A material handling method, the method includes: acquiring a material identification; where a material identified by the material identification is stored in a material box corresponding to the material identification; when an unprocessed order includes the material identification, then querying whether there is an available temporary storage unit in a temporary storage shelf; and triggering a temporary storage instruction when there is an available temporary storage unit in the temporary storage shelf; where the temporary storage instruction is used to instruct to perform a temporary storage behavior triggered according to the material identification on the temporary storage shelf.