Work Study

Engr. Lamia Anzum

B.Sc (Eng.) in Industrial & Production Engineering, SUST
Assistant Consultant
Panacea Private Consulting Group
 Introduction to work study
• Garment Business today becomes very competitive. Low price,
less lead time, high costing, many competitors made the market
saturated. Depending on the level of journey, this business came
to a scientific stage, where accurate planning, proper time
management in production and operation, high skilled technical
support, optimum cost-profit estimation are very important
issues to survive. Now a day's, it is impossible to run a garment
manufacturing operation without scientific and professional
approach.

• Work study is one of the scientific management tools for

improving productivity. Activities of work study in textile and
apparel industry are done by industrial engineering department.
 Definition of work study

• It is the systematic examination of carrying on

activities so as to improve the effective use of
resources and to set standards of
performance for the activities being carried
out.

• Work study is a management tools to

investigate all the factors which is related with
productivity.
• “Work study is a generic term for those
techniques, particularly method study and
work measurement which are used in the
examination of human work in all its contexts,
and which lead systematically to the
investigation of all the factors which affect the
efficiency and economy of the situation being
reviewed, in order to affect improvement.”
International Labor Organization - Geneva
 Evaluation of work study
• Frederick Winslow Taylor, an
American mechanical engineer,
who regarded as the “Father of
scientific management” and was
one of the first management
consultants.
• During the Second World War USA
needed so many arms within a
short time. Then Mr. Taylor applied
work study to make many arms
within a short time.
• Mr. Keith Harding from England
started work study in Bangladesh
in 1991.
 Why Work Study?
• The means for continuous improvement
• The strategy of elimination waste
• Path for productive use of resources
• Enhance quality of work life
• Maximum results with minimum effort
 Why is work study valuable?
• It is a direct means of raising productivity
involving little or no expenses.
• It is systematic, simple, and consistent in
based on the handling of facts.
• It ensures that no factor affecting the
efficiency of operating is over looked.
• It is a tool, which can be applied universally.
• It is the most penetrating tools of investigation
available to management.
• It is relatively cheap and easy to apply.
 Objective of work study
• Lower cost.
• Increase productivity.
• Increase profitability.
• Increase jobs security.
• To make the work easier.
• Establish fair task for every one.
 Classification of work study
Work Study

Work measurement
Method Study
To determine how long it should
To simplify job and develop more
take to carry and set a up a
economical method of doing it.
standard time of performance

Results in
Increase in production
Eliminate waste
Reduce cost

Higher productivity
 Work study & Human aspects
• Success of work study to a great expect is
determine by the kind of relationship exit
between work study man and..
–Management
–Supervisor
–Workers
 What work study will do?

• Work study is one of the penetrating tools with

management if carried out systematically, It will
expose (deficiencies) where time and effort are
being wasted.
• To eliminate these wastes, causes must be
identified.
• These causes usually found to be bad planning,
insufficient control and lack of training, etc.
• Increase in productivity through the use of work
study further emphasize the deficiencies.
 Work study & Management
• Work study through the direct observation and
analysis of the given situation will show up any
shortcoming in all the activities affecting
operation’s productivity.
–Idle time due to lack of material – Supply problem
–Frequent breakdown of machines – Maintenance.
–Idle time due to short batches – Marketing policy
–Excessive rejections due to faulty processing –
Worker’s training
 Work study & Management
• All activities are taken care by Management.
• Since no body like to exposed therefore work
study man has to be tactful in handling people
(workers, supervisor and management) and it
should be used with care.
• Tackles work study man in handling people
may find that people have joined hands to
obstruct him and make his task difficult.
 Work study & Management
• Therefore, work study man to be successful
should have support of top Management.
• For this he should run training programs and
inviting senior management.
 Work study & Supervisor
• The most difficult problem for the work study
man may be the hostile attitude of the
supervisor.
• Without his support, it will be difficult for the
work study man to get any work done
effectively.
• People take their attitude from their bosses.
• If supervisor think that work study is nonsense
then workers will not cooperate with work
study man in carrying his suggestions.
 Why negative attitude of supervisor?
• The work for which has been responsible for
years is being challenged.
• Any improvement through work study will
indicate the deficiency of supervision.
• Supervisor may think that some of his powers/
authority will be transferred to the work study
responsible so as to reduce his status.
• Supervisor find it difficult to digest that he has
to learn any thing from a new person.
METHOD STUDY
 Method study
• Systematic recording & critical examination of
existing and proposed ways of doing work as
means of developing and applying easier and
more effective method and thereby reducing
cost
• “Method Study” is the careful writing down of
how a job is done, checking the way it is done,
and trying to find a better or simpler way of
doing the job.
 Objectives of method study

