Flow process chart
Encyclopedia
The flow process chart in industrial engineering
is a graphical and symbolic representation
of the processing activities performed on the work piece.
in 1921 as the presentation “Process Charts, First Steps in Finding the One Best Way to Do Work”. Gilbreth's tools quickly found their way into industrial engineering
curricula.
In the early 1930s, an industrial engineer, Allan H. Mogensen began training business people in the use of some of the tools of industrial engineering at his Work Simplification Conferences in Lake Placid
, New York
. A 1944 graduate of Mogensen's class, Art Spinanger, took the tools back to Procter and Gamble where he developed their Deliberate Methods Change Program. Another 1944 graduate, Ben S. Graham, Director of Formcraft Engineering at Standard Register Corporation, adapted the flow process chart to information processing with his development of the multi-flow process chart to display multiple documents and their relationships.
In 1947, ASME adopted a symbol set derived from Gilbreth's original work as the ASME Standard for Process Charts.
Industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...
is a graphical and symbolic representation
Symbolic representation
Symbolic representation may refer to:* Symbolism * Symbolic linguistic representation...
of the processing activities performed on the work piece.
History
The first structured method for documenting process flow, the flow process chart, was introduced by Frank Gilbreth to members of ASMEAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a professional body, specifically an engineering society, focused on mechanical engineering....
in 1921 as the presentation “Process Charts, First Steps in Finding the One Best Way to Do Work”. Gilbreth's tools quickly found their way into industrial engineering
Industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...
curricula.
In the early 1930s, an industrial engineer, Allan H. Mogensen began training business people in the use of some of the tools of industrial engineering at his Work Simplification Conferences in Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. A 1944 graduate of Mogensen's class, Art Spinanger, took the tools back to Procter and Gamble where he developed their Deliberate Methods Change Program. Another 1944 graduate, Ben S. Graham, Director of Formcraft Engineering at Standard Register Corporation, adapted the flow process chart to information processing with his development of the multi-flow process chart to display multiple documents and their relationships.
In 1947, ASME adopted a symbol set derived from Gilbreth's original work as the ASME Standard for Process Charts.
Symbols
| Symbol | Letter | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ο | O | Operation |
| Ỻ | I | Inspection |
| → | M | Move |
| D | D | Delay |
| ∇ | S | Storage |
- Operation: is to change the physical or chemical characteristics of the material.
- Inspection: is to check the quality or the quantity of the material.
- Move: is transporting the material from one place to another.
- Delay: is when material cannot go to the next activity.
- Storage: is when the material is kept in a safe location.
When to use it
- It is used when observing a physical process, to record actions as they happen and thus get an accurate description of the process.
- It is used when analyzing the steps in a process, to help identify and eliminate wasteWasteWaste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
. - It is used when the process is mostly sequential, containing few decisions.
See also
- Business process mappingBusiness Process MappingBusiness process mapping refers to activities involved in defining exactly what a business entity does, who is responsible, to what standard a process should be completed and how the success of a business process can be determined. Once this is done, there can be no uncertainty as to the...
- Control flow diagramControl flow diagramA control flow diagram is a diagram to describe the control flow of a business process, process or program.Control flow diagrams were developed in the 1950s, and are widely used in multiple engineering disciplines...
- Data flow diagramData flow diagramA data flow diagram is a graphical representation of the "flow" of data through an information system, modelling its process aspects. Often they are a preliminary step used to create an overview of the system which can later be elaborated...
- FlowchartFlowchartA flowchart is a type of diagram that represents an algorithm or process, showing the steps as boxes of various kinds, and their order by connecting these with arrows. This diagrammatic representation can give a step-by-step solution to a given problem. Process operations are represented in these...
- Functional flow block diagramFunctional flow block diagramA Functional Flow Block Diagram is a multi-tier, time-sequenced, step-by-step flow diagram of a system’s functional flow.The FFBD notation was developed in the 1950s, and is widely used in classical systems engineering...