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WORK MEASUREMENT
Work study is a generic term for those techniques, particularly method study and work measurement, which are used in the examination of human work in all its contexts, and which lead systematically to the investigation of all the factors which affect the efficiency and economy of the situation being reviewed, in order to effect improvement Objectives of work study : 1. 2. 3. The most effective use of plant and equipment. The most effective use of human effort The evaluation of human work.

Techniques of Work study : 1. 2. Method study Work measurement

Method study : Definition : Method study is the systematic recording and critical examination of existing and proposed ways of doing work, as a means of developing and applying easier and more effective methods and reducing costs. Basic Procedure of Method study : While examining a given problem there has to be a definite and ordered sequence of analysis. Such a sequence may be summarised as follows : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. DEFINE the problem OBTAIN all relevant facts EXAMINE the facts critically and impartially CONSIDER the alternatives and decide which to follow. ACT on the decision FOLLOW up the development.

The six steps in sequence may be summarised in Select - Record -Examine - Develop - Install - Maintain. These are the six essential stages in the application of method study : none can be excluded. "Strict adherence to their sequence, as well as to their content, is essential for the success of an investigation".

2 Three basic factors must be considered while selecting a work for method study : These are : A. B. C. Economic Factor Technical Factor Human Factor

Uses of various symbols and charts facilitate the recording of the work. In order to carry out any investigation , data or relevant facts pertaining to the existing method must be collected and recorded. There are a number of recording techniques developed to simplify and standardize the work. The recording may trace the movements of men, material or detail of various processes. The principle is to use the simplest technique which will contain all relevant information needed for investigation. The different recording techniques are charts, diagrams, models and photographic aids. The most commonly used recording techniques to cover most of the activities are shown in the table given below. The different symbols which are used in process charts are also explained in the table given below : Recording Techniques Recording Techniques (a) Charts 1 Outline process chart . 2 Flow process chart . 3 . 4 . 5 . Information Recorded

Principle operations and inspection of the processes. Activities of men, material or equivalent are analyzed into five events viz., operation, transport, inspection, delay and storage. Two - handed process Movement of two hands or limbs chart of the operator. Multiple activity chart Simultaneous / interrelated activities of operators and / or machines on a common time scale. Simultaneous motion Movement of body members of the cycle (SIMO) Chart operator, expressed in terms of therbiligs on common time scale.

(b) Diagrams and Models 1 Flow diagram . 2 String diagram . (c) Photographic Aids 1 Cyclegraph . 2 . Chrono - cyclegraphs

Path of men, materials and equipments on a scale model. Same as above except for the variation that it was string to trace the path. Movement of hand obtained by exposing a photographic plate to the light emitted from small bulbs attached to the operator's fingers. Modification of cyclegraph in which recording is made using flash lights.

Symbols used in Process Chart Symbol Activity Purpose for which it is used It indicates the main steps in a process, method of procedure, usually the part, Operation material or product concerned which is modified or changed during the operation. It indicates movement of workers, material Transport or equipment from place to place It indicates any type of inspection, check, measurement, visual scrutiny for quality and / Inspection or quantity. Temporary Storage It indicates a delay in the sequence of or delay events. It indicates a controlled storage in which material is received into or issued from Storage stores under some form of authorization or an item is retained for reference purposes.

Critical examination is carried out with the help of the questioning technique. Each activity is subjected to a systematic and progressive series of question. The sequence of questioning being What-Why-WhereWhen-Who-How. These questions are used to eliminate, combine, rearrange and simplify pre operations.

Work Measurement : "Work Measurement is the application of techniques designed to establish the time for a qualified worker to carry out a specified job at a defined level of performance The principle techniques by which work measurement is carried out are: a. Time study b. Activity sampling or work sampling

6 c. d. d. Synthesis from standard data Analytical estimating predetermined motions time systems.

