Step  for construction of string Diagram

To construct a diagram the  following  steps are required.

1. Step 1 produce a scale map  of the work  area identifying  all machines  furniture and other  equipment  in the diagram  that can be moved. These could  be shaped as piece of card that can  be pinned  to the work area  map.

2. Step2: Indentify  the point  in the process where actions  take  place and mark the positions  of  these on the  map with  map pins  and action symbols.

3. Step:3: Tie  the end  of  piece  of string to the pen wheel the process starts  and then wrap  it  around  each pen in turn following the movement around the process.

4. Step 4:  Mark  the string  at the start  and finish  points  using  a pen.

5. Step 5: Measuring  between the pen  marks  will give the total  distance travelled during  the process.

6. Step 6: Rearrange the movable items  on the  map aiming to reduce the total  distance.

The objectives  of marking  out a string  diagram are three fold:

a.  To control  backtracking,

b.  To reduce excessive travel,

c. To bring  out  points  of traffic congestion,