| Course | MT435 Operations Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 2 |
| Paper type | Process flow analysis |
| Length | About 920 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT435 Unit 2
Twenty-One Hours of Work, Forty-Five of Waiting: An MT435 Unit 2 Process Flow Analysis of One Bed Order
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT435: Operations Management
Unit 2 Process Flow Analysis
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Pacolet Bunk & Loft, the camp order and every time and distance are composite, recorded as one order moved through the shop; the sources cited are real.
The Order and the Method
A camp in western North Carolina ordered twenty twin loft beds in a white paint finish. The order was released to the floor on a Monday morning, and I followed it with a clipboard and the shop's job tickets until it was boxed and stored. Each step is recorded with a standard flow process chart symbol: operation, transport, inspection, delay or storage. For each row the chart gives minutes of work, feet moved and hours waited. Work time and elapsed time are kept in separate columns, because the purpose of the chart is to show how much of the order's life is spent not being worked on.
The Twenty-Two Rows
1. Operation: release order and print cut list, 15 minutes
2. Delay: wait for the router, 11.0 hours
3. Operation: router cutting of all panels and rails, 120 minutes
4. Transport: cart to shaper and boring area, 45 feet
5. Delay: wait for the shaper, 6.5 hours
6. Operation: edge profiling on the shaper, 150 minutes
7. Operation: boring for bolts and cam locks, 100 minutes
8. Operation: sanding, 160 minutes
9. Inspection: in-process check of sanded parts, 30 minutes
10. Transport: cart across the yard to the finishing building, 310 feet
11. Delay: wait for the spray booth, 16.5 hours
12. Operation: priming and painting in the booth, 220 minutes
13. Delay: curing on racks, 7.5 hours
14. Transport: cart back across the yard to assembly, 310 feet
15. Delay: wait for an assembly bench, 4.0 hours
16. Operation: test assembly of ladders, guardrails and end frames, 160 minutes
17. Operation: hardware kitting, 120 minutes
18. Inspection: final check, 50 minutes
19. Operation: flat-pack boxing, 140 minutes
20. Operation: label and stage cartons, 21 minutes
21. Transport: pallet jack to the storage bay, 70 feet
22. Storage: held for the camp's delivery date, 15 hours
Summary Lines
Ten operations total 1,206 minutes and two inspections 80 minutes, so work time is 1,286 minutes, about 21.4 hours. Four transports cover 735 feet, 620 of them in the two crossings of the yard between the main shop and the finishing building. Five delays total 45.5 hours. Storage adds 15 hours.
Before storage, the order spent about 21.4 hours being worked on and 45.5 hours waiting, so only about a third of its elapsed time in the process involved any work. Counting storage, the share falls to about a quarter.
The beds spent more than twice as long waiting as being made, and the longest wait was for one machine.
Work Time Against Elapsed Time
Keeping work time and elapsed time apart is what makes the chart useful. If the twenty-two rows had recorded only the minutes each step took, the order would appear to need about 21 hours, a little under three shifts. In fact it spent close to three working days moving through the shop before reaching storage. A customer quoted a lead time based on work content would be promised the beds days earlier than the shop could deliver them, which is part of why Pacolet's promised dates slip. The gap between the two figures is the chart's main finding, and it points to the waits rather than the operations as the place to look for improvement.
Where the Time Goes
The single longest delay is the 16.5 hours waiting for the spray booth, more than a third of all waiting. The router wait of 11.0 hours is second. Both are waits for a single machine that every order must pass through. Curing, at 7.5 hours, is a delay the chemistry requires; it could be shortened only with a different coating or a heated curing room, not by scheduling.
Transport is a smaller share of time but a large share of distance. The two yard crossings account for 84 percent of the feet traveled, because the finishing building stands apart from the main shop.
The Limits of One Order
This analysis tracks a single camp order. Other orders were in the shop at the same time, competing for the same machines, and the waits recorded here are the result of that competition. A flow chart is therefore a snapshot of how the system treated one order on one week, not a fixed property of the order. Womack and Jones (2003) recommend following a product through its whole path before changing any step, because the waits between steps usually matter more than the steps themselves, and this chart confirms that for Pacolet.
What It Suggests for Later Units
Three questions follow for the rest of the term. Why does the booth hold orders for 16.5 hours, which the Unit 3 bottleneck analysis will answer? Could the two yard crossings be shortened, which the Unit 7 layout proposal will test? And which of the twenty-two steps add value a customer would pay for, which the Unit 9 lean review will classify? Slack and Brandon-Jones (2019) describe process mapping as the starting point for each of these questions, and Hopp and Spearman (2011) show why waiting time near a busy resource rises so sharply, which the booth's figure illustrates.
