Work study

Introduction

Work study may be defined as the analytical investigation of the methods, conditions and effectiveness of industrial work and thereby determination of the way in which human effort may most economically be applied

Introduction

• Work study as a branch of management is essential for improved productivity

• It is the systematic examination of the methods of carrying out activities such as

- To improve the effective use of resources and

- to set up the standards of performance for the activities carried out.

Effectiveness and Efficiency

• Effectiveness:

- It is about doing the right task, completing activities and achieving goals

• Efficiency:

-It is about doing things in an optimal way for e.g doing it faster or in least expensive way. It could be done wrong but done optimal.

Definition

• Work study is a term used to embrace the techniques of “method study” and “work measurement” which are employed to ensure the “ best possible use” of human and material resources carrying out a specified activity.

According to British Standard Institute

• “Work study is a generic term for techniques particularly “Method Study” and “Time Study” which are used for the examination of human work in all its context and which leads systematically to investigation of all factors which effects the efficiency and economy of situation being reviewed in order to seek improvement.”

• This has to do with Productivity improvement but also improvement Quality and Safety.

Objective of Work Study

•The objectives of Work Study include:

– To implement the most economical way of doing work andrecommend the improvements in work methods.– Investigation and Analysis of existing situations– Examination of weakness in the production process– Efficient use of human efforts– Ensure proper and efficient use of resources– Reduced material handling costs– Improved work place layout– Standardize method, material and equipment in production process.

Work Study• To achieve preplanned objectives most efficiently, the manger must use scientific technique for evaluation of inputs, outputs and process

• Method study and work measurement are two principal activities of work study which originated in the work of F. W. Taylor

Work Study

• Work Study may be divided into 2 distinct by interdependent groups of techniques.

– Method Study

– Work Measurement

• The other aspects of work study includes:

– Ergonomics

Work Study

Objective of Work Study

• The objective has three aspects:

– The most effective use of plant and equipment.

– The most effective use of human effort.

– The evaluation of human work.

Importance of Work Study

• Work Study helps to:

– Improve productivity of the organizations

– It is a systematic study of all the factors of production.

– It is an effective method of determining the standard of performance

– It helps in saving & efficient utilization of resources

– It results in improved safety.

Importance of Work Study

• Improved methods

– to raise output,

– quality,

– reduce wastage,

– enhance reliability and

– ensure safety.

• Standard time data contributes to

– capacity planning,

– scheduling,

– control of staff,

– asset utilisation and

– quality improvement.

Productivity

• It is the ratio of outputs (goods and services) divided by the inputs(resources such as labor and capital).

Productivity

• Single-factor Output Output Output Output

measures Labor Machine Capital Energy

• All-factors Output-

measure (All inputs)

Productivity

Inference

Q2.a

• At modern lumber Inc. Art Binley president and producer of apple crates sold to growers, has been able with his current equipment to produce 240 crates per 100 logs. he currently purchases 100 logs per day and each log requires 3-labor hours to process. He believes that he can hire a professional buyer who can buy a better quality log at the same cost. If this is the case he can increase production to 260 crates per 100 logs. His labor-hours will increase 8 hrs per day. What will the impact on productivity?

Q2.b

• Art binley has decided to look into multi factor productivity perspective. To do he so determined his labor, capital , energy and material usage and decided to use dollars as the common denominator. His total labor hours are now 300 per day and will increase to 308 per day. His capital and energy costs will remain constant at 350$ and 150$ per day respectively, material costs for 100 logs are 1000 $ and will remain same. Because he pays average of 10 $ per hour per day

.What will be the productivity?

Measurement Problems

Quality: may change while the quantity of inputs and outputs remains constant.

External elements: may cause an increase or decrease in productivity

Productivity Variables

• Labor - contributes about 10% of the annual increase

• Capital - contributes about 38% of the annual increase

• Management - contributes about 52% of the annual increase. Main aim of the management is to have a tradeoff between investments in capital assets and human assets (manual work)

Productivity Variables

• The productivity challenge is difficult

• Poorly educated labor, inadequate capital and dated technology are 2nd class inputs

Productivity Measurement

• Productivity measurement is a prerequisite for improving productivity.

