Work measurement the basic principles revisited

Anna Baines
Types of system
In these days of total quality management, business process reengineering, etc. it is easy to forget tried and tested approaches to productivity and performance measurement and improvement. Work measurement, for example, has been around for many years but still can be extremely effective in informing us of the working times, and delays, inherent in different ways of carrying out work. There are a number of different types of work measurement system available. The purpose of this article is not to cover each type in detail but to remind readers of the fundamental concepts behind each of the major categories of system and to offer broad comment on the applicability of each to different situations. Readers who are interested in finding out more should use one of the many perfectly adequate texts on this subject. The purpose of a measurement programme is to achieve full coverage of the work to be measured, at a level of detail commensurate with the aims of the measurement programme and to achieve it cost-effectively. To achieve this, a full measurement programme of a range of work will often involve the use of a number of techniques, each selected to cover an appropriate part of the work. The techniques covered in this article are:
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statistical techniques; interview techniques.

The purpose of measurement is to collect data which is i.e. real data of actual events. To obtain accurate time standards the data are usually converted to target data or data that should be, i.e. data which predicts future events under known conditions. For some purposes, especially when measuring in office and service sectors, actual data are often regarded as accurate enough to be used as the basis of planning and control. Thus measurement techniques may be categorized as being for the derivation of actual data by simple observation or for target data where the data are adjusted or pre-formatted to be valid for the average qualified worker. Fundamental procedure of measurement All work measurement systems are based on the same, simple three-stage procedure: (1) analysis; (2) data collection/measurement; (3) synthesis. They differ in the nature and degree of analysis, the nature and level of data collection and measurement and the nature of the synthesis process but the three-stage procedure remains common. Before measurement commences, the work to be measured is analysed and broken down into convenient parts which are suitable for the chosen measurement technique. These may be activities, elements or even basic human motions. The measurement stage is the application of a specific measurement technique which allows a basic time for each of these activities, elements or motions to be derived. (See later for an explanation of the term basic time.)

At this stage, in addition to collecting time data, it is often necessary to collect descriptive or qualitative data on the nature of the work, the conditions under which it is performed and other factors which may have a bearing on the time taken for completion. Thus the data collection and measurement phase may collect:
q

data: quantitative measured (continuous scale); counted (discrete units); data: qualitative recorded.

time study; sampling techniques; estimating techniques; synthesis; predetermined time (PTS).

systems

Most of these techniques are based on experience and practice in production environments. There are other techniques increasingly used in the office and service sectors. Such techniques are:
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self-recording techniques; supervisor estimates;

Some of these data are real-time data recorded as it happens; others are historical data taken from prior records. Where repetitive jobs are measured, data are collected over a number of representative cycles of a job to obtain a mean or typical value. An analysis of results can be carried out using statistical techniques to determine the number of observations that must be made to provide a given level of confidence in the final results. Such repetitive jobs, especially if short-cycle, are analysed in detail (broken down into short periods or elements of work) and measured using a detailed (low level) measurement technique. Non-repetitive, long-cycle jobs are often analysed in less detail and measured using a high-level measurement system. This is because inaccurate results in short-cycle work would be compounded over a number of occurrences of the job and inaccurate predictions of time for a given amount of work would result. For long-cycle, non-repetitive work the inherent variations in the work itself mean that a detailed, low level system would be unnecessarily costly in terms of the time taken for measurement and analysis. The synthesis stage is the point at which the various parts of the job, with

