Introduction

to work study
Work Measurement

 Work measurement is the process of establishing the time

that a given task would take when performed by a
qualified worker working at a defined level of
performance.
 There are various ways in which work may be measured
and a variety of techniques have been established.
Techniques of Work
Measurement
1. Time study (stop watch technique),
2. Synthesis,
3. Work sampling,
4. Predetermined motion and time study,
5. Analytical estimating.
 Time study: A work measurement technique for
recording the times and rates of working for the
elements of a specified job carried out under specified
conditions and for analyzing the data so as to determine
the time necessary for carrying out the job at the defined
level of performance. In other words measuring the time
through stop watch is called time study.
 Synthetic data: A work measurement technique
for building up the time for a job at a defined level
of performance by totaling element times obtained
previously from time studies on other jobs
containing the elements concerned or from
synthetic data.
 Work sampling: A technique in which a large
number of observations are made over a period of
time of one or group of machines, processes or
workers.
 Each observation records what is happening at that
instant and the percentage of observations recorded
for a particular activity, or delay, is a measure of the
percentage of time during which that activities delay
occurs.
 Predetermined motion time study (PMTS): A work
measurement technique whereby times established for
basic human motions (classified according to the nature
of the motion and conditions under which it is made)
are used to build up the time for a job at the defined
level of performance. The most commonly used PMTS
is known as Methods Time Measurement (MTM).
 Analytical estimating: A work measurement
technique, being a development of estimating,
whereby the time required to carry out elements of
a job at a defined level of performance is
estimated partly from knowledge and practical
experience of the elements concerned and partly
from synthetic data.
Time Study

 Time study is a technique to estimate the time to

be allowed to a qualified and well-trained worker
working at a normal pace to complete a specified
task by using specified method.
 This technique is based on measuring the work
content of the task when performed by the
prescribed method, with the allowance for fatigue
and for personal and unavoidable delays.
Time Study Procedure:
 Step 1: Define objective of the study. This involves
statement of the use of the result, the precision desired, and
the required level of confidence in the estimated time
standards.
 Step 2: Verify that the standard method and conditions exist
for the operation and the operator is properly trained. If need
is felt for method study or further training of operator, the
same may be completed before starting the time study.
 Step 3: Select operator to be studied if there are more than
one operator doing the same task.
 Step 4: Record information about the standard method,
operation, operator, product, equipment, and conditions on
the Time Study observation sheet.
 Step 5: Divide the operation into reasonably small elements,
and record them on the Time Study observation sheet.
 Step 6: Time the operator for each of the elements. Record
the data for a few number of cycles on the Time Study
observation sheet. Use the data to estimate the total number
of observations to be taken.
 Step 7: Collect and record the data of required number of
cycles by timing and rating the operator.
 Step 8: Calculate the representative watch time for each
element of operation. Multiply it by the rating factor to get
normal time.
 Normal time = Observed time x Rating factor
 Calculate the normal time for the whole operation by
adding the normal time of its various elements.
 Step 9: Determine allowances for fatigue and various
delays.
 Step 10: Determine standard time of operation.
 Standard time = Normal time + allowances
Allowances

 Some allowance must be made for recovery from

fatigue and for relaxation.
 Allowances must also be made to enable the
worker to attend to his personal needs.
 The allowances are categorised as:
(1) Relaxation allowance,
(2) Interference allowance,
(3) Contingency allowance.
RELAXATION ALLOWANCE

