Manufacturing Productivity – Workshop 2 (Work Measurement)
The Appleton Greene Corporate Training Program (CTP) for Manufacturing Productivity is provided by Mr Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP). Program Specifications: Monthly cost USD$2,500.00; Monthly Workshops 6 hours; Monthly Support 4 hours; Program Duration 12 months; Program orders subject to ongoing availability.
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Learning Provider Profile
Mr. Greene is a Certified Learning Provider (CLP) at Appleton Greene and has managerial experience in manufacturing, industrial engineering, and R&D.
He has achieved a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and been a registered Professional Engineer in three states.
He has industry experience within the following sectors: Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Goods; Fast Moving Consumer Goods, and Food & Beverage.
He has had commercial experience within the following countries: United States of America, more specifically including Dallas, Salt Lake City, Las Angeles, Irvine, and San Diego California: and in Buenos Aires Argentina and Rio de Janeiro Brazil.
His personal achievements include: Headed division or corporate industrial engineering for three Fortune 250 companies; ITT Latin America, Abbott Labs, and Ray-Ban when it was a division of Bausch & Lomb. Authored nine books and written dozens of articles relating to productivity.
His service skills incorporate: productivity of direct and indirect labor, production management, cost reduction, process improvement, facility planning and layout.
MOST Analysis
Mission Statement
There is one specific mission for workshop number two. That mission is to prepare individuals, the practitioners and their management, to install, operate, and maintain a work measurement system.
Objectives
1. Present information, to allow management to construct a framework in which work measurement will operate effectively.
2. Present information to prepare practitioners to develop and administer accurate, straightforward, and transparent rates to meet management’s objectives.
Strategy
1. Present an outline of work measurement objectives, options and practices of what can be done, and why work measurement is so important to manufacturing productivity.
2. Present in detail a broad selection of work measurement options and practices.
Tasks
1. Prepare the organization and individuals who will perform work measurement, to construct a targeted work measurement system for the organization’s circumstances, objectives, budget, and culture. Present guidance to develop rates, to maintain historical files, and to distribute approved standards to other departments who would use them in their operations.
Objectives
01. Work Measurement Basics: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Administration Of Rates: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. The Art Of Work Sampling: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
Strategies
01. Work Measurement Basics: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Administration Of Rates: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. The Art Of Work Sampling: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
Tasks
01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Work Measurement Basics.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze How To Establish Work Measurement Rates.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Time Study Instructions And Forms.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Administration Of Rates.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze The Art Of Work Sampling.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates.
Introduction
Work Measurement, Time Study, Time and Motion Study
How long does a job take? Perhaps the single most important operating information, in any business.
When you consider the subject of work measurement, what may immediately come to mind is an incentive system, or a formal procedure even if no incentive pay is involved, to measure the work on the production floor. Those mechanisms are, and have been for many years, the basic formats to achieve practical benefits by using work measurement. Rest assured, this workshop contains all of the information to train practitioners, establish a work measurement system, set and maintain standard rates.
However, work measurement adds more value than just engineered standards. It is also the basis for individual productivity projects, because the direct observation which it requires will define just exactly what is going on, in the situation in which you are interested, and objectively quantify the times involved.
Work measurement, time study by watch or electronics, perhaps random sampling; is a superior way to learn the time involved. It also points out lost time, interference and waste, constraints, unbalanced workloads, activity that can be performed by a lower skill level; Work measurement can recognize when someone is using poor or even unauthorized methods.
Work measurement provides current information to support multiple tools of good management
• Quantify the required time to perform a function; direct or indirect.
To serve as a basis for vital company information; standard costing, capacity, efficiency, productivity, utilization, staffing, scheduling, cost justification. Better get the times right.
• Find and manage production constraints
What is delaying output, and how do we improve? Typically observation and the watch locate constraints quickly; then evaluate options.
• Update old rates and standardize practices.
Methods, equipment, and technology evolve over time and as a result older rates become inaccurate. Use time study to update rates, then go on to standardize methods and practices across similar activity.
• Identify non-value added work.
Time study almost always reveals preventable waste, lost time, and productivity-killing practices. Study the constraint, the bottleneck, especially; whether paced by machine or labor elements. Keep the constraint loaded. In keeping with the classic mandate of “Don’t improve, remove”, eliminate non-value added activity and you’ll be able to pare crew sizes and / or increase production.
• Evaluate overloaded, and underloaded, jobs. Balance lines and workloads.
Observe and measure labor and equipment activity to resolve workload issues objectively. Then you will be able to change job content or the timing of assignments, and quickly and effectively balance workload and improve labor efficiency.
• Prepare for union contract negotiation. Know precisely what the activity level is, in machine or operator-paced operations.
Objective study informs both company and union about real, not perceived, labor workloads. Observation quantifies workloads, whether too high, too low, or just right. Effective corrections to correct imbalance can include equipment and technology acquisition, work reassignment, layout change. Timing revisions, to perform some work elements at a different time, are surprisingly effective to correct overload and imbalance situations.
• Allow skilled people to spend their time concentrating on their special talents, by shifting out tasks that require a lower-skill level.
If a shortage of skilled labor is an issue for your business, work measurement is a key tool. Observe and time your skilled people to identify wasted time and the lower-skilled tasks that are assigned to them. Then eliminate the waste, and assign the lower-skill tasks to less skilled employees. In other words, free up your skilled people to use their talents. You don’t ask the surgeons to clean the operating room.
• Educate your educated guesses.
Business makes decisions based on the best available data. Employee work measurement studies will generate objective, current data. (Be careful here. The watch does not know the official party line; it may generate information that is not politically correct.)
a. Confirm to management when a certain level of performance has in fact been reached, and that it is time for the next project phase.
b. Quantify current output, activity level, lost time, workload balance.
c. Determine the relative times for manual work, compared to simple mechanization; and to full automation.
• Identify time consuming elements of labor content.
Case Study
a. A luxury hotel wanted to determine the expected time to change a room, when a guest departed. Time study did that, and also told the client that some of their sophisticated room features, glass and marble for instance, required substantial time to clean. And, please keep the number of pillows down to save literally minutes on a room change.
b. A manufacturer believed their construction products could be installed, in the field, more quickly than competitor’s. Time study verified the claim, and was subsequently featured in ads.
Choose a formal work measurement system; “incentives” or “piecework”, or “Reasonable Expectations” (RE). The levels of detail required and therefore the costs of these systems are not the same, so be sure that the benefits will outweigh cost.
Incentives or piece rates motivate people, but they are not free; rate setting effort, recordkeeping and reporting will increase. RE’s will result in more labor hours per unit than incentives, but less than an unmeasured situation. RE admin costs will be lower than incentives, although accuracy of the rates will be rigorous enough to support management systems.
Is there a single, simple solution to all, or even most, work measurement projects? Of course not. Work measurement projects are not all the same, because no two facilities have the same objectives nor operations. One size does not fit all.
Will your operating features be just like what is described in this workshop? Maybe not, but many will be similar. Learn the fundamentals which are presented here, and your work measurement activity can produce useful results; for instance if your objective is:
• To establish the volume produced over a given time for purposes of manning, capacity or labor cost;
• or quantify workload for individuals or for a crew;
• or balance workloads for a line or work group;
• or identify a bottleneck and alleviate it whether limited by machine or person or both;.
• or evaluate the efficacy of a method or workplace layout, or benefit of new equipment or technology.
Most of the rest of this workshop has to do with the establishment of work measurement in a working environment, with workstations that are part of a production operation.
This short section will address other very useful applications, other techniques of work measurement as they are routinely applied throughout industry. The headings listed below are just a sample of the options available when your organization has qualified work measurement practitioners available to send to an opportunity for improvement.
Case Study
Product Costing
A manufacturer with 250 unionized employees wanted to quantify product costs. Information for labor and variable materials while available was stashed away in a filing cabinet, and had been unopened and unused for years. The decision was made to start from scratch to recreate the information rather than try to identify changes.
The work activities were repetitive but individual elements were long enough that the preferred work measurement technique selected was direct observation time study, augmented with occasional work sampling. Many different processes and machines were involved, and usually a controlling element of an operation was the machine cycle. Work positions were observed, mostly individual operators with an occasional crew. Expectations for each workstation were developed.
Simultaneously, the materials and variable overhead factors used in the processes were defined and added to the labor portion to create an engineered basis for cost definition and control and inserted into a descriptive format for standard costing.
The financial system was in place to accept the standard costing, so it was quickly put to use. This company engaged in international trade, and a significant reason for developing accurate standard costs was to meet provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Case Study
Relocation, On The Site, Another State
A manufacturer planned an across-town relocation of six production lines, and expected new equipment and a better layout to cut labor cost. Time study and work sampling were applied to confirm the expectations for direct and maintenance operator work and activity levels in the new location, where arrangement and dimensions were not the same.
A manufacturer with a thousand people and two major product lines relocated half of production to a plant in another state.
Work measurement confirmed and amended methods descriptions which were in effect, and established current rates. The rates were used to set up and balance production lines, establish manning levels and predict output for manufacturing and distribution at the new location.
Case Study
Measure Workloads
If a workload is considered to be high or unequal, time study is used to review individual workloads. Analysis routinely identifies a practical solution to rebalance the activity, quite often a change in sequence or timing. Such instances may occur through a grievance or a major change in technology.
Time study was used in a highly automated beverage container facility to provide objective workload data for a quality inspector, and resolve a union – management disagreement. The work level was out of balance during the shift, heavily front-loaded, From observations, the content and length of each of the work elements was clear. A revision of the timing and scheduling of work elements resolved the issue for all concerned
A roofing materials manufacturer schedules periodic work measurement in the form of time study and work sampling, to quantify workloads on a manufacturing line in advance of union contract negotiations. Both company and union are informed of the results.
Case Studies
Standardize Internal Practices
An on-line medical billing company used an old system to set expectations for operators, who, while seated and on the telephone with a client, routinely performed their duties in front of two video screens.
The work measurement practitioners were experienced billing operators themselves, and had earlier been part of the formal training section. They learned work measurement techniques very rapidly, and used handheld electronic devices for these studies. They revised outdated practices and rates and improved output. In the eyes of management perhaps the most important contribution was to standardize practices in the departments which dealt with different geographical locations.
Case Studies
Bring Order To Chaos
Processors of returned and surplus merchandize buy trailer loads of unsold merchandise from big box stores, and when those large cartons of hastily boxed goods are dumped onto conveyors to be repackaged, the scene is chaotic.
Outdoor barbeque grills and bicycles can literally be in the same container with Christmas tree ornaments and cell phones and peanut butter crackers; all unsold, all scooped off store shelves and into large cartons.
Direct observation was the technique chosen by a re-packager to understand just what was happening and then to develop a sequence and workflow to rebrand and reprice the materials.
Case Studies
In The Warehouse Or DC
Modern electronics can decrease the labor content by providing guidance and routes to human operators and by scanning bar codes on product and locations, and work measurement will measure the new work content. Work measurement of these practices when put into effect by warehouse personnel will allow effective assignment to the variable throughput.
A distributor slimmed down the product line and placed it in another location, and took advantage of the opportunity to add electronic and mechanical assists. In the relocated Distribution Center operation, work measurement determined just how to utilize the new layout effectively, to assign and balance workloads for put-away then pick and pack lines, set output rates, and calculate manning levels.
Time study and work sampling quantified rates for lift truck drivers, to stage commercial HVAC units in an outdoor yard, and later load them for shipment to DC or customer. Then, in several distribution centers, activity of lift truck drivers was studied and timed. It was possible to established both receive and ship rates for the physical characteristics of that facility. However, as a precautionary note, geometry and distances in different DC’s may well vary enough to affect a rate. External conditions such as reliability of trucker schedule and weather are out of the control of the DC, and easily affect an outcome.
Case Studies
A New Set Of Eyes
Just the presence of a different set of eyes to observe a situation will be an advantage, as that set will see events from a different perspective. Especially when the viewer is an experienced work measurement practitioner, there are likely to be useful new insights.
An experienced practitioner visited a food canning company and observed a situation where a food item being filled into a container was spilling on the floor. The plant operator, used to seeing that particular spill, did not register it as a controllable waste. A brief review showed the food item was raised in order to gravity feed but the height was six feet, when three feet would have been ample. A reduction in the height and therefore the drop reduced the spill dramatically.
Case Studies
But The Calculation Says,
On an assembly line for a metal product, Ray-Ban Aviator model sunglasses it happened to be, occasionally there would be a shortage of a simple metal part made in an early step of the operation. The part was produced on one of four automatic machines, tended by one operator whose duties consisted of loading feedstocks of metal rods, and of unjamming the machines when they needed it.
The index speed of all four machines produced in excess of the parts that were needed for the production schedule. Therefore only one person had been assigned to keep the machine running. Why was there a problem? Well, let’s go look. Direct observation showed that the index speed was as expected, and that sometimes the machines jammed. How many jams and how long did it take to clear a jam? Often enough, and long enough that frequently more than one other machine would also jam, and sit idle while the sole operator cleared the jams.
The net effect was that the bank of machines was not producing as expected, and as a result downstream operations were starved of parts and sat idle. Adding an operator actually increased the standard cost of that part, and reduced the standard and actual cost of the sunglass. More importantly, sunglasses were sold and not backordered.
The opinion may be voiced, just fix the machines so that they don’t jam up. Maybe that is what Luxottica is doing now that they own Ray-Ban rather than Bausch & Lomb.
Executive Summary
If You Only Read One Work Measurement Section
These topics are covered in great detail in other portions of the work measurement session. They are summarized here in one place to suggest that these are the imperative actions. The imperatives will contribute extensively to your specific objectives, but remember all work measurement projects are not the same.
A. You, and I, and the people in your company want to know what is expected of us and how well we do against expectations. Measure to set expectations, report results, require accountability, communicate.
B. Work measurement is not just for direct labor; it is just as effective in the office, the lab, the maintenance shop, the field, the customer service unit, and the warehouse as it is on a production floor. It can favorably affect costs, in service, in health care, and in government operations.
The elements of work on a production floor usually repeat, often quite rapidly. Work elements in an office, a lab, a maintenance facility, a construction unit may not repeat as frequently but work can still be observed, recorded and analyzed for its effect and improvement.
Work measurement may be of an operator, a machine, a process, a movement, any element of work whose duration is important.
C. Choose primary and secondary purposes of the work measurement you plan. Is it to be a tool to find and quantify cost reduction opportunity? Is it to contribute to a formal system, such as standard costs or product costing? The answer will suggest how to proceed.
D. As part of the process of setting purposes in C above, determine which of your formal management systems will benefit from the objective results of work measurement, such as
• Determine staffing levels as output levels vary.
• Calculate actual capacity the operation can produce.
• Assign and schedule work to people and equipment.
• Identify lost time, waste, non-value added activity.
• Offer pay related to output, such as labor incentives.
• Define the cost for the products and services you offer.
• Balance lines or work groups for optimum performance.
• Analyze variances to find problems.
• Identify and manage constraints, equipment, process, facility.
• Justify equipment and automation acquisition.
• Compare the cost to install and service products in the field, yours and competitors.
E. Decide what the extent of your measurement program will be: widespread or focused; generally descriptive or statistically accurate; for guidance or for pay. Involve unions or other employee representatives as necessary.
F. Choose in-house or consulting people to perform the program. Set goals, actions, deliverables, timetables.
G. During the first visits to the floor, pull out all of the waste movement, activity, wait, unnecessary material handling.
H. What comes first, methods or work measurement? This is a chicken-and-the-egg question which implies a linear relationship. In fact, methods and work measurement are a circular progression; create best results by performing one then the other alternately over time. If you start with methods improvement, quickly you will want to evaluate methods and you will have to time them to compare. Start with measurement, quickly you will identify other methods and will have to choose one. The only bad choice is to fail to start somewhere.
I. individual rates tend to be more accurate but require more work both to develop and to administer. Crew rates can be effective especially if teamwork is required or encouraged.
Please note a major benefit of individual rates. An operator working alone will not wait on another person. When people work as crews or teams, it is not unusual for one person to wait on another. This wait is non-value-added activity, the sworn enemy of productivity.
J. Note that there is no inherently right or wrong work measurement technique; each can have a place where it is superior to others. Some techniques will fit your application, while others will be unlikely to achieve the accuracy and cost objectives. Effective ones include:
• Time study, proven over years to be cost effective in many applications.
• Predetermined times; such as MTM, Master Standard Data, Modapts, Work Factor, the specialty systems for office or warehouses.
• Work sample, random sample, the old term ratio delay. Both time study and sampling are statistical processes. The accuracy of the resulting work measurement is a function of the number of observations.
• Electronic mechanisms to perform time study and sampling; handheld devices, phones, pads; the technology for both hardware and software changes constantly.
K. Work measurement is also well-suited for many short term issues because it is objective; “quick fix” solutions. Apply work measurement for limited scope “quick fixes”, perhaps:
• Arbitrate a disagreement about workload; is a particular position or crew overloaded, or underloaded.
• Explain a workload disagreement that can lead to a new arrangement of duties or at a different time. Workloads are often not at all even over a time frame; from start to end of a shift, during a week, especially the end of a month or quarter.
• Clear up bottlenecks which constrain production.
• Determine the proper crew size for operations. Then, balance workloads so that crew members have, as nearly as possible, the same amount of work.
• Routinely monitor crew workloads, that they are within expectations.
• Identify delay and remove it.
L. Just because there are complicating factors to work measurement, do not stop the effort to measure. Recognize that answers may not be perfectly accurate, but still perform useful service. And you can fine tune the initial mechanism to yield ever better results.
M. Be advised that the results of any measurement can report only part of the story, the final result; it does not report what caused the result.
Operating practice for labor operations
These labor and operating practices should increase productivity in most operations. unionized or not.
A. Adopt the two pillars of Toyota Production System
stated by Taiichi Ohno, widely credited with making TPS a reality. “The most important objective of the Toyota System has been to increase production efficiency by consistently and thoroughly eliminating waste. This concept and the equally important respect for humanity … are the foundations of the Toyota production system.”
B. Attract, train, and retain good employees. Encourage them to participate
Pay good wages and offer benefits to attract qualified people, cut turnover and subsequent training of replacements. Consider profit sharing or bonus to all employees as the company achieves desired financial performance, output and quality. The classic example is Lincoln Electric, considered the most productive company, from 1930’s into the 1980’s. Today their Guaranteed Continuous Employment Plan continues to provide covered employees with security against layoffs due to lack of work. Their average Profit Sharing Bonus award over the last 10 years has been 40% of an employee’s year to date, base earnings.
Sponsor formal employee participation programs to encourage ideas, contribution, and support. (Not all employees will participate or contribute, but the ones who do will justify the effort.)
C. Recognize, calculate the value of respect for humanity in your organization
Check into what Toyota does, how Lincoln Electric continues to create the innovation, product quality, productivity and global growth that they do.
Bob Emiliani in “The Profits Generator”, Lean Leadership News, 3 September 2013 says,
“I understand it is the “Respect for People” principle that enables continuous improvement, not the other way around. Therefore, the “Respect for People” principle is the profits generator.
I truly understand the importance of profits. So I coach executives to learn, among other things, that the “Respect for People” principle is the profits generator and it must not be ignored. The “Respect for People” principle is what makes material and information flow, which, in turn, is where the money is. It is where the growth is. It is where the enterprise value is.”
There is an actual cost factor manifested, perhaps insignificant compared to the value of motivated employees, and that is the actual cost of turnover of employees who choose to leave their jobs. The company needs to rehire, retrain, go through the learning curve. You can cost that out. The more valuable, skilled employees may be sought by other companies because of their skills. It is difficult to put a precise dollar sign on results of dissatisfied workers, poor performance, poor quality, absenteeism, customer complaints, but it exists.
Please appreciate, and maximize, the value of respect for humanity for your group.”
D. Use workplace methods and measurement to improve and standardize
Perform methods study for tasks, and apply ergonomics to methods and equipment. Standardize methods, but continuously improve.
Employ capable work measurement practitioners, perhaps about one engineer or tech to a hundred production employees. Establish engineered labor rates, at least reasonable expectancies, perhaps incentives.
Announce labor expectations, report results, require accountability. Use a formal improvement program for those who don’t meet expectations; improve not remove.
There are many techniques defined elsewhere, proprietary and not, to establish engineered standards. Choose the one(s) which will be cost effective for your objectives.
E. Apply the work measurement information you develop
1. Build results into standard data, apply the data for consistency, to construct new rates, as part of estimating. Build results into standard costs.
2. Using the newly created rates, balance workloads of integrated crews and assembly lines and establish the proper crew sizes for those units. The balancing operation can rearrange elements of an individual’s activity, removing or adding, so rates may need to be revised, and the process repeated once or more.
3. Is crew size set for minimum headcount or for maximum output? What do you want loaded, the operator or the constraint? These are very important questions, so be sure to answer thoughtfully especially for equipment which is a constraint or bottleneck.
For instance several automatic machines may be staffed with one attendant, who can keep up with routine functions but not with mechanical jams. Use of one operator minimizes the crew size, but if downstream machines are starved for material and their operators are idled, the overall output is constrained; unit labor cost rises, and production drops.
Perhaps a different staffing plan will be most effective, depending on whether today’s objective is high volume or low crew size. In either case, calculate the correct headcount to operate the equipment in use, from labor rates, and schedule the correct number of people to produce required output.
4. Build rates into standard cost.
5. Build rates into the expectations used to create production scheduling.
6. If possible, maintain some amount of “deferrable” work, which need not be done on a timely basis. When a process goes down and a number of people are temporarily out of work, move them to the deferrable work until their operation is back up again. Efficiency on the deferrable work may be relatively low, but it will be better than the zero that otherwise would occur.
7. Be extremely aware of how very high costs can occur, inside the facility or later as a result of facility output. (Think lost batches, personal injury, product recall.) Double down on safeguards to prevent loss now or later.
Benefits of work measurement
Perhaps the most important management tool
How long does the job take? Arguably, this is the most valuable fact for a business to know. Possess this simple bit of information and your organization can:
• quantify the amount of labor you’ll pay for
• determine staffing levels as output levels vary
• calculate actual capacity the operation can produce
• assign and schedule work to people and equipment
• identify lost time, waste, non-value added activity
• offer pay related to output, labor incentives
• define the cost for the products and services you offer
• balance lines or work groups for optimum performance
• analyze variance to find problems
• identify and manage constraints, equipment, process, facility
• justify equipment and automation acquisition
• meet the Sarbanes Oxley Act for financial understanding of costs
• compare the cost to install and service products in the field, yours and competitors
A. Cost benefits that will accrue, after work measurement activity
Generally when “Productivity” is discussed, we really mean “Labor”, the people side of the manufacturing enterprise. That cost will not usually be the largest, but because labor produces the organization’s services and products, its performance is critical beyond the mere labor cost.
Actual benefits are likely to include significant contribution to corporate goals:
• Faster throughput of materials from receipt to shipment
• Better (faster) customer service because of lower, standardized processing
• Less warehouse inventory, as material is on hand a shorter time
• Less warehouse space, as less inventory is on hand
• Product costing and pricing will be more objective and standardized
• And of course we anticipate lower labor costs with objective engineered standards.
B. Set expectations, measure and communicate
All of us want to know what is expected of us and how well we do against expectations. Employees want to know also about their group and the company. Work measurement is an objective system to state expectations, to determine how well individuals and small groups produce results. Financial calculations work well for larger groups, but not so for individuals.
In this economy, people are more apprehensive than usual, so expectations and measurement and communication are even more important.
A very effective executive gave out wall plaques that said Results Count. Work measurement can be measured, and results can be quantified and compared.
Whenever work measurement Is established, very commonly it is accompanied by a reporting system if one does not already exist. Such a system will report on production units, on the resources usually labor hours required to produce them, and on delays and the reasons for delays. This visible record will highlight problems and oftentimes a solution as well. Reliable reporting will contribute significantly. A combined system to express expectations and measure performance can be a key part of improvement.
Just because there are complicating factors to work measurement, do not stop the effort to measure. Recognize that answers may not be perfectly accurate, but still perform useful service. And you can fine tune the initial mechanism to yield ever better results.
C. Caveat
Be advised that the results of any measurement can report only part of the story, the final result; it does not report what caused the result. For instance, the much emulated Toyota Production System emphasizes personal development of line workers and supervisors, which is usually accomplished by employee training. In a work measurement summary, training may well appear to be unproductive time but would shortly lead to even higher productivity as learned lessons are put into effect.
Which measurement technique?
Choose to fit your objectives, budget, timetable. Your purpose will influence the type of measurement you will employ.