• To improve the process and work procedure

• To improve the design of workplace layout.
• To have more effective utilization of
materials, machines and work force.
• To find the best way of doing a job.
• To eliminate wastage of time and labor
• To reduce fatigue and boredom of work by
avoiding unnecessary movements.
 Procedure of method study
1. Select : choose the job to be studied
2. Record : collecting data or direct observation and
analyze the facts.
3. Examine : examine the recorded fact critically and
challenge everything that is done.
4. Develop : develop the most economical and effective
method .
5. Evaluate : results of different alternative solution
6. Define : indentify the new method and present it
7. Install: install the new method as standard practice
and train persons to apply it
8. Maintain: maintain the standard practice through
regular check up
 Step 1: Select
• In general one can select all the operations
for method study. But in actual practice, we
should understand the priorities. There
should be a good reason to select a job for
further study.
• Three factors should be kept in mind when
selecting a operation for work study
- Economical or cost effective consideration
- Technical consideration
- Human consideration
 Step 1- Select
Economic consideration:
According to economic consideration the method study
involves cost and time. Priority should be given to those
type of job which offer greater potential for cost
reduction Based on economic consideration the
following jobs are selected:
• Bottleneck operations which are holding up other
production
• Operations involving excessive labor
• Operations having poor utilization of resources
• Excessive movement of materials over long distance.
• High payment of overtime bills.
 Step 1- Select
Technical Aspects:
• According to technical consideration ,selection of the
operation and processes where new technology i.e.
automation should be introduced.

• The method study man should be careful enough to

select a job in which he has the technical knowledge and
expertise.
• Job selection considering technical aspect are:
Job in which too many man hours are spent
Operations generating lot of scraps
Job having inconsistent quality
 Step 1- Select
Human consideration

• Work study increases the productivity by enhancing effective

utilization of resources such as labor.
• Therefore, it is considered as a threat for there jobs due to
possible redundancy of some of the workers.
• Emotional reaction of the workers towards the study and
change of the method are important consideration.
• It is always better to take up first those which are considered
as “dirty”, unsafe, unpleasant, boring or highly fatiguing and
improvements brought about as a result of method study.
• This would possibly ensure cooperation from the workers for
the other jobs as well.
.
 Step 2- Record
• After selecting the job to be studied, the next set is to
record all the facts relating to the existing method.

• Process of recording
-determine the sequence of all operations.
-note down difficulties during observation.
-get all possible information from records such as
buyer name, style name, process name, operator’s
name , the object of the operation, the place , time,
date etc.
 Step 2- Record
Importance of recording:
• It helps to carry out critical examination
carefully.
• The success of method study depends upon
on the accuracy with which facts are recorded
• Recording provides basis of critical
examination and development of improved
methods.
 Step 3- Examine
• Critical examination is a questioning technique having sets
of questions which gives clear idea about the problem and
solutions for this problem.
• Objectives of critical examination is to analyze the fact
critically and thereby giving the alternative which forms the
basis of selection and development of easier and effective
method.
• Critical examination is done by the means of two sets of
detailed questions.
Primary question:
-to find out the facts and reason behind them.
Secondary question:
-to find out the alternative place, sequence and person
- means for improvement over the current method
 Step 3- Examine
Procedure of critical examination:
• Purpose
-Eliminate - to ensure that the job is necessary
• Place
– to ensure it is being done where it should be done)
• Sequence
- Re-arrange – to ensure it is in its right place in the
sequence of operations
• Person
- to ensure it is being done by the right person
• Means
– to simplified the job as much as economically
justified
 Step 3- Examine
PROCEDURE PRIMARY SECONDARY
-To know about the existing -to trace out alternative method
method

PURPOSE •What is done? • What else might be done?

(what &why) •Why it is done? •What should be done?

PLACE •Where it is done? •Where else might it be done?

(where) •Why it is done there? •Where should it be done?

SEQUENCE •When is it done ? •When might it be done?

(when) •Why it is done then? •When should it be done?

PERSON •Who does it ? Who else might do it?

(who) •Why does that person do it? When should it be done?

MEANS •How is it done? •How else might it be done?

(how) •Why is it done that way? •How should it be done?
 Step 4- DEVELOP
• In this step , the work study man will develop the
best method and workplace according to
questioning technique such as-
- eliminate all unnecessary jobs
- rearrange the sequence of operation
- simplify all complex process
- eliminate unnecessary movement of worker
- consider any possible new operation
 Step 5- Evaluate
• In this step , after developing method work study
man have to evaluate the outcomes of the
developed method , record the outcomes ,
compare the developed method with existing
method and to check whether the result would
fulfill the purposes of the study.

• The new method should be evaluated considering

the possibility of new difficulties from the new
method.
 Step 6- Define
• In this step , after evaluating all alternative
methods, selected new method has to be defined
which gives best outcomes.
• Work study man has to define the new method to
the worker ( who will follow the new method) and
the supervisor . Work study man should share
three information with the worker and supervisor
to carry on the method study effectively.
- details information of method study
- tools and equipment required for new method
- layout diagram of the workplace
 Step 7- Install
• The success of any method study is realized when
new method is installed as a standard practice
• That’s why installation of new method is very
important.
• To install the new method properly, work study
man has to
- sell the proposal to gain support
- gaining acceptance of change by management,
supervisor and operators
- preparing to make changes
- controlling the changeover
 Step 8- Maintain
• After installation of new method , it is necessary to
maintain it.

• Sometime after the introduction of new working

method , it is necessary to check that the new
method is working, that it is being properly
followed and that it has brought about the desired
results.