Faculty of Engineering

Production Engineering Department

PED 351 – Facilities Planning and Material Handling
Summer 2023
Assignment 4: Flow Systems, Activity Relationships,
and Space Requirements
Tutorial Problems
1. Given the spatial schematic below, evaluate the flow path length and backtracking penalty for the
following components:
a. Component 2 routing A-C-B-D-E-F
175' + 75' + 150' + 25' + 25' = 450'
Backtracking penalty: 75' + 75' or 450' – 300' = 150'

b. Component 3 routing A-F-E-D-C-B-A-F

300' + 25' + 25' + 75' + 75' + 100' + 300' = 900'
Backtracking penalty: 300' + 300' or 900' – 300' = 600'

2. A company produces four products in its production facility. The facility has five departments
labeled A–E. The routing information, production quantities, and volumes for each product are
given in the table below.

Production Quantities Volume

Product Routing
(per day) (Compared to Product 1)
1 30 A-B-C-D-E 1
2 40 A-C-B-D 1
3 20 D-B-A-C 2
4 10 C-A-E-B 0.5

a. Develop a from-to chart for this company.

b. Develop a flow-between chart for this company.
c. Suggest which departments should be placed adjacent to each other according to the flow-
between chart.

Production Quantities Equivalent Flows

Product Routing
(per day) (per day)
1 30 30 A-B-C-D-E
2 40 40 A-C-B-D
3 20 40 D-B-A-C
4 10 5 C-A-E-B

Facilities Planning Page 1 of 4

 Table 1: From-To Chart

To
A B C D E
From
A --- 30 80 5
B 40 --- 30 40
C 5 40 --- 30
D 40 --- 30
E 5 ---

Table 2: Flow – Between Chart

A B C D E
A --- 70 85 5
B --- 70 80 5
C --- 30
D --- 30
E ---

According to the flow-between chart, A & C and B & D departments should be adjacent.

3. A planning department for the ABC Company consists of 8 machines that perform turning
operations. Four turret lathes, three automatic screw machines, and one chucker are included in
the planning department. The “footprints” for the machines are 4 x 12 feet for turret lathes, 4 x
14 feet for screw machines, and 5 x 6 feet for chuckers. Personnel space footprints of 4 x 5 feet
are used for each machine. Material storage requirements are estimated to be 20 ft2 per turret
lathe, 40 ft2 per screw machine, and 50 ft2 per chucker. An aisle space allowance of 12% is used.
Calculate the total space required for the planning department.

The total space required for the planning department can be calculated using the following table:

Area Square (ft2)

Workstation Quantity
Equipment Material Personnel Total
Turret Lathe 4 4 * (4x12) = 192 4 * 20 = 80 4 * (4x5) = 80 352
Screw M/C 3 3 * (4x14) = 168 3 * 40 = 120 3 * (4x5) = 60 348
Chucker 1 1 * (5x6) = 30 1 * 50 = 50 1 * (4x5) = 20 100
Net Area Required 800
12% Aisle Allowance 96
Total Area Required 896

Facilities Planning Page 2 of 4

 Practice Problems
4. Given the spatial schematic below, evaluate the flow path length and backtracking penalty for the
following components:
a. Component 1 routing A-B-C-D-E-F
100' + 75' + 75' + 25' + 25' = 300'
No backtracking penalty

b. Component 4 routing A-C-E-B-D-F

175' + 100' + 175' + 150' + 50' = 650'

Backtracking penalty: 175' + 150' + 25' or 650' – 300' = 350'

5. Suppose three products (1, 2, and 3) are scheduled for production with a sequence of operations
in departments labeled A – F. The sequence of operations and the known weekly demands as
shown in the following table:

Sequence of Operations Production

Product
(Department) Per Week
1 A–C–D–F–B 400
2 B–A–C–D–E 800
3 E–B–C–A–F 300

Products 1 and 2 have the same volume and are equivalent with respect to movement. Product 3
is almost twice as large and moving two units of either product 1 or 2 is equivalent to moving 1
unit of product 3.
a. Construct from-to chart to show the product flows between departments.
b. Develop a flow-between chart for this facility.
c. According to the flow-between chart:
• Which departments have the highest and lowest amount of flow among them?
• What is the amount of flow among departments C & D?

Production Equivalent Flows Sequence of Operations

Product
Per Week Per Week (Department)
1 400 400 A–C–D–F–B
2 800 800 B–A–C–D–E
3 300 600 E–B–C–A–F

Table 3: From-To Chart

To
A B C D E F
From
A --- 1200 600
B 800 --- 600
C 600 --- 1200
D --- 800 400

Facilities Planning Page 3 of 4

 E 600 ---
F 400 ---
Table 4: Flow – Between Chart
A B C D E F
A --- 800 1800 600
B --- 600 600 400
C --- 1200
D --- 800 400
E ---
F ---

According to the flow-between chart:

• A & C departments have the highest amount of flow among them.
• B & F and D & F departments have the lowest amount of flow among them.
• The amount of flow among C & D departments is 1200.
6. A planning department for the XYZ Company consists of 13 machines that perform turning
operations. Five turret lathes, five automatic screw machines, and three chuckers are included in
the planning department. The “footprints” for the machines are 4 x 12 feet for turret lathes, 4 x
14 feet for screw machines, and 5 x 6 feet for chuckers. Personnel space footprints of 4 x 5 feet
are used for each machine. Material storage requirements are estimated to be 20 ft2 per turret
lathe, 40 ft2 per screw machine, and 50 ft2 per chucker. An aisle space allowance of 13% is used.
Calculate the total space required for the planning department.

The total space required for the planning department can be calculated using the following table:

Area Square (ft2)

Workstation Quantity
Equipment Material Personnel Total
Turret Lathe 5 5 * (4x12) = 240 5 * 20 = 100 5 * (4x5) = 100 440
Screw M/C 5 5 * (4x14) = 280 5 * 40 = 200 5 * (4x5) = 100 580
Chucker 3 3 * (5x6) = 90 3 * 50 = 150 3 * (4x5) = 60 300
Net Area Required 1320
13% Aisle Allowance 172
Total Area Required 1492

Final Answers
1. Path length is a) 450' and b) 900'.
2. A & C and B & D departments should be adjacent.
3. Total area required = 896 ft2.
4. Path length is a) 300' and b) 650'.
5. A & C departments have the highest amount of flow among them.
B & F and D & F departments have the lowest amount of flow among them.
The amount of flow among C & D departments is 1,200.
6. Total area required = 1,492 ft2.

Facilities Planning Page 4 of 4