A. Choose an approach to fit your objectives, budget, timetable.
There are many circumstances for which work measurement is an attractive strategy. A technique will address different objectives, budgets, and timetables differently.
You may choose from a limited scope of work measurement, or a vast undertaking; set narrow objectives or the establishment of work measurement as the basis for an integrated approach to control. Put forth an initial phase, accomplish it and review costs and benefits, then take the next step.
None of the strategies is inherently useful, by the way. You may have the right reasons but select the wrong methodology and eventually be dissatisfied.
B. Do you want to set incentives or quantify expectations or balance workload?
Your purpose will influence the type of measurement you will want to employ.
Four types of systems generally cover most work measurement.
1. Day work does not involve a difference in pay for different output. Labor standards, or rates, are developed in an organized fashion, but perhaps with less attention to detail than incentives. Typically the supervisor or manager will administer a control method, by which the output of each operator is recorded daily and compared to a norm.
2. Engineered standards is the term for data which have been objectively and rationally collected for the purpose of definition and control of operations. Engineered standards can include labor, equipment and capacity expectations and standard cost information.
3. Reasonable expectancies are an entry level engineered standard, but still with early definition of methods and elimination of delay and interference; followed by work measurement. Often the jobs are less structured and more variable so that close documentation is not cost justified. Typically the supervisor or manager will administer a control method, by which the output of each operator is recorded daily and compared to expectancies.
4. Incentives or piece work are a rigorously engineered standard, systems that offer more pay for more output that meets quality specs. Incentives will usually be carefully developed as regards the one best way, pace rating during observation, and number of observations of several operators. Incentives require a level of administrative support as well, because each operator’s performance must be calculated daily and pay rates administered.
Because incentives determine pay, they are more carefully developed than measured day work, which is more carefully developed than reasonable expectancies.
A difference in opinion about operator workloads or a constraints issue may arise in any of the categories, and is usually addressed by targeted time study of relatively short duration. These are a “quick fix” as opposed to the four longer term programs; see below.
C. What is the appropriate tool; time study, work sample or predetermined times?
First let’s describe them briefly; a much more detailed analysis is offered in the manual.
1. Observation time study
The original idea was to observe work, time how long it took and write it down. Although there are now better equipment and technical nuances, that is still the idea.
The elements of work on a production floor usually repeat, often quite rapidly. Work elements in an office, a lab, a maintenance facility, a construction unit may not repeat as frequently. In both cases the work can be observed and recorded, but not necessarily with the same watch or observation sheet.
In order to observe and quantify work times, a standard stop watch with a sweep hand has been the norm, but digital readouts with big numbers are easier to read and hand held phone or pads, with apps, are available. A video camera can be used, in order to create a permanent record or allow discussion later. Reading the tape takes no less time in the office, and an observer on the floor provides much more flexibility to ask questions or make mid-course correction during the study.
Look at the particular job you will observe and set up an observation sheet beforehand based on the elements in a repetitive cycle. Then start observing, record the elements in a cycle, then repeat as the operator does.
Measurement of a job which repeats frequently is different from one which does not. Individual operators or crews maybe studied.
You will have to keep one eye on the work, one on the observation device, maybe even one on the observation sheet. If an element creates a sound when it happens, use that to help you pick up the work time. Electronic devices help those without three eyes.
Work measurement may be of an operator, a machine, a process, a movement, any element of work whose duration is important. Don’t assume that a mechanism will always take the same amount of time to perform its function; that is not always true.
Fast moving technology may be alleviating the time study burden. We will not go into detail, because the technology may have changed by the time you read this. Great idea, can reduce the engineering time in several ways and improve accuracy, especially for repetitive studies. Set up the study in advance, then keep your eye on the work while you push keys to record times. You will decide whether to have the entire system on your own phone and computer, or whether you want a hosted program for analysis and archiving, on a subscription basis.
2. Work sample, random sample, or the old term ratio delay.
Originally “ratio delay” determined the amount of work, and of delay, through work observation at random times, not continually. Work sample is a more modern phrase, but measures the same way, not continually but randomly.
Work sampling is a most effective way to learn quickly about an unfamiliar situation with several interdependent activities. It can even be used to understand general aspects of repetitive functions where many people perform the same work. And of course it quantifies delay and non-cyclic activity quite well.
Please note that continuous time study is also a work sample; it is just all at once whereas random sampling is spread out over a longer time. There is little difference in philosophy, just in logistics.
In practice, work sampling may be done in person or with video recording. One operation may be observed, or multiple operations and people, allied or dissimilar.
Select random times for the observer to start rounds, in order to see all conditions throughout a time frame, because some work occurs differently at startup, or shift change. Some work occurs during steady state operation and some at changeover. An observer may also stay in the area constantly, finish a round then start another.
The observer must prepare in advance by recording all of the equipment and people to be observed, and all of the categories of activity and non-activity to be recorded.
If the study objective is to quantify “delay”, or “work” in total for a group, then accurate results will be quickly evident. If the objective is to differentiate between different work elements, and different causes for delay during different times of day then the observation sheet will be more complicated and accurate results will take longer (but probably be more useful).
Work sampling of multiple operations more or less continually to learn generally what goes on in a work center is effective and produces rapid results. Record work, delay and interference instances fairly definitively, while asking questions; what and why. See how work is assigned and followed, what other people interrelate. Quantify times and frequencies. Later, zero in on the specific work with time study.
3. Pre-determined times
Predetermined times are proprietary systems that have over long observation developed the amount of time required for basic motions. The Gilbreth’s started the concept with “Therbligs”, 17 basic motions and their times.
As the name implies, pre-determined systems have been developed in advance, and a particular motion is defined to require a certain time. Motions groups have been combined into tasks, to reduce the time to apply the rates, to build up useful values.
Modern proprietary pre-determined systems include MTM, Modapts, MSD. MOST, Work Factor, and adaptations developed by companies.
Practitioners have their preferences, as each vendor will be considered to be superior for one or another application, such as a factory, or office, or warehouse.
Work factor and MTM, Methods-Time Measurement, recognize extremely short motions that occur in highly repetitive motions. These motions don’t take long in the first place, and because of very frequent repetition and muscle memory, operators require even less time than perhaps the book allows. Such “ballistic” motions are not uncommon in repetitive work, and if you will measure them you had better use a detailed system such as MTM.
Modapts, MSD and MOST, accumulate predetermined times into larger groups. For highly repetitive work they may not be as accurate as MTM but for more variable work they can take significantly less time to apply.
Warehouse and distribution centers practitioners have their favorites as well, swearing by particular programs.
In any of these proprietary systems you must deal with one of the sponsoring organizations, and become accredited in application. Please see the web sites for the particular organizations.
Options for work measurement; choose to fit your objectives
An organization has a choice of techniques. This section will discuss options, to relate the objective to the most appropriate techniques. Work measurement assists an organization to improve productivity, but let’s get more specific. “Productivity” is a worthwhile goal, but organizations usually face a more well defined challenge. Just exactly what action does one take, in a particular situation?
1. Work measurement is also well-suited for many short term issues “quick fix” solutions because it is objective.
Apply work measurement for limited scope “quick fixes”, perhaps:
• Arbitrate a disagreement about workload; is a particular position or crew overloaded, or underloaded. Employ a short, objective, focused time study or work sampling; few days or a week.
• Clear up bottlenecks which constrain production. Scope will depend on number of bottlenecks. Identify the bottleneck thru performance records or local knowledge. Observe, use time study, work sampling, man-machine charts to quantify. Manage constraint by rearranging work elements, relieve, change speeds, balance a line, add accumulation conveyor, consider equipment acquisition.
• Determine the proper crew size for operations. Then, balance workloads so that crew members have approximately the same amount of work. Use time study and work sampling to quantify activity; rearrange work elements or flow; consider equipment acquisition.
• Routinely monitor crew workloads, that they are within expectations, perhaps to prepare for union negotiations. Apply work sampling, with a single set of written guidelines, for uniform and consistent results.
• Identify delay in a wide or limited work area by use of work sampling, which was originally called ratio delay because it is so well suited.
2. Options to establish an extensive work measurement system.
In all cases, build a data bank of the information collected, to standardize the rates set and reduce application cost.
• Short cycle jobs, for incentive. Predetermined times, MTM or Work factor
• Longer cycle, for incentive. Predetermined times, Modapts, MOST, MSD. Confirm with work sample.
• Longer cycle, reasonable expectancies. Modapts, MOST, MSD, time study, work sample.
• Standard cost. Observe actual situation; time study, work sample.
• Indirect manpower. Understand where indirect manpower spends time, in order to allocate overhead accurately; apply work sample.
3. Further detail about the attributes of Time Study and Work Sampling
There are several factors to consider in order to select time study or sampling. Often both time study and work sampling should be used, each will be useful for one purpose and less useful for another.
a. Purpose of work measurement
What is the purpose of the measurement? If you want to set an incentive standard for assemblers seated at a workbench, time study (or predetermined times) is the choice. If your objective is to determine an approximate workload of material handlers, maintenance, or inspectors spread across a warehouse, sampling is a good choice.
Work sampling is a most effective way to learn quickly about an unfamiliar situation with several interdependent activities. It can even be used to understand general aspects of repetitive functions where many people perform the same work. And of course it quantifies delay and non-cyclic activity quite well.
Two sections below have a significant effect on the choice of measurement technique as well, practice opportunity and crew size.
b. Objectives and mechanics of observations
1) Time study is continual observation, in order to record all the activity that a person performs over a period of time. The observer will define and time all activity, work, delay, personal, interruptions, problems, whatever, for the person observed. Usually the observation period is over a short period of time, often for 50 cycles, or 100 cycles of operator performance. Observation may be repeated later for other workers.
2) Work sampling is periodic observation repeated over a longer time; a record of what activity occurs at the particular instant of time when the observer is looking at the activity. Usually intermittent times are selected at random, many observations repeated over a time frame, so that the observer does not appear in the area on a predictable pattern or path. Several people can easily be observed during one study, a crew or work group. I like to walk into the work area, and when I am in a position to see all the activity, observe many workers at a glance, then stop to record what I have seen.
c. Statistics
Both time study and sampling are statistical processes. The accuracy of the resulting work measurement is a function of the number of observations, and this book does not explore those statistics, forgive me. Search the web for “time study statistics”, if you need further information.
One factor that generates accuracy rapidly for sampling is crew size; one sample is at a given time, but you will observe all of the people in a crew.
d. Practice opportunity
1. Time study will be more effective to measure workers who repeat the same motions very frequently, with short cycle times. Higher practice opportunity will allow these people to have highly repetitive motions and little variation from the allowed time.
2. Sampling is best for people who have a wider range of work elements and longer cycle times. They may well perform the same actions repetitively, but with less frequency, therefore will have less opportunity to develop highly repetitive motions. In this category are material handlers, shipping and receiving, maintenance both demand and preventive, tenders of automatic machines, inspectors, set up and changeover, cleanup workers, installers, field workers, customer service, any troubleshooting.
e. Crew size
1. A time study can record well what one person does and how long it takes. It is even possible to view two or maybe three at the same time, but it takes skill.
2. Sampling works very well as a measure of a crew or work group, even if spread over a geographic area such as a plant or warehouse floor. If their work is related, so much the better because the observation sheet can record when two more are working together, as well as how the available work is spread out at each observation. An observer may not record the activity of all the crew at the same instant; that is not a problem but be sure to account for all members each cycle.
f. Delay and random occurrence; as necessary elements
The old name of work sampling was “ratio delay”, for it was used effectively to determine the amount of delay in a process, over a period of time. That is still an excellent reason to use sampling, especially if several interrelated people of machines are involved. The downside is that many observations are necessary to accumulate an accurate evaluation for one individual machine, or process, or person.
Time study is usually for a relatively short time, while sampling observations usually take place over a longer period of time. As a result of a longer cycle, sampling has a better statistical chance of seeing very infrequent random elements of work or delay, and may even pick up observations for bench workers who have been time studied.
4. Results standardization through pre-determined times
The US Department of Defense is requiring suppliers in some instances to justify the costs of their products. As a result, pre-determined times are usually the choice to measure the work of building a helicopter, or bomber. Pre-determined times are a good choice for this measurement because they are designed to state times for the same task consistently and repeatably. The pre-determined time companies require certification of practitioners, to maintain a level of proficiency.
Traditionally, pre-determined times are said to be an additive process, and time study a subtractive process. A pre-determined rate is established by defining the work and assigning a time value; the elements can be added up in an office without seeing the process. A time study takes place at the work station, the watch runs, and the rate will be what the watch says, minus whatever the observer deems unnecessary. While this characterization is not flattering to either system, it is essentially true.
In either case, when an organization administers the process fairly and intelligently, good results may be expected. The converse is also true.
Employee incentive pay
Or, Piece Work, Piece rate, Work Incentive, Incentive Program, Incentive Plan, Pay for Performance.
The purpose of piece rates is to motivate employee performance in return for a monetary reward.
A simple, valid concept which is centuries old. The purpose of this chapter is to explain the benefits and the potential pitfalls.
An incentive system can be anything a company chooses to make it; tailored for any segment of the work force, designed to reward any kind of performance in any way. While incentives are not necessarily for every situation, in some cases they are a superior strategy. This chapter guides you to understand how incentives might apply to your situation
Some believe that incentives or piecework plans will allow a company to pay less than minimum wage. That is not so. Period.
The divisions for this chapter are,
A. Characteristics of incentives or piecework
B. Financial aspects, payback, minimum wage.
C. Where can incentives apply?
D. The special case of construction piece rates
E. Actions to gain many of the benefits of incentives, more simply
A. Characteristics of incentives or piecework
1. Incentives can be effective in any organization.
If you consider incentive pay in a manufacturing setting, that was the original use for incentives and still is as appropriate as ever. But service organizations, and construction firms, and warehouses, and labs and call centers are also prime candidates for incentives. Incentives are quite effective for an individual, a team, or a group.
Incentive plans also include sales incentives and management bonus; the author is not adequately experienced to address these specialties.
2. Why do incentives work to everyone’s benefit?
From my experience, incentives are effective employee motivators because most people go to work for money in the first place, and incentives offer an opportunity for them to increase their pay by their own efforts both physical and mental.
But incentives also benefit a company, who perhaps for the first time will measure labor performance and relate it not only to costs but also to output, and calendar performance, and customer service, and capacity.
Wikipedia has it right when they say “An advantage for the company is that this method of payment helps to guarantee the costs per unit produced, which is useful for planning and forecasting purposes.”
Good company performance will also motivate employees indirectly because people want to feel that their contribution matters.
3. What employee actions are encouraged by incentives?
Incentives often reward output, or units produced. But any criteria may be selected, such as widgets built or installed, or customer satisfaction, or first time quality, or phone calls, or customers served, or tests processed, or concrete block laid, or applications processed, or feet of cable wired, or cubic yards of concrete poured, or service calls made, or cartons shipped, or tests completed.
The key is to create a measurement system to meet the client’s objectives. Usually those objectives are to create a win – win situation, where employees are compensated for actions that benefit employer performance and financial results.
4. Incentives need attention; constant, careful and exceedingly fair
And honest, frank, transparent, timely application, follow-up and judgment.
a. Clear lines of responsibility, prioritized
Define, talk about, write down the specific responsibility and priority that a person has in advance and continually.
b. Measurable performance
An employee should be able to measure his standing, how he is doing. (I know this applies to women and men equally, please allow me to substitute his for his / hers.) This injunction is true for factory or office or field workers; people should and soon will learn how to understand the arithmetic that affects their pay.
c. Ability to affect results
An employee must be able to affect results in order to be held responsible; that statement seems too obvious for inclusion. Watch carefully the measurements applied, and how they are constituted, to understand the ability of an employee to control.
d. Outside the lines
Employees who work with other departments or facilities are
difficult to measure directly. Even if their project work has a
measurable result, was it because of or despite them? Create another unit of measure to incent those persons with multiple, appropriate responsibilities.
e. Accurate recordkeeping
Recordkeeping is another obvious requirement of an objective appraisal. Collect the data carefully.
f. Timing
Make appraisals as an umpire does, be on top of the action and call it fast.
g. Change
Organizations constantly change, so features of their work change as well. Incentives affect pay and company cost, be sure to make the investment to maintain the system so that it is fair and correct.
h. How to start: A cost – benefit study
A first step is to define the performance objectives that are important to your company. Then identify specifically what employee actions will help to accomplish those actions; define motivating factors likely to be effective with your work force, and estimate costs and benefits of specific incentive options.
If the preliminary analysis seems to be favorable, the next step is to determine what criteria to use to measure the work that generates the expected output, what reporting and administrative detail would be needed, and the checks and balances to regulate the plan.
i. To put a plan into action
When management decides that a course of action is promising, quickly form the detail to support an incentive plan, define guidelines, determine the expected individual or crew performance levels, and set up reporting and administrative framework.
B. Financial aspects, payback, minimum wage.
1. A key factor to recognize is that workers on piece rates must still be paid at least the minimum wage, state or Federal; and that all work hours must be considered in the minimum wage calculation.
2. Piece rates may, probably will, require more careful reporting
To insure compliance to wage laws, reporting must record not only the production on which piecework is applied but also timekeeping of all hours, and the arithmetic to assure that the letter of the law is followed.
Piece rates involve bookkeeping and labor law in addition to the expectations themselves. The company lawyer and CPA must play a significant part in any actions.
3. Will incentives pay for themselves?
Let’s look at the basic premise, which is that productivity and output tend to increase with incentives. Is that written in stone somewhere? Not that I know of.
Professionally it is believed that productivity and output tend to increase with incentives. Or, generally speaking, workers will work harder to earn incentive pay. But we also tend to work smarter for more pay, and we will do that before we work harder. Therefore, you had better make all the smart moves before putting up an incentive. Get rid of waste, delay; set the crew size correctly.
The benefits for incentives for your organization will be unique, so consider the organization’s culture, the local community, motivation. If the following factors are present, perhaps incentives would be successful in your situation:
• The work to be done is well defined and consistent; materials are available; tools and equipment are maintained; quality standards are well understood and enforced.
• Scheduling and reporting are reliable; payroll is administered correctly.
• Delay and lost time are quite low.
• Waste has been already been removed from the process.
If these factors are not present, I do not recommend incentives. As a matter of fact, management may be quite dissatisfied with incentives, as employees will make the improvements that have been overlooked, and collect an incentive because of it, by working smarter and not necessarily harder. But, even in this scenario, output will rise. Unit labor costs will stay the same, and overhead absorption will probably improve. So, all in all even a “loose” incentive can result in a good outcome for management.
Instead, your actions should be to correct the inefficiencies first, then judge whether incentives are needed at all.
In any event, balance expected improvement against any extra costs you anticipate.
4. Options to gain many of the benefits with somewhat less structure.
Look again at the points in 3. above. Correct any weak elements in the operation. Especially pull out delay, non-value added activity. How are results now, without an incentive? Can you maintain the improvement?
5. If you decide to go ahead with a plan; how should it be structured?
A piece rate agreement is what you make it.
Piece work is nothing more than an agreement, where one party offers what he is willing to pay and another agrees or not.
The typical piece rate in a factory may depend on work measurement but that is not necessarily true elsewhere. There are piece rates for many trades and businesses. These may be time studied, or negotiated, or set near the price that applies locally for the work. In Texas there are piece rates for agricultural workers picking commodities; rates are set by a state commissioner.
So it is certainly practical for you to set piece rates. Set a goal, and pay according to results. But as you set the goals and the reporting mechanisms, but also please see a labor law attorney and your CPA.
In some applications such as apparel piecework plans, the rate paid is essentially all of the labor cost, agreed in advance with employee and buyer, so bookkeeping is simplified and more predictable.
Construction piecework pay tends to involve a unique set of factors, which are covered later. Incentives often reward output, or units produced. But any criteria may be selected, such as widgets built or installed, or customer satisfaction, or first time quality, or phone calls, or tests processed, or block laid, or applications processed, or feet of cable, or cubic yards of concrete poured, or cartons shipped, or tests completed. The key is to create a measurement system to meet business objectives.
6. Units
What is measured, what is paid for, can vary according to the organization and product. Generally speaking, use the normal nomenclature, bill of material, router to select what work or output is to be measured.
Assume an operation where widgets are put together, and gizmos are put together, then widgets and gizmos are combined into assemblies. There would be different payoffs for the operators who make widgets, for those who make gizmos, and for those who produce assemblies. The widget line supervisor could be incented for performance of the assigned operators, as could the gizmo and assemble line supervisors. The department manager could be incented for cost and schedule performance of all products, as well as for quality levels. Maintenance could be incented for low downtime.
7. Work measurement mechanisms to collect information
If you measure the work to set an incentive rate, time study and predetermined times are both acceptable mechanisms to collect the information necessary. Work sampling may supplement either, but will not alone be accurate enough to serve as a foundation.
When pay depends on an incentive system, use more care in setting those rates than for measurement which does not determine pay.
If tasks are short cycle, where an operator has considerable practice opportunity, a predetermined time system will be more accurate. Consider MTM, or Work Factor, Master Standard Data, perhaps MODAPTS.
Not only the measurement system determines the accuracy of data collection; a larger number of observations will be necessary if time study is used than would be necessary for a non-incentive system.
C. Where can incentives or piece rates apply?
Anywhere the work content can be predicted.
Incentives have traditionally been practiced in a factory setting; piece work has often applied to apparel manufacturing. But other labor intensive activity is also well suited for piecework, for instance:
• Construction
• Masonry, block, brick, slabs, beams.
• Dry wall and sheeting installation.
• Piping and plumbing.
• Carpentry. Flooring.
• Energy installation; windmills, solar panels; both commercial and private.
• Electrical, HVAC installation.
• Stucco application, painting.
• Septic tank installation; pumping.
• Roofing.
• Agriculture, plant; cultivate; harvest pick and pack. These rates may be set by the state.
• Appliance installation
• Harvesting trees in consistent conditions such as tree farms. (Terrain and weather and undergrowth are not the same in all farms, obviously. But farms are more standardized than open forests.)
• Hotel housekeepers, maids
• Maintenance with a clear work description such as preventive maintenance.
Piecework is difficult to apply to the activity of repair, trouble shooting, maintenance, and warranty because specific content of the work is much less predictable.
Now, with this summary behind us, we turn attention to the focus of workshop #2, Work Measurement. Its primary purpose is to instruct on the detail, the every day nitty gritty, of establishing and maintaining an objective, fair, transparent work measurement system. The system will form the foundation for Manufacturing Productivity, and in itself will improve output and reduce costs.
Work measurement is itself a process. It is composed of a series of lower level processes targeted toward specific purposes. Work measurement Itself takes the following format.
The manual section will explain the successive levels, all the detail of the work measurement process which is composed of other, targeted, processes.
Each step, all levels, can include history and theory, guidance, forms, checklists, action plans, data summary and calculations which lead to conclusions and recommendations.
Curriculum
Manufacturing Productivity – Workshop 1 – Work Measurement
- Work Measurement Basics
- How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
- Time Study Instructions And Forms
- Administration Of Rates
- The Art Of Work Sampling
- Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
- Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
- The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Distance Learning
Introduction
Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Manufacturing Productivity corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.
Study environment
You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.
Study tools & rules
Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.
Successful distance-learning
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.
Self-assessment
Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.
Accepting responsibility as a student
Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.
Planning
By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if you feel that you are in control and that things are going to plan. Even when things do go wrong, you are prepared for them and can act accordingly without any unnecessary stress. It is important therefore that you do take time to plan your studies properly.
Management
Once you have developed a clear study plan, it is of equal importance to ensure that you manage the implementation of it. Most of us usually enjoy planning, but it is usually during implementation when things go wrong. Targets are not met and we do not understand why. Sometimes we do not even know if targets are being met. It is not enough for us to conclude that the study plan just failed. If it is failing, you will need to understand what you can do about it. Similarly if your study plan is succeeding, it is still important to understand why, so that you can improve upon your success. You therefore need to have guidelines for self-assessment so that you can be consistent with performance improvement throughout the program. If you manage things correctly, then your performance should constantly improve throughout the program.
Study objectives & tasks
The first place to start is developing your program objectives. These should feature your reasons for undertaking the training program in order of priority. Keep them succinct and to the point in order to avoid confusion. Do not just write the first things that come into your head because they are likely to be too similar to each other. Make a list of possible departmental headings, such as: Customer Service; E-business; Finance; Globalization; Human Resources; Technology; Legal; Management; Marketing and Production. Then brainstorm for ideas by listing as many things that you want to achieve under each heading and later re-arrange these things in order of priority. Finally, select the top item from each department heading and choose these as your program objectives. Try and restrict yourself to five because it will enable you to focus clearly. It is likely that the other things that you listed will be achieved if each of the top objectives are achieved. If this does not prove to be the case, then simply work through the process again.
