Time and motion study

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Jump to: navigation, search A time and motion study (or time-motion study) is a business efficiency technique combining the Time Study work of Frederick Winslow Taylor with the Motion Study work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth (not to be confused with their son, best known through the biographical 1950 film and book Cheaper by the Dozen). It is a major part of scientific management (Taylorism). After its first introduction, time study developed in the direction of establishing standard times, while motion study evolved into a technique for improving work methods. The two techniques became integrated and refined into a widely accepted method applicable to the improvement and upgrading of work systems. This integrated approach to work system improvement is known as methods engineering[1] and it is applied today to industrial as well as service organizations, including banks, schools and hospitals.[2] Time and motion study have to be used together in order to achieve rational and reasonable results. It is particularly important that effort be applied in motion study to ensure equitable results when time study is used. In fact, much of the difficulty with time study is a result of applying it without a thorough study of the motion pattern of the job. Motion study can be considered the foundation for time study. The time study measures the time required to perform a given task in accordance with a specified method and is valid only so long as the method is continued. Once a new work method is developed, the time study must be changed to agree with the new method.[3] Time study is a direct and continuous observation of a task, using a timekeeping device (e.g., decimal minute stopwatch, computer-assisted electronic stopwatch, and videotape camera) to record the time taken to accomplish a task [4] and it is often used when:[5]

there are repetitive work cycles of short to long duration, wide variety of dissimilar work is performed, or process control elements constitute a part of the cycle.

The Industrial Engineering Terminology Standard defines time study as "a work measurement technique consisting of careful time measurement of the task with a time measuring instrument, adjusted for any observed variance from normal effort or pace and to allow adequate time for such items as foreign elements, unavoidable or machine delays, rest to overcome fatigue, and personal needs."[6]

Contents
[hide]

1 Purpose 2 History 3 Direct time study procedure

4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Purpose
The main objective of a time and motion study is to determine reliable time standards for the efficient and effective management of operations. Through the establishment of reliable and accurate time standards, companies can better define their capacity or output, thus increasing the efficiency of equipment and obtaining optimum utilization of the workforce. Time standards can be used to investigate the difference between actual and standard performance and take appropriate action where necessary. It can also be used to facilitate job design as a basis for comparing different work methods, introducing sound production controls, designing an efficient workplace layout, and balancing between work schedules and available manpower.[7] Other benefits include budgetary control, development of incentive plans, and ensuring that quality specifications are met.[8]

[edit] History
Frank B. and Lillian Gilbreth were the first to conduct time and motion studies, starting in 1920. The Gilbreths showed the importance of the total working environment by reducing unnecessary motions. The Gilbreth's best known experiment involved bricklaying. Through carefully scrutinising a bricklayer's job, Frank Gilbreth reduced the number of motions in laying a brick from 18 to about 5. Hence the bricklayer both increased productivity and decreased fatigue.[9] The Gilbreths developed what they called therbligs ("therblig" being "Gilbreth" spelled almost backwards), a classification scheme comprising 18 basic hand motions.

[edit] Direct time study procedure

Following is the procedure developed by Mikell Groover for a direct time study:[10] 1. Define and document the standard method. 2. Divide the task into work elements. Steps 1 and 2 These two steps are primary steps conducted prior to actual timing. They familiarise the analyst with the task and allow the analyst to attempt to improve the work procedure before defining the standard time.

3. Time the work elements to obtain the observed time for the task. 4. Evaluate the workers pace relative to standard performance (performance rating), to determine the normal time. Note that steps 3 and 4 are accomplished simultaneously. During these steps, several different work cycles are timed, and each cycle performance is rated independently. Finally, the values collected at these steps are averaged to get the normalised time. 5. Apply an allowance to the normal time to compute the standard time. The allowance factors that are needed in the work are then added to compute the standard time for the task

time and motion study

Definition
Method for establishing employee productivity standards in which (1) a complex task is broken into small, simple steps, (2) the sequence of movements taken by the employee in performing those steps is carefully observed to detect and eliminate redundant or wasteful motion, and (3) precise time taken for each correct movement is measured. From these measurements production and delivery times and prices can be computed and incentive schemes can be devised. Generally appropriate only for repetitive tasks, time and motion studies were pioneered by the US industrial engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) and developed by the husband and wife team of Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924) and Dr. Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972).

time and motion study, analysis of the operations required to produce a manufactured
article in a factory, with the aim of increasing efficiency. Each operation is studied minutely and analyzed in order to eliminate unnecessary motions and thus reduce production time and raise output, which increases productivity productivity, in economics, the output of any aspect of production per unit of input. It is a measure of the output of a worker, machine, or an entire national economy in the creation of goods and services to produce wealth. ..... Click the link for more information. .