Objectives of Work Measurement a) To compare the efficiency of alternative methods. Other conditions being same, the method requiring minimum time will be the best method. To balance the work of members of teams, so that, as far as possible, each member has a task which takes equal time to perform. To determine, the number of machines an operator can run. To enable schedules of work to be prepared by relating reasonably accurate assessment of human work to plant capacity. As the basis of realistic and fair incentive scheme. To provide information on the basis of which estimates for tenders, selling prices and delivery schedules may be prepared. As a basis for labour budgeting and budgetory control systems. To enable estimates to be prepared of future labour requirements and costs.

b)

c) d)

e) f) g) h)

Procedure in Work - Measurement Broadly, Work measurement is carried out in three stages. These stages are : (a) Analysis : The work to be studied is broken down into its constitute parts or elements (b) Measurement : The time for an operator to carry out each element is determined. (c) Synthesis : The elements are combined together to form a logical pattern of work and a total standard time established.

7 Terminology: 1. Qualified worker "One who is accepted as having the necessary physical attributes, who possesses the required intelligence and education and has acquired the necessary skill and knowledge to carry out the work on hand to satisfactory standards of safety quantity and quality" . Rating "Rating is assessment of the workers rate of working relative to the observer's concept of the rate corresponding to the standard pace" 3. Standard Performance "Standard Performance is the rate of output which qualified workers which naturally achieve without over-exertion as an average over the working day or shift provided they know and adhere to the specified method and provided they are motivated to apply themselves to their work. This performance is denoted as 100 on the standard rating and performance scales?" Note: The rate of working most generally accepted as corresponding to the standard rating is equivalent to "The speed of motion of the limbs of a man of average physique walking without a load in a straight line on level ground at a speed of 4 miles an hour". Another accepted example of working at the standard rate is dealing a pack of 52 playing cards in 0.375 minutes. 4. Element : An element is a distinct part of a specified job selected for convenience of observation, measurement and analysis : Ex : Switch on the machine, Load the job, inspect

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Steps in work measurement The Various steps are : 1. 2. Break the job into elements. Record the observed time for each element by means of either time study, synthesis or analytical estimating.

8 3. Establish elemental time values by extending observed time into normal time for each element by applying a rating factor. Normal or basic time = observed time x Rating factor = Observed time X observed rating Standard rating Assess relaxation allowance for personal needs and physical and mental fatigue involved in carrying out each element. FACTORS 1 2 . Constant allowances : Personal Needs Allowance Basic Fatigue Allowance Variable allowances : RA % Men Women 5 4 7 4

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5. 6.

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A. Standing Allowance B. Abnormal positions Slightly awkward 0 1 Bending 2 3 Very awkward (lying, streching up) 7 7 C. Weight lifting or Use of Force 5 Kg 1 2 20 Kg 10 15 50 Kg 58 D. Light conditions 0 to 5 0 to 5 E. Air Conditions (excluding elimate) 0 to 5 0 to 5 F. Visual Strain 0 to 5 0 to 5 Add the relaxation allowance time to the normal time for each element to arrive at the work content. Determine the frequency of occurrences of each element in the job, multiply the work content of each element by its frequency (i.e. number of time the element occurs in the job) and add up the times to arrive at the work content for the job. Add contingency allowance if any to arrive at the standard time to do the job.

9 The above procedure may be explained as follows : Observed Time Normal time = observed time X or Normal time = time worked X performance rating No. of units produced Rating . standard rating

Standard Time = (Normal time + allowances x Normal time ) + contingency allowance or Standard time = Normal time + contingency allowance 1 - Allowances Note: There are 2 equation for standard time. Equation 1 is most often used in practice. If one persumes that allowances should be applied to the work period equation 2 is the correct one. Work sampling or activity sampling or ratio-delay method Work sampling is a work measurement technique that randomnly samples the work of one or more employees at periodic intervals to determine the proportion of total operations that is accounted for in one particular activity i.e. If a given individual performs more than one activity, then the time standard for each activity may be computed using this method. For example, on a printing press, a single worker will be doing composing, proof reading, printing, cutting etc., The time standards, for these activities may be determined using the work sampling method. In this method, the standard time of a specified activity is determined by computing the proportion of time the worker spends on that activity. The percentage of the total observations a person is engaged in a given activity approximates the percentage of the total work time spent in that