• As Peter Drucker,who is widely regarded as the pioneer of modern management theory, said:

“Without productivity objectives, a business does not have direction.

Without productivity measurement, a business does not have control.”

• Measurement plays an important role in your management of productivity. It helps to

determine if your organization is progressing well. It also provides information on how

effectively and efficiently your organization manages its resources.

What are Productivity Indicators

• Productivity indicators measure the effectiveness and efficiency of a given input in the generation of output. Labour productivity and capital productivity are examples of productivity indicators.

What is integrated approach to Productivity Measurement?

• In this various dimensions of the organization’s operation are linked to show how each of them affects overall performance

Integrated Approach to Productivity Measurement

• There are three types of Productivity Indicators

• Key Management Indicators:

Common Productivity Indicators

• Key Management Indicators

Key Manufacturing Indicators

Key Manufacturing Indicators.

Benefits of Productivity Measure

Productivity measures allow you to monitor the performance of your organization and compare it against some standard to identify areas for improvement and actions to be taken. They also serve as a useful communication tool to motivate employees and reinforce performance.

• Productivity Level and Growth

• Comparison of Performance.

• Use of Productivity Measures to Guide and Change Behaviour

1. Productivity Level and Growth

• Productivity level reflects how efficiently and effectively an organization resources are used

• The comparisons must be made b/w two similar entities such as two companies within same industry

e.g Pepsi and Coke

• Productivity Growth: expressed in percentage (Change in productivity level over time)

Comparison of Performance

• “Without a standard there is no logical basis for making a decision or taking action.“ Joseph M. Juran

• Bench marking: Benchmarking is a systematic process of comparing processes and performance against others, to improve business practices

Use of Productivity Measures to Guide and Change Behaviour

• Productivity Measures as a communication tool: Direct employees efforts towards common goal

Productivity Benefits

In improving the productivity of a company, the business will gain many benefits. These can include:

• Increase in income/profitability.

• Lowering running costs/operational costs.

• Maximising the use of all of the company’s resources such as land, equipments/machineries, factory, workers, and etc.

• Gaining a greater share of the market.

• More cash flows mean more opportunity for the company to expand and grow.

Quiz 1

Ways to Improve Productivity

• Building leadership and management capability

• Creating productive workplace cultures

• value people's insights and experience

• Encouraging Innovation and the use of technology

• Investing in people and skills

• Organizing work

• Networking and collaboration -

Productivity and Work study

• How the total time of a job is made up?

- Basic Work content of the product or operation.

- Total ineffective time.

• What is work content?

• The amount of work “contained in” a given product or a process measured in “work-hours” or “ machine hours”.

Basic work content

• The basic work content is the time taken to manufacture the product or to perform the operation if the design or specification of the product or service provided were perfect.

The work content is increased by following

A. Work content added by proper design or specification of product or its part or improper utilization of materials.

a.1 Poor design and frequent design changes

a.2 Waste of materials

a.3 Incorrect quality standards.

The work content is increased by the following.

B.1 Poor layout and utilization of space

B.2 In adequate material handling

B.3 Frequent stoppages as production changes from one product to another

B.4 Ineffective method of work

B.5 Poor planning of inventory

B.6 Frequent breakdown of machines and equipment.

C. Human resources.

C.1 Absenteeism and Lateness

C.2 Poor work man ship

c.3 Accidents and occupational hazards

Techniques of work study and their relationship.

• Method study is concerned with the reduction of the work content of a job or operation, while work measurement is mostly concerned with the investigation and of any ineffective time associated with it; and with the subsequent establishment of time standards for the operation when carried out in the improved fashion, as determined by method study.

Basic procedure of work study

2.Selecting the work to be studied.

• There are three factors that should be kept in mind when selecting a job ,

1. Economic or cost-effective considerations;

2. Technical considerations;

3. Human considerations.

1. Economic considerations

A. Key Profit generating or costly operations , or ones with the largest scrap/waste rates.

B. Bottle necks which are holding up other production operations, or lengthy operations that consume a great deal of time.

C. Operations involving repetitive work using a great deal of labor

D. Transportation of material between work station involving labor movement.

Technological or Technical considerations.

