Ch09-Charting-q

Review Questions
9.1 What are the objectives of using charts and diagrams to study work?
9.2 What are the four methods indicated in the text by which the analyst develops
a description of the work process that is ultimately used to create the graphic?
9.3 What are the two characteristics of value-added steps in a given process?
9.4 Name some examples of network diagrams.
9.5 What are the two types of operations diagrammed in an operation chart?
9.6 Identify the five types of symbols used in a process chart?
9.7 Name the three types of process chart described in the text, and identify the
application area for each.
9.8 What is a flow diagram?
9.9 What are some of the problem areas that can be identified using a flow
diagram?
9.10 What is an activity chart?
9.11 Identify some of the types of multiple activity charts.
9.12 What are the three block symbols used in a basic process map?

Problems
Traditional Industrial Engineering Charting and Diagramming Techniques
9.1 A motorist experienced a flat tire on the driver side rear wheel of his car and
went through the following procedure to replace the flat tire with the spare.
The tire change occurred in the middle of the day in his own driveway about
20 ft in front of his garage. He first secured the other three wheels of the car
with six bricks from his garage to prevent the vehicle from rolling (two trips
back and forth to the garage). He then took out the jack, crank, and lug nut
wrench from the trunk of the car, and read over the attached instructions for
operating the jack. He then removed the spare tire from the trunk and placed it
near the rear left wheel. Next, he proceeded to position the jack under the car
at the recommended support beam on the car frame. He then began to turn the
crank to elevate the car. After the left rear portion of the car was lifted a few
inches, but before the flat tire was lifted from the driveway surface, he used
the lug nut wrench to loosen the five lug nuts securing the tire to the wheel
hub. He then returned to the task of elevating the car, turning the jack crank

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until the flat tire was completely off the driveway surface. The next step was
to remove the loosened lug nuts, placing them in a nearby position within
reach. The flat tire was then removed and lifted into the trunk. The motorist
then moved the spare tire into position and lifted it onto the five studs
protruding from the wheel hub. He then reached for the five lug nuts, one at a
time, placing them onto the studs and rotating them until finger tight. The lug
nut wrench was then used to tighten the five nuts. With the tire secure, he
proceeded to lower the car by cranking the jack down slowly until the spare
tire supported the car. For good measure, he again tightened the five lug nuts
now that the car was securely on the ground. He then collected the hardware,
put it back into the trunk, and removed the bricks from the other three wheels
and put them back into his garage. Document this tire changing procedure
using a worker process chart.
9.2 With reference to the tire changing procedure of the previous problem,
develop the steps of changing a tire, as they would be accomplished in an
automotive tire center, where the worker has access to a hydraulic car lift and
pneumatic lug nut wrench instead of the manual tools used by the motorist in
his driveway. Document your improved tire changing procedure using a
worker process chart.
9.3 A foundry uses the following steps in its procedure for high production of
investment casting process: (1) The first step is to produce wax patterns by
injection molding. (2) The wax patterns are transported to an assembly work
area where they are manually assembled to a wax sprue forming a pattern
tree. The entire tree is made of wax. (3) The pattern tree is moved to a
separate room where the tree is coated with a thin layer of refractory material.
(4) In the same room, the tree is coated with success layers of refractory
material to make it a rigid structure that will become the mold for casting. (5)
The tree is moved to a furnace room, where it is held in an inverted position
and heated to melt the wax out of the mold cavities. With the wax removed,
the rigid structure is now a multiple-cavity mold with runners leading to each
cavity from the sprue cavity. (6) In the same furnace room, the mold is now
heated to a high temperature to ensure that all contaminants are removed from
the mold. (7) With the mold still heated at an elevated temperature and in an
upright orientation, molten metal is poured into the sprue and flows through
the runners to each cavity. (8) After cooling and solidification of the metal,
the assemblage is moved to a finishing room, where the mold is broken away
from the cast metal and the parts are separated from the runners and sprue. (a)
Develop the flow process chart for this casting process. (b) Based on your