10 activity. Assume for example, that during a 8 hour study period an analyst made a total of 100 observations and 10 of those observations showed that the worker was inspecting the size of components produced on his machine. It would be assumed that 10/100 or 10% of the time was spent on inspection. Ten percent of 8 hours is 48 minutes. The proportion of time is computed by observing the operation at random intervals. Let us assume that the operator has produced 40 components during the 8 hour duration. Then the average time spent for inspection on one component is 1.2 minute (48/40min.) This time is taken as the observed time. Later, the analyst must adjust this time for performance rating of the operator and allowances. The steps for the work - sampling method are listed below : 1. Perform the following preliminary tasks. a. Select the job which is to be studied. b. Inform the workers about the method study. c. Prepare a detailed list of activities of the job. 2. Decide the total duration of observations

Total duration of observation = No. of Hours / shifts x No. of shits per day x No. of days. 3. Determine the number of observations to be made. n = Z2 pq e2 Where, Z = Standard normal statistic at a given confidence level p = Value of sample proportion q=1-p e = error permitted 4. 5. 6. 7. Prepare a tour schedule to take the specified number of observation over the specified time duration. Record performance rating of the workers and their activities as per the schedule Determine the acceptable number of units produced during the period. Compute the percentage of working on a given task using the following formula.

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Percentage of working = Frequency of performance of a task x 100 Total number of observation 8. Determine the normal time (Total time) (% of working ) PR NT = No. of acceptable units produced 9. Determine the standard time (ST) ST = Normal Time . 1- Percentage of Allowance

These studies are frequently used to estimate the percentage of time spent by the employees in unavoidable delays (commonly called ratiodelay studies), repairing finished products from an operation, and supplying material to an operation. Uses of Work sampling Technique 1. To estimate the percentage of a protracted time period consumed by various activity states of a resource such as equipment, machines or operators. To determine the allowance for inclusion in standard times. To indicate the nature of the distribution of work activities within a gang operation. To estimate the percentage of utilization of groups of similar machines or equipment. To indicate how materials handling equipments are being used. To provide a basis for indirect labour time standards. To determine the productive and nonproductive utilization of clerical operations. To determine the standard time for a repetitive operation as an attention to stop watch method.

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12 PROBLEMS - WORK MEASUREMENT 1. For a certain element of work, the basic time is established to be 20 seconds. If for three observations a time study observer records ratings of 100, 125 and 80 respectively, on a `100-normal scale', what are the observed timings? A time study of an assembly line worker in a car plant produced the following results . Cycle time is 4 minutes, worker performance rating is 8.5%. The average allowance for the activity is 5% of the time available for the worker to actually perform the task calculate the standard time. After a six hour work measurement study of workers, the following observations were made. The time taken by a worker for making one unit of a product was 10 minutes. The workers were given a performance rating of 110% and a total allowance of 20% of the standard time. Calculate the total number of units a normal worker can make in 2 hours. An 8 hours work measurement study in a plant reveals the following : Units produced = 320 nos. Idle time = 15%. Performance rating =120%. Allowances = 12% of normal time. Determine the standard time per unit produced. Calculate the standard production per shift of 8 hours duration, with the following data. Observed time per unit = 5 minutes, Rating Factor = 120%. A work study practitioner who conducted a work sampling study assesses the activity level of a worker to be 70%. During the space of 8 hours working, this worker turns out 320 components. If the company policy is to inflate the normal time arrived at by work sampling study by 20%, what should be the allowed time per unit?. Calculate the standard time per article produced from the following data obtained by a work sampling study. Total no. of observation=2500 No.of working observations=2100 No of units produced in 100 hours duration = 6000 numbers Proportion of manual labour = 2/3 Proportion of machine time = 1/3 Observed rating factor = 115% Total allowances = 12% of normal time.