Study forecast
As a guide, the Appleton Greene Manufacturing Productivity corporate training program should take 12-18 months to complete, depending upon your availability and current commitments. The reason why there is such a variance in time estimates is because every student is an individual, with differing productivity levels and different commitments. These differentiations are then exaggerated by the fact that this is a distance-learning program, which incorporates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program. Consequently all of the project studies are real, which means that important decisions and compromises need to be made. You will want to get things right and will need to be patient with your expectations in order to ensure that they are. We would always recommend that you are prudent with your own task and time forecasts, but you still need to develop them and have a clear indication of what are realistic expectations in your case. With reference to your time planning: consider the time that you can realistically dedicate towards study with the program every week; calculate how long it should take you to complete the program, using the guidelines featured here; then break the program down into logical modules and allocate a suitable proportion of time to each of them, these will be your milestones; you can create a time plan by using a spreadsheet on your computer, or a personal organizer such as MS Outlook, you could also use a financial forecasting software; break your time forecasts down into manageable chunks of time, the more specific you can be, the more productive and accurate your time management will be; finally, use formulas where possible to do your time calculations for you, because this will help later on when your forecasts need to change in line with actual performance. With reference to your task planning: refer to your list of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to achieve your program objectives; with reference to your time plan, calculate when each task should be implemented; remember that you are not estimating when your objectives will be achieved, but when you will need to focus upon implementing the corresponding tasks; you also need to ensure that each task is implemented in conjunction with the associated training modules which are relevant; then break each single task down into a list of specific to do’s, say approximately ten to do’s for each task and enter these into your study plan; once again you could use MS Outlook to incorporate both your time and task planning and this could constitute your study plan; you could also use a project management software like MS Project. You should now have a clear and realistic forecast detailing when you can expect to be able to do something about undertaking the tasks to achieve your program objectives.
Performance management
It is one thing to develop your study forecast, it is quite another to monitor your progress. Ultimately it is less important whether you achieve your original study forecast and more important that you update it so that it constantly remains realistic in line with your performance. As you begin to work through the program, you will begin to have more of an idea about your own personal performance and productivity levels as a distance-learner. Once you have completed your first study module, you should re-evaluate your study forecast for both time and tasks, so that they reflect your actual performance level achieved. In order to achieve this you must first time yourself while training by using an alarm clock. Set the alarm for hourly intervals and make a note of how far you have come within that time. You can then make a note of your actual performance on your study plan and then compare your performance against your forecast. Then consider the reasons that have contributed towards your performance level, whether they are positive or negative and make a considered adjustment to your future forecasts as a result. Given time, you should start achieving your forecasts regularly.
With reference to time management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual time taken in your study plan; consider your successes with time-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; consider your failures with time-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to time planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your time expectations. You need to be consistent with your time management, otherwise you will never complete your studies. This will either be because you are not contributing enough time to your studies, or you will become less efficient with the time that you do allocate to your studies. Remember, if you are not in control of your studies, they can just become yet another cause of stress for you.
With reference to your task management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan; consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to task planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your task expectations. You need to be consistent with your task management, otherwise you will never know whether you are achieving your program objectives or not.
Keeping in touch
You will have access to qualified and experienced professors and tutors who are responsible for providing tutorial support for your particular training program. So don’t be shy about letting them know how you are getting on. We keep electronic records of all tutorial support emails so that professors and tutors can review previous correspondence before considering an individual response. It also means that there is a record of all communications between you and your professors and tutors and this helps to avoid any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation. If you have a problem relating to the program, share it with them via email. It is likely that they have come across the same problem before and are usually able to make helpful suggestions and steer you in the right direction. To learn more about when and how to use tutorial support, please refer to the Tutorial Support section of this student information guide. This will help you to ensure that you are making the most of tutorial support that is available to you and will ultimately contribute towards your success and enjoyment with your training program.
Work colleagues and family
You should certainly discuss your program study progress with your colleagues, friends and your family. Appleton Greene training programs are very practical. They require you to seek information from other people, to plan, develop and implement processes with other people and to achieve feedback from other people in relation to viability and productivity. You will therefore have plenty of opportunities to test your ideas and enlist the views of others. People tend to be sympathetic towards distance-learners, so don’t bottle it all up in yourself. Get out there and share it! It is also likely that your family and colleagues are going to benefit from your labors with the program, so they are likely to be much more interested in being involved than you might think. Be bold about delegating work to those who might benefit themselves. This is a great way to achieve understanding and commitment from people who you may later rely upon for process implementation. Share your experiences with your friends and family.
Making it relevant
The key to successful learning is to make it relevant to your own individual circumstances. At all times you should be trying to make bridges between the content of the program and your own situation. Whether you achieve this through quiet reflection or through interactive discussion with your colleagues, client partners or your family, remember that it is the most important and rewarding aspect of translating your studies into real self-improvement. You should be clear about how you want the program to benefit you. This involves setting clear study objectives in relation to the content of the course in terms of understanding, concepts, completing research or reviewing activities and relating the content of the modules to your own situation. Your objectives may understandably change as you work through the program, in which case you should enter the revised objectives on your study plan so that you have a permanent reminder of what you are trying to achieve, when and why.
Distance-learning check-list
Prepare your study environment, your study tools and rules.
Undertake detailed self-assessment in terms of your ability as a learner.
Create a format for your study plan.
Consider your study objectives and tasks.
Create a study forecast.
Assess your study performance.
Re-evaluate your study forecast.
Be consistent when managing your study plan.
Use your Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) for tutorial support.
Make sure you keep in touch with those around you.
Tutorial Support
Programs
Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. They are implemented over a sustainable period of time and professional support is consistently provided by qualified learning providers and specialist consultants.
Support available
You will have a designated Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and an Accredited Consultant and we encourage you to communicate with them as much as possible. In all cases tutorial support is provided online because we can then keep a record of all communications to ensure that tutorial support remains consistent. You would also be forwarding your work to the tutorial support unit for evaluation and assessment. You will receive individual feedback on all of the work that you undertake on a one-to-one basis, together with specific recommendations for anything that may need to be changed in order to achieve a pass with merit or a pass with distinction and you then have as many opportunities as you may need to re-submit project studies until they meet with the required standard. Consequently the only reason that you should really fail (CLP) is if you do not do the work. It makes no difference to us whether a student takes 12 months or 18 months to complete the program, what matters is that in all cases the same quality standard will have been achieved.
Support Process
Please forward all of your future emails to the designated (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit email address that has been provided and please do not duplicate or copy your emails to other AGC email accounts as this will just cause unnecessary administration. Please note that emails are always answered as quickly as possible but you will need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general tutorial support emails during busy periods, because emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. You will also need to allow a period of up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Please therefore kindly allow for this within your time planning. All communications are managed online via email because it enables tutorial service support managers to review other communications which have been received before responding and it ensures that there is a copy of all communications retained on file for future reference. All communications will be stored within your personal (CLP) study file here at Appleton Greene throughout your designated study period. If you need any assistance or clarification at any time, please do not hesitate to contact us by forwarding an email and remember that we are here to help. If you have any questions, please list and number your questions succinctly and you can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each and every query.
Time Management
It takes approximately 1 Year to complete the Manufacturing Productivity corporate training program, incorporating 12 x 6-hour monthly workshops. Each student will also need to contribute approximately 4 hours per week over 1 Year of their personal time. Students can study from home or work at their own pace and are responsible for managing their own study plan. There are no formal examinations and students are evaluated and assessed based upon their project study submissions, together with the quality of their internal analysis and supporting documents. They can contribute more time towards study when they have the time to do so and can contribute less time when they are busy. All students tend to be in full time employment while studying and the Manufacturing Productivity program is purposely designed to accommodate this, so there is plenty of flexibility in terms of time management. It makes no difference to us at Appleton Greene, whether individuals take 12-18 months to complete this program. What matters is that in all cases the same standard of quality will have been achieved with the standard and bespoke programs that have been developed.
Distance Learning Guide
The distance learning guide should be your first port of call when starting your training program. It will help you when you are planning how and when to study, how to create the right environment and how to establish the right frame of mind. If you can lay the foundations properly during the planning stage, then it will contribute to your enjoyment and productivity while training later. The guide helps to change your lifestyle in order to accommodate time for study and to cultivate good study habits. It helps you to chart your progress so that you can measure your performance and achieve your goals. It explains the tools that you will need for study and how to make them work. It also explains how to translate academic theory into practical reality. Spend some time now working through your distance learning guide and make sure that you have firm foundations in place so that you can make the most of your distance learning program. There is no requirement for you to attend training workshops or classes at Appleton Greene offices. The entire program is undertaken online, program course manuals and project studies are administered via the Appleton Greene web site and via email, so you are able to study at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office as long as you have a computer and access to the internet.
How To Study
The how to study guide provides students with a clear understanding of the Appleton Greene facilitation via distance learning training methods and enables students to obtain a clear overview of the training program content. It enables students to understand the step-by-step training methods used by Appleton Greene and how course manuals are integrated with project studies. It explains the research and development that is required and the need to provide evidence and references to support your statements. It also enables students to understand precisely what will be required of them in order to achieve a pass with merit and a pass with distinction for individual project studies and provides useful guidance on how to be innovative and creative when developing your Unique Program Proposition (UPP).
Tutorial Support
Tutorial support for the Appleton Greene Manufacturing Productivity corporate training program is provided online either through the Appleton Greene Client Support Portal (CSP), or via email. All tutorial support requests are facilitated by a designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). They are responsible for deciding which professor or tutor is the most appropriate option relating to the support required and then the tutorial support request is forwarded onto them. Once the professor or tutor has completed the tutorial support request and answered any questions that have been asked, this communication is then returned to the student via email by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). This enables all tutorial support, between students, professors and tutors, to be facilitated by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM) efficiently and securely through the email account. You will therefore need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general support queries and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because all tutorial support requests are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Consequently you need to put some thought into the management of your tutorial support procedure in order to ensure that your study plan is feasible and to obtain the maximum possible benefit from tutorial support during your period of study. Please retain copies of your tutorial support emails for future reference. Please ensure that ALL of your tutorial support emails are set out using the format as suggested within your guide to tutorial support. Your tutorial support emails need to be referenced clearly to the specific part of the course manual or project study which you are working on at any given time. You also need to list and number any questions that you would like to ask, up to a maximum of five questions within each tutorial support email. Remember the more specific you can be with your questions the more specific your answers will be too and this will help you to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or duplication. The guide to tutorial support is intended to help you to understand how and when to use support in order to ensure that you get the most out of your training program. Appleton Greene training programs are designed to enable you to do things for yourself. They provide you with a structure or a framework and we use tutorial support to facilitate students while they practically implement what they learn. In other words, we are enabling students to do things for themselves. The benefits of distance learning via facilitation are considerable and are much more sustainable in the long-term than traditional short-term knowledge sharing programs. Consequently you should learn how and when to use tutorial support so that you can maximize the benefits from your learning experience with Appleton Greene. This guide describes the purpose of each training function and how to use them and how to use tutorial support in relation to each aspect of the training program. It also provides useful tips and guidance with regard to best practice.
Tutorial Support Tips
Students are often unsure about how and when to use tutorial support with Appleton Greene. This Tip List will help you to understand more about how to achieve the most from using tutorial support. Refer to it regularly to ensure that you are continuing to use the service properly. Tutorial support is critical to the success of your training experience, but it is important to understand when and how to use it in order to maximize the benefit that you receive. It is no coincidence that those students who succeed are those that learn how to be positive, proactive and productive when using tutorial support.
Be positive and friendly with your tutorial support emails
Remember that if you forward an email to the tutorial support unit, you are dealing with real people. “Do unto others as you would expect others to do unto you”. If you are positive, complimentary and generally friendly in your emails, you will generate a similar response in return. This will be more enjoyable, productive and rewarding for you in the long-term.
Think about the impression that you want to create
Every time that you communicate, you create an impression, which can be either positive or negative, so put some thought into the impression that you want to create. Remember that copies of all tutorial support emails are stored electronically and tutors will always refer to prior correspondence before responding to any current emails. Over a period of time, a general opinion will be arrived at in relation to your character, attitude and ability. Try to manage your own frustrations, mood swings and temperament professionally, without involving the tutorial support team. Demonstrating frustration or a lack of patience is a weakness and will be interpreted as such. The good thing about communicating in writing, is that you will have the time to consider your content carefully, you can review it and proof-read it before sending your email to Appleton Greene and this should help you to communicate more professionally, consistently and to avoid any unnecessary knee-jerk reactions to individual situations as and when they may arise. Please also remember that the CLP Tutorial Support Unit will not just be responsible for evaluating and assessing the quality of your work, they will also be responsible for providing recommendations to other learning providers and to client contacts within the Appleton Greene global client network, so do be in control of your own emotions and try to create a good impression.
Remember that quality is preferred to quantity
Please remember that when you send an email to the tutorial support team, you are not using Twitter or Text Messaging. Try not to forward an email every time that you have a thought. This will not prove to be productive either for you or for the tutorial support team. Take time to prepare your communications properly, as if you were writing a professional letter to a business colleague and make a list of queries that you are likely to have and then incorporate them within one email, say once every month, so that the tutorial support team can understand more about context, application and your methodology for study. Get yourself into a consistent routine with your tutorial support requests and use the tutorial support template provided with ALL of your emails. The (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit will not spoon-feed you with information. They need to be able to evaluate and assess your tutorial support requests carefully and professionally.
Be specific about your questions in order to receive specific answers
Try not to write essays by thinking as you are writing tutorial support emails. The tutorial support unit can be unclear about what in fact you are asking, or what you are looking to achieve. Be specific about asking questions that you want answers to. Number your questions. You will then receive specific answers to each and every question. This is the main purpose of tutorial support via email.
Keep a record of your tutorial support emails
It is important that you keep a record of all tutorial support emails that are forwarded to you. You can then refer to them when necessary and it avoids any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Individual training workshops or telephone support
Please be advised that Appleton Greene does not provide separate or individual tutorial support meetings, workshops, or provide telephone support for individual students. Appleton Greene is an equal opportunities learning and service provider and we are therefore understandably bound to treat all students equally. We cannot therefore broker special financial or study arrangements with individual students regardless of the circumstances. All tutorial support is provided online and this enables Appleton Greene to keep a record of all communications between students, professors and tutors on file for future reference, in accordance with our quality management procedure and your terms and conditions of enrolment. All tutorial support is provided online via email because it enables us to have time to consider support content carefully, it ensures that you receive a considered and detailed response to your queries. You can number questions that you would like to ask, which relate to things that you do not understand or where clarification may be required. You can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each individual query. You will also then have a record of these communications and of all tutorial support, which has been provided to you. This makes tutorial support administration more productive by avoiding any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Tutorial Support Email Format
You should use this tutorial support format if you need to request clarification or assistance while studying with your training program. Please note that ALL of your tutorial support request emails should use the same format. You should therefore set up a standard email template, which you can then use as and when you need to. Emails that are forwarded to Appleton Greene, which do not use the following format, may be rejected and returned to you by the (CLP) Program Administration Manager. A detailed response will then be forwarded to you via email usually within 20 business days of receipt for general support queries and 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Your tutorial support request, together with the corresponding TSU reply, will then be saved and stored within your electronic TSU file at Appleton Greene for future reference.
Subject line of your email
Please insert: Appleton Greene (CLP) Tutorial Support Request: (Your Full Name) (Date), within the subject line of your email.
Main body of your email
Please insert:
1. Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) Tutorial Support Request
2. Your Full Name
3. Date of TS request
4. Preferred email address
5. Backup email address
6. Course manual page name or number (reference)
7. Project study page name or number (reference)
Subject of enquiry
Please insert a maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Briefly outline the subject matter of your inquiry, or what your questions relate to.
Question 1
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 3
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 4
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 5
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Please note that a maximum of 5 questions is permitted with each individual tutorial support request email.
Procedure
* List the questions that you want to ask first, then re-arrange them in order of priority. Make sure that you reference them, where necessary, to the course manuals or project studies.
* Make sure that you are specific about your questions and number them. Try to plan the content within your emails to make sure that it is relevant.
* Make sure that your tutorial support emails are set out correctly, using the Tutorial Support Email Format provided here.
* Save a copy of your email and incorporate the date sent after the subject title. Keep your tutorial support emails within the same file and in date order for easy reference.
* Allow up to 20 business days for a response to general tutorial support emails and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because detailed individual responses will be made in all cases and tutorial support emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received.
* Emails can and do get lost. So if you have not received a reply within the appropriate time, forward another copy or a reminder to the tutorial support unit to be sure that it has been received but do not forward reminders unless the appropriate time has elapsed.
* When you receive a reply, save it immediately featuring the date of receipt after the subject heading for easy reference. In most cases the tutorial support unit replies to your questions individually, so you will have a record of the questions that you asked as well as the answers offered. With project studies however, separate emails are usually forwarded by the tutorial support unit, so do keep a record of your own original emails as well.
* Remember to be positive and friendly in your emails. You are dealing with real people who will respond to the same things that you respond to.
* Try not to repeat questions that have already been asked in previous emails. If this happens the tutorial support unit will probably just refer you to the appropriate answers that have already been provided within previous emails.
* If you lose your tutorial support email records you can write to Appleton Greene to receive a copy of your tutorial support file, but a separate administration charge may be levied for this service.
How To Study
Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can help you to plan a task list for getting started so that you can be clear about your direction and your priorities in relation to your training program. It is also a good way to introduce yourself to the tutorial support team.
Introduction
Thank you for enrolling in Appleton Greene’s Manufacturing Productivity series. Its purpose is to benefit not only your company but also you as an individual. Productivity is an interesting and wide-ranging subject, applicable to the circumstances that you find at work on a day-to-day basis. Welcome.
The manufacturing productivity training program is a 12-step process that is presented through Appleton Greene’s distance learning method. This method requires that participants in the various workshops take more responsibility for their learning than in the more traditional training methods. With the distant learning method, you will be doing a combination of group classroom learning, individual and group study and preparation outside of the classroom.
“Productivity” is composed of a number of different subjects, which may be administered by different functions within a larger operation. A workshop may address manufacturing floor applications, or broader, more strategic factors. During this distance learning process the participants may be alone or in groups.
In the distance learning method, a lot of the learning will happen outside of the classroom, on an individual basis. In order to be the most successful you will need to hold yourself accountable. This Distance Learning Guide explains how this method works and what is required on your part to be successful.
You have been assigned an Appleton Greens BOP facilitator. This person is responsible for supporting you and helping you achieve maximum benefits from the BOP. Please see the following Tutorial Support section for further explanation.
This section on How to Study is designed to help you integrate your study time with distance learning and tutorial support to give you suggestions on how to learn the most from the materials presented and the workshop sessions.
The different aspects of study are to prepare for:
Pre-Workshop Session
It is important that each person be well versed on the subject matter and objectives of the workshop before the workshop. This will require each participant to have an understanding of the Mission, Objectives, Strategies, Tasks, and Introduction for each workshop. This will require that each participant spend time becoming familiar with this course material prior to the workshop.
During Workshop Sessions
During each workshop you will be presented with course manual material and accompanying exercises to help reinforce the content from the course manual. This material is designed to complement what you study prior to the workshop.
Post-Workshop
Homework, and it will be application of what you have learned to the day-to-day tasks you face. Apply what you have learned, to solidify the learning process. This is the time where you will need to contact your Appleton Greene BOP facilitator if need be.
Planning your study environment
Your study conditions are of great importance and will have a direct effect on how much you enjoy your training program. Consider how much space you will have, whether it is comfortable and private and whether you are likely to be disturbed. The study tools and facilities at your disposal are also important to the success of your distance-learning experience. Your tutorial support unit can help with useful tips and guidance, regardless of your starting position. It is important to get this right before you start working on your training program.
Planning your program objectives
It is important that you have a clear list of study objectives, in order of priority, before you start working on your training program. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance here to ensure that your study objectives have been afforded due consideration and priority.
Planning how and when to study
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. This approach is designed to let you study efficiently away from the traditional classroom environment. It is important however, that you plan how and when to study, so that you are making the most of your natural attributes, strengths and opportunities. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance and useful tips to ensure that you are playing to your strengths.
Planning your study tasks
You should have a clear understanding of the study tasks that you should be undertaking and the priority associated with each task. These tasks should also be integrated with your program objectives. The distance learning guide and the guide to tutorial support for students should help you here, but if you need any clarification or assistance, please contact your tutorial support unit.
Planning your time
You will need to allocate specific times during your calendar when you intend to study if you are to have a realistic chance of completing your program on time. You are responsible for planning and managing your own study time, so it is important that you are successful with this. Your tutorial support unit can help you with this if your time plan is not working.
Keeping in touch
Consistency is the key here. If you communicate too frequently in short bursts, or too infrequently with no pattern, then your management ability with your studies will be questioned, both by you and by your tutorial support unit. It is obvious when a student is in control and when one is not and this will depend how able you are at sticking with your study plan. Inconsistency invariably leads to in-completion.
Charting your progress
Your tutorial support team can help you to chart your own study progress. Refer to your distance learning guide for further details.
Making it work
To succeed, all that you will need to do is apply yourself to undertaking your training program and interpreting it correctly. Success or failure lies in your hands and your hands alone, so be sure that you have a strategy for making it work. Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can guide you through the process of program planning, development and implementation.
Reading methods
Interpretation is often unique to the individual but it can be improved and even quantified by implementing consistent interpretation methods. Interpretation can be affected by outside interference such as family members, TV, or the Internet, or simply by other thoughts which are demanding priority in our minds. One thing that can improve our productivity is using recognized reading methods. This helps us to focus and to be more structured when reading information for reasons of importance, rather than relaxation.
Speed reading
When reading through course manuals for the first time, subconsciously set your reading speed to be just fast enough that you cannot dwell on individual words or tables. With practice, you should be able to read an A4 sheet of paper in one minute. You will not achieve much in the way of a detailed understanding, but your brain will retain a useful overview. This overview will be important later on and will enable you to keep individual issues in perspective with a more generic picture because speed reading appeals to the memory part of the brain. Do not worry about what you do or do not remember at this stage.
Content reading
Once you have speed read everything, you can then start work in earnest. You now need to read a particular section of your course manual thoroughly, by making detailed notes while you read. This process is called Content Reading and it will help to consolidate your understanding and interpretation of the information that has been provided.
Making structured notes on the course manuals
When you are content reading, you should be making detailed notes, which are both structured and informative. Make these notes in a MS Word document on your computer, because you can then amend and update these as and when you deem it to be necessary. List your notes under three headings: 1. Interpretation – 2. Questions – 3. Tasks. The purpose of the 1st section is to clarify your interpretation by writing it down. The purpose of the 2nd section is to list any questions that the issue raises for you. The purpose of the 3rd section is to list any tasks that you should undertake as a result. Anyone who has graduated with a business-related degree should already be familiar with this process.
Organizing structured notes separately
You should then transfer your notes to a separate study notebook, preferably one that enables easy referencing, such as a MS Word Document, a MS Excel Spreadsheet, a MS Access Database, or a personal organizer on your cell phone. Transferring your notes allows you to have the opportunity of cross-checking and verifying them, which assists considerably with understanding and interpretation. You will also find that the better you are at doing this, the more chance you will have of ensuring that you achieve your study objectives.
Question your understanding
Do challenge your understanding. Explain things to yourself in your own words by writing things down.
Clarifying your understanding
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your understanding.
Question your interpretation
Do challenge your interpretation. Qualify your interpretation by writing it down.
Clarifying your interpretation
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your interpretation.
Qualification Requirements
The student will need to successfully complete the project study and all of the exercises relating to the Manufacturing Productivity corporate training program, achieving a pass with merit or distinction in each case, in order to qualify as an Accredited Manufacturing Productivity Specialist (APTS). All monthly workshops need to be tried and tested within your company. These project studies can be completed in your own time and at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office. There are no formal examinations, assessment is based upon the successful completion of the project studies. They are called project studies because, unlike case studies, these projects are not theoretical, they incorporate real program processes that need to be properly researched and developed. The project studies assist us in measuring your understanding and interpretation of the training program and enable us to assess qualification merits. All of the project studies are based entirely upon the content within the training program and they enable you to integrate what you have learnt into your corporate training practice.