References
Hopp, W. J., & Spearman, M. L. (2011). Factory physics (3rd ed.). Waveland Press.
Slack, N., & Brandon-Jones, A. (2019). Operations management (9th ed.). Pearson.
Womack, J. P., & Jones, D. T. (2003). Lean thinking: Banish waste and create wealth in your corporation (Rev. ed.). Free Press.
Reading the MT 435 Unit 2 instructions
Unit 2 asks students to map one product or job through a process with a flow process chart. Instructors expect every step recorded with its symbol, operation, transport, inspection, delay or storage, and timed or measured: minutes of work, feet moved, hours waited. Delays and transports must appear, since leaving them out makes the process look far faster than it is. Work time and elapsed time should be kept in separate columns and totaled separately. The chart should be summarized in a few lines that compare work with waiting and show where the largest delays and distances lie. Interpretation should connect the findings to questions later units will take up, such as bottlenecks, layout and waste. Five pages built around one chart is typical.
How the MT 435 Unit 2 example is put together
The sample describes the order and the method of following it with job tickets. The chart's twenty-two rows are listed with symbols and times. Summary lines total work, travel, waiting and storage, under a highlighted line comparing waiting with work. A section explains why separating work time from elapsed time matters for promised dates. The time and distance sections identify the booth wait and the yard crossings as the largest items. A section on the limits of one order cites Womack and Jones on following a product before changing a step. The final section passes three questions to Units 3, 7 and 9, citing Slack and Brandon-Jones on mapping and Hopp and Spearman on waits near busy resources.
Reading the MT435 Unit 2 grading rubric
Completeness comes first when a process flow chart in this course is graded: every wait and move shown, not only the operations. Omitting delays is the error instructors meet most often, and it makes a process look far faster than it is. Mixing work time with elapsed time in one column hides the finding the chart exists to show. Rubrics reward summary totals for each symbol type. Credit goes to identifying the largest delays and distances. Recognizing that one order is a snapshot of a shared system shows judgment. Connecting the chart to later analysis earns synthesis marks. A clean chart with symbols, times and distances in labeled columns and a short summary section meet the presentation expectation.
Common MT435 Unit 2 mistakes, and how to avoid them
The most common weak flow chart lists the operations in order and stops, leaving out the waiting between them. Another frequent error records total elapsed time as if it were work time. Students often forget transports, especially moves between buildings, or record them without distances. Inspections and storage are sometimes folded into operations. Many charts have no summary, so the reader must add the columns. Before submitting, add up your work minutes and your waiting hours separately. If the waiting is not larger than the work, check whether you recorded every delay, because in most job shops it is.
Get an MT435 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 2 process as your case lays it out, or one you can time yourself, plus the instructions and grading rubric. A composite flow analysis returns with every step symbolized and timed, work separated from clock time, and totals for travel and waiting. The first custom sample costs nothing; allow 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More MT435 papers and BS in Business Administration samples
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- MT435 Unit 3: Bottleneck Analysis
- MT435 Unit 4: Capacity Plan
- MT435 Unit 5: Job Scheduling Exercise
- MT435 Unit 6: Seminar Reflection
- MT435 Unit 7: Facility Layout Proposal
- MT435 Unit 8: Control Chart Analysis
- MT435 Unit 9: Lean Waste Review
- MT435 Unit 10: Operations Improvement Proposal
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MT435 Unit 2 questions, answered
What is the difference between a process map and a flow process chart?
A process map usually shows the sequence of steps and decisions as boxes and arrows. A flow process chart adds a symbol for each step's type, operation, transport, inspection, delay or storage, and records time and distance for each. Many MT435 prompts want the chart version because it makes waiting and movement measurable. Your instructions will say which form is expected.
Do I need to time the process myself?
If your case supplies times, use them. If you are analyzing a real operation, timing each step several times and recording the median is more convincing than estimating, and your paper should state how the times were gathered. Where a step cannot be timed directly, a labeled estimate is acceptable in most sections of the course.
Should the analysis recommend improvements?
Check the prompt. Many process flow assignments ask only for the map, the times and the summary measures, leaving improvement for a later unit. A short list of observations is usually welcome, but a full redesign can read as answering a different question. Where your instructions do invite recommendations, tie each one to a specific step in the chart.
Where can I find a free MT435 Unit 2 sample paper?
This page holds the complete MT435 Unit 2 analysis, charting twenty-two timed steps for one order of twenty loft beds.
Where does the order wait longest in the MT435 Unit 2 sample?
In front of the spray booth, 16.5 hours, more than a third of the 45.5 hours of waiting before the beds are stored.