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flow process chart, what are some changes in the investment casting
procedure that you would recommend?
9.4 A supplier of machined components for industrial machinery (e.g., power
tools, pumps, motors, compressors) operates a factory that includes a forge
shop, machine shop, and finishing department. Many of the parts produced by
the company are fabricated through these three departments. Because of this,
the factory is laid out as three large square rooms, arranged in-line to form a
rectangle with an aspect ratio of three-to-one. Each room is 200 ft by 200 ft.
The rectangle runs from north to south, with the forge shop on the south end
and the finishing department on the north end. Large doors are located on the
south wall for work entering the factory and on the north wall for finished
products exiting the factory. For one part of particular interest here, the raw
material is a steel billet that is purchased from a steel wholesale supplier. The
billets arrive in pallet loads of 100 billets at the shipping and receiving
department, which is a building that is 35 ft by 50 ft located 25 ft from the
south wall door of the factory. The shipping and receiving department
inspects the parts and sends them by forklift truck to be stored in the
company’s warehouse that is located in another building 500 ft away from the
factory in a southerly direction. The warehouse is 200 ft by 200 ft with its
entrance door on the north wall. When a production order for the part is
received, a factory forklift truck is dispatched to the warehouse to retrieve the
billets. The forklift truck must wait while the warehouse crew locates the
billets in storage, takes a pallet out of storage using the same type of forklift
truck, and delivers the pallet to the dock where it is transferred to the factory
forklift. The pallet is then brought back to the factory and delivered to the
forge shop. The billets must wait their turn in the production schedule before
being pressed into the desired shape by one of the forge presses. From the
forge shop, the parts are moved to the machine shop where they are machined
on two different machine tools, a milling machine and a drill press. From the
machine shop, the parts travel to the finishing department for painting and
baking (to cure the paint). From the finishing department, the parts are moved
back to the machine shop, where additional milling is accomplished to
provide two machined metal surfaces that will mate with other components in
the final product. The parts are then moved to the shipping and receiving
department for shipment to the customer. (a) Develop the flow process chart
and (b) flow diagram for the process, using the centroid of each department to
estimate distances between departments. (c) Based on your flow process
chart, what are some changes in the production process that you would

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recommend? (d) Develop a revised procedure for the production process,

documenting your revision in the form of a new flow process chart.
9.5 The Calm Seas Cruise Ship Line wants to analyze its passenger laundry
operation. A typical cruise ship of the line is 850 ft in length and has 600
passenger cabins located on four decks. For every occupied cabin during a
cruise, the cabin stewards retrieve the bed linens (sheets and pillow cases) and
towels (wash cloths, hand towels, and bath towels) when they make up the
rooms each day. Each steward is responsible for 15 cabins. The steward
separates the bed linens from the towels, putting them into two separate
laundry bags. Because of the large size of each bag, the two bags are
separately hand-carried to the laundry department, which is located on one of
the lower decks. Depending on which deck and deck section a steward serves,
the travel distance ranges from several hundred feet to more than a thousand
feet, plus several flights of stairs. In the laundry department, the bags are
emptied, making sure that the bed linens are not mixed with the towels during
laundering. The two categories of laundry are washed separately in large
washing machines, using a different wash cycle for each category. After
washing, the linens and towels are dried in tumble dryers located on the same
deck about 100 ft away, and then they are folded and stacked. They are then
moved in stacks to the ironing department, which is located on the deck
immediately above the laundry department, where they are separated and
individually ironed in large flat ironers. After ironing, they are folded and
stacked. From the ironing department they are transported to either of two
main storerooms, located fore and aft on one of the main passenger decks for
access on the following day by the cabin stewards in making up the rooms. (a)
Construct a flow process chart of the laundry operation, using the bed linens
and towels as the subject material in the analysis. Estimate distances moved
but ignore operation times. (b) Based on your flow process chart, what are
some changes in the laundry operation that you would recommend? (c)
Develop a revised procedure for the laundry operation, documenting your
revision in the form of a new flow process chart.
9.6 Given the information and data in previous problem, the cruise ship line
wants to analyze the work activities of a cabin steward in its passenger
laundry operation. Do not consider all of the activities that are performed in
cleaning and making over a passenger cabin (vacuuming, making beds,
collecting towels and linens, etc.) as separate operations. Instead, consider
making up a room and collecting the laundry in each room as one operation.
The focus of the analysis is on the work activities of a cabin steward that
relate to the laundry operation. (a) Construct a worker process chart to