 Relaxation allowances are calculated so as to

allow the worker to recover from fatigue.
 Relaxation allowance is a addition to the basic
time intended to provide the worker with the
opportunity to recover from the physiological and
psychological effects of carrying out specified
work under specified conditions and to allow
attention to personal needs.
 The amount of allowance will depend on nature of
the job.
 Relaxation allowances are of two types: fixed
allowances and variable allowances.
 Fixed allowances constitute:
(a) Personal needs allowance: It is intended to
compensate the operator for the time necessary to
leave, the workplace to attend to personal needs like
drinking water, smoking, washing hands. Women
require longer personal allowance than men. A fair
personal allowance is 5% for men, and 7% for
women.
(b) Allowances for basic fatigue: This allowance is
given to compensate for energy expended during
working. A common figure considered as allowance
is 4% of the basic time.
 VARIABLE ALLOWANCE
 Variable allowance is allowed to an operator
who is working under poor environmental
conditions that cannot be improved, added
stress and strain in performing the job.
 The variable fatigue allowance is added to the
fixed allowance to an operator who is engaged
on medium and heavy work and working under
abnormal conditions. The amount of variable
fatigue allowance varies from organization to
organization.
INTERFERENCE
ALLOWANCE
 It is an allowance of time included into the work
content of the job to compensate the operator for
the unavoidable loss of production due to
simultaneous stoppage of two or more machines
being operated by him.
 This allowance is applicable for machine or
process controlled jobs.
 Interference allowance varies in proportion to
number of machines assigned to the operator.
 The interference of the machine increases the
work content.
CONTINGENCY ALLOWANCE
 A contingency allowance is a small allowance of time which
may be included in a standard time to meet legitimate and
expected items of work or delays.
 The precise measurement of which is uneconomical because
of their infrequent or irregular occurrence.
 This allowance provides for small unavoidable delays as well
as for occasional minor extra work:
 Some of the examples calling for contingency allowance are:
 Tool breakage involving removal of tool from the holder
and all other activities to insert new tool into the tool
holder.
 Power failures of small duration.
 Obtaining the necessary tools and gauges from central
tool store. Contingency allowance should not exceed 5%.
POLICY ALLOWANCE
 Policy allowances are not the genuine part of the
time study and should be used with utmost care and
only in clearly defined circumstances.
 The usual reason for making the policy allowance is to
line up standard times with requirements of wage
agreement between employers and trade unions.
 The policy allowance is an increment, other than bonus
increment, applied to a standard time (or to some
constituent part of it, e.g., work content) to provide a
satisfactory level of earnings for a specified level of
performance under exceptional circumstances.
 Policy allowances are sometimes made as imperfect
functioning of a division or part of a plant.
 Assuming the total observed time for an
operation of assembling an electric switch is 1
min. If the rating is 120%, find the normal time. If
an allowance of 10% is allowed for the operation
determine the standard time.
 An operator manufacture 50 jobs in 6 hours and
30 minutes. If this time includes the time for
setting his machine. Calculate the operator’s
efficiency. Standard time allowed for the job was:
Standard time = 35 minutes
Production time per piece = 8 minutes
Find out the standard time using the following data:
Average time for machine elements = 6 min
Average time for manual elements = 4 minutes
Performance Rating = 110%
Allowances = 10%
Example
Performance Rating
 During the time study, time study engineer carefully observes the
performance of the operator.
 It becomes necessary to apply some 'adjustment' to the mean
observed time to arrive at the time that the normal operator would
have taken to do that job when working at an average pace. This
'adjustment' is called Performance Rating.
 Determination of performance rating is an important step in the work
measurement procedure. It is based entirely on the experience,
training, and judgment of the work-study engineer.
 It is the step which is most subjective and therefore is subject to
criticism.
 Performance Rating can be defined as the procedure in which the
time study engineer compares the performance of operator(s) under
observation to the Normal Performance and determines a factor
called Rating Factor.
System of Rating

 Pace Rating
 Westinghouse System of Rating
 Objective Rating
 Synthetic Rating
Pace Rating

 Under this system, operator's performance is evaluated

by considering his rate of accomplishment of the work.
The study person measures the effectiveness of the
operator against the concept of normal performance
and then assigns a percentage to indicate the ratio of
the observed performance to normal or standard
performance.
 In this method, which is also called the speed rating
method, the time study person judges the operators
speed of movements, i.e. the rate at which he is
applying himself, or in other words "how fast" the
operator performs the motions involved.
Westinghouse System of
Rating
 This method considers four factors in evaluating
the performance of operator: skill, effort,
conditions, and consistency.
 Skill may be defined as the proficiency at of an
individual. It is demonstrated by co-ordination of
mind and hands. A person's skill in a given
operation increases with his experience on the job,
because increased familiarity with work brings
speed, smoothness of motions and freedom from
hesitations.
 The Westinghouse system lists six classes of each
factor.
 Each class has further two degrees.
 By algebraically combining the ratings with
respect to each of the four factors, the final
performance-rating factor is estimated.
Objective Rating
 In this system, speed of movements and job difficulty are
rated separately and the two estimates are combined into a
single value.
 Rating of speed or pace is done as discussed earlier.
 The rating of job difficulty is done by selecting adjustment
factors corresponding to characteristics of operation with
respect to
 (i) amount of body used,
 (ii) foot pedals,
 (iii) bimanual ness,
 (iv) eye-hand co-ordination,
 (v) handling requirements
 (vi) weight handled or resistance encountered.
 The rating factor R can be expressed as
 R=PxD
 Where: P = Pace rating factor, and
 D = Job difficulty adjustment factor.
Synthetic Rating

