Industrial Engineering tools

MTM
Methods Time Measurement
 General information
• Methods-Time Measurement (MTM) is a production
management tool from production process design and
labor science to optimize costs and productivity already
from product creation to factory and work planning
and then also in all subsequent stages of the value
chain.

• The development of the MTM system began in the

1940s in the USA with the intention of creating a
system of predetermined times for the planning and
evaluation of production processes.

• The opposite or other approach to process

optimization is time recording, especially characterized
by the REFA approach.
 General information
• MTM further means:
 The use of suitable methods and tools,
 standardization of production with consistent
data concepts as well as through
 Provision of time standards based on
standardized reference performance

• MTM methodology is used to plan manual work

processes, mainly in industrial manufacturing.
Especially in mass or large-scale production, it is
important to determine during the planning phase how
much time a person needs for certain activities.

• When using the MTM method, a planned process is

sufficient, no real existing process is required (in
contrast to time recording by means of a stopwatch).
 MTM approach
• All movements performed by humans are traced back
to certain basic movements for which the required
time is known (target times).

• The work process is divided into individual movement

elements such as "reaching", "grasping", "bringing",
"joining", "releasing", "walking", "bending/stooping",
"visual control" etc.

• According to these basic movement elements,

empirically determined times are stored in tables,
mostly depending on further parameters, such as the
distance covered with the movement.
 MTM approach
Methods The method
Time determines
Measurement the time

• MTM is a predtermined motion time system

• Predetermined motion-time systems are methods to

dismantle and assign norm values to them.

• A separate distribution time consideration, power

degrees do not have to be considered here, as for
example with the time recordings. The times are
determined by empirical studies in a catalog.
 MTM purpose

Design of the Time Work

work system determination instructions
• Planning of the
• Create of target time • description of the
operating process
operating processes
• for education and
• Improvement of the determination of
standard time for instruction materials
operation process
performance-related
• Instructions can be
• Design of tools and salaries
the base of
equipment
• Pre-costing continuous
improvement and
• Design of calculations
Standard work
manufacture
 MTM approach
Movement analysis
Decomposition of the movement sequence into
movement elements, e.g. reaching down

Time analysis
Determination of the time influencing variables for each
individual movement element, e.g.
Length of movement, weight of the part
Coding
of the movement element and the influencing variables

Withdrawel
the elementary movement time from tables

Addition
of the elementary times to the searched
basic movement time
Fundamental motions
Fundamental motions
Fundamental motions
Fundamental motions
 MTM approach
Sample of MTM cards
 MTM approach
Sample of MTM cards
 MTM approach
Sample calculated
Movement Information necessary for time Coding Time
description allocation value

Bolt to • Movement length: 40 cm R 40 C 16,8

reach • Bolt lies mixed with others TMU

Gripping the • Dimensions: 8 x 12 mm G4B 9,1

bolt • Bolt lies mixed with other TMU

Bring bolt to • Movement length: 40 cm M 40 C 18,5

the device • Placement is accurate TMU

Joining of • Joining tolerance: tight P2SE 16,2

the bolt into • Symmetry: fully TMU
opening • Handling: simple

Release of • Opening fingers RL 1 2,0

the bolt TMU

Total time required 62,6

TMU
(2,25 s)
 MTM results
Result of the development: MTM-1 metric card

• The MTM-1 metric card comprises time values for

fundamental motions subject to time-influencing
factors

• Time values are stated as TMU

(Time Measurement Unit)
1/100,000 h = 1 TMU
0.036 s = 1 TMU
 MTM learning process
• The performance of
simple motions such as
Reach and Move can hardly
be improved by means
of additional training.

• Difficult motions such as

Grasp and Position are
available for training and
can thereby be improved.
 MTM applications
• mass production in large batches

• limited product variety

• short-cyclical workflows

• exactly defined basic conditions

• experienced, highly trained employees

• workstations with a detailed-oriented desig

Comparison Evaluation of Creation of

Process Process
of design short-cyclical work plan
comparison improvement
alternatives workflows and trainings
 MTM advantages
• It is possible to determine operating processes and
execution times explicitly already in the planning phase
of a work system.
• Training periods can be reduced since employees can
already be trained before the introduction of new work
processes.
• It is possible to design work systems in a target-
oriented way, as influencing variables concerning the
execution times become transparent by means of the
MTM methodology.
• MTM time values are based on a 100% standard
performance. An evaluation of the performance rate –
as to be found in REFA Stop watch time study – is not
necessary.
• The coding of the motion elements leads to an
internationally homogenous, reproducible description
of the operational procedures
 MTM disadvantages
• The implementation of MTM is limited to manually
operated tasks
• The analysis effort is rather high.
• The analysis can be influenced subjectively.
 Conclusion
• While REFA represents the top-down approach,
according to which a work process to be investigated is
divided only as finely as necessary for the
determination of the time of interest.

• MTM is based on the bottom-up approach to time

determination. Here, fine-grained basic motion
elements such as "reaching", "gripping", "bringing",
"joining", "releasing", each of which is stored with
times, are added up to the workflow to be examined.
 Experiences
My experience says that time recording is more effective
than MTM approach, because:

• Individual problems in the process flow (handling) are

immediately recognizable and can be attacked.
• The level of detail is deeper, because with REFA the
overall process is divided into company processes, main
processes, sub-processes or work system process.
• The distribution time (organizational, personal) is
better considered, but is also more difficult to capture
and analyze.
• The performance level of the individual persons is
recorded (no piecework)
• Employees' recovery times are taken into account, as
are set-up times for equipping/disassembling the
workstation.