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analyze the duties of the steward that are related to the ship’s laundry
operation. (b) Based on your worker process chart, what are some changes
that you would recommend? (c) Develop a revised procedure for the laundry
operation, documenting your revision in the form of a new worker process
chart.
9.7 The Purchasing Department is required to use the following paperwork
procedure for each purchase order (PO) related to a company production
order. The purchase order is the legal document used by the company to order
raw materials and parts from vendors in specified quantities and to guarantee
payment to the vendors upon delivery of the items ordered. The purchase
order procedure is triggered by the release of a production order that has been
authorized by top management for one of the company’s regular products.
The production order indicates what product is to be produced, how many
units, and when it is to be completed. To produce the product, the raw
materials and component parts must be ordered in the correct quantities from
suppliers (vendors). To initiate the purchase order procedure, a purchasing
agent in the Purchasing Department fills out a blank purchase requisition form
for each raw material or component part, obtaining the quantity information
from the bill of materials for the product. The purchase requisition is an
internal company document used to obtain approvals by several departments
that are responsible for the product and/or its production. The purchase
requisition is sent first to the Design Engineering Department where it is
checked for any engineering changes that may have been made to the item
ordered. The requisition is then sent from Design Engineering to the
Manufacturing Engineering Department, which checks to make sure that a
valid route sheet exists for the item. The route sheet is the process plan that
indicates how the item is to be processed in the factory. From Manufacturing
Engineering, the requisition is sent to the Production Control Department,
which checks the requisition to make sure the quantity information and
delivery date agrees with the production order. At each of these departments,
the signature of the department manager is required in addition to the regular
department employee who performed the check. It takes an average of three
days in each department to obtain the necessary checks and approvals. After
approval by Production Control, the purchase requisition is returned to the
Purchasing Department, where it is used as the authorization to prepare the
actual purchase order that will be sent to the vendor. The information on the
purchase requisition is transcribed onto a blank purchase order form by the
originating purchasing agent, and the PO is then signed by the manager of the
Purchasing Department and mailed to the vendor. Each PO is sent in a

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separate envelope by first class mail, even though there are many vendors
receiving more than one purchase order from the company. (a) Construct a
form process chart for the current purchase order procedure. (b) Based on
your form process chart, what are some changes that you would recommend?
(c) Develop a revised purchase order procedure, documenting your revision in
a new form process chart.
9.8 In Figure 9.7 in the text, which refers to Example 2.1 in Chapter 2, consider
the allocation of time between the right hand and left hand in the activity
chart. (a) If the workplace were redesigned using a workholding fixture, and
the worker were trained to use both hands simultaneously to perform the task,
construct a right-hand/left-hand activity chart for the revised method,
estimating the amounts of time for each step in the method. (b) What is the
percent reduction in cycle time?
9.9 The repetitive work cycle in a worker-machine system consists of the work
elements and associated times given in the table below. As the table shows,
all of the operator’s elements are external to the machine time. (a) Construct a
worker-machine activity chart for this work cycle. (b) Can some of the
worker’s elements be made internal to the machine cycle? If so, construct a
worker-machine activity chart for the revised work cycle. What is the
approximate cycle time for the revised cycle?
Seq. Work element description Worker Machine
time time
1 Worker walks to tote pan containing raw 0.13 min. (idle)
stock
2 Worker picks up raw workpart and transports 0.23 min. (idle)
to machine
3 Worker loads part into machine and engages 0.12 min. (idle)
machine semi-automatic cycle
4 Machine semi-automatic cycle (idle) 0.75 min.
5 Worker unloads finished part from machine 0.10 min. (idle)
6 Worker transports finished part and deposits 0.15 min. (idle)
into tote pan
Totals 0.73 min. 0.75 min.

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Case Problem: Flow Process Chart and Flow Diagram

9.10 A company produces machinery for industry. Many of the company's products are made in
large quantities. This case problem deals with the mechanism plate for one of these
machinery products, shown in Figure P9.10(a). The mechanism plate is a major part in the
machine, serving as the backbone of the product. Most of the internal components and
subassemblies are fastened to this plate. In the finished product, the plate is completely
enclosed within the machine. The mechanism plate is the most expensive part in the
product and is the source of numerous quality problems as well. Similar mechanism plates
are used on many of the products, and their methods of production are similar, so any
improvements made to the subject plate will apply to the other plates as well.

Figure P9.10 Exhibits for Problem 9.10: (a) mechanism plate, (b) first floor layout,
and (c) second floor layout of the factory building.