10 Work Study Vol. 44 No. 7, 1995, pp. 10-14, MCB University Press, 0043-8022

their associated basic times, are combined together in correct sequence and with the correct frequency to produce the time for the complete job. During this stage, the basic time will be increased by various allowances (principally rest or relaxation allowance) to become the standard time for the job. The average, qualified worker When a worker carries out an activity, the time he or she takes will depend on a number of factors. Some of these are outside the workers control (such as the state of the equipment being used) but others are directly related to the worker. The worker will have a certain level of skill and will put in a certain level of effort. When establishing times for activity using work measurement techniques, the aim is to establish a standard that corresponds to the target time for an average qualified worker working to a defined level of performance. Since, if we observe a job being performed, we are unlikely to see this average, qualified worker working at this defined level of performance, we need a system that will allow us to convert what we observe into this standard time. This conversion process is dependent on a process known as performance rating. Performance rating scales Measurement systems use a performance rating scale to convert observed times into times for average, qualified workers working at defined levels of performance. The resultant time is known as the basic time and before being converted to a standard time will have allowances added to it. The most important of these allowances is relaxation or rest allowance which is an addition to the basic time to allow the worker to attend to personal needs and to recover from the fatigue induced by the work. With some of the measurement systems, this conversion process is built into the system itself. Thus for predetermined time systems, the buildup of the data that forms the heart of the system is carried out using performance rating on the studies that are taken to form the original data. When the technique is used by a work study practitioner to obtain a time for a specific activity, he or she simply observes the work carried out and applies the appropriate data which will automatically give the time for this average, qualified worker. For other

techniques, the conversion process must be carried out by the observer making a performance rating of the worker and modifying the observed time accordingly. Performance rating scales are generally linear scales and are often used in fixed increments. For example, one common scale is the British Standard Scale which uses a linear scale on which ratings are made in increments of five points. On this scale, 100 represents a qualified worker working at motivated or incentive performance and 75 represents a worker working at an unmotivated rate.

Performance
rating does not give absolute value

There are a number of other scales in common usage in different countries within Europe but all operate on the same principle by defining two or more points of specific performance and assigning a numerical scale between and extending past these fixed points. The actual scale used is generally unimportant except when introducing a new measurement technique which may be based on a different scale to that in current usage within the organization. Care should be taken when comparing two times or performance assessments to confirm that they are made on the basis of the same performance rating scale. Conversion factors exist for converting ratings on one scale to values on another and thus it is possible to compare standard times from different systems as long as the rating scale used is known. A worker who achieves the standard time for all the jobs which he or she carries out will achieve standard performance. This performance should be achievable over a full working shift or day by any trained,

qualified and motivated worker; assuming that the specified method is adhered to and the conditions under which the work is carried out are similar to those under which the standard was set; and assuming that the worker takes the appropriate level of relaxation time built into the standard. It is essential that observers carrying out studies using any of the measurement techniques are fully aware of the concepts underlying the technique they are using and are fully trained in the skills required to apply the technique effectively. A problem exists with the number of performance rating scales in common use. Many of these are based on a traditional view of a given numerical value representing a fair days work. The actual level or amount of work that constitutes this concept of fair may vary from country to country or even company to company; and may vary over time as the understanding of this concept of fair or normal performance varies with changes in culture and expectations. Thus, performance rating does not give absolute values and a particular rating scale can only be used in isolation of others. When attempting to transfer time standards or work study and industrial engineers across company or national boundaries, care must be taken to ensure that performance rating scales are comparable and consistent. If not, adjustments must be made in line with the change in the value associated with normal or standard rating. Comparisons of rating scales are published from time to time but these should be taken as guidelines only since they provide snapshots at a given time. As an example, the following comparisons are commonly quoted:
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Methods times measurement (MTM) 100 = British Standards Institution (BSI 83); REFA 100 = BSI 83 (REFA a system commonly used in Germany).

