Question

Departments A, B, C, and D need to be assigned to four rooms 1, 2, 3, and 4. These rooms are arranged in a row, in that order, with 20 meters between each. The departmental work flows are contained in the table below.

(a) What is the material handling total of assigning A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4?

(b) What is the material handling total of assigning A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2?

Flow Matrix
	Dept. A	Dept. B	Dept. C	Dept. D
Dept. A	0	30	10	15
Dept. B	5	0	40	20
Dept. C	0	10	0	40
Dept. D	10	10	0	0

Answer 1

To be calculated:

Material handling total for given two scenarios

Given values:

Rooms = 1, 2, 3, 4

Distance between each room = 20 meters

Solution:

Scenario-1

A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4

A — B — C — D

1 — 2 — 3 — 4

Distance between adjacent rooms = 20 meters

Material handling total is calculated as;

Material handling total = Sum of (Flow of material between department x Distance between department)

Material handling total = (30 x 20) + (10 x 40) + (15 x 60) + (5 x 20) + (40 x 20) + (20 x 40) + (10 x 20) + (40 x 20) + (10 x 60) + (10 x 40)

Material handling total = 5600

Scenario-2

A-1, B-3, C-4, D-2

A — D — B — C

1 — 2 — 3 — 4

Distance between adjacent rooms = 20 meters

Material handling total is calculated as;

Material handling total = Sum of (Flow of material between department x Distance between department)

Material handling total = (30 x 40) + (10 x 60) + (15 x 20) + (5 x 40) + (40 x 20) + (20 x 20) + (10 x 20) + (40 x 40) + (10 x 20) + (10 x 20)

Material handling total = 5700