“useless materials in yields useless material out”

3.Human considerations

1.Human keenness also determines the productivity of the outcome.

2. Certain operations are often a cause of dissatisfaction by workers.

3. They may induce fatigue or monotony or may be unsafe or clumsy to operate.

Record Examine and Develop

• The available charts fall into two groups

1. Process Sequence

2. Record events in relation to time.

Record Examine and Develop

The most commonly used method study chart and diagram

Outline Process Chart

• An outline process chart is a process chart giving an over-all picture by recording in sequence only the main operations and inspections.

• An operation process chart is a graphic representation of the sequence of all operations and inspections taking place in a process.

• It gives a bird‘s eye view of the overall activities.

• Entry points of all material, the sequence of all operations and inspection associated with the process are noted in the chart.

Outline Process chart

6. Note down the time for each activity to the left of the symbol.

7. Number all operations in one serial order. Start from the right hand top (from

number 1).

8. Similarly number all inspections in another serial order (starting from 1).

9. Continue numbering, till the entry of the second component.

10. Show the entry of purchased parts by horizontal lines.

Job Design

Job design involves conscious efforts to organize task, duties andresponsibilities in to a unit of work to achieve certain objectives. Job designfollows job analysis.

Techniques of Job Design

Techniques of Job Design

• Job Rotation: Rotating from one job to another within an organization

• Job Enlargement: Adding more tasks to the job. Horizontal loading

• Job Enrichment: Making jobs more meaningful and challenging. Vertical

loading

Job Rotation • Types of Job Rotation:

1. Task rotation:usually takes place in jobs that involve a high degree of physical demands on the body or a high degree of repetitive tasks that can become extremely tedious.

2. Position rotation is the process of laterally moving an employee to different positions, departments or geographic locations for the purposes of professionally developing the employee by exposing them to new knowledge, skills and perspectives.

Job Enrichment

• Job enrichment provides an employee with more tasks to do as a part of their job, as well as the responsibility and authority needed to complete those additional tasks. What works particularly well to increase motivation is when job enrichment includes additional tasks that match the skills, knowledge and abilities the employee already has

• Reduce repetitive work.

• Increase the employee's feelings of recognition and achievement.

• Provide opportunities for employee advancement (i.e. promotions into jobs requiring more skills).

• Provide opportunities for employee growth (i.e. an increase in skills and knowledge without a job promotion).

Job Enlargement

• Job enlargement is a job redesign strategy that increases only the tasks of a particular job. While job enlargement is limited in that it does not provide the additional responsibilities or authority that job enrichment does, it is useful in reducing some of the monotony associated with doing the same thing day-in and day-out. The belief is that once boredom is reduced, motivation to perform at higher levels of productivity increases.

Motion economy deals with generating and improving plans for a certain group of simple tasks in industries. 1. The tasks, which are in the scope of motion economy, may be classified as manual operations. Operations, which require the use of arms on a limited space for completion, are defined as manual operations. They do not require traveling of the worker, use of the body parts other than arms and hands, like foot or trunk. Manual operations may take place in production systems, as well as daily life. In many industries, there are production sequences, which require simple manual operations.

CLASSIFICATION PRINCIPLES OF MOTION

ECONOMYThese principles can be helpful in work design, in reducing the human fatigue

and in improving thework efficiency. According to Barnes, these can be

presented under following THREE subgroups:

1. Principles of motion economy as related to the

use of human body

2. Principles of motion economy as related to the

arrangement of the workplace

3. Principles of motion economy as related to the

design of tools & equipment

Principles of motion economy as related to the arrangement of workplace

• Definite and fixed positions should be provided for all tools and materials to permit habit formation

• “A place for everything and everything in its place.”

. Tool and materials should be prepositioned to reduce searching.

In the horizontal plane, there is a definite and somewhat limited area that the worker can use with a normal expenditure of effort. This includes a normal working area for the right hand and one for the left hand for each working separately, and another for both hands working together

• Gravity feed, bins and containers should be used to deliver the materials as close to the point of use as possible.

• A gravity feed bin is a container that uses gravity to move the items in it to a convenient access point for the worker.