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13 8. Pilot study showed percentage of occurrence of an activity as 50%. Determine the number of observation required for a work sampling study for 95% confidence level and a relative error of 2% Compute the production cost per piece from the following data. (i) Direct material per piece = Rs.2/(ii) Wage rate Rs.2000 per month consisting of 25 working days and 8 hours per day. (iii) Overheads expressed as a percentage of direct labour cost - 200% (iv) The time for manufacture of 4 pieces of the item was observed during time study. The manufacture of the item consists of 4 elements a,b,c and d. The data collected during the time study are as under. Time observed (in minutes) during the various cycles are as below : Element Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 Cycle 4 Element rating on B.S Scale (0-00) A 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.4 85 b 0.7 0.6 0.65 0.75 120 c 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 90 d 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.4 70

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The personal, fatigue and delay allowance may be taken as 25%. 10. A work sampling study is to be made of a typist pool. It is felt that typists are idle 30 percent of the time. How many observations should be made in order to have 95.5% confidence that accuracy is within 4% An industrial engineer, deputed to conduct a time study for a job has after observation, divided the job into 5 elements. He had noted the timings for four cycles of the job as below : Element 1 2 3 4 5 Cycle 1 1.246 0.972 0.914 2.121 1.253 Time in minutes Cycle Cycle 3 2 1.328 0.895 1.875 2.198 1.175 1.298 0.798 1.964 2.146 1.413 Cycle 4 1.306 0.919 1.972 2.421 2.218 Performance Rating (%ge) 90 % 100 % 100 % 110 % 100 %

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14 (i) (ii) Are there any outliers in the data i.e. probable errors in reading or recording data which should not be included in the analysis? Compute the basic time for the job and the standard time if a relaxation allowance of 12%, a contingency allowance of 3% and an incentive of 20% are applicable for the job.

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In a welding shop, a direct time study was done on a welding operation. One inexperienced industrial engineer and one experienced industrial engineer conducted the study simultaneously. They agreed precisely on cycle time (shown below) but their opinion on rating the worker differed. The experienced engineer rated the worker 100% and the other engineer rated the worker @ 120%. They used a 10% allowance. Cycle Time (in minutes) Number of Times (Observed) From the above statement, (a) (b) (c) Determine the standard time using the experienced industrial engineer's worker rating. Find the standard time using the worker rating of inexperienced industrial engineer. Comment on the reliability of time study engineers. 20 2 24 1 29 1 32 1

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In a work sampling study, a mechanic was found to be idle for 20% of the time. Find out the number of observation needed to conform to the above figures with a confidence level of 95% and a relative error level by 5% A job consists of three work elements and all are performed by the same operator. As analysis conducted work sampling to determine the standard time for the job. The duration of the study is one shift with 400 minutes of effective time. The details of observations are summarized in the following table. The total number of acceptable units produced during the study period is 150 units. Determine the standard time by assuming allowance of 10%. Work Element Frequency of Performance Number Performance Rating 1 70 80 % 2 80 120 % 3 50 110 %

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15 15. Heritage Inn is a five - star business hotel at Mumbai. The general manager of the hotel is concerned about a lot of complaints from the customers on the late responses of the bellboys. He conducts a stopwatch time study in order to find the standard time taken by an average bellboy in responding to a customer call. The GM wants to be virtually certain about the estimated average time taken by the bellboy to be studied and also desires an accuracy of 10% from the actual average. A preliminary sample of 10 observations is conducted and the recordings are given below. Calculate the sample size of observation in order to achieve the desired accuracy and confidence level in the estimation of the observed time.
Observation 1 No. Recorded 5.86 time (min) 2 5.67 3 5.94 4 4.51 5 4.65 6 6.01 7 5.17 8 6.09 9 4.22 10 4.19

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It is given that the performance rating is 110 and the allowance is 5% of the normal time find the observe, normal and standard time for the job of the bellboy in the hotel. ***