MSE 131Work Design and Facilities Planning

Units: 0.50
Faculty: Engineering
Subject: Management Science and Engineering

When it runs

Ran in 2 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

The course introduces fundamental concepts in two main areas: The first is work analysis and design where work methods design, motion and time study, and work sampling are covered. The second covers basic concepts in facilities planning such as process analysis, flow design, facility location and layout, and material handling systems. Students will apply these concepts in design activities in labs and projects.

Prerequisites

Complete all of the following
- Students must be in level 1B or higher
- Enrolled in H-Management Engineering

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

MSE 334

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
Section	Class	Enrolled	Meets
LEC 001	5029	0 / 120	MW 14:30–15:50 MW 14:30–15:50 Jan 18 08:30–09:20 Feb 1 08:30–09:20 Mar 1 08:30–09:20
LEC 701	2029	0 / 9999	Online or by arrangement
LAB 101	5028	0 / 120	Jan 25 08:30–11:20 Feb 8 08:30–11:20 Mar 8 08:30–11:20 Mar 22 08:30–11:20
TUT 201	5027	0 / 120	W 13:30–14:20 W 13:30–14:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

62% liked it86% easy68% useful

From 47 ratings and 9 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

I guess its easy but i personally found staring at a wall more entertaining. Incredibly dry content, quite strict marking. Absolutely useless as a whole.

Jan 2020 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW Flow Remove this
Good course for mgte students. You'd learn a different topic each week (all related to industrial eng stuff). Some of the topics are pretty useful to know for co-ops in data analytics, project management, process improvement, etc. Not too much technical depth (that'll come in year 2+ for mgte students) but a nice intro into some of upper year MSE courses.

Jan 2026 · liked itOn UW Flow Remove this
This was a really interesting course! I really enjoyed the project management aspects and it is one of the most applicable courses I've taken thus far in management engineering.

Apr 2025 · liked itOn UW Flow Remove this
I feel like this course has the potential to be useful as an intro to operations research, but unfortunately was too surface level to be of any use. The course was easy (too easy) and lectures were boring. I feel like if more examples/applications were added into this course and it dove deeper into the concepts it could be improved.

Dec 2024 · didn’t like itOn UW Flow Remove this
very boring, very easy

May 2023 · didn’t like itOn UW Flow Remove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

2 posts and comments in 2 threads mention MSE 131, April 2024 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2024

Jun 4, 2024 1st yr Management Engineering Questions: 3 points, 3 comments

“This coming fall, I'll be joining MGTE. And I was wondering if anyone taking MGTE could answer these questions below: 1) How heavy is the coursework for first yr in general? …”

u/sickomoder: “… for 1b MSE 131 is free, english course is free, PHYS 115 and GENE are where you'll suffer though. calc 2 is also much harder than calc 1 IMO, and for the science elective just take an online course like intro geology or intro hydrology. 1 tip hit up weef office if struggling 2. …”

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Winter 2024

Apr 29, 2024 Questions for Management Engineering students: this program or UTSG CS? 1 point, 11 comments

u/KINGBLUE2739046: “- It’s an Engineering workload, it’s a lot better than ECE, much more time to do side projects, almost a joke honestly, other programs will be making fun of you for not being real engineers, no big …”

u/nyephe: “… paste from the MSE 251/253 tutorials but it's never tested I remember Excel being used in MSE 100/131/251/253/331/263/334/431/332/333/343, and this is only up to 3B and excluding TEs”