Tools, materials and controls should be located within the maximum working area and as near to the worker as possible.

• Materials and tools should be arranged to permit the best sequence of motions.

• “Drop deliveries” and ejectors should be used wherever as possible, so that the operative does not have to use his or her hands to dispose off the finished work.

• Provision should be made for adequate lighting , and a chair of the type and height to permit good posture should be provided. The height of the workplace and seat should be arranged to allow alternate standing and sitting.

Design of tools and equipment

• The hand should be relieved of all the work of holding the workpiece where this can be done by a jig , fixture or foot operated device.

• Two or more tools should be combined wherever possible

• Where each finger performs some specific movements, as in type writing the load should be distributed in accordance with the inherent capacities of the finger.

• Handles such as those on cranks and large screw drivers should be so designed that as much surface of the hand as possible can come in contact with the handle.

• This is especially necessary when considerable force has to be used on the handle.

• Levers crossbars and hand-wheels should be so placed that the operator can use them with the least change in body position and the largest mechanical advantage.

Work Sampling

• Another method to find the sample size in work sampling is

•

Time Study

Types of workers in method study

• 1. Representative worker: Is the one whose skill and performance is the average of the group under consideration.

• 2. Qualified worker: is the one who has acquired the skill, knowledge and other attributes to carry out the work in hand to satisfactory standards of quantity, quality and safety.

Time Studies

1. Define the task to be studied ( after the method analysis) has been performed.

2. Break down the task into precise elements.

3. Decide how many times to measure the task.

4. Time and record the elemental times and ratings of the performance.

5. Compute the average cycle time .The average cycle time is the arithmetic means of the time for each element measured, adjusted for unusual influences for each element.

Average cycle time= Sum of the times recorded to perform each element

No of cycles observed.

6. Compute the normal time for each element. This measure is a “performance rating” for particular worker pace observed Normal time=(Average cycle time) X (Rating factor)

Time Studies

7. Sum the normal times for each element to develop a total normal time for the task.

8. Compute the standard time. This adjustments to the total normal time provides for the allowances such as personal needs, unavoidable work delays and worker fatigue.

Standard time= Total normal time

1-Allowance factor

Ratings

• Rating is the assessment of the worker’s rate of working relative to the observer’s concept of the rate corresponding to the standard pace.

• It is a comparison of rate of working observed by the work-study person with a picture of some standard level.

• The standard level is the average rate at which qualified workers will naturally work at a job, when using the correct method and when motivated to apply themselves to their work.

• This rate of working is called standard rating.

Ratings

• The purpose of rating is to determine from the time actually taken by the

operator being observed the standard time which can be maintained by the

average qualified worker and which can be used as a realistic basis for

planning, and incentive schemes.

• Time study is concerned with speed at which operator carries out the work, in

relation to the concept of normal speed.

• “Speed” here means the effective speed of operation.

Factors affecting rate of working

Factors outside the control of workers include:

• Variation in the quality or other characteristics of the material used, although they be within the prescribed tolerance limit.

• Changes in the operating efficiency of tools or equipment within their normal life.

• Minor and unavoidable changes in methods or conditions of operations.

• Variation in the mental attention for the performance of elements.

• Changes in the climatic and other conditions.

Factors affecting rate of working

Factors within worker’s control:

• Acceptable variation in the quality of the process/product.

• Variation due to worker’s ability.

• Variation due to ability of mind, specifically attitude.

Optimum pace at which the worker will work depends on –

• The physical effort demanded by the work.

• The care required on the part of the worker.

• Training and experience.

Standard time

• The work content of a job or operation is defined as: basic time+ relaxation

allowance+ any allowance for additional work (e.g. the part of relaxation

allowance that is work related).

• Standard time is the total time in which a job should be completed at standard

performance – i.e. work content, contingency allowance for delay, unoccupied

time and interference allowance.

Numerical 1

Q1. The time study of a work operation yielded an average actual cycle

time of 4.0 mins. The analyst rated the observed worker at 85% . This

means that the worker performed at 85 % of normal time when the

study was made.The firm uses a 13% allowance factor.. Compute the

standard time.