 This method of rating has two main advantages over other

methods. These are
 (i) it does not rely on the judgment of time study person
and
 (ii) it gives consistent results.
 The time study is made as usual. Some manually controlled
elements of the work cycle are selected. Using a PMT
system (Pre-determined motion time system), the times for
these selected elements are determined. The times of these
elements as determined are compared with the actual
observed times and the performance factor is estimated for
each of the selected elements.
 Performance or Rating Factor, R = P / A
 Where P = Predetermined motion time of the
element, and
 A = Average actual observed time of the element.
 The overall rating factor is the mean of rating
factors determined for the selected elements. This
is applied uniformly to all the manually controlled
elements of the work cycle.
 A work cycle has been divided into 8 elements
and time study has been conducted. The
average observed times for the elements are
given in the following Table(M = Manually
Controlled, P = Power Controlled):
 Total observed time of work cycle = 2.32 min.
 Suppose we select three elements 2, 5 and 8
(These must be manually controlled elements). By
using some PMT system, suppose we determine
the times of these elements as

Rating factor for element 2 = 0.145 / 0.16 = 90.62 %.

Rating factor for element 5 = 0.255 / 0.26 = 98.08 %.
Rating factor for element 8 = 0.145 / 0.15 = 96.66 %.
The mean of the rating factors of selected elements =
95.12 % or say 95 % is the rating factor that will be used for
all the manual elements of the work cycle.
Normal Cycle Time
= 0.95(0.14+0.16+0.52+0.26+0.45+0.34+0.15) +1.00(0.30)
=1.92+0.30
=2.22 minutes
In making a time study of a laboratory technician performing an
analysis of processed food in a canning factory, the following times
were noted for a particular operation.

If the technician's performance has been rated at 120 percent, and the company
policy for allowance (personal, fatigue, etc.) stipulates 13 percent,
• Determine the normal time.
• Determine the standard time.
Watch readings falling 50 % above and 25 % below the average may be
considered as abnormal.
Example Objective Rating

 The observed time for an element is 1.2 minutes.

The pace rating for the element is 120% and job
difficulty is found to be 130%. Find Normal Time
of the element. Also find standard Time a t an
allowance of 10%.
 Normal Time =1.2*1.2*1.3 = 1.872 min
 Standard Time = 1.872 * (110/100) = 2.05 min
 Standard Time (2nd method) = 1.872 * (100/90) =
2.08 min
Westinghouse System of
Rating (Example)
 Find the Normal Time and Standard Time for an
element. which has the following ratings in
Westinghouse system, and observed time is 1.2
minute. Allowance is 10%
 Rating Factor =1 + Westinghouse Rating = 1-0.07=0.93
 Normal Time = Observed Time*Rating Factor = 1.2*0.93 =
1.116 min
 Standard Time = 1.116*1.1=1.23 min
Synthetic Rating
(Example)
 The average actual time for 6 elements of a task
were measured and tabulated below. The
Predetermined Motion Time for two elements is
also given. Calculate the performance rating
factor. Also find the normal times for all the
elements on the basis of average rating.
 Performance Rating for element 1=(P/A)=0.45/0.5 = 0.9
 Performance Rating for element 2=(P/A)= 0.46/0.4 =1.15
 Average R = (0.9+1.15)/2 =1.025
The two steps in preparing chocolate candy bars are molding
and packaging. Personal fatigue and delay allowances are set at
15%. The molding machine operator is rated at 110% and the
packer is rated at 80%. Observed times per batch are given
below.
Observed Time in Minutes

Task 1 2 3 4

Molding 26 30 29 31

Packing 45 50 35 30

Determine the Normal and standard times for both tasks.

Example: A work-study sample of a manufacturing
activity conducted over a 40-hour period shows that a
worker with an 85% rating produced 12 parts. The
worker’s idle time was 10% and the allowance factor
was 12%. Find the Normal and Standard time for this
activity.
 Average actual time = 40 hours
 Normal Time = (40*.90*.85)/12=2.55 hours per part
 Standard Time = 2.55/.88 = 2.9 hours
Work Sampling

 Work Sampling (also sometimes called ratio delay

study) is a technique of getting facts about
utilization of machines or human beings through a
large number of instantaneous observations taken
at random time intervals.
 The ratio of observations of a given activity to the
total observations approximates the percentage of
time that the process is in that state of activity.
Procedures

Step 1 . Define the problem.

• Describe the job for which the standard time is to
be determined.
• Unambiguously state and discriminate between the
two classes of activities of operator on the job: what
are the activities of job that would entitle him to be
in 'working" state.
This would imply that when operator will be found
engaged in any activity other than those would entitle
him to be in "Not Working" state.
Use of Work Sampling for Standard
Time Determination

Step 2. Design the sampling plan.

