Work Measurement

(Time Study)
Unit 3
Dr.D.Raja, Professor and Head
• UNIT IV Work Measurement
• Work Measurement: Definition, Objective,
Techniques
• Time study: Definition, Basic time study
equipment, Steps in making time study,
Breaking the job into elements, Stop watch
procedure.
• Standard Time: Rating factor, Allowances,
Mechanism of arriving SAM
 Work Study

Work Method
measurement Study

Time Study
• Method study is the principal technique
for reducing the work involved,
primarily by eliminating unnecessary
movement and by substituting good
methods for poor ones.
• Work measurement is concerned with
investigating, reducing and eliminating
ineffective time, that is time during
which no effective work is being
performed
• The work measurement not only reveal
the existence of ineffective time, it can
also be used to set standard times for
carrying out the work
 Work Measurement
• Work measurement is the
application of techniques
designed to establish the time
for a qualified worker to carry
out a task at a defined rate of
working.
 Uses of work measurement
• To compare the efficiency of alternative
methods.
• To know the Capacity of the operator.
• To balance the work of members of
teams
• To determine, in association with
workers and machine multiple activity
charts, the number of machines an
operator can run.
• The engineer must then do two other
things before his time study is
completed. First, he must grade the
operator.
• This means he must decide if the
operator is working at a pace that is
normal, above normal, or below
normal. The objective of the time study
is to find the normal time.
• Then the engineer must apply
allowances to the standard time she
has developed. These allowances
would cover breaks, machine delays
and personal time.
• Once this is done, a standard can be
developed in terms of allowed time
to produce a certain number of
units in a normal workday.
• Time Study is the
most common
technique used by an
engineer to set the
targets.
Basic equipments for time
study
• Stop watch
• Study board
• Time study form
 Stop watch
• Split time
• Lap time
•A tool to measure the work in the sewing
floor and to determine how long it takes to do
an operation Decimal Stop watch to be used
• Majority of operations in the apparel
industry consumes less than a minute,
decimal minute stop watch is the most
important model to be used to time the
operations.
Study board
The study board is simply a flat
board, usually of plywood or of
suitable plastic sheet, needed for
placing the time study form. It
should be rigid and larger than
the largest form likely to be
used. It may have a fitting to
hold the watch, so that the
hands of the work study person
are left relatively free and the
watch is in a position to be read
easily
• Taking a time study requires the
recording of substantial amounts of
data. These data are in a regular
form consisting of element codes or
descriptions, ratings and element
durations.
Time Study Form
 Uses of Time study
• Setting targets
• Costing analysis
• Manpower planning
• Machine requirement
• Production planning
 Selecting the job for time study
• The job in question is new one.
• A change in material or method
• A complaint has been received
• A particular operation appears to be a “bottleneck”
• Standard times are required before an incentive
scheme is introduced.
• A piece of equipment appears to be idle for an
excessive time or its output is low,
• The job needs studying as a preliminary to making a
method study or to compare the efficiency of two
proposed methods.
• The cost of a particular job appears to be excessive.
Breaking the job into elements
• An element is a distinct part
of a specified job selected for
convenience of observation,
measurement and analysis.
 Types of elements
• Repetitive elements - element which occurs in
every work cycle of an operation. (Picking, Dispose,
Sewing)
• Occasional elements - may occur at regular or
irregular intervals. (Extra Alignment, Inspection
while sewing)
• Constant elements - basic time remains constant
whenever it is performed (Picking, Dispose)
• Variable elements - basic time varies in relation to
some characteristics of a product, equipment or
process, e.g., dimensions, weight, quality, etc.
(Sewing of various seam length or style)
• Manual elements - performed by a worker (all
manual element)
• Machine elements - performed automatically
by any process, physical, chemical (Sewing,
fusing….)
• Governing elements - an element occupying a
longer time within a work cycle than that of any
other element (Biggest element in a operation)
• Foreign elements - element observed which
does not form a part of the operation(s) being
studied (Needle change, thread change)
 Guidelines to break the elements
• Elements should be easily identifiable, with definite
beginnings and endings.
• Elements should be as short as can be conveniently timed
by a trained observer. The smallest practical unit that can
be timed with a stop-watch is 2.4sec.
• As far as possible, elements – particularly manual ones –
should be chosen so that they represent naturally unified
and recognizably distinct segments of the operations.
• Manual elements should be separated from the machine
elements.
• Constant elements should be separated from variable
elements.
• Elements which do not occur in every cycle (i.e. occasional
and foreign elements) should be timed separately from
those that do.
 Steps in making time study
• Obtaining and recording all the information
• Record a complete description of the method,
breaking down the operation into “elements”
• Examining the detailed breakdown
• Measuring with a timing device (stop watch)
• standard rating.
• Convert the observed time (SC) into “basic time”.
• Determining the allowances.
• Determining the “standard time “for the
operation.
 Standard Allowed Minute (SAM)

