of Production  to be Handled: The type of  production being  handled  greatly affects material  handling  decisions. Powders liquids and  gases are well  suited for  transport by pipelines. Automatic  transfer machine should  be used  in automatic processes  where a sufficiently high  volume of production is available to  offset the high  cost  of the equipment. Cranes and hoists are best suited for very  heavy lifting jobs where the  material to be used  cannot be easily lifted from  below. Conveyors should  be used where  flexible  destinations are required and where the volume of materials to be moved may be  low. The characteristics of the products including weight  size shape  perish ability and whether it is a solid liquid or gas have significant bearing on the  selection  of the type  of device which  should  be chosen  to move  them.