Work Measurement

Vital inputs for:

• Manpower and machine planning
• Reducing labour costs
• Scheduling
• Budgeting
• Designing incentive systems

Standard Time
Amount of time a qualified worker should spend to complete a specified
task, working at sustainable rate, using given methods, tools and
equipment, raw material and workplace
Most commonly used methods of work measurement:
• Time study
• Historical times
• Predetermined data
• Work sampling
 Work Measurement
Time Study
• Most widely used method of work measurement
• Especially appropriate for short, repetitive tasks
Average of a few properly trained workers’
performed time are taken as the standard

Basic steps:
• Define the task to be studied, and inform the worker(s) who will be studied
• Determine the number of workers and cycles to be observed
• Time the job and rate the performance
• Compute the standard time
 Work Measurement
Standard Elemental Time (SET)
derived from a firm’s own historical time study data
• A time study department accumulates a file of elemental times that are
common to many jobs
• After a certain point, many elemental times can be retrieved from the file
• Eliminate need for analysts to go through a complete time study to obtain
those

Predetermined Time Standards (PDTS)

published data on standard elemental times
• Commonly used system is Method-Time Measurement (MTM)
• MTM tables are based on extensive research of basic elemental times
 Work Measurement
Work Sampling
technique for estimating the proportion of working time and idle time
Office time: 9 am to 5 pm
Working time = 6 hrs Idle time = 2 hrs
Ratio = 6:2 = 3:1

appropriate for long, non-repetitive tasks

Two primary uses:

• Ratio-delay studies: concern the percentage of worker’s time
that involves delay
• Analysis of non-repetitive jobs: percentage of time an employee
spends doing various jobs
 Work Measurement
Work Sampling

Ratio = 6:2 = 3:1

1~3
11 ~ 1 3~5
1~3 3~4 9 ~ 11 1~3
11 ~ 1 1~2 11 ~ 1
2 hrs
9 ~ 11 11 ~ 12 1 hr
2 hrs 1 hr 2 hrs
9 ~ 11
11 ~ 1
1~3

A B
2 1
 Work Measurement

Worker min/pc (average)

A 8
B 9
C 10
D 11
E 12

OT 
 x i
 10 min
n

Observed Time (OT): simply the average of the recorded times

 Work Measurement

Normal Time (NT): observed time adjusted for worker performance

NT  OT * PR Performance Rating
1.1
 10 * 1.1  11 min

Standard Time (ST): normal time required for a job plus

an allowance time for different delays

ST  NT  NT * A  NT * (1  A) Allowance
20%
11 * (1  0.2)  13.2 min
1  A  AF ST  NT * AF
Allowance Factor
 Work Measurement

Worker pcs/hr (average)

A 4
B 5
C 6
D 7
E 8

OT  10 min

OT 
 x i
NT  OT * PR ST  NT * AF
n
1
For job time AF job  1  A For time worked AFtime 
1 A
Work Measurement
Worker min/pc (average) pcs/hr (average)
A 8 7.5
B 9 6.7
C 10 6
D 11 5.45
E 12 5

Worker min/pc (average) pcs/hr (average)

A 8 7
B 9 6
C 10 6
D 11 5
E 12 5
1
AF job  1  A AFtime 
1 A
 Work Measurement
OT NT < ST
ST  NT  NT * A NT  OT * PR

For Good Worker, PR > 1 OT < NT < ST ST > OT

For Average Worker, PR = 1 OT = NT < ST ST > OT
For Bad Worker, PR < 1 OT > NT < ST ST OT

7 >5< 8
PR
AF
8 >5< 7
6 >5< 6
 Work Measurement

NT  OT * PR ST  NT * AF

OT  10 min OT  10 min
PR  0.8 NT  8 min PR  0.9 NT  9 min
A  0.2 ST  9.6 min A  0.2 ST  10.8 min

OT  10 min OT  10 min
PR  0.9 NT  9 min PR  0.9 NT  9 min
A  0. 1 ST  9.9 min A  0.2 ST  10.8 min