• Standard time is the total

time in which a job should
be completed at the
standard performance.
Data for determining SAM
• Observed time
• Rating factor
• Allowances
 Performance
Rating

Standard Normal
Rating Rating
 Types of Rating
1. Speed rating
2. Skill and effort rating
3. Synthetic rating
4. Objective rating
5. Physiological evaluation of
performance level
 Speed Rating
• Normal time =
Observed time x (worker’s speed/
Speed expected from the worker)
 Skill and Effort Rating

(Observed time in min x B points earned by the worker

x Relaxation Factor)
60

B points earned by the worker = 60 pieces/hr

 Westing house system of rating
• Skill
• Effort
• Conditions
( temperature, noise
smoke etc) Example
• Consistency • Excellent skill - 0.11
• Good effort - 0.08
These factors are further subdivided
into following sub factors each and have • Good conditions- 0.08
numerical values attached with them. • Fair consistency- -0.05
• Super skill - 0.15 • Sum - 0.22
• Excellent - 0.11
• Good - 0.08
• Average - 0.00
• Fair - -0.05
• Poor - -0.16
 Synthetic Rating
• Rating Factor =
Time Value Extracted from PMTS
Observed time (Time study)

Pre determined Motion Time Study (GSD)

 Objective Rating
• The amount of body used
• Foot movements involved
• Eye – hand co – ordination
• Weight moved or lifted
• Handling requirements
 Physiological Evaluation of
performance level

• Performance level of a worker

can also be estimated
physiologically
Physiology is the study of how the human body
works
 Allowances
• 1. Machine allowances
• 2. Relaxation allowance
• 3. Interference allowance
• 4. Process allowance
• 5. Contingency allowance
• 6. Special allowance
Machine Allowances
 Relaxation
Allowance

Personal Fatigue
Allowances Allowance
 Interference Allowances
• Allowed when one worker
attends more than one
machine
 Process allowance
• No work
• Power failure
• Faulty material
• Faulty tools or equipments
 Contingency Allowance

• Delays which cannot

economically be
measured correctly
 Special Allowance
• Start up
• Cleaning
• Shut down
• Set up
• Dismantling allowance
• Change over
 Estimation of SAM
• Use synthetic data (GSD)
• Through Time Study
 Use Synthetic Data (GSD)
• Breaking the job into micro level elements.
• Assign standard GSD code for each and every element.
• Calculate the machine element time and manual element
time separately in TMU (Time Measuring Unit)
• Convert the TMU in minute ( 1 TMU = 0.0006 minute)
• Add machine allowance to the machine element time
according to type of machine
• Add personal allowance to the manual element time
according to the type of job.
• Add bundle handling allowance (2%) to the total time, if
progressive bundle system is followed. (refer GSD data
card)
Example
 Exercise
• Machine Element = 570 TMU
• Manual Element = 660 TMU
• Operation = Shirt pocket attachment
• Production System = Bundle system
• Calculate the standard time for this GSD data.
 Through Time Study
• Record the observed time by stop
watch.
• Basic Time = Observed time *
Rating
factor
• Standard time = Basic time
(1+Allowance)
 Example
• From the given data, Find out the SAM value for the pocket
attachment operation.
• Observed time = 60 sec = 1 Min
• Rating factor = 70 %
• Machine = SNLS (12.5%)
• Personal Allowance = 12 %
• Basic Time = Observed Time x Rating Factor
• Basic time = 1 min x 70/100 = 0.7 min
• SAM = Basic Time x (1 + Different Allowances)
• SAM = 0.7 x (1+ (12.5% + 12%)
= 0.7 x (1+(24.5/100))
= 0.7 x (1+0.245)
= 0.7 x 1.245
SAM = 0.87 Min
 Exercise
• Observed time = 85 sec
• Rating factor = 80 %
• Machine = 5 T O/L
• Personal Allowance = 10%
• Calculate the SAM
 Exercise
• Observed time = 115 sec
• Rating factor = 85 %
• Machine = 3 T O/L
• Personal Allowance = 10%
• Calculate the SAM
 Exercise
• Observed time = 105 sec
• Rating factor = 75 %
• Machine = DNLS
• Personal Allowance = 10%
• Calculate the SAM
 One Mark Test in the following area
• Define: Work study
• Define: Method study, Work measurement
• Compare Method study and work measurement
• State the purpose of multiple activity chart
• State the purpose of travel chart
• Compare multiple activity chart and travel chart
• Define element
• List the types of elements
• Procedure to break the elements
• Time study – Definition, Steps
• Tools used to carryout time study
• What is observed time or Single cycle time
• How to find Basic time
• What is mean by rating factor
• Steps to Calculate SAM
• Formula to calculate SAM
• Find the SAM for the given data ( OT, Rating factor, Machine used, Personal
allowance)
• What is allowances
• List the types of allowances