Manufacturing Productivity – Grading Contribution
Project Study – Grading Contribution
Customer Service – 10%
E-business – 05%
Finance – 10%
Globalization – 10%
Human Resources – 10%
Information Technology – 10%
Legal – 05%
Management – 10%
Marketing – 10%
Production – 10%
Education – 05%
Logistics – 05%
TOTAL GRADING – 100%
Qualification grades
A mark of 90% = Pass with Distinction.
A mark of 75% = Pass with Merit.
A mark of less than 75% = Fail.
If you fail to achieve a mark of 75% with a project study, you will receive detailed feedback from the Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and/or Accredited Consultant, together with a list of tasks which you will need to complete, in order to ensure that your project study meets with the minimum quality standard that is required by Appleton Greene. You can then re-submit your project study for further evaluation and assessment. Indeed you can re-submit as many drafts of your project studies as you need to, until such a time as they eventually meet with the required standard by Appleton Greene, so you need not worry about this, it is all part of the learning process.
When marking project studies, Appleton Greene is looking for sufficient evidence of the following:
Pass with merit
A satisfactory level of program understanding
A satisfactory level of program interpretation
A satisfactory level of project study content presentation
A satisfactory level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
A satisfactory level of the practical integration of academic theory
Pass with distinction
An exceptional level of program understanding
An exceptional level of program interpretation
An exceptional level of project study content presentation
An exceptional level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
An exceptional level of the practical integration of academic theory
Preliminary Analysis
Welcome to the second workshop for Manufacturing Productivity. We appreciate that you have found the time to fit this learning experience into your schedule, and that the company thinks well enough of your talents and capabilities to include you in the participants.
Manufacturing Productivity is a one-year leadership program with monthly workshops that will focus on specific subjects each month. This month, the subject is Work Measurement. The curriculum covers the complete spectrum of work measurement, the management, structure of a system, detailed guidance in the techniques and procedures, the specific activities and practices which are necessary to accomplish accurate and effective work measurement. Examples of effective uses to increase productivity with the use of work measurement are supplied
The first significant use of the technique of work measurement did not occur until the mid 1880s, when Frederick Taylor used time study, for bricklayers, on his way to the later development of Scientific Management. Other people became interested in this aspect of productivity, most significantly Frank and his wife Lillian Gilbreth. Frank, much older than Lillian, produced extremely noteworthy results on the subject of work measurement before 1920, while Lillian was busy being mother to a dozen children. She outlived her husband by many years and extended the knowledge and practice of work measurement in her own right. These three individuals are considered to be the patron saints of those who practice work measurement today.
Today, a multitude of practices could be grouped under Taylor’s term Scientific Management, but that term is not commonly used. And the practice of work measurement is merely one of this multitude of techniques that is used to address particular portions of the broader term productivity.
Productivity is defined as output divided by input, and is neither input not output is always easy to quantify. But in terms of this workshop, and this course, productivity is defined to include all inputs and all outputs. When your organization reduces any input, or adds to any output, then the objective to increase productivity has been achieved.
So work measurement is one of the tools used to increase manufacturing productivity, and it is the subject of this workshop number 2. Formal work measurement will in itself add productivity, because it starts with improvement to the work place, to work methods, and to knowledge available to the line worker and to management.
For further reading, possible but not required, The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor in 1913 is available on Amazon. You will find it is pretty modern, including the widely quoted four principles of management, with the substitution of “worker” for “workman”, in today’s more inclusive workplace.
1. The development of a true science.
2. The scientific selection of the worker.
3. The scientific education and development of the worker.
4. Intimate and friendly cooperation between the management and the workers.
Further investigation of work measurement
On the internet you will find videos often with the headings “fastest worker” or “skillful worker”. If you watch you will be impressed by the dexterity on display. Learning curve theory says that there is continual improvement, as a function of repetition; when volume doubles then the time required is reduced by a more or less consistent factor. Learning curves were first developed in the aerospace industry and had initially to do with the learning of the entire organization; improvement seems to be continual but the individual rate varies and arithmetic is not precise, for spacecraft nor humans.
Usually the “amazing” activity on display in internet videos is of quite short cycles The resulting practice opportunity for short cycles smooths out hand motions and reduces the time required quickly. But when you see the videos you will notice quite a bit of wasted activity as well, for instance one hand may be busy while the other hand is idle.
One good lesson however is that many manual motions can be observed which are augmented by a relatively simple mechanical assist, or gravity, or leverage, or momentum. Learn that lesson and find that manual activity in your own operations may well be assisted by use of one or more of these mechanisms.
Don’t let your safety people see the videos by the way, they will be appalled. It is also questionable whether the people performing these activities can maintain such a pace rate over a normal day. Often in the videos another person will in some way “feed” product to the star. The camera may miss that operator, but payroll won’t.
Pace rating, or levelling, is the one factor in work measurement that is subjective. There is a much longer section in the manual that deals with pace rating. The manual names six individual components that make up the “pace” with which an operator performs. Those components are effort, skill, methods, practice opportunity, motivation, and quality.
Pace rating, because it is subjective, has long been the feature of work measurement most difficult to teach. In training films the typical subjects were dealing cards and walking. Not very sophisticated you will agree. One current video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fj6hnct4E8, now at least has added two sewing clips. But these are at least partially machine controlled, and the work to be done is not clearly captured by the camera. At least the dealing and walking are well done.
So what is the best way to pace rate? The six factor method, while subjective, does recognize components of levelling that actually contribute to pace. To improve consistency in your operations, seek a consensus among the practitioners in your operations, try to maintain a general agreement on what should be a “normal” rate, that which an average trained operator, working with good speed and effort, can produce quality product all day.
Bibliography
The 2022 list of reference data is in pretty sorry state. Time Study on Wikipedia lists publication titles, mostly modern. Some works even have the name Gilbreth or Taylor on their titles, but the list does not include the seminal works by those authors themselves. Pretty sad. The following may then be your best hope for classic titles, and many of these books are long out of print. See your friendly librarian.
It is reported that many university Industrial Engineering curricula do not include the teaching of time study itself.
The Industrial Engineering Handbook is the classic reference for all industrial engineering topics. It is revised periodically and is at the 5th edition presently. The Third Edition has an extensive, benchmark, series of articles about work measurement and predetermined time systems. H. B. Maynard Editor in Chief, McGraw Hill, 1971. Library of Congress catalog card number 77-128017.
Motion and Time Study, sixth edition; Ralph Barnes, John Wiley and Sons, 1968.
Time and Motion Study and Formulas for Wage Incentives; S. M. Lowry, H. B. Maynard, G. J. Stegmerten, McGraw Hill, 1940
Work Design, Gerald Nadler, Richard D. Irwin Inc., 1963
Methods-Time Measurement, H. B. Maynard, G. J. Stegmerten, McGraw Hill, 1948
Work-Factor Time Standards, Joseph Quick, James Duncan, James Malcom Jr., McGraw Hill, 1962
A View of the Incentive Context
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., is founder and CEO of management consulting firm Aubrey Daniels & Associates (ADA). He made these comments in
http://www.entrepreneur.com/humanresources/employeemanagementcolumnistdavidjavitch/article54952.htmlon September 02, 2002. He says, “To get the most out of any incentive plan, I would advise the following:
a. Let the performers track their performance daily. The payout can be monthly, but feedback should be available daily.
b. Separate incentive pay from regular pay. I would advise issuing separate checks and giving them out on different days.
c. Consider non-cash incentives. These are not confused with ordinary pay and actually have advantages over cash. For further details, you may want to read about this in my book Performance Management: Improving Quality Productivity Through Positive Reinforcement, which is available at www.aubreydaniels.com.
d. Individual incentives are more effective than group incentives. You may add an incentive for group accomplishments, but the plan should differentiate between individual contributions and accomplishments.
e. Make sure that your day-to-day management is positive. No matter how much money you put into rewards, you’ll waste both money and time if you use negative reinforcement as your management style. There’s no substitute for daily contact with employees–asking how they’re doing, asking if you can help with any problems and, most importantly, recognizing even small improvements.
f. Systematically evaluate the effectiveness of your plan on performance, cost and employee satisfaction.”
Course Manuals 1-12
Course Manual 1: Work Measurement Basics
1.1: Work Measurement Is An Objective Basis For Productivity
Work measurement has a large number of moving parts. This workshop will be presented in such a manner as to explain relationships clearly.
This manual describes characteristics of an effective work measurement program and provides the elements necessary to train observers to implement and maintain the program.
Work measurement at its best is composed of present-day actions, conducted within a long-term plan. But, as we occasionally emphasize, one size does not fit all when it comes to productivity.
Within the objectives, conditions and culture of a particular manufacturing enterprise, some work measurement actions will be more well suited and effective than others. Many of the actions presented here are targeted toward improving a particular or even unique problem. So, learn and practice the options, then pick and choose, prioritize, address what is most important and profitable within your modern production management.
A comprehensive group of work measurement actions are presented in this workshop. Some are stand-alone actions, and many, while they do not directly depend on another action, work well in combination.
Work measurement, Workshop #2, will study individual activities that contribute to productivity as it is today. Each section and all levels within it can include history and theory, guidance, forms, checklists, action plans, data summary and calculations. Put these into effect in order to reach conclusions, make recommendations and create accurate production rates or standards.
Course exercises are at the close of sections, to offer a hands-on opportunity to observe what actually happens in production in your own operation, and to practice a skill firsthand.
Solid advice to those who will practice work measurement is passed on. The most successful advocates of manufacturing productivity will recommend that you “open every door, climb on every roof. See the source document.” Do this, carry a stopwatch and a tape measure, know how to spell “assume” and you will be all right.
An Outline Of A Plan To Establish Work Measurement
This workshop is intended to provide information to enable the client to put a work measurement plan into effect. The Introduction to this workshop provides information to resolve the first two of the following steps, and the Manual explains the last four; the middle three will depend on the client situation.
Management’s Portion
• Define the mission, define target group for measurement
• Select the most effective work measurement techniques
Specific actions will depend on the plan chosen and local circumstances
• Outline approach and timetable
• Identify resources
• Communicate
Practitioner’s Portion
• Initiate study, develop rates, issue rates.
• Manage measurement data base, maintain data and program integrity. Apply work measurement for productivity purposes.
• Establish reporting and administrative procedures for results
• Build work measurement values into management procedures
Mission statement for this workshop # 2
Establish formal work measurement as a basis for multiple management controls, and as an objective process to promote productivity and to define, measure and control manufacturing actions and results.
Provide accurate measurements and sound management decisions, by setting production rates on today’s methods from which waste, or non-value-added activity, has been removed, (workshop #3) with today’s equipment, specs, technology and product mix, and with application of methods and workplace improvement and ergonomics.
Why is work measurement important enough to make it the second workshop, within Manufacturing Productivity? Rather than take anything for granted, let’s explain.
• Production labor rates may be current or set years ago or only estimated in the first place. But regardless of their accuracy or validity, labor rates are used to set expectations for labor activity, measure actual performance, perhaps even determine pay scales. Rates are routinely used to calculate Key Performance Indicators and other measures above.
• Practitioners will apply many techniques to improve the workplace and methods, so work measurement will, in itself, reduce manufacturing cost compared to non-engineered rates, past performance results, rates which use earlier equipment and methods, or estimates.
• How long does the job take? This is arguably one of the most important questions for management to ask. Work measurement will first of all establish a “rate”. A rate is the quantity an average trained operator working with good skill and effort can produce, routinely, all day long.
• Advise the operator of the rate when it is developed, and explain what output is expected. Monitor actual versus expected output regularly. Pay may be linked to output, or not, as management prefers.
• Apply the rate to predict how many direct operators are needed, how many pieces per day can be manufactured for shipment, what materials will be needed in a period of time, what capacity a facility has. And oh yes, what the labor cost will be, to manufacture the product. Is that profitable? Monitor actual versus expected costs.
• Use work measurement and direct observation to resolve constraints and bottlenecks, balance bottlenecks, justify automation and technology, define space needs for plant layout, identify non-value-added activity.
• Repetitive tasks in non-direct jobs may be measured, too. Elements of materials handling, some maintenance activity, labs, and product sampling activity are repetitive even if cycles may be longer.
1.2: How To Determine The Correct Work Measurement System For Your Organization
One size does not fit all; what might be the measurement plan that fits best for you? And, once you have chosen the type of plan, how do you go about collecting the data to establish rates?
This section of the course manual addresses in summary the wide variety of options relating to work measurement.
Topics:
A. The preferred option, formal work measurement.
B. Work measurement plans in modern usage
C. To develop work measurement, several systems may be employed.
D. To collect formal work measurement information
E. Your measurement plan may be tailored to achieve a certain objective
F. A watch, or an electronic device? Same purpose, different tools.
G. Tools that can be involved in piece rate administration
H. Reporting
I. A possible plan
A. The Preferred Option, Formal Work Measurement
Let’s start by stating the preferred option, which is a formal work measurement approach, developed through engineered standards. This choice will first remove non-value-added activity, and improve methods, the workplace, ergonomics and reporting. This alone will increase output and may satisfy your objectives. A further potential benefit of incentives is employee motivation to reach even more output per factory hour.
However, work measurement is not always smooth and effective. Multiple factors can affect work measurement plans, so that companies with different circumstances will travel a different route to choose an appropriate plan. The following sections include discussion of the various interrelated topics.
Read the sections please, consider the questions and anticipate the potential impact your current practices, resources, and corporate culture might have to ease or complicate the mechanical aspects of work measurement. Outline for your situation how current operating factors would affect a measurement plan, scope, implementation, actions, benefits.
A broad discussion is found in the Introduction tab, and the following section provides the essentials.
B. Work Measurement Plans In Modern Usage
This may be applied formally or not, for different pay purposes. These categories may apply:
1. Day work does not involve a difference in pay for different output. An implicit or written statement relates that a certain rate will be paid when a production standard, or quota is met. Past performance is often the basis for determining a rate.
2. Reasonable expectancies (RE) are more structured than day work, perhaps with observation and methods improvement but likewise do not involve a difference in pay for different output.
3. Labor incentives, or piece rates, relate pay to output. An operator is expected to perform at a given rate, called a base rate. When the operator produces a larger quantity than the given rate, and incentive is paid.
Administration for each of the measurement plans may vary, with more formal admin likely yielding larger benefit. Incentives determine employee pay and require a well-organized procedure. Incentive rates also require compliance with labor laws.
C. To Develop Work Measurement Plans, Several Systems May Be Employed
One or more of the following mechanisms may be used as a basis for work measurement data. Listed in order of increasing attention to value-added activity, workplace layout, ergonomics and methods, examples are:
1. A past-performance technique considers historical results, which will inevitably include all of the mistakes made and waste activity performed during previous work operations. To determine times, it is necessary to delve back into the records, relate output to hours required, be sure to match the correct product and output to the time used.
It is obvious that past labor performance is an unacceptable way to predict future expectations. These records do not account for technology or materials changes, nor waste activity nor the possibility of better methods and workplace and ergonomics.
2. Estimates may be, or have been, made by an experienced person such as an estimator or dispatcher. The estimate may or may not recognize current conditions and equipment, or efficient methods.
A worse case scenario would be to use past performance values or estimates in an incentive payment plan. If management has not taken out unnecessary activity, the employees certainly will, although they will be paid as if it remained.
3. Engineered standards are objectively developed, eliminating waste activity, developing workplace layouts and methods for current equipment and materials and electronics. Then, using time study or predetermined times, establish the expected time for completion of an operation with cyclical and non-cyclical activity.
4. Incentive rates, or piece work are systems to pay for output. Because incentives determine pay, they are more even more carefully developed than engineered standards.
D. To Collect Formal Work Measurement Information
Formal work measurement as engineered standards or incentives may be performed by time study, work sample or predetermined times. Work measurement may be of an operator, a machine, a process, a movement, any element of work whose duration is important.
1. Observation Time Study
The original idea was to observe work, time how long it took and write it down. Although there are now better equipment and technical nuances, that is still the basic idea.
A standard stopwatch with a sweep hand has been the norm, but digital readouts with big numbers are easier to read and cell phone apps are available, relatively easy although not perfect. A video camera can be used, in order to create a permanent record or allow discussion later.
2. Work Sample, Random Sample.
Work observation at random times, not continually is a most effective way to learn quickly about an unfamiliar situation with several interdependent activities.
Please note that continuous time study is also a work sample; it is just all at once whereas random sampling is spread out over a longer time. There is little difference in philosophy, just in logistics.
3. Pre-Determined Times
Predetermined times are proprietary systems that have over long observation developed the amount of time required for basic motions. Pre-determined systems have been developed in advance, and a particular motion is defined to require a certain time. Motions groups have been combined into tasks, to reduce the time to apply the rates, to build up useful values.
Modern proprietary pre-determined systems include MTM, Modapts, MSD. MOST, Work Factor, and adaptations. They are very useful to define extremely short motions that occur in highly repetitive motions.
Modapts, MSD and MOST accumulate predetermined times into larger groups. For highly repetitive work they may not be as accurate as MTM but for more variable work they can take significantly less time to apply.
Warehouse and distribution centers practitioners have their favorites as well, swearing by particular programs.
In any of these proprietary systems you must deal with one of the sponsoring organizations and become accredited in application. All have web sites for the particular organizations.
E. Your Measurement Plan May Be Tailored To Achieve A Certain Objective
Incentives or piece rates motivate people, but they have a cost as rate setting effort, recordkeeping and reporting will increase.
The major advantage of an incentive plan is that the output from a production workplace will increase. The unit cost of the labor portion does not change (nor materials), but production volume will increase in the same time frame without a concurrent increase in the number of production workplaces, factory floor space, equipment, supervision or management. In other words, output per invested dollar will rise.
RE’s usually result in more labor hours per unit than incentives, but less than an unmeasured situation. RE admin costs will be lower than incentives, but do not contain the motivational advantage. RE rates will be rigorous enough to support the accuracy of management systems.
Is there a single, simple solution to all, or even most, work measurement projects? Sorry, no there is not. Work measurement projects are not all the same, because no two facilities have the same objectives nor operations. One size does not fit all.
1. Business Purpose Intended. Are you interested in a measurement plan to improve labor efficiency, cut project cycle time, focus on cost control throughout your organization? Any engineered work measurement is likely to contribute.
2. Is a labor union involved? You may hear that unions are always opposed to work measurement, but that is not always true. Many union shops have piece rate plans. Some unions actively promote piece rate plans, in the belief that higher pay through piece rates will attract the better employees who can perform with more skill, and higher quality and faster cycle times, and be a credit to the union. A credible piece rate plan will be fair and transparent, and as such will be acceptable to a union.
A union will of course be glad to participate in a pay plan that bases its rates on past performance because living up to the past is not as strenuous as when the plan first removes waste activity.
3. Is your interest in measurement plans coverage for: Direct production line operators? Indirect, such as warehouse or lift truck operators? These options are quite possible, alone or in combination. The structure and rates won’t be the same for different groups, you’ll measure different results, but any or all can be effective. This program explains the mechanisms.
4, Expectations The more well-defined your practices are, the easier and more quickly you will be able to move to any engineered standards.
• Are employees currently expected to perform at a given output rate? If yes, that is good.
• Are expectations written down and formal? Also good, if yes.
• Do expectations for similar work vary within the company, for instance between departments? You may want to standardize, and engineered standards will help.
5. Are any work expectations today based on: past performance, estimates, local area practice, work study? Work study leading to engineered standards is the choice that is least likely to include wasted activity in the allowed time.
6. Today, do you use expected work times to set crew size, or to balance the work of crews? Balanced crew workload is a very desirable goal, which can be achieved with work measurement.
7.Today, do you use expected work times to find and relieve bottlenecks? Engineered standards will be even better.
F. A Watch, Or An Electronic Device? Same Purpose, Different Tools
A stopwatch has traditionally been the tool for work measurement. That method is still in common practice, as well as digital timing devices, hand-held devices such as cell phones and pads. The mechanisms are different and require some changes in operation. This section will outline the differences, and the individual work measurement organization can choose one or multiple devices. In either case accuracy is improved by practice over time.
1. The use of a stopwatch requires also a clipboard and a paper form on which to record the readings and pace rating. The classic saying is that an observer needs to keep one eye on the watch, one eye on the paper, one eye on the operator. Then, back in the office, it will be necessary to subtract the start time from the stop time to determine the elapsed time for each element observed. The length of the elements will have to be chosen by considering only those that are long enough for the operator to record the start and stop times accurately.
An advantage of the clipboard is that it provides a paper form where notes of all types may be entered. Unexpected occurrences routinely occur during work measurement and having a watch to measure and a paper to record are quite convenient.
2. Use of a timing device with a digital read-out is very similar to a watch, but the time is somewhat easier to observe.
3. Hand-held devices, cell phones or pads are in common practice. An application for work measurement or time study will be available either in the Apple or Android version. To set up and become familiar with the application and the device will be necessary before taking the first active study. Most applications are designed so that the operator at the end of an element will touch the screen over the name of the element, and the device will record the elapsed time and start timing the next element. Some mechanism must also be available, and practical, to perform pace rating by element observed.
An observer still needs to observe the work being performed, and to look at the screen at the end of each element.
Observing an operation with several random tasks is quite a bit simpler with a hand-held as compared to a clipboard; whatever the work element is, just touch that box to enter the time. Compared to a stopwatch and time study form, it is also much easier to time short elements accurately with a hand-held. And, since the application will automatically record all of the elements entered, back in the office the subtraction and totaling will be done for you.
A drawback to performing a time study on a handheld device is that when the observer touches the screen, the action is recorded even if the wrong box is touched, entering incorrect information into the device. Those familiar with electronic devices, from their telephone and texting and perhaps game-playing times may well be accurate in their information entry, and less likely to make mistakes. The app will have a way to identify incorrect entry, become familiar with it. Since is no easy place to take notes, time study observer who is used to having a clipboard and a paper to write on will find that a fatal flaw.
The app that is used on the handheld device will have some features that are completely free, but to access a full range of the features of the program will require a subscription with the manufacturer.
Electronic devices may also be used for work sampling, with a different app installed. Because work sampling requires less entry, and no times or subtraction, there are fewer advantages for electronic devices versus clipboard and preprinted forms, for work sampling.
G. Tools That Can Be Involved In Piece Rate Administration
The following questions relate to the administrative tools you may have in use already. An effective engineered standards system will not re-invent estimating rates and bookkeeping and payroll, but will relate to, use and augment the present mechanisms. The more modern and effective your tools are, the easier any work measurement or incentive will be.
a. Does your company have people who establish expected production times?
b. Does your company use a software package to establish times?
c. If you use estimated times, are they: established from a software package, from the experience of rate setters, from input from management or superintendents, from actual results? All these have a risk, of allowing more time than is actually used unless waste motion has been specifically removed.
d. Have you a formal work measurement program to remove non-value-added work, such as delay and excess travel; balance crew workloads; and then engineer rates? If so, engineered standards are right around the corner.
e. Does your company use an accounting software package? Does it provide for individual rates? Some do, some don’t.
f. Does your company use a payroll software package or service? Does it provide for engineered standards?
H. Reporting
Reliable, targeted, reporting may well be as important to profitability as work measurement. All of these tasks will be needed for engineered standards, much less incentives if you choose that, to be effective.
a. Is labor reporting from the workplace in place already? Time worked, output, product?
b. Are reported actual labor hours tied to particular activity?
c. Are labor hours tied to a particular output, such as units finished?
d. Is there formal reporting of delay; man-hours lost, and the cause?
e. Are production operators aware of their output, relative to expectations?
f. Is actual attainment to expectations compared to plan, individually or in total? Through the financial system? Otherwise?
I. A Possible Plan
a. Are you interested in developing standard times to measure manufacturing tasks?
b. Specifically, what production operations?
1. Tasks to be addressed
2. Approximate number of work tasks and describe the major ones.
3. Approximate number of workers to be covered
4. Potential use for the rates developed; individual performance expectations, incentives, general expectations, standard costing, production and manpower scheduling, in KPI’s.
Program Exercises for Course Manual 1:
To apply work measurement throughout your organization will require a trained group of practitioners. Consider whether these persons are on staff already or are yet to be retained, how training or retraining in work measurement techniques should proceed. With other participants in manufacturing productivity, set the necessary steps in motion.
Course Manual 2: How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
These sections constitute course manual 2.
A. Work measurement techniques and mechanisms
B. Before setting a rate
C. The art of the time study
D. On the floor
A. Work measurement techniques and mechanisms
Work measurement may be performed by time study, work sample or predetermined times. Work measurement may be of an operator, a machine, a process, a movement, any element of work whose duration is important.
1. Observation time study
The original idea was to observe work, time how long it took and write it down. Although there are now better equipment and technical nuances, that is still the basic idea.