As is typical in batch production, the manufacturing lead time of the

mechanism plate (time between release of the order and its completion) is quite
long. Since other parts are being processed at the same time in the plant, there
are delays in front of each production station as batches of mechanism plates
wait their turn in the queues at these stations. Mechanism plates take an
average of 18 weeks to complete, once a production order has been released.
No information is available about how this time is distributed among the
different production steps. In addition, the castings may remain in the
warehouse prior to production for as much as 4 months. Following is a
description of the sequence of steps used to fabricate the mechanism plate.
Figures P9.10(b) and (c) show the two stories of the factory building. Key areas
and departments relating to the mechanism plate production are indicated in the
description and on the floor layouts by numbers in parentheses ().
The mechanism plate is a sand casting, supplied by a foundry located 20 miles
away. It is made of cast iron and is very heavy, constituting fully one-third the
total weight of the product. The designer selected cast iron because of its
inherent rigidity and vibration damping characteristics. However, because it is
a large flat part, the casting is subject to warping.
The castings are shipped to the company in batches of 50 to 100 units and
inspected (1) prior to being stored in the plant warehouse (2) until an order is
placed for their release to production. Production lot sizes are usually 5 to 10
parts. When the castings are picked from the warehouse for an order, the first
step is to send them to a local firm (5 miles away) that specializes in sand
blasting (which the company is not currently set up to do). This treatment
dislodges any sand imbedded in the surface that is left over from the mold,

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removes rust that has occurred during storage, and smoothes the surface. The
plates are then returned to the company warehouse.
The parts are then processed through a series of machining operations, the first
and second of which are in the milling department (3). The first milling
operation is face milling to make one side of the plate flat and smooth to accept
the components that are to be attached. This is accomplished in one setup on a
large milling machine in the mill department. The second milling requires a
separate setup, and this operation makes the edges of the casting smooth and
straight.
As the second milling operation is completed on each part, it is moved
individually to the chemical cleaning department (4) to be cleaned and pickled.
The cleaning is performed by human workers using cloth wipers soaked with
chemical solvents. The purpose of the cleaning is to remove cutting fluids from
machining. Pickling is then performed in open tanks filled with relatively dilute
acid which etches the cast iron. The pickling brightens the surface texture of
the machined surface of the casting. Owing to the size of the casting, each part
must be separately dipped into the tank. The parts are then individually
returned back to the machining area (drilling department) to reconstitute the
batch.
The next step involves a series of hole drilling operations in the drill
department (5). These holes are used to attach the various brackets and
components to the plate. This is performed on four different upright drill
presses, organized according to drill size. There are four different hole sizes in
the plate. After drilling, two of the hole sizes are tapped in the same department
(5), using two additional drill presses. After drilling and tapping, the plates are
returned to the cleaning department (4) for cleaning and pickling. Again, they
must be dipped separately and moved individually to a temporary storage area
(6) near the assembly department (9).
The plates are stored in the temporary storage area (6) until the other
components that are to be assembled to it have been collected. When all of the
components have been collected, the mechanism plate is sent to the painting
department (7) for painting. The painting is needed to provide a protective
coating and for appearance reasons. The operation is performed by human
workers using paint brushes to work the paint into the rough texture of the sand
cast surface. Two coats are applied in this way, with a five-hour low
temperature baking operation following each coating. The baking ovens are
located in the heat treating department (8) at the rear of the factory. As many as
five plates can be baked at one time.

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After the final bake, the mechanism plates rejoin the other components in the
temporary storage area (6). A "kit" of components is then made up, which
consists of one mechanism plate and a set of all the components that are to be
assembled to it. The kit is then sent to the assembly department (9), where the
subassembly is completed. A total of 75 parts, including fasteners, are attached
to the plate. Each mechanism plate subassembly is put together at a single
workstation. When finished, it is put back into temporary storage (6) to await
final assembly into the machinery product.
Assignment: (a) Prepare a flow process chart showing the operations, moves,
delays, etc., in the current process. (b) Summarize the flow process chart by
determining the number of operations, number of moves, total distances
moved, delays, etc. (c) Construct a flow diagram of the path followed by the
mechanism plate during its manufacture. (d) Develop a list of possible
improvements that might be made in the production of the mechanisms plate.
(e) Develop a proposed improved method based on your answers to (a), (b),
(c), and (d), and document your proposed new method by means of a flow
process chart. (f) Summarize the process flow chart for the proposed method,
indicating the number of operations, number of moves, total distances
traveled, delays, etc. Show how this method is an improvement over the
current method in terms of these statistics. (g) Consider the issue of plant
layout in more detail. What changes in the overall layout of the plant you
would make to improve the efficiency of mechanism plate production?
Process Mapping
9.11 Develop a basic process map for the cruise ship laundry operation described
in Problem 9.5. What recommendations can you make for improving the
operation?
9.12 Develop a relationship map for the machine components factory described in
Problem 9.4.
9.13 Develop a cross-functional process map for the Purchasing and other
departments described in Problem 9.7. What recommendations can you make
for improving the paperwork flow?