Time and motion study are two broad groups of techniques constituting the field of work study. Work study may be defines as systematic examination of methods of carrying on activities so as to improve the effective use of manpower and equipment and to set up standards of performance for the activities being performed. Motion study, also called method study is the systematic recording and critical examination of the ways of doing things to make improvements. It involves investigation of existing or alternate proposed methods of work and improving them. Time study, also called work measurement, is application of systematic techniques to establishing time standards for carrying out specified jobs. It estimates how long a job should take and the manpower and equipment requirements for a given method. The advantages of time and motion study in hospital industry are same as that in any other industry. These include the following. 1. To improve the methods or procedures adopted in performance of various jobs. 2. Improving the lay out of the facility. For example in a hospital it may include lay out for facilities such as overall hospital layout, lay out of beds in a ward, layout of support facilities such as kitchen and reception area. 3. To improve utilization of resources. For hospitals will include resources like hospital staff. operation theaters, hospital equipments, and diagnostic equipments. 4. To reduce human effort by proper design of processes. In hospitals this can also include reducing the efforts patients need to make for different actions involved in their treatment as well as for their routine hospital treatment and care. 5. To develop suitable working conditions. In hospitals this would include design to suit the requirements of hospital staff as well as the patients. There are really no advantages of the time and motion study. However, we can think of some limitations. For example, the time and motion studies focus on the productive resources like the hospital staff and equipment. Traditionally these techniques do not focus much on improving service. However in hospital the level of service is very important. This disadvantage can easily be overcome by treating patients as important resources with specialized requirements. Similarly in some jobs, such as operating on a patient, the speed of completing the job is much more important than achieving efficiency. This limitation can also be overcome by appropriately changing the focus of work study and design.

Time and method sutdy...It's work measurement techniqe.Most of industries in India to measure work and define their norms by using Stop watch techniques.It is widely accepted by indian industries as well.To measure any work it is to be followed by both METHOD STUDY AND TIME STUDY. IN METHOD STUDY, The present methood of doing work is analysed based on nature and it is divided in elements on below criteria, 1.Work has to be selected 2.It has to be Recorde 3.It has to be Examined 4.New method to do work is to be developed 5.Same new method is to be installed 6.Lastry evryone is trained and it is to be maintained IN METHOD STUDY FOLLOWING THINGS CAN BE ANALYSED WITH A VIEW TO IMPROVE WORK, 1.Workplace Layout 2.Ergonomical Factors, 3.Man and Material movement 4.Body motions 5.Flow of man,material and information pattern 6.Sequence of opertation and activity 7.Type of material handling equip. used 8.Necessary tools and accesories use by associate Once it it permormed in a mucn syctematic way one can move to work measurement study by stop watch. IN TIME STUDY IS FOLLOWED BY BELOW ACTIVITIES, 1.Work has to be selected 2.Average Worker/Associate has to be selected 3.Dept head and supervisor is informed 4.Work is divided into various motions or elemental activities 5..Based on cycle continious or spilt reading of stop watch can be taken. 6..NO of reading can be taken based on sample size or cycle time of work content as per ILO Guidlines 7.Once it has recorded based on personal judgement (Considering skill,speed and accuracy of work ) Person can be rated. You can use ILO Guidlines for Rating methods (Ideal fellow is considered 100 Percent Pace rating) As per British Gudilines 100 pace means walking 4 meal distance in 3.5 minutes. 8.After rating once will get total recorded time -X minutes 9.Recorded time is multiplies with rating factor and one can get Basic Time..Basic time= Recorded time*Rating factor For example if recorded time is 5 min and rating is 80 % then basic time will be = 5*0.8= 4 mintues 10.Once basic time is derrived once can add allowance as per work plce arrangement and type of industry and nature of work

Allowances can be like...Fatigue allownces,Personal allowances,Contingency allowances,Delay allowances,Special allowances etc. Genrally as per induatry practice one can give Personal allowance as 5% of basic time and Fatigue 4 % of basic time,Contingency 2% of basic time and subsequently delay one. 11.To arrive Standard time of a particular activity or work Basic time us sumed up with allowance time. Fomula for same is as below.. Standard time= Basic time+ Allowances As far as cycle time is considered for a shift for a particular product or activity all limitations has to be added.In many cases..Say for example aprt from doing a specific activity or assembly of any product worker has to to other cyclic activities..like walk to collect material,time for TPM activies,Walk for collect bins from store dept,Based on freq. and intensity of activities it has to be derrived in percaentage and added with Standard time to arrive actual production cycle time. This time has to be added on Jop cards or rouiting of any product. On the other side as far as shift capacity is concerned other time like lunch time,Tea Break,Other break and OEE has to be considered to arrive particulay shif or capacity of Equip.