A standard stopwatch with a sweep hand has been the norm, but digital readouts with big numbers are easier to read and cell phone apps are available, relatively easy although not perfect. A video camera can be used, in order to create a permanent record or allow discussion later.
2. Work sample, random sample. Work observation at random times, not continually is a most effective way to learn quickly about an unfamiliar situation with several interdependent activities.
Please note that continuous time study is also a work sample; it is just all at once whereas random sampling is spread out over a longer time. There is little difference in philosophy, just in logistics.
3. Pre-determined times
Predetermined times are proprietary systems that have over long observation developed the amount of time required for basic motions. Pre-determined systems have been developed in advance, and a particular motion is defined to require a certain time. Motions groups have been combined into tasks, to reduce the time to apply the rates, to build up useful values.
Modern proprietary pre-determined systems include MTM, Modapts, MSD. MOST, Work Factor, and adaptations. They are very useful to define extremely short motions that occur in highly repetitive motions.
Modapts, MSD and MOST accumulate predetermined times into larger groups. For highly repetitive work they may not be as accurate as MTM but for more variable work they can take significantly less time to apply.
Warehouse and distribution centers practitioners have their favorites as well, swearing by particular programs.
In any of these proprietary systems you must deal with one of the sponsoring organizations and become accredited in application. All have web sites for the particular organizations.
B. Before setting a rate
B. 1. Methods and workplace checklists for improvement
A major feature of this entire program, Manufacturing Productivity, is to remove waste, which is non-value-added activity. This focus as we know is a key component of the Toyota Production System. But the concept has been around much longer than that; it goes back at least to Frederick Taylor, in the 1880’s. And perhaps everyone since then has written a checklist as to how to improve the workplace. A later workshop will get into this in more detail, but it is imperative that as we start the idea of direct observation to improve productivity, we list some basic tenants of the concept of non-value-added activity.
a. The Principles of Motion Economy
In 1885 Frederick Taylor, as a young construction engineer started to learn about bricklaying. He observed skilled bricklayers and found that different methods and procedures were in use, even by the same craftsmen. This was not illogical, but caused Taylor to seek the “best” methods for speed and reliability.
So, with a stopwatch and clipboard, Taylor started out on a study of the workplace that led to what he called “Scientific Management”, the initial work on work, the workplace, the workers themselves, and management principles.
Frank Gilbreth followed the study of the workplace, and especially in the second decade of the 20th century and later joined later by his wife Lilian Gilbreth
Frank Gilbreth, early in his development prepared “Rules for Motion Economy and Efficiency” in three sections, which follow:
b. Use of the Human Body
1. The two hands should begin as well as complete their motions at the same time.
2. The two hands should not be idle at the same time except during rest periods.
3. Motions of the arms should be made in opposite and symmetrical directions and should be made simultaneously.
4. Hand motions should be confined to the lowest classification with which it is possible to perform the work satisfactorily.
5. Momentum should be employed to assist the worker wherever possible, and it should be reduced to a minimum if it must be overcome by muscular effort.
6. Smooth continuous motions of the hands are preferable to zigzag motions or straight-line motions involving sudden and sharp changes in direction.
7. Ballistic movements are faster, easier, and more accurate than restricted (fixation) or “controlled” movements.
8. Rhythm is essential to the smooth and automatic performance of an operation, and the work should be arranged to permit easy and natural rhythm wherever possible.
c. Arrangement of the Workplace
1. There should be definite and fixed place for all tools and materials.
2. Tools, materials, and controls should be located close in and directly in front of the operator.
3. Gravity feed bins and containers should be used to deliver material close to the point of use.
4. Drop deliveries should be used wherever possible.
5. Materials and tools should be located to permit the best sequence of motions.
6. Provisions should be made for adequate conditions for seeing. Good illumination is the first requirement for satisfactory visual perception.
7. The height of the workplace and the chair should preferably be arranged so that alternate sitting and standing at work are easily possible.
8. A chair of the type and height to permit good posture should be provided for every worker.
d. Design of Tools and Equipment
1. The hands should be relieved of all work that can be done more advantageously by a jig, a fixture, or a foot-operated device.
2. Two or more tools should be combined wherever possible.
3. Tools and materials should be pre-positioned whenever possible.
4. Where each finger performs some specific movement, such as in typewriting, the load should be distributed in accordance with the inherent capacities of the fingers.
5. Handles such as those used on cranks and large screwdrivers should be designed to permit as much of the surface of the hand to come in contact with the handle as possible. This is particularly true when considerable force is exerted in using the handle. For light assembly work the screwdriver handle should be so shaped that it is smaller at the bottom than at the top.
6. Levers, crossbars, and hand wheels should be located in such positions that the operator can manipulate them with the least change in body position and with the greatest mechanical advantage.
e. Another Principles of Motion Economy checklist
1. Are all motions simple with fewest number of body members used?
2. Are both hands free at all times to do useful work?
3. Are the hands being relieved of all work that can be performed by the feet?
4. Are the motions balanced and move in opposite and symmetrical directions?
5. Are the motions rhythmic and smooth flowing with natural movements of the body?
6. Does the motion path stay within the normal working area?
7. Are all tools and materials within easy reach?
8. Are the tools pre-positioned ready to use?
9. Are the materials pre-positioned ready to use?
10. Are the materials and tools located in proper sequence at definite places?
11. Does the material come to the operator by gravity or power?
12. Are small objects slid to position instead of picked up?
13. Is it easy to locate the parts in the fixture?
14. Are all the clamping devices of the quick action type?
15. Are devices used to free the hands of holding?
16. Is an ejector being used to remove the part?
17. Is the part removed by drop delivery?
18. Are foot devices convenient with short distances and stops?
19. Are the parts being pre-positioned for next operation?
20. Are the parts being made in multiples?
21. Is the part made with the minimum amount of material?
22. Do workplaces permit sitting / standing?
23. Is the sitting facility at the proper height, and comfortable?
24. Can work be performed with good posture?
f. And yet another Motion Economy Checklist
1. Does each element begin simultaneously with both hands?
2. Does each element end simultaneously with both hands?
3. Are simultaneous arm motions in opposite and symmetrical direction used?
4. Are hand motions of the lowest classification for satisfactory operations?
5. Does motion path stay within the normal working area?
6. Can sharp changes of direction be avoided by using a continuous curved motion path?
7. Are objects slid instead of being picked up and carried?
8. Are materials and tools located in proper sequence at definite work stations?
9. Are the fewest possible elements used?
10. Is maximum use made of rhythm and automatically?
11. Are foot pedals used to relieve hands where possible?
12. Are vises or fixtures used where possible to relieve hands for other work?
13. Can foot operated ejectors be used to remove finished pieces?
14. Can drop delivery be used?
15. Will bringing work close to point of use by gravity-feed hoppers shorten transport?
16. Can prepositioned tools for quick grasp be used?
17. Can pieces be prepositioned for next operation?
18. Is proper height chair with comfortable seat and back rest provided?
Program Exercises for Course Manual 2: B. 1
B 2. How many observations are necessary?
Work measurement is a statistical process. Your objective is to sample a work process and learn information about it that you can use for management purposes. Both work sample and time study use statistics; time study in a concentrated manner for a short period of time and sampling less frequently over a longer period.
Statistical sampling is effective when there is a homogeneous universe at work; typically represented by a normal or bell curve. Even if a normal curve exists in your situation, there will be times of the day when circumstances are different. In any job, there will be start up conditions, shut down, clean up, steady state. There will be times when materials are not available on a constant basis, or are of variable quality. There will be new products, regular products, spec changes, machine problems.
Observe during situations when conditions are “normal” because your objective is to sample average conditions. Also observe the normal components, early and late, before and after shift change, break, lunch.
Observe enough cycles to assure that a representative cross section of the work is seen and recorded. There is statistical information available to help to determine the correct number of observations, but the use of the rates developed affects the accuracy needed as well. If you intend to establish incentive standards, you will need to make more observations than if you intend only a general understanding of relative activity. But in either case, if you will establish expectations of people and set crew sizes and workloads, you had better be on a firm foundation because there will be a reaction from the people involved.
Frequently there are thoroughly constructive discussions on the Work Measurement and Engineered Standards group of Linked In; many knowledgeable people sharing what they know well. One question was “how many studies are necessary to take, in order to set a correct standard?” The questioner knew that there are statistical methods, formulae, and tables to calculate a number but was interested in “rules of thumb.”
Following are suggestions, which appear to be quite practical, but non-statistical ideas.
a. Do not study an operator who is not trained, with some experience. Period. Don’t do it.
b. The flip side of inexperience is to look around for an operator who has obviously superior talent or skill. You will recognize it when you see it. It may not be possible for all operators to gain the skill, but there may be opportunity to define superior methods or motion patterns for others to use.
c. The first question is,” What are the standards to be used for?” Typical choices are day work, reasonable expectancies, engineered standards, a formal incentive program, which are explored elsewhere. They are progressively more stringent, requiring progressively more time study work and rigor, which includes more studies. Incentives require the most because both employee pay and company-paid incentive bonus will be affected.
d. Another early factor is element length and practice opportunity. Shorter work elements allow more practice opportunity and faster learning, so that an operator will soon develop “ballistic” motion patterns that don’t vary much for one operator. Study multiple trained operators, and for short cycle tasks their observed times will repeat closely. If not, find the best operator and retrain others.
e. Record the observed times for the studies, and for short cycle tasks you will probably find they quickly fall in a narrow range, and the cumulative average is steady. Five percent is usually considered a reasonable variation; 3 sigma, statistically, is 95%. That’s enough study. Move on.
f. A corollary is that longer cycle jobs have less opportunity repetition, and thus longer learning and more observed variation. You may require more observations to reach a point with little statistical variation. But these elements many each be only a small part of the total work process, so that variation will have less impact on the overall time study rate.
g. If your purpose is to find a superior motion pattern by the way, you will want to break the job down into small elements in order to zero in on differences.
h. Shorter studies seem to be favored over long ones, with constant summary and comparison of results. When the cumulative data don’t change much, you have enough.
i. Be sure to observe different operators on different shifts to cover all operating conditions.
j. Be alert to different operating conditions at different times of the day; especially for non-cyclic elements caused by outside influences; instructions, questions, deliveries, shipments, procedures. Shift changes, product changes, new batches, all are interruptions to the routine. Interruptions to the routine, perhaps a little bit of chaos, are the sources of lost time, delay, non-value- added activity.
• Consider a targeted random sample, production study, or a long continuous study of one operator, to uncover infrequent non-cyclic occurrences and interruptions. Correct the reasons for interruption, rather than including them in the rate.
k. If the job has a fixed machine content, that doesn’t need to be studied as much, because machine cycles tend to repeat, although that’s not an infallible rule. However, in a man-machine cycle, the observer may have nothing to do in that period, except to time and make note.
l. Once the standard is set, especially if it covers many people or important steps, validate it with an additional study; Another observer perhaps or another group of people is especially useful.
m. Can product mix affect the answer? What about fatigue because of weight, heat, awkward working positions, or 12-hour shift? The answer to all of these would seem to be yes, but the literature is not well developed. Your observation will define further the particular circumstances.
Program Exercises for Course Manual B. 2:
Go back over the last section, note points that may have an effect on operations with which you are familiar. Discuss examples with your fellow practitioners.
C: The art of the time study
2. C. 1. Work measurement purposes
The purpose of work measurement is to determine as objectively as possible the time required for particular tasks, then to convert those times into a work expectation that is possible and practical, all day, day after day.
A qualified work measurement practitioner can do that with only a timing device, good judgment about what constitutes work, a set of policies from management, and a calculator.
The sequence of events is simple: observe the work and record the time an “operator” takes to complete it; “pace rate” the observed work; add “allowances” for fatigue, break, lunch; convert to “units” per hour or day. All of those events are objective except for one, pace rating.
Time study, time and motion study are just as effective in the office, the lab, the maintenance shop, the field, customer service, and the warehouse as on a production floor. Just about anywhere your organization had a presence.
While the sequence of events for time study is simple, it does not start merely by getting up from your desk, grabbing a watch and walking out to the production floor. There is much more to work measurement than that; as you read through the following sections you will note that many steps occur well before you have the watch in hand, observing an operation.
2. C. 2. Company policy will affect work measurement
a. Standard method
Is an employee required to perform a task one particular way, or allowed to ad lib? In some industries, pharmaceuticals or manned rocket ships for instance, there is only one way. Period. A non-standard method may lead to a fatal problem.
How about making thumbtacks, or ad spots, or sales calls? Uniformity is valuable there too, for practical or financial rather than life threatening reasons but lack the same sense of urgency.
Your organization may have invested to develop a process that will produce the greatest efficiency, or success rate, or quality level, or customer service, or acceptance. You may ask a trainee to use the method that produces best results. Understand the corporate policy and practice it.
b. What is an expected performance, whether of production or office or service or construction workers? Presumably your organization is interested in work measurement in order to quantify expected performance. These points will help explain expected performance.
Employees are expected to perform, in exchange for pay. This is true of people on an assembly line, farmers, salesclerks, bricklayers, stockbrokers, service technicians, a CEO, of all in this workshop. Performance is sometimes called a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.
An expected performance can be defined, “that which an average trained, qualified operator will produce over a certain time period, working at good speed and effort.”
Expected performance must include all of the factors which are required, specifically including the time to perform the cyclic work elements, “as necessary” tasks such as aside the last and get the next material; setup, cleanup, break, lunch.
Expected performance is that work which is within the control of the operator; the operator generally does not control material flow and should not be held responsible for lack of material or the time lost waiting for it. The same theory holds true for quality of incoming material and of equipment delay; management must not hold an operator responsible for that.
2. C. 3. Preparation for time study
Note that there is no inherently right or wrong technique in the following sections; each can have a place where it is superior to others. Some techniques will fit your application, while others will be unlikely to achieve the accuracy and cost objectives.
a. What comes first, methods or work measurement?
This is a chicken-and-the-egg question which implies a linear relationship. In fact, methods and work measurement are a circular progression; perform one then the other alternately over time. If you start with methods improvement, quickly you will want to evaluate methods and you will have to time them to compare. Start with measurement, quickly you will identify other methods and will have to choose one. When Frederick Taylor wrote the book on work measurement in the late 1800’s, one of his first revelations was the relationship between methods and the time to perform them. As you write your own studies, you will confirm the relationship.
The only bad choice is to fail to start somewhere.
Taylor invented the concept of “The one best way” and the Gilbreths emphasized it as well. Their objective is to find the one best way, and require that operators follow that way. In these less rigorous times, a tendency may be to allow leeway in an operator’s motion pattern. But one standard method is required in the pharmaceutical industry, and electronics, where an operator’s ad lib can literally be a matter of life or death. A company is better off with “The one best way” for all the right reasons.
b. Ergonomics is not the topic of this document but a special note is worthwhile. Ergonomic work design is usually cost justified because if there is less stress there will be less cost, in both the short run and the long term. Avail yourself with current ideas about ergonomic work design and the furniture and furnishings available, Build the principles and hardware into your methods development; you and your employees will be grateful.
When work measurement is to address production activities that are in place already, there will usually be a set of descriptive and control documentation which was previously established. Familiarize yourself with that documentation which will include perhaps a router, operator instructions, specifications for the product.
2. C. 4. Individual variation
It is very educational to observe a really qualified operator. If you have seen other people first, you may have thought that you understood the job. A really good operator will work with a smoothness that less qualified do not have, good speed but not necessarily a killer pace. No missteps, no unnecessary motions. The better operators may also have a superior motion pattern, and if so you will want to teach it to others.
Better operators also have better quality. Check it out. Speed does not necessarily cause defects. Fast operators tend to repeat their motion patterns very closely, often “ballistic” motions, which are curved no square corners, and the repetition reduces mistakes.
Motivated operators, for instance those on a pay incentive, will exceed those who are not on incentive. An extremely effective operator is likely to be that combination of long experience, at a short cycle job, on incentive and wanting to earn, with exemplary quality. In such a case, a company incentive plan will pay for more output; both employee and employer achieve their goals.
Program Exercises for 2. C. 4: Individual Variation
• Does anyone on your production floor operate at such a pace?
• Can an operator maintain such a place over a normal shift?
• How many of these operations depend on a mechanical assist, a machine, a tool, a fixture, a material holder that speed up or control the dexterity on display? Or even an off-camera human assistant? (Answer; most of them.)
• And, are there any examples of non-value-added activity? Which would essentially be a very fast way to do work that’s unnecessary.
2. C. 5. Units of measure
Choose the units of measure carefully. Some will be clear; if the operator assembles a complete product, or subassembly, the unit of measure will be the product or subassembly. If a crew lays a brick wall, the units will be brick laid, hundreds or thousands. If a similar crew pours a concrete slab, the unit will be slabs, one but be sure to know how many square feet.
The other measure than output will be of input, usually man hours. The unit of input could as easily be man-seconds, or man-minutes, but man hours per unit (or per hundred or thousand), is easier to calculate and perform the arithmetic to apply the rate, both for operator measurement and for applications such as manning charts, capacity, and long-term labor requirements.
2. C. 6. Individual or crew standards
Usually it will be clear whether to develop and apply individual or crew measurement. As a general rule, individual rates are more accurate but require more work both to develop and to administer. If teamwork is really required, crew rates will probably be more satisfactory, although there may be complaints in either case that some people do not carry their fair load.
Team standards may be more difficult to study, to define closely, and to summarize if multiple possibilities for task assignment and sequence are possible. Find the best ways first, and study them. Concentrate here, as in all tasks, on the critical path, the constraint, the limiting activity.
2. C .7. Sequence
Plan the study after understanding the sequence. Determine the composition of the “elements” that you will record; they should be natural steps in the total cycle. It will help your study if there is a definite sound at the end of the element, so that you will be sure that the element is complete even if you don’t see it. Otherwise use a specific, clearly defined motion with a change of motion at the end. For instance, a put-away is a good end point of a cycle, with the first element of the next cycle to obtain the next part and move it to the work area. Subsequent elements could be steps in the overall cycle.
2. C. 8 Element length
Elements have to be long enough so that you can observe them, read the watch, and record the time before the next reading is due. (One advantage of electronic devices is that an observer can time shorter cycles much easier.) Otherwise, shorter cycles will define the work more accurately, as variations will be easier to identify. Shorter elements will usually lead to a more accurate standard, but require more work to observe and later in the office to total and average data. Shorter elements are more necessary for tasks of a short overall cycle, less necessary for longer cycle tasks.
Before the study, record the elements on the “time study form” or set up a list of elements on the hand-held screen, because during the study you will have little time to write.
Program Exercises for Manual 2. C:
D. On the floor
2. D. 1. Axioms, When you take a “time study”
a. Let everyone concerned know that you are making a study. When asked, answer questions about your purpose, objectives and technique as accurately as possible.
b. Stand up, never sit during the observations. Even when the operator is sitting.
c. Position yourself near the person or persons being studied, so you can observe the action.
d. Understand the actions being performed, and their “sequence”.
e. If there is something you don’t understand, ask. Do not assume. But don’t ask questions while the “clock” is running.
f. If the study is “continuous”, over several hours, take breaks and lunch when the one you study does.
g. Act professionally while in the workplace. Use appropriate safety equipment.
h. Study only trained, experienced “operators”. Study more than one operator if possible, on different shifts. Have different observers perform studies to be considered in the averages.
i. Observe only operators who use the accepted “best method” in order to establish a “rate”. If your purpose is to identify and quantify the method differences, view all the candidate methods.
2. D. 2. The study technique, while on the job
A number of forms have been prepared with which to conduct time study, and they are located near the guidelines. Please relate the form and instructions on how to fill them out.
The following is for time study with one or more watches. If you use an electronic device, perhaps a cell phone and an app, the mechanics will be different but the same steps will be required. You may perform some actions, or the app may do it for you, or data may be connected to an Excel sheet on a computer. Be sure that the app you choose has the detail to provide you with comprehensive answers.
a. Observe the operator actions for a few “cycles” in order to understand the sequence of events and your own technique.
There are two kinds of stopwatch studies, “continuous” and “snapback”.
If you use snapback, you must use a two or three watch board, set up stop one watch while snapping back and starting another. An advantage is that the observer can read a stopped watch hand instead of a moving one, the observed time.
Continuous timestudy uses one watch that is not reset. An advantage is that all time is accounted for; a disadvantage is that recorded times must be subtracted in the office later to get the observed time. (An app for a cell phone or pad often provides that service. There is a disadvantage however in that if you make a wrong entry, hit an incorrect button, recovery is not easy.)
Snapback takes no time to subtract in the office, but with continuous you will have a better audit trail in case of unexpected variation during the study; the watch continues to run as an accurate record. Generally if there is little variation in the work patterns, such as an individual short cycle job with consistent conditions, snapback will be very effective and accurate. If there is likely to be variation in sequence, or elements are long, or the unexpected may occur, or teamwork is involved then continuous study is preferred.
b. During observation, you will want to keep one eye on the watch and one eye on the operator. And one eye on the form where you enter the “reading”. This will take some practice for you to gain proficiency.
c. Read the watch to the second, or hundredth, but do not round off to the nearest 5 for instance.
d. Record the reading immediately to the time study form. Make and record a pace rating.
e. You may choose to record times with a pencil or a pen. If a pencil, the readings will tend to smudge and be indistinct. If a pen, you will make errors and have to cross out the entry. That actually can be beneficial because any error correction is part of the record. Plus, entries are easier to read when made with a pen.
f. If there is an obvious problem; an operator drops a tool or part, or a machine malfunctions, “red circle” the time to call attention to the instance on the form and explain it with a note. Later, determine if the situation should be allowed or not in the rate. A hand-held app will have a process too.
2. D. 3. Pace rating on the job
Pace rating during work measurement is an important factor because all operators do not perform the same. But please note, pace rating is unusual in that it is a subjective judgement, compared to the objective actions which constitute the remainder of work measurement.
a. “Pace rating” is composed of several factors.
One is effort, how hard a person works.
Two is skill, because a skillful person will produce more at less effort than a hard-working beginner.
A third factor is methods. Correct methods must be determined first, and the people trained. But occasionally even a trained operator will insert an incorrect method into a sequence.
Fourth is practice opportunity, or learning curve. Learning curve applies to individuals because a person never stops improving; the rate of improvement may decrease but not stop. The practical aspect of learning curve is that hand motions will become more and more smooth, and will repeat without conscious thought, through muscle memory. Motions become “ballistic”, arced, rather than straight lines and turns
Fifth is motivation. Even skillful trained workers can often increase performance when motivated through pay, pride, challenge, or other physical or emotional urge.
Six, and an ingredient of all, is quality. Many work measurement observers believe that the most skillful operators are the ones with the highest quality. It may sometimes be said that speed automatically causes a drop in quality. It may do so, but not with a skillful operator.
Operators when they are observed may artificially reduce their speed, or pick it up, for reasons of their own; the well known “Halo Effect”. Pace rating will minimize the negative effect of the Halo effect.
A work measurement observer must “pace rate” the person performing a job, and subjectively judge how the performance observed compares to the definition of an average, trained, operator working at a normal speed and effort; produces quality at a pace that may be sustained all day.
A skillful industrial engineer will be able to observe an operator during time study and record a pace rating. The engineer will use a watch to record times, then multiply the observation by pace rating to create what is called “allowed time” for a task. Allowed time is the time required for an average (but trained) operator working at average skill and effort to perform a given task. If an operator takes ten seconds to do an element and is rated at 120%, the allowed time is 12 seconds.
However, different portions of a job may be done with different skill and effort, so it is best to apply a pace rating to each job element.
It is not at all uncommon for workers to perform at higher levels of output than 100%.
There are modern websites for pace rating discussion and training on the internet as mentioned in the Preliminary Analysis. But they are not very helpful. What is the best way to pace rate? The six-factor method, while subjective, at least recognizes components of levelling that actually contribute to pace. To that, add a consensus among practitioners, that they agree generally on a “normal” rate, that which an average trained operator, working with good speed and effort, can produce quality product all day.
b. High task, low task
Many believe that there are two tiers of performance, high task and low task, Low task is considered to define jobs which are not carefully measured, have not had all waste activity removed, do not have an incentive pay rate, are relatively long cycle jobs without being completely repetitive.
High task jobs would be on incentive, short cycle, carefully measured, highly repetitive.
You might see 120% performance against a high or low task job, but if standards are well set a very high performance should be uncommon. If you set a low task standard, and then start paying an incentive rate for the job, performance could easily be 140% or more.
Program Exercises for Pace Rating, Manual 2. D 3:
• Which steps are operator controlled and which machine controlled?