• Estimate satisfactory number of observations to be
made.
• Decide on the period of study, e.g. two days, one
week, etc.
• Prepare detailed plan for taking the observations.
This will include observation schedule, exact method
of observing, design of observation sheet, route to be
followed, particular person to be observed at the
observation time, etc.
Step 3. Contact the persons concerned and take them
in confidence regarding conduct of the study.
Step 4. Make the observations at the pre-decided
random times about the working / not working state
of the operator. When operator is in working state,
determine his performance rating. Record both on the
observation sheet.
Step 5. Obtain and record other information. This
includes operator's starting time and quitting time of
the day and total number of parts of acceptable
quality produced during the day.
Step 6. Calculate the standard time per piece.
Number of Observations

 Results of study based on larger number of

observations are more accurate, but taking more
and more observations consumes time and thus is
costly. A cost-benefit trade-off has thus to be
struck. In practice, the following methods are used
for estimation of the number of observations to be
made.
(i) Based on judgment. The study person can decide
the necessary number of observations based on his
judgment. The correctness of the number may be in
doubt but estimate is often quick and in many cases
adequate.
(ii) Using cumulative plot of
results. As the study
progresses the results of the
proportion of time devoted to
the given state or activity, i.e.
Pi from the cumulative
number of observations are
plotted at the end of each shift
or day. Since the accuracy of
the result improves with
increasing number of
observations, the study can be
continued until the cumulative
Pi appears to stabilize and
collection of further data
seems to have negligible
effect on the value of Pi.
(iii) Use of statistics. In this method, by considering the
importance of the decision to be based on the results of
study, a maximum tolerable sampling error in terms of
confidence level and desired accuracy in the results is
specified. A pilot study is then made in which a few
observations are taken to obtain a preliminary estimate
of Pi. The number of observations N necessary are then
calculated using the following expression.
 Calculate the number of observations for an
accuracy of 5% and confidence level of 95% if the
probability of the worker in idle is 0.3.
Determination of Observation
Schedule
 The number of instantaneous observations to be made
each day mainly depends upon the nature of operation.
 For example, for non-repetitive operations or for
operations in which some elements occur in-
frequently, it is advisable to take observations more
frequently so that the chance of obtaining all the facts
improves.
 It also depends on the availability of time with the
person making the study. In general, about 50
observations per day is a good figure.
 The actual random schedule of the observations is
prepared by using random number table or any other
technique.
Design of Observation
Sheet
 A sample observation sheet for recording the data
with respect to whether at the pre-decided time,
the specified worker on job is in 'working' state or
'non-working' state.
 It contains the relevant information about the job,
the operators on job, etc. At the end of each day,
calculation can be done to estimate the percent of
time workers on the job (on an average) spend on
activities, which are considered as part of the job.
Advantages
 Many operators or activities which are difficult or
uneconomical to measure by time study can readily be
measured by work sampling.
 Two or more studies can be simultaneously made of
several operators or machines by a single study person.
Ordinarily a work study engineer can study only one
operator at a time when continuous time study is made.
 It usually requires fewer man-hours to make a work
sampling study than to make a continuous time study.
The cost may also be about a third of the cost of a
continuous time study.
 It usually requires less time to calculate the results of
work sampling study.
 A work sampling study may be interrupted at any time
without affecting the results.
 Operators are not closely watched for long period of
time. This decreases the chance of getting erroneous
results for when a worker is observed continuously for
a long period, it is probable that he will not follow his
usual routine exactly during that period.
 Observations may be taken over a period of days or
weeks. This decreases the chance of day-to-day or
week-to-week variations that may affect the results.
 Work sampling studies are preferred to continuous
time study by the operators being studied. Some
people do not like to be observed continuously for
long periods of time.
 Work sampling studies are less fatiguing and less
tedious to make on the part of time study engineer.
Disadvantages
 Work sampling is not economical for the study of a
single operator or operation or machine.
 Work sampling study does not provide elemental time
data.
 The operator may change his work pattern when he
sees the study person. For instance, he may try to look
productive and make the results of study erroneous.
 No record is usually made of the method being used by
the operator. Therefore, a new study has to be made
when a method change occurs in any element of
operation.
 Compared to stop watch time study, the statistical
approach of work sampling study is difficult to
understand by workers.
Ergonomics

 Ergonomics is composed of two Greek words i.e.

erogs (work) and nomos (law) given by a group of
British Scientists in 1949.
 It is also known as human engineering.
 It is commonly defined as “scientific study of
relationship between man and machine (with
which he works) and environment (in which he
works).
Objectives of Human
Engineering
1. To enhance the efficiency and effectiveness with
which the activities (work) is carried out so as to
increase the convenience of use, reduced errors and
increase in productivity.
2. To enhance certain desirable human values
including safety reduced stress and fatigue and
improved quality of life.