Time Study
What is it?
Time study is a tried and tested method of work measurement for setting basic times and hence standard times for carrying out specified work. Its roots are back to the period between the two World Wars. The aim of time study is to establish a time for a qualified worker to perform specified work under stated conditions and at a defined rate of working. This is achieved by a qualified practitioner observing the work, recording what is done and then timing (using a time measuring device) and simultaneously rating (assessing) the pace of working. The requirements for taking a time study are quite strict. Conditions:

the practitioner (observer) must be fully qualified to carry out Time Study,

the person performing the task must be fully trained and experienced in the work,

the work must be clearly defined and the method of doing the work must be effective

the working conditions must be clearly defined

There are two main essentials for establishing a basic time for specified work i.e. rating and timing.

Some terminology explained

Timing The observer records the actual time taken to do the element or operation. This usually is in centiminutes (0.01 min.) and is recorded, using a stop-watch or computerized study board. Rating. When someone is doing work his/her way of working will vary throughout the working period and will be different from others doing the same work. This is due to differing speeds of movement, effort, dexterity and consistency. Thus, the time taken for one person to do the work may not be the same as that for others and may or may not be 'reasonable' anyway. The purpose of rating is to adjust the actual time to a standardized basic time that is appropriate and at a defined level of performance. Rating is on a scale with 100 as its standard rating. (Managers-net Website topic Rating). Elements A complete job usually will be too long and variable to time and rate in one go, so it would be analysed into several smaller parts (elements) which, separately, will each be timed and rated. Basic time This is the standardised time for carrying out an element of work at standard rating. Example: An observer times an element as 30 centiminutes (cm) and because it is performed more slowly than the standard 100, he

rates it as 95. Thus the basic time is 95% of 30 or 28.5 basic cm. The formula is: (actual time x rating)/100. Allowances Extra time is allowed for various conditions which obtain, the main ones being relaxation allowance for: A. recovery from the effort of carrying out specified work under specified conditions (fatigue allowance) B. attention to personal needs C. adverse environmental conditions, plus: D. others concerned with machine operations Frequency The basic time is the time for a complete cycle to be performed but as not all elements are repeated in every cycle their times per average cycle must be pro rata. In the example which follows, element 2 only occurs once every eight cycles so its basic time is one eighth of the element time, per cycle. Similar treatment for element 7 (one twelfth). Standard time: Basic time + allowances

An example of a time study - extracts from the two main documents in time study follow: Time study observation sheet

Department:

Main Stores E. Thompso n J.Allen

Section:

Goods Inwards A B C

summary study 10.35 ends: study starts: study time: check times: total time: elapsed am 10.03 am 32 min. 1.68 min. 33.68 min. 34

Section head: Analyst

Date:

12 July D

E study

Operation:

Raise and process Goods Received Note

F G

time: min. difference 0.32 F-E timing G/F% basic time (cm) 27.0 min. 0.9%

H error:

Element number

Element Description Look out relevant

rating

observed time (cm)

Purchase Demand (PD) Obtain pad of Goods Received notes (GR) Make out GR note Pin green copy to PD and place in internal post bin File white copy

90

30

2 3 4 5

80 80 90 75

95 45 10 22

76.0 36.0 9.0 16.5

Pin other 3 copies 6 1 3 4 (etc.) (etc. etc.) to goods and place goods on pallet repeat 80 75 75 33 46 10 (etc. etc..) 26.4 34.5 7.5 80 17 13.6

Time study analysis sheet Department: Section head: Operation: Main Stores Section : Date: Goods Inwards 12 July

E. Thompson Raise and process Goods Received Note

Analyst

J.Allen

El . 1 2

basic times (b.min) Element Description basic t. Look out relevant Purchase Demand (PD) Obtain pad of Goods Received notes (GR) 29 75 38 frequency 1/1 1/8 1/1 b.t. x freq. 0.290 0.094 0.380

RA% std.mins. (sm) 10 10 10 0.319 0.103 0.418

3 Make out GR note

Pin green copy to PD 4 and place in internal post bin 9 1/1 0.090 10 0.099

5 File white copy

15

1/1

0.150

10

0.165

Pin other 3 copies to 6 goods and place goods on pallet 17 1/1 0.170 15 0.196

7 Move pallet to stores

96

1/12

0.080

18 total sm =

0.094

1.394