• Compared to a normal, well-trained operator working with good speed and effort, how does the person in the video perform on operator-controlled steps?
• Do you notice any instances of non-value-added activity which could be eliminated from the job?
• How do the pace ratings in the videos generally compare to those in your organization?
If the workshop location allows, as a group effort, go to a production floor and observe actual operations firsthand. Pace rate some operations and discuss what the ratings should be, and develop a consensus.
Over time, repeat the group exercise periodically to keep a group concept as to what a normal, well-trained operator working with good speed and effort, should produce.
2. D. 4. Cyclical and non-cyclical elements
Elements which are performed for each cycle are easy to observe and account for. “As necessary”, or non-cyclic, elements are those which are necessary to keep an operation going. They typically include acts such as aside a full container of finished parts, get a new container of parts to assemble, refill a supply container, fill out a required document, receive instructions, workplace maintenance that the operator is responsible for. Necessary but non-cyclical work may include set up, put away, clean, talk to supervisor; they must be observed and built into a standard at the frequency with which they occur.
Pace rate non-cyclical elements. Non-cyclical elements should not include delay; do not include wait for materials, or outside maintenance.
2. D. 5. Tips
a. You will find that you reduce the possibility of error or misunderstanding on a non-repetitive study when elements are not too long; read the watch and record times fairly often. You as the observer will not always know what is to be done next, and there will be occurrences when you do not understand the action, or lack of it. Eventually, you will ask or sort out the action, but some period of elapsed time may be poorly defined. Probably you will want to disregard, toss out, the poorly defined time. If you have recorded time frequently, the length of the poorly defined sequence will be minimized.
b. Activity of people as they interact with machines is often a factor in many jobs. People can load and unload machines, or load and someone elsewhere unloads; people may activate and wait; they may tend a nominally automatic machine. Interaction with a keyboard or computer is quite common.
A classic distinction relates to waiting; does the machine wait on the person or does the person wait on the machine? The terms “internal” and ‘’external’ are used to define operator work; an internal element is performed by a person while the machine is performing its function. An external element is done by a person while the machine waits.
Which is the bottleneck, or constraint? Usually the objective will be to keep the bottleneck busy, loaded; don’t let the constraint wait on material or maintenance or an operator.
A good visual tool is called a “man – machine chart”. First it is necessary to time the work of the people and of the machine. The man – machine chart then is simply a plot of the times, to represent what happens and when. Specifically it is useful to determine how to reduce the cycle time.
c. Be aware that machine speeds are not necessarily fixed, they may be sped up or slowed down. There is probably an optimum speed that will yield the most effective performance considering machine and operator wait times, product quality, machine reliability and maintenance. If the process is critical, a test might be justified to find optimum settings.
d. As you time a crew operation, with one watch running, you may want to record multiple elemental times; to note the time when a particular sub-task is complete, or milestone completed. Such added detail will increase your understanding of time required and of crew interaction.
e. Lost. Someday the operator you are observing will lose you, by stepping through a door or up a stair or into an elevator. It will happen. Smile it off, and go on about your business.
Program exercises
There are no program exercises at this point, because we have not introduced the work measurement forms yet.
Course Manual 3: Time Study Instructions And Forms
This section of workshop #2 presents very useful forms and worksheets
for various kinds of observation. Each form is presented in the .jpeg format, so that you may copy and use them. Instructions, general and specific, for using the forms to time study are provided as well.
Principles of time study and work measurement have classically been applied to industrial situations, but they are also very useful to quantify what actually happens in many other situations; health care, construction, warehousing, back office, distribution, service, business.
3.1. Time Study Is Not Rocket Science, But It Is Possible To Get In Big-Time Trouble With Incorrect Application. Briefly,
You May Be Time-Studying The Wrong Thing In The First Place
• Very basically: the activity you choose to study, is it really necessary? Is it a value-added cost, in that the customer is willing to pay for it? Question one ought to be, should you remove the activity entirely?
• If you are after product cost improvement, labor may not be the best place to look. In your standard cost breakdown, is the job you consider large enough to make a difference? If you cut the time in half, will the result be meaningful? Can you get a better return, by chasing a bigger rabbit?
• If you are studying capacity or output, which is a very appropriate use for time study, study first the constraint operations, the bottlenecks.
Technical Time Study Errors Can Lead To Unsatisfactory Results
• You do not want to report a result that will prove to be incorrect.
• The resulting rate you develop will, not may but will, be unreliable if you measure untrained people; study an un-documented or un-approved method, fail to evaluate output quality during the study; record an inadequate number of observations; don’t use performance rating to recognize employee variation as to skill, effort, and pace.
• You will create an expected output rate that asks employees to produce much less than the correct number, if you do not develop the most effective method in the first place through methods study, don’t perform workplace layout analysis, don’t balance the interaction with other workers and machines, don’t identify and manage constraints on production.
3.2. Useful Forms And Worksheets, And Instructions
Useful forms, at least before I-phones and Androids, included time study observation forms, flow charts, multiple activity charts.
Several forms and instructions, for stopwatch study are described here. The .jpeg forms themselves follow the instructions.
Instructions for Repetitive Time Study Observation Sheet
Use for repetitive stop-watch time study, (a digital watch works very well) when the same elements repeat every cycle, and the work is performed by one operator.
Obtain permission from production management to study. Introduce yourself to the operators, answer any questions they may have about your objectives and technique. Stand out of the way, with a clear view of operations. If the operator is required to move around during the activity, move with them.
On the form, fill in the date, name, location, description, and so forth.
Observe the operation without the watch running until you understand the sequence of operations. This period of time will also allow the operator to get used to the fact that an observer is present.
Then, determine what should be the composition of each element. For any operation an element should be a distinct portion of the operation, of a length that can be timed, giving the observer an opportunity to read the watch and fill in the form. A very short-cycle job might contain only one element. For operations with more than one element, select ending points to an element that are easy to detect; a sound is an excellent ending point. Otherwise, perhaps choose an obvious motion that the operator makes; to get the next object or aside a finished one perhaps. When you see that motion, it is the end of one element and the start of the next.
Fill in the name that you have assigned to the elements, next to the element number.
Record readings, the beginning point and the ending point. Note that, on the form, the line for “stop” is above the line for “start”, this is because when you subtract to get the elapsed time, it is easier to subtract the bottom number from the top number
Do not normally subtract to get the observed time while you are on the floor doing a study. If the elements are long enough you might have the time to do so, but it is generally better to use the time to observe what the operator is doing. Wait until you get back in the office to subtract for the elapsed time.
Pace rate the operator, and enter the reading in the column marked “level” while at the workstation. For an experienced operator, you may well level the entire study at the same number, but it is not uncommon for even experienced operators to be more skillful at some portions of the job than at others.
Instructions For Time Study, Common Tasks In Random Order
This form Is designed for time study of an operation, during which an operator performs a standard list of activities which do not always follow the same sequence. There are many examples in manufacturing of assignments which do not follow a standard sequence. An example could be a stock handler who performs similar operations for different manufacturing machines or production lines. Truck driver is another example of one whose work pattern is inconsistent.
Non-repetitive studies are mechanically harder to perform then repetitive studies are. The observer must be prepared for whatever sequence the operator performs. The data collected probably will not fill up every square on the study form, but there will be explanatory notes throughout. Be sure to have plenty of non-repetitive study observation forms before you start.
The first step in this type of work measurement is to list all of the operations. If for example an operation has the same components but is on a different machine, each should be identified separately. Enter these operations into the form, each into one of the 12 numbered boxes at the top.
When taking the time study, identify an element, enter who is performing the work, one per line, and enter the number of the element performed, followed by the start and stop times which you observe. Pace rate, and make notes to the right of the line.
Later, subtract to obtain the elapsed times, and summarize the study.
Instructions for Non-Repetitive Time Study Observation Sheet
Use for non-repetitive stop-watch time study, (a digital watch works very well) when the same elements do not repeat every cycle but vary, and the work is performed by one operator.
Perhaps the observation form entitled “Random” will be a superior form for your use, as this nonrepetitive observation sheet is for observing completely unstructured activity.
Obtain permission from production management to study. Introduce yourself to the operators, answer any questions they may have about your objectives and technique. Stand out of the way, with a clear view of operations. If the operator is required to move around during the activity, move with them.
On the form, fill in the date, name, location, description, and so forth.
Observe the operation without the watch running until you understand the sequence of operations. This period of time will also allow the operator to get used to the fact that an observer is present.
Non-repetitive studies are mechanically harder to perform then repetitive studies are. The observer must be prepared for whatever sequence the operator performs. The data collected probably will not fill up every square on the study form, but there will be explanatory notes throughout. Be sure to have plenty of non-repetitive study observation forms before you start.
During this study, the observer will have to determine what should be the composition of each element, as the study progresses. For any operation an element should be a distinct portion of the operation, of a length that can be timed, giving the observer an opportunity to read the watch and fill in the form. Select ending points to an element that are easy to detect; a sound is an excellent ending point. Otherwise, perhaps choose an obvious motion that the operator makes; to get the next object or aside a finished one perhaps. When you see that motion, it is the end of one element and the start of the next.
Fill in the name that you have assigned to the elements, to the right of the times.
Record readings, the beginning point and the ending point. Note that the column for “stop” is left of the column for “start”, this is because when you subtract to get the elapsed time, it is easier to subtract the right number from the left number.
Do not normally subtract to get the observed time while you are on the floor doing a study. If the elements are long enough you might have the time to do so, but it is generally better to use the time to observe what the operator is doing. Wait until you get back in the office to subtract for the elapsed time.
Pace rate the operator, and enter the reading in the column marked level, but do not fill in the column marked allow, until you’re back in the office.
Instructions To Measure Unstructured Work With A Handheld Device
Use of a handheld device to measure non-repetitive work can theoretically be much easier than with a watch and clipboard. But if things go wrong and you get lost in the study, then you may as well just start over.
In advance, set up the handheld device by entering the elements on the screen. Sequence is not important, arrange elements in a reasonable manner and color-code the elements. Them study, observe the operator and at the end of an element, touch the screen on that name. The handheld will do the rest. Better keep a clipboard handy for notes, just in case.
Flow Chart, Flow Process Chart
A Flow Chart defines five possible activities; operation, work, transport, inspect, delay, store. Note that four of these five possibilities do not add value, so first eliminate the non-value-added functions.
Flow charting can provide insights into product flow and processes in an office or warehouse or factory, and also the movement of paper, the assignment of work, a customer interface, a service call.
A trained work measurement practitioner should always keep the concept of flow charting close at hand. In essentially all of the operations that the practitioner will be called upon to perform, the flow-charting step should be taken very early in the sequence.
Lean 6 Sigma has listed more non-value-added activities into its work, and reach seven varieties of waste: Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Over-Processing, and Defects
Some of these additional activities have to do with management strategy, such as building up inventory. Be sure to refer to that body of work particularly as you are dealing with broader aspects of productivity. This program will cover the topics in workshop 5.
A form with instructions to prepare a flow chart follows. It is designed for workplace operations. Be sure to eliminate the non-value-added activity.
Observe the operation or combination of several tasks, closely. Identify when a movement changes from one kind of activity to another. Waste motions may seem to be an integral part of a longer motion, when in fact it is unnecessary.
There is another useful concept in here that is not formally recorded but you should be alert to it. Some motions can only be categorized as awkward, and when you recognize one even if it is part of a productive task, mark it for improvement.
Multiple Activity Charts, Two Forms
Show relationship and the timing of work elements or activities done, by different people, people and machines, or hands. For activities done in parallel, it is often beneficial to define how tasks relate. Common uses of the multiple activity charts include:
1. Man – machine chart
A man-machine chart is useful if a machine requires a significant amount of time to perform its function. If the machine cycle is a controlling factor, the objective will be to keep the machine producing at the shortest cycle time, by arranging operator work during the time that the machine performs its activity. Such work is called “internal” to the cycle, while operator work performed during the time that the machine is idle is called “external” to the cycle.
Activity by two or more people, or machines, can use this form as well.
Record the manual motions on the left side of the chart, and the machine portions on the right-hand side. list the elements of work on one line that happened at the same time, so that you can see graphically what actions occur in parallel.
Define the regular work elements both machine-paced and operator-paced, in order to find interference, when a machine or person prevents another person or machine from adding value. Then arrange work to minimize interference.
You will want to place as much manual work as possible “internal” to the period when the machine is working, and as little “external” as possible, so that there is minimum wait for the constraining element. If at times, the human portion is constraining, then tried to design some machine work internal to that.
At this stage, you will want to consider the most effective relationship of machines and operators. One person for each 2 machines, or 3, or 4? Two people per 3 machines, or 4? Seven people per 13 machines? Machine cycles and operator cycles often create interference unless you are clever with assignments.
If labor cost is low and machines are expensive, keep the machines busy by assigning more people. Especially if the machine is a constraint for a larger group of equipment. Assign more people if you need more capacity, and if you make a profit on the product.
After you have designed the operation as well as possible, there may still be interference because of mismatch in cycles, or unexpected malfunction or breakdown.
If interference is due to random breakdown, or jam up, or unpredictable cycle variation, there are two actions to take. First determine the frequency and duration of interference by observation or record-keeping. Correct the problem if possible. Second, once you have at last done all that you can do, allow for the interference. Use time study or work sampling to define how often the interference occurs, and add it as an allowance to the expectation.
2. Right hand / left hand chart, to breakdown work closely.
Objectives can be to balance work between hands, remove ergonomic stress, identify when a fixture can perform work done by a hand, and further remove non-value-added elements. This analysis is especially useful in short cycle, repetitive tasks.
Pre-determined time literature will tell you that some hand motions can be done simultaneously, that the right hand and the left hand can both perform work at the same time. Other more difficult motions can be performed skimo only with practice, and other most difficult motions can’t be done at the same time.
Hand motions can be simplified, and made easier from the ergonomic standpoint and from the dexterity required. Feed parts, present them prepositioned, use fixtures, rests, slides, stops.
Program Exercises For Course Manual 3, Time Study Instruction And Forms
Course Manual 4: Administration Of Rates
This course manual covers the activities following work measurement on the production floor.
A. After the study
B. Files and maintenance
C. Issue the rates
D. Manual for Incentive Practice
E. Glossary
F. A model plan for Work Measurement
A. After The Study
1. Arithmetic In General
The practitioner observes work, reads a watch, and writes down on the time study form that time, called the observed time. The practitioner also writes down a pace rating. Later in the office, multiply the observed time by the pace rating and the result is the normal time.
All normal times for a particular element, or task, are averaged for all operators who are observed. Allowances are then added to the average normal time, and the result is called the standard time.
2. Each Study
Treat each study as an entity; do all the arithmetic and summarize findings. Do it quickly while the study is still fresh in your mind.
Subtract if you have a continuous study, to find all of the individual observed times. Multiply them by the pace rating factor. Total, divide by number of observations and average. Enter all of the data for the study, description, total reading, number of observations, and average. Summarize any notes made. Determine the disposition of any “red circled” data.
3. Running Summary Of Studies For A Job
Start a running summary for each job or set of data. Enter each study into the running summary, and calculate the results of all data to date. Determine when there is enough data to yield the statistical accuracy. Judge when other operators, other shifts, should be studied.
When data are sufficient, write out the complete operation, and apply allowances.
4. Allowances
Allowances should be added into and become a part of standard rates in order to account for employee break and lunch and trips to the rest room. There is also often a consideration for factors that may appear such as physical effort, atmospheric conditions, protective clothing, weight, ergonomic strain, visual effort. These factors may be a legal requirement, or a part of contractual negotiations, or part of management policy.
You will find, experience says, that measurement is easier to administer arithmetically if you build allowances in. First quantify the work time, perhaps 8 or 8.5 or 12 hours. Then convert the allowances to hours, and subtract from the nominal work shift. For instance, with an 8.5-hour shift, subtract .5 hours for lunch; .5 hours for work and rest room breaks; .1 hour end-of-shift clean up; .2 hours equivalent for fatigue. Subtract 1.3 hours from 8.5; operators are expected to be on the job and working 7.2 hours per shift. Divide 8.5 by 7.2, and the allowance factor is 1.18. Multiply this factor by the average normal time in total and the result will be the minutes allowed for production as you have studied.
A very satisfactory unit for a rate is hours per thousand pieces; or per each in the case of spaceships. The reciprocal is pieces per hour, which is good information for workers to know what is expected of them.
In actual practice when you apply the standard over 8 hours everything will workout correctly. But on a day when there is extensive downtime, and the operator only is at the work station four or five or six hours, the actual percentages of allowances will be off. Rates are for average performance, and won’t be arithmetically perfect in every case.
5. Final Touches, After You Determine The Standard Time And The Rate Required.
• Prepare a set of operator instructions for the job as studied.
• Get approval, file, publish rate and instructions. Enter the new rate into whichever management tools are fed by the standards.
The detail of this step will depend on the organization and its practices and procedures. All who have been involved in the development of the rate should sign off, the department manager, and production.
File the right in the archives of the group which develops it, with enough entries into the indexes that detail may be found when the time is necessary.
Go back over the last section, note points that may have an effect on operations with which you are familiar. Discuss examples
Program Exercises for Course Manual 4. A: After the study
B. Files And Maintenance
1. Standard Data
“Standard data” is a formal collection of information, simply a library, the data base that you have accumulated. Standard data should be a part of your work measurement tool kit, especially because it is so easy in the computer age.
This program will not instruct on exactly how your filing system should be set up and operated. Most individuals, and organizations, have a practice or a standard established already, so use that, electronic or hard copy.
Work measurement data may be obtained, organized and collated from any source; for instance from predetermined times or time study observations of similar operations.
A key is to define operations, or elements, with a descriptive name as you file and index them, just exactly what the topic is. Then later search the files, when you have a new operation, and you seek similar actions or motions or elements of work which have been timed already.
After the library has enough data to be accurate, it may be possible to apply standard data to determine a new rate, the time to perform future work in instances with similar circumstances, so that rates are consistent. Even then check, with observation and timing, to verify consistency.
2. Routine Rate Maintenance
Routinely, monitor operator attainment against the rates which have been issued. Operators will be quick to tell you about “tight” rates, and not so much when one is considered “loose”.
The question of when to change an officially issued rate can be a difficult one. It is best to create an official policy and to insert it into a formal work measurement manual.
A valid reason for change is if there has been a mechanical change to machinery, or a necessary change in the operator method. These reasons can result in either and up or down change, but changes in manufacturing are most often intended to raise output. A well performed rate will contain enough detail to explain exactly what the method and equipment was at the time the rate was issued.
If there is no apparent reason for a significant variation between the rate and daily performance at the work station, the question is more difficult. Another work measurement effort may explain. And of course not all operators are created equal as far as dexterity, skill, and effort are concerned. If a change is less than 5%, further time study will not necessarily define a difference because of the limitations of work measurement.
C. Issue The Rates
To everyone who has an interest
Set up a formal but simple distribution list, to finance for standard costing, to the group which calculates daily performance, to whoever issues Key Performance Indicators. If production maintains a list of rates, send the new one there. If there is a group responsible for capacity calculations, be sure they or aware of the rate. If there are groups who determine the need for direct labor headcount be sure that they get a copy. If Cost Reduction is formal, send a rate; as well if the new rate is at all connected with an employee or management suggestion.
D. Manual for Incentive Practice
This sample manual is written for an incentive payment, and will be more formal than needed for a non-incentive application.
Have a thorough examination of all that the entity places in writing, by legal, financial, HR.
Explain the overview and purposes of the final plan as approved by management, legal, and financial resources.
Explain in detail the components and operations of the particular incentive payment plan that you develop, such as:
1. Eligibility
a. Relation to federal and state minimum wage laws
Workers on incentive must still be paid at least the minimum wage, state or Federal. All work hours must be considered in the minimum wage calculation. As a result, carefully record all hours and production amounts. As the program is administered, we will compare earnings with incentive, and compare them to minimum wage laws, to assure that the letter of the law is followed.
b. Hourly
Hourly employees in the following areas will (will not) participate:
c. Direct supervision will (will not) participate:
d. Support staff will (will not) participate:
e. Management will not participate in the incentive plan.
2. Roll out timing is expected to be as follows:
• Rates issued for review
• Transition period, rates paid but still under active review
• Rates into full effect
3. Hourly pay plan
a. Incentive payment does not change the base pay amount. Incentive payment is completely independent of pay scale.
The incentive percentage is calculated for the time period, and the pay amount earned is determined by multiplying the percentage earned times the base rate. Thus, if an employee earns 115% for a particular number of hours, paid earnings will be the base rate times 115%.
b. Individual rates
Incentive rates may be set for individuals, as work is primarily performed alone, with little dependence on the contribution of others other than material handling.
c. Team rates
Incentive rates may be set for teams, crews or groups, as work depends primarily on the interaction of different participants. Successful performance can be achieved by cooperation and assistance, by balancing the workload equitably, by maintaining smooth product flow.
d. Quality standards
Quality standards for work apply to incentive conditions. Hours spent by employees to correct quality issues for which they are responsible will be applied as are other work hours.
e. Treatment of non-standard conditions
Non-standard conditions can include times when there is no material available, when incoming material is at an unacceptable level, when a custom job requires special care, when equipment performance is abnormal, when working conditions or crew assignments are irregular. In these instances, the normal production rates can be suspended, and base pay rates will apply.
f. Reporting of activity from the workplace; timesheets, batch records, etc.
Workplace reporting will be designed to provide for all the time and output variables of the activity, and especially to assure that all provisions of state and federal pay laws are followed.
g. Reporting of performance back to participants
Summaries of actual performance against expectations will be posted for review on the day following the activity.
4. Hourly pay plan calculation detail
All elements of an incentive plan should be completely open and transparent; all rates, factors and participation stated; calculations done and results published speedily. Participant should be able to calculate their own percentage results.
Typically, the process for hourly employees will follow the following routine:
a. Employees report, daily, their production output and type, hours, delay, and other pertinent information.
b. A system administrator will enter the reported information into the mechanism for calculation, manual, electronic spreadsheet, electronic program, or subcontracted service.
c. Instances will occur where more information is required; the administrator will reconcile these.
d. The administrator will calculate performance, in terms of percentage against expected, and will post the results for participants to view.
e. Participants should calculate their own performance, and ask about any discrepancy that they perceive.
f. Daily results will be accumulated into weekly and pay period summaries.
g. The administrator will compare incentive earnings to minimum wage pay, and set payroll accordingly. A summary of these calculations for each employee will be maintained, on paper and / or electronically to meet appropriate laws.
h. Timing of incentive payments
Incentive payments will be made at the time of the next normally scheduled paycheck. The pay period may be set to allow time for payroll calculation and administration.
5. Supervisory, or support, pay plan (if you choose to apply one)
Supervision and support personnel can have a significant effect on the performance of their employees. Supervisors and support typically assign work; form crews and work groups; arrange for materials, tools, equipment; schedule; motivate; set priorities; troubleshoot problems; pass on information; report results.
In order to encourage and reward good performance, there is a completely separate supervisory and / or support aspect to the incentive plan. Participation by supervisors does not diminish the payment to employees on other incentive programs.
a. Basis of incentive pay
The performance of departments and functions over the course of a time frame (choose one) will determine supervisory and support incentive pay.
b. Timing of incentive payments
A supervisor will be paid the incentive amount at the time of the first paycheck following the completion of the month for which the incentive applies.
6. Management discretionary control
The company reserves the right to modify the incentive plan. The objective is to make it as fair as possible, and to motivate employees to take action to reduce project costs while producing a quality product.
Published rates may be modified under the following conditions: (spell out).
It is possible that not all personnel will have an equal opportunity to earn incentives in any given month, but over time opportunity should tend to even out.
E. Work Measurement Glossary Terms
These terms commonly apply across all aspects of work measurement. This glossary will summarize the definition of each term.
Term – Definition
Allowance – a factor added to the required time to perform an operation, to compensate for such as lunch, break, gowning, physical effort, atmospheric conditions, protective clothing, weight, ergonomic strain, visual effort.
As-necessary – portions of an otherwise repetitive job which are only infrequently repeated; also known as non-cyclic
Balanced line – a group of workers, who will be most effective with essentially equal work loads; which is easier said than done.
Benefits of work measurement – the reasons why work measurement can benefit an organization.
Best method – the accepted and approved work pattern to perform a task
BOP – Basic operating procedure, the approved authorized sequence of events, or work pattern to perform a task. Also known as Standard Operating Procedure, SOP, or standard method.
Bottleneck – the operation that limits a sequence of events; also called a constraint.
