Die design is a daily concern in the manufacturing of extruded profiles. There are very few available Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools for profile die designers and considerable time and resources must be devoted to trial and error design procedures. This paper examines the applicability of the flow analysis network (FAN) to the design of profile extrusion dies. The FAN method is found to provide useful design information at a fraction of the computing cost required for 2.5 and 3D finite element methods. Experimental flow distribution obtained by extruding PVC compounds and polyethylene through simple profile dies are compared to model predictions. The numerical and experimental results provide evidence about the significant contribution of transverse flow to the flow distribution at die exit.