Question

Roy Creasey Enterprises, a machine shop, is planning to move to a new, larger location. The new building will be 60 feet long by 40 feet wide. Creasey envisions the building as having six distinct production areas, roughly equal in size. He feels strongly about safety and intends to have marked pathways throughout the building to facilitate the movement of people and materials. See the following building schematic. Room Room Room Room Room Room 5 His foreman has completed a month-long study of the number of loads of material that have moved from one process to another in the current building. This information is contained in the flow matrix on the left below. Finally, Creasey also developed a matrix to indicate distances between the work areas shown in the building schematic, show on the right below. From Jo Materials Welding Drills Lathes Grinders Benders Materials 0 125 45 0 0 55 Welding 20 0 0 55 0 0 Drills 25 00055 0 Lathes 0 20 0 0 25 0 Grinders 450 120 0 0 0 Benders 5 0 20 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 1 - - - - - 2 3 4 5 6 20 40 20 40 60 - 20 40 20 40 - - 60 40 20 - - - 20 40 - - - - 20 Based on the flows shown in the matrix, it is likely that the processes Drills and Grinders are in rooms next to each other as they have the highest number of moves between each other. Based on the flows shown in the matrix, it is likely that the processes Materials and Welding are in rooms next to each other as they have the second highest number of moves between each other. One of the layouts that could be designed is: Room 1 = Benders Room 4 = Drills Room 2 = Materials Room 5 = Grinders Room 3 = Welding Room 8 = Lathes The cumulative distance based on the overall movement of material between processes for this layout = 40500 feet (enter your response as a whole number).

Answer 1

Between		Flow	Distance	Flow * Distance
Materials	Welding	125+20 = 145	20	2,900
Materials	Drills	45+25 = 70	40	2,800
Materials	Lathes	0	40	0
Materials	Grinders	45	20	900
Materials	Benders	55+5 = 60	20	1,200
Welding	Drills	0	60	0
Welding	Lathes	55+20 = 75	20	1,500
Welding	Grinders	0	40	0
Welding	Benders	0	40	0
Drills	Lathes	0	40	0
Drills	Grinders	55+120 = 175	20	3,500
Drills	Benders	20	20	400
Lathes	Grinders	25	20	500
Lathes	Benders	0	60	0
Grinders	Benders	0	40	0
			Total	13,700

The cumulative distance (i.e. load * distance) = 13,700