Clock, watch – a timepiece for work measurement
Constraint – the operation that limits a sequence of events, bottleneck. Note that as one constraint is removed, another will automatically appear.
Continuous time study – observation and timing of work in which the watch runs continuously.
Crew standard – measurement of the work and performance of a crew working together.
Cycle – time from beginning to end, for instance of the work to complete one cycle of an operator or machine; time from order receipt to order shipment; time from material receipt to order shipment.
Cyclic element – a portion of a job which is part of the repetitive sequence.
Day Work – is a term used for payment of hourly employees when the content of the activity performed has not been observed nor evaluated.
Electronic work study – A modern handheld device, “smart” cell phone, tablet, or PDA can provide a superior technique to perform time study or work sampling. For most effective results, the device and the program should
a) allow timing and pace rating of individual elements, flexibility because elements don’t always follow routine, note-taking for comments, and
b) link to a spreadsheet for study setup, element description, and downloading of data for calculation and analysis after the study.
The state of the art for both hardware and software moves rapidly, so search the internet for the latest reviews by members of the work measurement universe. Some applications are offered by professional work measurement vendors, some are very low cost.
Element – a basic, discrete portion of a job or a cycle, a step
Expectation – what is expected, used often in this program for all levels of an organization. Results are best when the expectation is written and well known, when there is accountability, and when results are monitored.
Expected performance – that which an average trained, qualified operator will produce over a certain time period, working at good speed and effort.
External time – the time for work that must be performed by an operator outside the machine operating cycle.
Fatigue – the effect on the body resulting from work activity during the day.
Fatigue allowances – an amount of time allowed to compensate for fatigue during the shift.
Group standard – measurement of the work and performance of a group working together, also called crew standard
Halo effect, – Reaction of those being studied, caused by the attention to their activity.
Hawthorne studies – refers to studies in 1920’s at Hawthorne Works of Western Electric, to determine if working conditions affected productivity.
Handheld device, – see electronic work study
Incentive, incentives – the concept of payment directly associated with the amount of work done, and the formal system for administering the relationship and payment. Piece rate is an example if incentives.
Individual standard – measurement of the work and performance of an individual operator
Internal time – the time for work that may be performed by an operator during the machine operating cycle.
Lean – Modern techniques based on the Toyota Production System; with two main pillars to eliminate waste and to respect employees.
Learning curve – A theory and application developed in the aerospace industry to predict the cost of production after manufacturers gain experience. It predicts that the cost will drop at a constant rate as the cumulative output quantity doubles. The constant rate is not always the same, depending on characteristics of the product and process, but it seems to be within a few points of 85%. Learning curve is generally considered to refer to labor content, can be more broadly applied to an entire operation, because engineers and planners and managers get smarter over time too, and tools and materials are improved.
Learning curve was developed for long cycle production such as airplanes and rockets. It seems to have an application also to short cycle consumer products, but the constant rate of improvement will also differ depending on process factors.
Line balance – to place elements of work with selected operators for the purpose of equalizing workloads
Man-machine chart – a chart of activity and time to relate the relationships of man and machine.
Method – the sequence of events, or work pattern to perform a task
Method study – the formal tool to develop and document the most effective method to perform an operation or work element. The objective is to find the one best way, and require that operators follow that way. One standard method is required in the pharmaceutical industry, and electronics, where an operator’s ad lib can literally be a matter of life or death.
Motion study – the technique of observing and improving motion patterns and methods.
Non-cyclic element – a portion of an otherwise routine job which are not part of the repetitive sequence.
Non-repetitive – work which is infrequently repeated during the course of a workday
Normal – regular, routine, every day, average
Normal pace – the rate of an average, trained experienced operator working with good speed and effort.
Normal time – time required to perform a task at normal pace
Number of observations – required to generate accurate results.
Observed time – the time used by an operator to perform a task recorded during a time study
Observer – the person performing a time study
Operator – the subject of a time study
Pace rate, pace rating – the term used to judge the work done by an operator in relation to normal pace.
Practice opportunity – frequent performance as similar operations are performed over time; typically improves output.
Pre-determined times – are proprietary systems that have over long observation determined the amount of time required for basic motions.
Quality level – can be affected by tooling, process, materials, human performance at least. A given quality level will be expected from an operation as a result of the combination of these factors. The quality level cannot be inspected in; it can only be built in by adjustment of the factors that determine it.
Rate – another word for a standard, or expectation
Reading – a time entry recorded by an observer during a time study
Reasonable expectancies – output that can reasonably be turned out by an employee not on incentive, working at good speed and effort.
Red circle – identify an instance during a time study that appears to be non-standard, may or not be allowed.
Repetitive – work which is frequently performed during the course of a workday
Random sampling – observation and recording of work at random times to represent typical activity.
Sequence – order of occurrence, especially steps or elements within work activity
“Smart” phone, “smart” cell phone – hand-held devices used in electronic work study, requires an app, and not all time study apps are created equal. Try an app out, while it is free, before you commit to buy. But purchased apps have more features than free ones.
Snapback time study – observation and timing of work in which multiple watches are used, one of which is reset to zero after each element.
Standard, time standard – an expectation, developed to quantify an objective amount of work
Standard data – a composite library of information developed by time studies and their summaries, useful to provide future information
Standard method – the approved authorized sequence of events, or work pattern to perform a task
Standard time – the time needed to produce a defined amount of work by a qualified worker when following a standard method and working at an all-day pace under standard working conditions and to a prescribed quality level.
Time study – the technique of quantifying expected performance objectively with timed observation.
Time study form – the paper used to record activity and time.
Units of measure – expression of quantification; frequency and dimension used to define a value
Value added – activity that increases the worth of the product or output, as opposed to waste effort or delay.
Work measurement – the category that includes time study, work sampling, predetermined times.
Work measurement is useful to quantify many operational opportunities, and capacity, utilization and constraints are excellent examples.
Work sampling – observation and recording of work at random times to represent typical activity
Program exercises for Course Manual 4. E: Glossary
F. A Model Plan To Establish Work Measurement
A model plan to establish work measurement will include many of these factors, more or less in this sequence. The scope, degree of emphasis, the amount of formality, the priority of action will depend on the particular organization, and on the purpose for which work measurement is intended. For instance, if incentives are the main objective, then formality of administration will be more important than if line balance is the main purpose.
1. Define the mission of work measurement
List, and prioritize, the purposes that your organization wishes and expects to achieve, perhaps from the list below:
• Quantify expectations for output
• Set staffing levels according to demand
• Balance workloads
• Isolate, remove unnecessary work elements
• Find, relieve and manage constraints
• Improve work methods, productivity
• Establish pay incentives
• Build results into scheduling and forecasting
• Create standard labor costs for financial reasons
• Measure individually or on a crew or group basis
2. Define target group
Such as, one or more particular departments or sections
• Direct, or indirect, or material handling, or clerical
• Manual or machine related
• People or process / equipment
• Constraint, or high cost, area
• Where staffing level is questioned, or workloads are disputed
3. Select the most effective work measurement technique for the purpose
Time study and predetermined times are both acceptable mechanisms to collect the information necessary for work measurement, even to support an incentive system. Work sampling may supplement either, but doesn’t collect the detail alone to serve as a measurement foundation, and certainly not for incentives.
4. Outline approach and timetable
• Expected benefits, and an appropriate budget to implement
• Phased approach or concentrated
• Amount of resources to be applied, will affect the calendar time
• Ongoing or one-time project
5. Identify internal resources
• not only to measure work but also to administer and maintain the resulting system.
• People on the staff who are qualified in work measurement
• Of the qualified people, who is able to devote adequate time to measurement
• Where in the organization chart the responsibility should lie?
• Reporting path to top management
• Support staff, especially supervisory, IT and clerical who will administer the system
6. Select any external resources, for training or performance
• From review of internal people, will they need help? If so,
• Best path is to use outside resources to
• train, or lead, or perform entirely?
• train initially, then perform in-house?
• supplement, on site or with virtual assistance?
• Any equipment required for study or maintenance?
7. Communicate
• Within the organization, up or down
• With people especially those directly involved
• With employee groups such as unions
8. Initiate study
• Involve the resources needed, in-house and outside.
• Train, plan specific actions
• Communicate closely with the first people involved
• Perform the first studies, summarize and publish
9. Review results
Feedback, compare results, communicate up and down, mid-course corrections
10. Retain data
Set up data libraries and reference systems
11. Follow-on studies
Continue study, more areas, products, detail. Summarize, draw conclusions, set rates, publish. Discuss to find potential problems, clarify, resolve.
12. Establish reporting and administrative procedures
• Establish how activity is reported
• Detail how reports lead to follow-up management action
• Assign IT and clerical functions to report and follow-up
13. Build results into management procedures
• Go through the list of management tools, cost, capacity, scheduling, pricing, etc. and structure the mechanisms to use the now-available results and data.
• Keep libraries in order so that they are correct and accessible.
• Set up a standards maintenance system, because conditions change; there are new products, equipment and processes.
• Establish guidance to activate re-study, initiate studies as necessary.
• Monitor actual practice to for adherence to established methods and techniques, and to suggest better ones.
14. Formal incentives administration
Formal manuals or guidelines for incentive or piecework pay system will be necessary, which will contain more detail than for non-incentive measurement. See your lawyer and CPA. This section outlines the topics to address in your organization’s personalized manual.
15. A cover letter from management, prior to development of incentives
Explain the company’s intention, mentioning such subjects as:
Incentives benefit both employees and management. Employees will know what performance is expected and will have the opportunity to earn more as they perform more productively. The company will be able to schedule more accurately and to improve the estimating and job costing procedures. Typically, employees who earn incentives will reduce cycle times as they do so, so that product sales to customers increase in the same elapsed time.
The company has asked (professional engineering firms, CPA, law firms) to participate. They will help to improve methods, tools, and workplace layout; reduce delay; improve flow; install reporting, integrate results with financial statements and payroll; meet applicable laws and regulations.
Workers on incentive will still be paid at least the minimum wage, Federal or state.
The company will determine exactly who is eligible but expects to include hourly employees, and / or direct supervision, and / or support people; as the company intends. Management members are not included in the incentive.
Timing is expected to be as follows:
• Start of study
• Draft set of rates published for study
• Final revision of rates
• Rates into full effect
Program Exercises for Course Manual 4.
Course Manual 5: The Art Of Work Sampling
Work sampling is one tool that can be useful to measure work through observation and note-taking. Work sampling is a most effective way to learn quickly about a situation with several interdependent activities, perhaps a department or section. It can even be used to understand general aspects of repetitive functions where many people perform the same work. And of course it quantifies delay and non-cyclic activity quite well.
Please note that continuous time study is also a work sample; the way that time study is performed is just all at once whereas random sampling is spread out over a longer time. There is little difference in philosophy, just in logistics.
A. Work sample, or random sample;
the old term was ratio delay. Originally “ratio delay” determined the amount of work, and of delay, through work observation at random times, not continually. Work sample is a more modern phrase, but measures the same way, not continually but randomly. Work sample can be used widely, to observe and generate information about any actual activities of people, or equipment, or processes.
In practice, work sampling may be done in person or with video recording. One operation may be observed, or multiple operations and people, allied or dissimilar.
A very good approach is to conduct work sampling of multiple operations more or less continually to learn generally what goes on in a work center. When doing so, record work, delay and interference instances fairly definitively, while asking questions; what and why. See how work is assigned and followed, what other people interrelate.
An effective practice is to quantify a wide variety of activities and their frequencies with work sampling. Later, if you need to learn more detail, zero in on the most important specific work with time study.
B. Observer bias
An observer can introduce bias into a study. Consciously or unconsciously an observer may expect to see a particular activity by an individual. An observer may develop a feeling for a certain individual based on early observations and project that feeling into later rounds.
Be careful to prevent any bias; write down what you see. Do not try to prove a point by a study. An outside observer, a consultant, will be more likely to report completely and objectively. In many cases time study or work sampling will be used to have a third party resolve a union – management disagreement. An objective work measurement observer can be called in for that purpose, as well as to address a disagreement between any entities in an organization.
C. Random observation
Select random times for the observer to start rounds, in order to see all conditions throughout a time frame, because some work occurs differently at startup, or shift change. Some work elements occur during steady state operation, some at line interruptions and some at changeover.
A work sampling study may be set up so that starting observation times are set by a random timetable. If your intention is to be absolutely thorough and impartial perhaps this is a useful technique. However in actual usage, a more practical mechanism is acceptable.
For instance, an observer may stay in the area more or less constantly; finish one round then start another shortly. Work sampling usually involves quite a bit of walking, and it is certainly OK to consider the observer and minimize the walking performed, by staying in the area being observed, and make observations at random times; fill in the time between observations by summarizing data, or other work.
One way to accomplish sufficient operations while maintaining a randomness is for the observer to find a location from which several workstations can be observed and stand there. In inclement weather this is an especially useful practice.
Select random paths into, through, and out of the area if at all possible. If the work area is not accessible easily, the observer may achieve a random effect by walking into the area, but not starting observations until reaching a certain point, which may be a column or intersection or simply a good vantage point. Choose a start time while you were on the floor from some random occurrence, perhaps the next time a lift truck passes a certain support column, or after 13 more objects come down a conveyor line. Then at the chosen instance, look around, make observations, and record.
D. In advance of the study
The observer must prepare in advance by identifying all of the equipment and people to be observed, and listing all of the categories of activity and non-activity to be recorded.
Let everyone concerned know that you are making a study. When asked, answer questions about your purpose, objectives and technique as accurately as possible.
E. Statistics
Accuracy of the study is directly related to the number of observations. An observation is one person or machine, performing one element of work or delay. A major advantage of sampling is that multiple people and machines are observed sequentially, so that the number of observations, and the overall accuracy, increases rapidly.
If the study objective is to quantify “delay”, or “work” in total for a group then accurate results will be quickly evident. If the objective is to differentiate between different work elements and different causes for delay during different times of day, then the observation sheet will be more complicated and accurate results will take much longer (but probably be more useful).
There are statistical references available that this article does not explore. For work samples, a very useful statistical tool is called a nomograph, on which the number of samples necessary to reach a given accuracy can be determined. Statistical formulae relate the number of observations and the accuracy of results.
If there is statistical expertise available in your operation, you may choose to avail yourself of it. A good rule of thumb is to plot the data and observe the to-date averages. If they settle down, and don’t move significantly after a day’s data are included, perhaps there are enough observations. If there are significant movements of the running average after entering a day’s data, better keep the study going.
F. Crew work sample
The form for crew work sample accumulates activity and workload information. The primarily use is to determine activity and workload information for a crew of people, who may be attending to machine activities or may be performing work controlled by their own efforts.
Put this form on your clipboard, and visit all of the crew assignments at random times. For each observation make a simple mark in the appropriate box for the activity that you observed. Move on to the next member of the crew and do the same. Make the rounds again at the next random time interval.
This chart is quite easy to use when the crew members are all at their work session. It gets more complicated when a crew member is filling in, or working, but not at his own station. It may be that the crew covers for each other during break for instance. A simple solution is to count only those instances that you actually see, and this way the percentages will be correct. If you see an operator in the break room, or traveling to or from break, mark “away” box. But if during a round, you do not physically see an operator, do not make an entry.
More sophisticated answers might be accumulated with a recording sheet and another set of boxes that you design for the purpose. That might indicate for instance an obvious fill-in situation, or to check the idle box if there is no person at a particular work station. Just be sure that you are consistent in your observation patterns and note what it is.
At the end of the day, add up all of the observations in each category and enter them into a summary form.
The observation sheet in .jpeg format, Crew Work Sample Observation, is provided below. Print it out and use it to gather workload information.
This form uses the number of observations rather than a watch to determine workloads. Study a group of people at random intervals over a number of days, and you will build up a statistically accurate value of the workload of crew members working or not working. No pace rating is required, just record the simple observation of the individual activity taking place at the moment you observe.
Use care to set up the sampling observation sheet depending on the objectives. Set it up to collect the information you want and that management desires; be sure to list all pertinent crew activities and processes.
Record the crew activities, the purpose of the study. But also as you observe, learn as much as possible to identify problems, to shed light on why they happen, and learn what is required to correct them and get the operation up again.
Experience indicates that work sampling studies are requested because management wants information on a perceived situation. And work sampling is very useful for that purpose without question. But quite often when a question arises about a particular detail of a situation, there are other aspects of the situation which also may be not clearly understood. therefore, while you are studying a particular operation, be sure to keep your eyes open and make note of any factors that may have a relationship to other, larger, issues.
On any observation sheet that you may be using, fill in the name of the position being observed, regardless of which crew member is actually performing the activity at the time of the observation. In many crews, the members will fill in for one another during break periods, so that at any given moment the crew will be operating at less than full staffing level.
Take notes to identify what you see, (and not what you think may be happening off-stage) for instance:
a) When an operator is idle, or absent, at lunch or break, or busy at a particular function
b) operator works alone, or with another. Include all assigned work elements, and be aware that some operators, while being studied. will perform work that is not their assignment.
c) as a note, be alert for any down time or interruption as to material handling, mechanical breakdown, no material, change-over, etc. Is this instance avoidable? Is it symptomatic of a larger issue?
d) if the machine is being worked on during delay, shift away from the observation form to record activity. This experience may shed light on the primary purpose of the work sampling, or it might lead into an entirely different direction.. Record information such as who is there or not there, what are they doing, how long until production resumes. (You may want to shift to a time study of an interruption, to determine exactly what happens and why.)
G. Operators away from the workstation
There will be instances when you do not see at the workplace a person whom you would record. This is a key factor, and deserves special attention to get the right answer.
If you know that the group is at lunch or breaks, you may safely mark that as the activity. (Later on, you can cross check the study accuracy by comparing observed and actual “break or lunch”.)
If the person has productive work to do only at the work station, and is not at break or lunch, mark the activity as “away”. Some away is allowed of course; rest room breaks. Determine whether or not the “away” is excessive by its final percentage of time.
Note generally how conditions are, especially if there are interruptions to work during the study. Enter comments that you might receive from those involved, because the study objective is to observe “normal” conditions, and if this is an “abnormal” time be sure to record that. In a day or so, go to production records and enter on the study what actual output was, recorded lost times, quality issues, rework, etc. Judge then if the study was for “normal” conditions.
If the person has assignments that take place other than at the work station, such as a stock handler does, record that as “away” unless you see the person elsewhere and then record the activity observed. When the “away” observations are totaled later, they will not have much significance for this crew member because you won’t be sure just how that time was spent. In general, the workload of a lift truck driver may very well not be reported accurately for the work done out of the observer’s vision.
H. On the floor
So, grab your clipboard with a blank observation sheet, or your electronic device with a work sampling app, and out you go.
Stand nearby, or at a vantage point with a view of several different positions, so that you can observe all the action.
Understand the actions being performed, and their “sequence”. If there is something you don’t understand, ask. Do not assume.
At the next random time, look around and mentally record the activity of several people, then record on the observation sheet what you saw. When you have seen all that you can from that point, move further to see more activity. Record, move on until the circuit is complete. Did you miss anyone? See the section “away from the workstation” and decide how you will record the person’s activity. Note when the next random time is due to occur, and get ready for that circuit.
Asking or answering questions does not interfere with the statistical results of the study, as you will not make observations while you talk and discuss.
Act professionally while in the workplace. Use appropriate safety equipment. You will be absorbed in observations, but please don’t forget to look for obstructions, and material handling trucks.
Keep your eyes open for problems which may not appear on your worksheet, bottlenecks, idleness, safety issues, work stoppage, lack of communication about issues, etc. Make notes first, ask questions later.
I. Summary of Observations
All summaries are different. Add the totals, and see what they say, by individual and by group. What are workloads? Are they even among people, balanced through the day? How is time spent? Where is more detail needed? What is a surprise? Where are problems? How did observed activity relate to production records? Make the most of notes on the study.
Good luck, and keep your eyes open. Watch out for lift trucks.
Program Exercises, Course Manual 5
Set up a file for the records of the instance, and place all of the pertinent data in the files. If it is possible to reach a conclusion, do so and record it and disseminate the information. If it is not possible to reach a conclusion, it may be because of a relatively small amount of observations, or it may be that the parameters of the study were mis-stated.
Effect the transition of future Work Sampling into the work measurement operating group.
Course Manual 6: Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
This section will contain:
Course Manual 6.1: Knowledge-based Work
Course Manual 6.2: Assignments for the accomplished work measurement practitioner
6.1: Knowledge-based Work
Work measurement for knowledge workers
Knowledge workers in the modern usage are those whose function includes some or a considerable amount of thinking. In industry today there are many video screens scattered around, for use in measurement and control of both production equipment and of the product flowing through it. Essentially all work that happens when an employee is standing in front of a screen can be considered to be “knowledge work”.
The specific task done by a knowledge worker will vary, but normally it will be composed at the very least of physically looking at the screen; absorbing what the screen has to convey about the situation which it depicts or measures; determining just what that means for the employee; and what specific action is to be taken, which may be on the video screen itself or on the control panel or elsewhere.
Can that knowledge time be measured? In total, yes but not by the increments described above. Is it possible to judge whether that observed time is correct, or average, or superior? Not by an observer who is untrained in the task, for sure. It is possible that an observer who is personally trained in the task that the employee is using can judge the work time at least to a general extent.
Four examples of screens and the information which they convey knowledge workers are given. Each is somewhat different and the work measurement involved in them is different as well.
This program will not address measurement of medical workers, who are an ultimate example of knowledge work. There are some medical activities of nurses for example which might be measured relatively correctly. That short list would include taking a person’s temperature or pulse or blood pressure. Giving an injection, or hooking up an IV. But what comes next, measuring the knowledge that determines what the next step would be or how long it should take, is far past the capability that this program is intended to impart.
Case Study
The first case study is a simple one, re-enacted countless times in industry around the world in this day and age. A production line will be in operation and video cameras will be positioned at various locations along the length of the line. Monitor screens will be located, in offices, perhaps break areas, perhaps other spots where those affiliated with the line can see just what is happening even though they themselves are not right at the action. In observer will glance at the screen, see that it is humming along, and turn back to what they were doing. Or they will see that there is some problem, and they will start to pay full-time attention to the screen depending on whether they personally can help and on whether this screen shows that any problem already has competent help on the scene. This particular scenario does not generally enter into work measurement conversation.
Case Study
A second case study regarding video screens and knowledge workers has to do with a workstation whose operator can use a video screen to measure characteristics, dimensions perhaps, of product on a random sample basis. It is quite possible for a work measurement observer to understand and time accurately the work that transpires.
Often there will be other mechanical movements such as to acquire the product and aside it, make an entry in a log book, alert operations of a consistent issue. The use of the screen is merely one element in the sequence of the operation. In such a case there could easily be two kinds of elements that are regularly observed; one of which is a good product and the other is an out-of-spec product.
During the observation, a knowledge-based judgement will be made as to whether a product is within specs or not, and as a result elements of different lengths of time may be observed during the study. An out-of-spec product when it occurs may also cause the inspector to perform a sequence of other actions. Routine work measurement techniques can quantify this situation very effectively.
Case Study
A third case study can involve a highly automated production line which is tended by operators each at their own work station, which may be composed of multiple video screens and multiple control panels with buttons and switches.
In this particular scenario the line is producing most effectively when the operator’s physical activity is near zero. Operators will spend most of their time watching the screens, knowledge-based work, but otherwise idle.
The operators will be well trained, and will know how to adjust the control panels, buttons, and switches so that the production line does work smoothly, but that skill is not in evidence during routine operations.
What work measurement can contribute to this particular case will depend on the basic efficacy of the production operation itself. If work measurement shows that operators are continually busy reacting to a video screen and making adjustments, that usually means there are mechanical issues. But unless the observer is able to determine just exactly which buttons and switches are being pushed and why, work measurement won’t necessarily guide any constructive improvements.
The work measurement observer in this particular case was brought in before the union-management contract was due to be renegotiated, in order to observe overall activity of the line operators and report to management and union.
As an aside, when this sophisticated production line did fail it was usually from product jamming up the machinery as it was power-fed down the assembly line. At that time, operator fingers hit the stop buttons, and it was all hands-on deck heading for the trouble spot. The operators had pre-determined work stations and assignments, but the actual situation might be different each time, so operators did what was necessary. Work measurement in such a case was not very useful because there was so much going on, both individually and via teamwork, it was both very difficult to define and not necessarily ever going to happen again in that same fashion.
Case Study
A fourth case study occurred in a large medical billing operation in which the primary activity took place in front of dual screens, with a seated operator on the telephone in discussion about a particular situation. The employees had been well and extensively trained. There were a large number of actions that could take place and permutations and combinations which could be pretty complicated.
Work measurement was desired by the business for two primary purposes. One, there was in effect an incentive pay offered which needed to be accurate. Secondly, different production units dealt with different medical business or different geographic areas, applying the same billing techniques. It was imperative that all business units should utilize the same practices and techniques in the operations. As the work measurement system was developed and put into place, both of these objectives were accomplished.
A consultant was brought in, not so much to measure work but to train employees to perform measurement throughout the organization. The employees chosen to be observers were quite proficient at performing the operations of billing, having themselves been trainers for new employees. Excellent choices.
Course Manual 6.2: Assignments for the accomplished work measurement practitioner
Now that a practitioner has been trained to perform work measurement with a watch or with work sampling, that practitioner will be able at a moment’s notice to go to a work station and determine what actually happens there.
A question will have been asked about a workload or a constraint to the operation, and as we are preaching, direct observation is the method of choice, first to determine and quantify the actual circumstances, and then to find an objective answer.
The practitioner will visit a workplace in question, and observe directly what the circumstances are. The practitioner will use all of the techniques previously learned, select an appropriate method of work measurement, and employ it.
The multiple ways to utilize direct observation and work measurement, and the techniques employed, will be explored more deeply in future workshops. But in this workshop, we will list examples of what can transpire, and how direct work measurement can identify the real issues and suggest solutions. It is not unusual for solutions to actual issues to have to do with timing or scheduling.
• It occurred that in a factory with highly automated production lines, most employees were assigned to a particular machine. However, one job, on each of three shifts, had assignments in different locations, in the plant and at loading stations outside. The workload was in question.
Time study was used after random sampling indicated there was indeed a problem. The elements of multiple tasks were examined, all work was found to be necessary, and there was an activity overload.
An astute plant manager reviewed the results, asked questions, and developed that while the work was necessary, it did not have to be done at the time assigned. When elements of work were shifted to a different time of day, the workloads evened out satisfactorily.
• In a plant which produced soft drink containers at a high speed, a quality inspector sampled containers, and reported an activity overload. Direct time study showed a busy period for the first six hours of a shift, when the operator and the observer were at the workplace continually. All of the activity was necessary, and the line was running normally so that there was not an excess of incorrect product coming through, there was just a lot of work to do. Review showed that the inspection procedures required most of the sampling to be performed “at the start of the shift”. The latter part of the shift had a low workload. Judicious rearrangement of tasks, and different wording in the inspection assignment sheet, resolved the issue.
• When a workload issue arises, check the timing required or performed. It is a common cause, and usually can be remedied.
• Another complaint had to do with the workload for two, who were assigned to a check in / check out station for truckers. Time study showed quite a low workload. The original complaint was filed earlier, when the plant’s construction material was in a seasonal boom. The study took place later, during a seasonal slump. Timing can have quite a lot to do with workloads.
Program Exercises, Course Manual 6
Set up a mechanism in the organization to perform such assignments in the future.
Course Manual 7: Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
Specific topics include:
A. Low Performance
B. Work measurement is not just for direct labor
C. Accuracy
D. Practice opportunity; learning curve
E. Halo effect, the Western Electric – Hawthorne effect
F. Products can be observed, yours or your competitors.
A. Low Performance
1. Low performance usually has a cause, often failure to follow the method or low practice opportunity.
Understand the company policy relating to individual operators who do not make the rate. A time study practitioner may be requested to assist, to observe the low performance person to determine if there is a technical reason the person is below the rate. If so, follow the same procedures as if making a formal time study. Before or after studying, recording the times taken for cyclical and non-cyclical elements, observe the operator closely to determine if the approved method is being followed. Discuss with the operator any reasons they might suspect for low performance such as equipment condition or malfunction, or materials.
Judge and record the other elements of pace rate separately; effort, skill, motivation, quality.
Make an effort to correct any pace rate element that might be found lacking.
Start a closely monitored program to improve, not remove, the individual. Record all steps, track daily performance.
2. If there are official standards, with or without an incentive, be sure employees know what rates are, and how they perform individually. An employee should be able to calculate their own performance.
3. Rates should be set so that 100% is the expectation. There is something “magic” about 100%, so don’t expect 95% or 87%, but 100%.
B. Work measurement is not just for direct labor
Direct and indirect labor alike may be measured in the same manner; as well as the machinery and processes they utilize.
Does an activity contribute to output, customer service, or cost? Its activity can be measured.
For any category, causes of inefficiency can be quantified and corrected
• Imbalance in work assigned
• Procedures, forms can be improved
• Effort is not consistently applied
• Expectations, not stated and / or not monitored
• Manual work is done, can be electronic
• Variable demand for service, perhaps can be smoothed
• Imposed, e. g. requirement for regulatory reports
• Work determined to be unnecessary
Some jobs are repetitive and easily timed; just determine the sequence and record how the times to follow it. Non-repetitive jobs can also be time studied, even if the sequence varies considerably; think maintenance operation or order picker or customer service. The time study form then is essentially a blank sheet of paper. Observe, write down what happens, count the units, record the end of the action, observe the next action. You will need to write adequate notes so that later in the office you can reconstruct and summarize the action. With non-repetitive jobs there is often an opportunity for more than one person to contribute, even an entire crew, so be sure to record those names and tasks and times to the extent possible.
Not only labor but also machinery, processes, techniques, and constraints may be observed, measured, analyzed and managed. These items are often expensive and vital components, and their operating characteristics are critical. The interface between people and the mechanism can be observed and often improved.
C. Accuracy
In any kind of work measurement, more observations will generate better accuracy. This is because work measurement is a statistical technique, in which one takes a sample and extrapolates conclusions.
Short cycle jobs can be studied accurately in a shorter time than long cycle jobs because it takes less calendar time to observe the same number of cycles.
There is a corollary, that long cycle jobs tend to be less repeatable in the first place, because of the relative lack of practice opportunity. Short cycle jobs have plenty of practice opportunity and so tend to form a statistically tighter range than long cycle jobs. A further note is that the more common an element, the fewer observations will be needed to meet a particular accuracy level.
There is an accuracy level that is appropriate for your budget and measurement objectives. Generally a higher accuracy is advised for incentives, but a lower level may be acceptable for day work and reasonable expectancies.
For specific formulae, please refer to a time study textbook or statistical tract. You will find that you can chart and plot data that you record, using standard control charts and techniques.
D. Practice opportunity; learning curve
Short cycle tasks allow the operator more practice opportunity, and the more practice opportunity an operator has, the more rapidly and accurately an operator can perform. A learning curve flattens out after many repetitions, but it still improves.
After many repetitions of hand and finger motions, an operator may develop “ballistic” motion patterns, which repeat within a very tight range. For such patterns, it is generally accepted that a predetermined time system, MTM or Work Factor, perhaps Modapts, will be a more effective and accurate technique than time study.
Learning curves have been part of the lexicon since the middle of the 20th century, when it was learned that especially in the aerospace industry, production and assembly improvement could be measured, charted, and predicted with some accuracy. This improvement was often defined as improvement in labor hours and in fact that’s the way that it is usually measured. Labor hours per unit is certainly an easy way to state the answer.
The implication is that improvement was the result of learning by the people who put the airplane or spacecraft together. While that improvement is undoubtedly true, for an aircraft or rocket assembly there is improvement throughout the organization, from acquisition and materials and scheduling and automation and methods electronics and even the system to deliver to the launching pad.
Improvement by a person on a job at a constant workplace is relatively less well documented than for spacecraft. All agree that it happens, and that improvement early in a learning curve seems to be more pronounced. That may be because when you plot output on a graph, the curve rises quickly. Plot it on logarithmic graph paper however and the output is a straight line. Technically when the output is doubled, the labor content (assuming all other things are equal) will be less, probably somewhere between 85 and 90% of lower number. But increasing from 1 to 2 to 4 to 8 is different than moving from 4,000 to 8,000 total, especially with all other things being equal.
E. Halo effect, the Western Electric – Hawthorne effect
“The Hawthorne effect is a form of reactivity whereby subjects improve an aspect of their behavior being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they are being studied, not in response to any particular experimental manipulation.” So says Wikipedia about a set of studies at the Western Electric – Hawthorne works outside Chicago, circa 1924 to 1932, and that seems to be today’s consensus analysis of the results. At the time, the researchers thought that workers were working more productively with more light. But when light intensity was reduced, productivity went up again. Other experiments were conducted, an early effort to relate working conditions to output. The experiments do not meet today’s statistical criteria, and so no conclusions can be stated with certainty. Many have suggested that productivity went up because the workers appreciated the attention and responded.
People do react when they are work sampled; you will find that to be common. But they do not all react the same way; some will slow down and some will speed up; in apprehension or just to show you how good they are. (Look for the ones who want to display their talents, because their performance can lead into an entirely different perspective.) Just be aware that the halo effect exists. Often the people being observed will tire of any unusual effort, in a day or so, and then won’t pay any more attention to you.
F. Products can be observed, yours or your competitors.
Is your new improved product version really improved in operation? Can you claim an advantage over the competition? Does a comparison show up a shortcoming that can be overcome? Work measurement can provide objective data as a first step in an action plan.
Sto Corporation web site referred to a time study report which showed the time advantage to install their construction product compared to their chief competitor.
Program Exercises, Course Manual 7
Course Manual 8: The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
This section will include:
A. Overview of the construction environment and opportunities
B. To improve output, observe the work and correct the problems you see; then improve field reporting.
C. A piece rate agreement is what you make it.
D. Actions to gain many of the benefits of incentives, more simply
This course manual relates to construction work activity, which routinely occurs within
a less-controlled workplace. While less well-controlled conditions are frequently associated with installation or construction, they may occur in manufacturing operations as well. Actions to apply direct observation to reduce lost time can reduce labor cost and cycle time, regardless of where they occur.
This course manual also discusses incentive pay, or piece rates, as they frequently occur in construction. The benefits, and the disadvantages, of incentive pay are the same for any business.
Operating factors in construction may change rapidly. This section contains many actions which react to rapid change, and so benefit construction and manufacturing as well. Both share a dynamic workplace, and both can benefit from direct observation of activities. Observe what’s going on, and many times an action to improve will be obvious.
Note than an industrial organization, not specifically a construction organization, may have some functions which exhibit many construction conditions. Work may be performed outside a manufacturing environment; product installation or maintenance may be performed subsequent to shipment to the customer. Supervision may not be continually present, communication may be conducted electronically and not in person, the exact working conditions may vary and actually be outside the control of the company. If some or all of these conditions are in effect on your manufacturing floor, read on please for suggestions.
A. Overview of the construction environment and opportunities
Construction contractors and subs are interested in piece rates, for many of the same reasons that any employer will be; but there are practical differences that apply in construction. This section summarizes construction issues and situations.
The purpose of piece rates is to motivate employee performance in return for a monetary reward. That applies as well in construction as elsewhere.
Piece rates do have benefits, but they also have downsides and potential pitfalls. This section explains the characteristics of construction piece rates, as well as some practical alternative actions to cut out cost.
1. Workers on piece rates must still be paid at least the minimum wage,
State or Federal. Period.
A key factor to recognize is that workers on piece rates must still be paid at least the minimum wage, state or Federal; and that all work hours must be considered in the minimum wage calculation. As a result, reporting must record not only the production on which piecework is applied but also timekeeping of all hours, and the arithmetic to assure that the letter of the law is followed.
Piece rates involve bookkeeping and labor law in addition to the expectations themselves. It’s a good idea to involve the company lawyer and CPA in any pay plan. Does the payroll system, in-house or contract, have the ability, and software, to provide the service?
2. Advantages of construction piece rates
a. Piece rates jobs tend to be completed more rapidly, so the contractor can bill and move on to the next project, can keep the cash flowing.
b. Actual labor costs with piece rates tend to be closer to the estimate.
c. A company can attract the best tradespeople, who will want to work where individual effort and skill are monetarily rewarded.
d. Pay incentives are effective employee motivators, because most people go to work for money in the first place.
e. Incentives, or piece rates, offer an opportunity for employees to increase their pay by their own skill, effort and mental ability.
f. Piece rates for repetitive, high-volume tasks are relatively easy to set, and accurate.
g. The process of setting rates requires observation of actual practice. Observation will uncover cost reduction opportunity in advance, which you can correct.
h. The use of piece rates will require a statement of expectations, and accurate site reporting, both of which will benefit the contractor.
3. Disadvantages of Construction Piece Rates
a. Piece rates may, probably will, require more careful reporting from the field.
b. Construction quality may suffer; it doesn’t have to but may. More pay for more output can cause an employee to cut corners, and if so, you’ll have to find the problem. In case of a do-over, the tradesman will correct his mistake but still earn at least minimum wage.
c. Custom work often requires a larger variety of different tasks than for repetitive, high-volume tasks; piece rates will be harder to set and administer, and less accurate. Custom work doesn’t allow tradesmen the practice opportunity that leads to high pace rates, and so may not result in net cost improvement.
d. When working conditions vary widely, even on common tasks, piece rates are less accurate.
f. More office setup time and analysis will be required to establish piece rates, and more administration in the field and office to apply them correctly.
g. At this time, there are few published data bases of construction tasks and the times required to perform them, especially with written detail of the specific conditions that apply. Since it is quite risky to promise to pay without being sure of the conditions, a contractor had best develop the rates that apply to his particular circumstances, tools, crew size, market, support, supervision.
4. Cautions before Starting Construction Piece Rates
Construction is more complex than factory operations, because it tends to spread out over a wide area, is subject to weather, requires more sophisticated communications, and can be affected negatively by other jurisdictions, trades, and vendors quite easily.
As a result, there is more variability in working conditions, methods, flow of materials, presence of supervision, observation of an individual’s performance, quality level, outside interference.
5. These generalities translate into specific factors for construction:
a. Get the waste out first. Pay close attention here, this is slightly technical. You do not want to set a rate with wasteful practices built in, or a rate based on a historical average. If the rate has waste built in, that means the contractor will pay for the waste even if it is not performed. Tradesmen can be counted on to identify unnecessary work and cut it out on their own, if it benefits them. If you want the cost saving, you pull the waste out. It will pay dividends.
b. Piece rates are not good for remodeling, rework, trouble shooting, warranty because content of that kind of work is not predictable.
c. Piece rates are closely related to values used by project estimators, and will require coordination such as feedback systems to correlate piece rates, actuals, and estimated times. For best effect, you may want to incorporate piece rates and estimating, and / or to revise estimating and bidding practices and software.
d. A tradesman is typically responsible for quality, but individual quality is often quickly covered in construction, by drywall, or stucco, or paint, or roofing, or fill dirt. Be sure that quality standards are well defined and enforcement quick and fair. Rework should be performed “on the clock” by the operator who made the error in the first place. In such cases the minimum wage may apply, so your timekeeping / pay system has to be accurate.
6. Will incentives pay for themselves?
Maybe so, because productivity and output tend to increase with incentives. But balance improvement against any extra costs you anticipate, and consider options to gain many of the benefits with somewhat less structure.
7. Further discussion of other options
which will increase productivity and output in construction, delivery, off site and remote locations.
Consider these factors in your circumstances, both the challenges and actions to improve, instead of piece rates or as a foundation for piece rates, in advance.
a. Travel, traffic
Construction, delivery, off-site and remote locations will involve travel. Any discussion of travel in this day and age will focus on GPS, global positioning systems. GPS is very sophisticated today and will get more so. It is inexpensive and many commercial applications exist to allow effective route planning; your company should use it for that purpose at least. Instructions to drivers should include GPS input.
When GPS or a mobile app can recognize rush hour, and road construction delays, and the weather, and accident backups, it will become even more useful and that time may be arriving; stay tuned.
There is at least one more travel factor to consider. That has to do with the potential problems of setting rates for travel during the job, and someone would mention the hypothetical day in court when an employee would claim the incentive made him drive too fast and he had an accident and got hurt. A lawyer or a judge will know the answer to that poser, and if it is different from any on-the-job exposure.
B. To improve output, observe the work and correct the problems you see; then improve field reporting.
These actions are very effective and pretty simple to accomplish. Once you have performed them, you may decide you don’t need piece rate.
1. Observe
Field and remote operations are commonly less well organized and supported than they are in a central facility; they are less visible and more subject to outside influence. But work measurement (someone with a watch and a note pad is all it takes) can nevertheless define and quantify the circumstances accurately, and lead to better controls. Even without piece rates.
Time studies in labor-intensive construction sites have uncovered many inefficient practices which were eminently correctable, and when management is aware of them can act on the problems. Typically,
a. Lost time was prevalent, and study revealed how much and why it occurred.
For example, a site was not ready when tradesmen showed up, some other jurisdiction was not done yet, a materials vendor was late or had placed material in the wrong location.
b. The observed problems were correctable, but reporting must recognize and quantify the problem first.
c. Crews were too large, often waiting on one another. A crew could be determined by how many will fit into the cab of a pickup truck. At the end of the shift, if the activity of all did not end simultaneously, some crew would have to wait although not on the clock.
d. The work pace was not what management expected.
e. Travel during the workday was excessive and large crew sizes compounded the loss.
Management, when it learns of these problems, can improve communications, change internal practices and supervision, balance crews, and add equipment based on the results. Then of course after the person with the watch has observed the work, it is easy to establish formal rates and expectations for individuals and crews.
2. Report field results, then read and summarize reports, then act accordingly. A manager can’t be everywhere, especially in construction or service. Develop an informative reporting system for the key results, read the information, and let employees know that you monitor activity.
C. A piece rate agreement is what you make it.
Piece work is nothing more than an agreement, where one party offers what he is willing to pay, and another agrees or not.
The typical piece rate in a factory may depend on work measurement but that is not necessarily true elsewhere. There are piece rates for many trades and businesses. These may be time studied, or negotiated, or set near the price that applies locally for the work. In Texas there are piece rates for agricultural workers picking commodities; rates are set by a state commissioner.
So, it is certainly practical for you to set piece rates. Set a goal and pay according to results. Please see a labor law attorney and your CPA.
In construction, incentive pay can be tied to the prevailing price paid by local contractors, for instance a value per block laid or square foot of slab, so that estimating and actual cost are more closely related. Note that use of “historical” averages for an incentive is not recommended, as the historical will have wasted time and motion in it. Tradesmen will quickly remove the waste yet be paid for it in the rate.
Incentives often reward output, or units produced. But any criteria may be selected, such as widgets built or installed, or customer satisfaction, or first-time quality, or phone calls, or tests processed, or block laid, or applications processed, or feet of cable, or cubic yards of concrete poured, or cartons shipped, or tests completed. The key is to create a measurement system to meet business objectives.
D. Actions to gain many of the benefits of incentives, more simply
This section will apply directly to construction piece rates, but many of the steps will be quite useful in any piece rate application. A good sequence, in theory and perhaps for your company, could be:
1. Observe work first; find, judge, and prioritize problems; correct them as discussed above.
2. Set up reporting forms for high priority / high frequency activities, itemized to isolate actual results. The objective is to determine the actual minutes taken to perform each particular task, over enough jobs to establish a repeatable reliable average. (Note that this time is what occurs, not necessarily how long the job should require.)
3. Print a series of reporting forms, one for each major task that a crew is assigned. Identify detail such as customer, task, units, equipment, hours. Not only will this report define what people do and how long it takes, it will give insights as to the profitability of each customer, and of each kind of service the company performs. Later feed this information to estimating, or even have estimating receive the information from the field in the first place, and summarize it.
4. Report travel on specialized forms as well.
5. Provide columns for start and stop time, name of activity, crew size, quantifying variables such as miles actually driven, time of day, GPS route in miles; yards of earth moved, feet of trench, number of tiles, gallons pumped, customer discussions. Be sure to allow space for the “Degrees of Difficulty”, such as rain, rush hour traffic, wait on whatever, site not ready because of whatever, can’t proceed because of whatever, name of person / object causing the delay.
6. Have tradesmen / crews / vehicles report on the forms daily.
7. Keep score, summarize and build history. Ask questions to clarify and sharpen field reporting. Issue results back to the field employees.
8. Build intelligence from reports. Look at averages, judge which elements are out of line, or take too long, based on your own experience or further observation. Consider the degrees of difficulty; what is important and what can be forecast or predicted? Build that into expectations.
9. Relate results to project profitability, and to the rates that are part of the local bid structure for work.
10. Then when all these building blocks are in place, consider if the step of incentives or piece rate is likely to be cost effective.
11. You will note that the steps described are similar to any manager or dispatcher’s routine; instruct a tradesman what to do, explain how long it should take, and request a report when done, for the next assignment.
Program Exercises, Course Manual 8
That’s it for workshop #2. Thanks for attending,
Workshop Exercises
Work Measurement Exercises
01. Work Measurement Basics : Explain in your own words how this process will directly impact upon your department?
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates : Explain in your own words how this process will directly impact upon your department?
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms : Explain in your own words how this process will directly impact upon your department?
04. Administration Of Rates : Explain in your own words how this process will directly impact upon your department?
05. The Art Of Work Sampling : Explain in your own words how this process will directly impact upon your department?
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement : Explain in your own words how this process will directly impact upon your department?
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement : Explain in your own words how this process will directly impact upon your department?
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates : Explain in your own words how this process will directly impact upon your department?
SWOT & MOST Analysis Exercises
01. Undertake a detailed SWOT Analysis in order to identify your department’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats in relation to each of the 12 Work Measurement processes featured above. Undertake this task together with your department’s stakeholders in order to encourage collaborative evaluation.
02. Develop a detailed MOST Analysis in order to establish your department’s: Mission; Objectives; Strategies and Tasks in relation to Work Measurement . Undertake this task together with all of your department’s stakeholders in order to encourage collaborative evaluation.
Project Studies
Project Studies, or home work, after workshop #2, is probably the most serious homework you will have during this entire program.
Work measurement is a major constituent in the concept of manufacturing productivity. So very many of the tools and processes that are presented will depend on work measurement. There must be available to your organization some number of qualified work measurement practitioners. They must be trained and managed; the work that they do must be filed for future reference. The practitioners must be objective, and the program straightforward in order to maintain credence among management ranks, and on the production floor.
Now, after workshop # 2, management is called upon to create a work measurement organization, if it is not in effect already. And in any organization, work measurement must include people and practices. This work measurement program will provide practices, it is up to your organization to staff the organization and set up the administration. If it is not already in operation; that is.
If an operation is already instituted, then your homework will be different; not necessarily easier because there may be some conflicts between the way things are done now, and the guidance of the Manufacturing Productivity program.
Are the tools and procedures included in Manufacturing Productivity automatically superior to the ones which you have already? Maybe so, maybe not. Your work measurement management will likely be engaged on a day-to-day basis with this question. It is a guarantee that this program does not know at all, and the state of the art keeps changing continually. But what’s here is pretty good, tried and proven.
Workshop #1 presented a charter for an industrial engineering organization, in which work measurement was the foundation for many other activities. That charter is recommended if you do not have an effective structure in place already. In an effective manufacturing productivity program, all of the elements of that charter must be performed by someone.
Project Study (Part 1) – Customer Service
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 2) – E-Business
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 3) – Finance
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 4) – Globalization
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 5) – Human Resources
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 6) – Information Technology
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 7) – Legal
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 8) – Management
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 9) – Marketing
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 10) – Production
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 11) – Logistics
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 12) – Education
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Work Measurement process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Work Measurement Basics
02. How To Establish Work Measurement Rates
03. Time Study Instructions And Forms
04. Administration Of Rates
05. The Art Of Work Sampling
06. Other Opportunities For Use Of Work Measurement
07. Other Important Aspects Of Work Measurement
08. The Special Case Of Construction Piece Rates
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Program Benefits
Production
- Work Measurement
- Labor Efficiency
- Constraints Management
- Workload Balance
- Methods Standardization
- Manufacturing Reporting
- Changeover Completion
- Personnel Assignment
- Cost Reduction
- Capacity Utilization
Management
- Production Forecasting
- Reduced Cost
- Schedule Attainment
- Problem Prioritization
- Processes Control
- Outcome Analysis
- Plant Loading
- Indirect Labor
- Cycle Time
- Facility Planning
Finance
- Standard Costs
- Variance Analysis
- Labor Requirements
- Metrics Reliability
- Production Reporting
- Equipment Justification
- Overhead Allocation
- Labor Costing
- Improvement Evaluation
- Profit Improvement
Client Telephone Conference (CTC)
If you have any questions or if you would like to arrange a Client Telephone Conference (CTC) to discuss this particular Unique Consulting Service Proposition (UCSP) in more detail, please CLICK HERE.