MTM-based systems are built up from base data derived from film analysis of a range of work in the 1940s. When the data were constructed, performance rating was used. Once the data had been finalized using the concept of standard rating that applied at the time, no further changes were made as the application of MTM data does not involve performance rating.
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A solution to the problem of comparing different performance rating scales is thus to use MTM-based measurement studies as a means of validating a particular scale. A time can be derived for a task using a measurement system that uses performance rating (such as time study) and this time can be compared to a time derived for the same task by MTM analysis. The relative values that correspond to standard or normal rating can then be derived and compared. Since, as we have discussed, the concept of normal rating varies over time, this validation must be carried out at periodic intervals (five years should be a reasonable time period) to enable different rating scales and the time standards derived from them, to be derived. Allowances/standard time relaxation allowance When an operator is carrying out any work, the work induces fatigue and the operator must be allowed to recover from that fatigue. Thus an allowance for rest or recovery is added to the basic time for this purpose. This allowance is normally a percentage, added to the basic time, which is calculated from a scale of allowances that relate to the type of work and the conditions under which it is performed. Thus, work which involves, for example, heavy lifting, would carry a higher percentage allowance than light assembly work for which the operator is seated. Various scales of relaxation allowance are in operation which give guidance for the amount of allowance to add for particular types of work or environmental condition. Contingency allowance Contingencies are very small amounts of work or delay which are inherent in a job but which are too small to be measured accurately. Thus it is common during a study to record the types of activity or delay within this category and to calculate the percentage of study time which was occupied by them. This percentage (or a modified percentage if it is known that not all contingencies occurred within the study period) can then be added to the basic time to ensure that appropriate time is allowed for such activities and delays. Build-up of standard time The actual synthesis of a standard time will be dependent on the nature of the
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work. For simple tasks, it is simply a total of basic time, relaxation time and contingency time. For more complex jobs, such as those involving machine use where the cycle time of the machine may be a determining factor in the overall completion time, the process is more complex but the principle of obtaining a measure for each portion of the overall cycle remains. The training of work study practitioners allows standard times to be built up for any type of work using appropriate techniques.

Measurement systems
Time study Time study is essentially the direct observation of work with a time standard for the work being derived by converting the observed time through performance rating of the worker carrying out the work. It is the oldest of the work measurement techniques and is the most flexible, being applicable to any type of work carried out in any environment.

Sampling
techniques are based on observations made of a situation at intervals

The actual time study is carried out using some form of timing device (which may be a stopwatch or an electronic recording device) that commonly records times in centiminutes (1 centiminute = 0.01 minutes) although other units may be used. At the same time as recording the time for an element, by recording the time at the breakpoint, the observer makes an assessment of the workers performance using a performance rating scale. This process carries on for a number of cycles of the job so that the element times, when calculated, can be averaged out over the number of cycles observed. On completion of the study, the observer analyses the data collected and calculates a basic time for each element in the job. Thus, basic time is obtained by converting the observed time using the assessed rating. Thus the basic time is the time to carry out the element of work by a qualified worker working at standard performance. To obtain the final time (the standard time) for the element or job may require the addition of certain allowances. The commonest of these is relaxation or rest allowance which is an allowance to the basic time to allow the worker to recover from the fatigue inherent in carrying out the work and normally is applied by working out a percentage factor dependent on the nature of the work and the conditions under which it is carried out. Sampling techniques Sampling techniques, as the name implies, are based on the fact that observations made of a situation at intervals, provide a reliable indication of the whole situation. One great advantage of sampling techniques is that they allow the observation of a number of subjects (workers, machines, pieces of equipment) by one observer and thus it can be a very costeffective technique. When used for measurement purposes there are two different types of sampling method used. Random sampling Random sampling is the taking of observations of a situation or activity at random intervals. The reason for the randomness of the observations is that the situation or activity will have its own particular cycle and observations taken at regular intervals could coincide with parts of this cycle and provide biased results.

The general procedure for time study is that the observer, after becoming familiar with the type of work being carried out, observes the job and makes an analysis of the work content by breaking it down into relatively short elements. These elements are selected for convenience of observation and measurement they should have clearly defined end-points (or breakpoints) and their duration will be dependent on the type of work being measured. For short cycle, repetitive work elements typically will be of less than half a minute duration, whereas for longer cycle work the duration may be significantly longer.

Thus a number of random times are determined (often from tables of random numbers) and at these times the subjects to be studied are observed and what they are doing at the instant of the random time is recorded. For measurement purposes it may also be necessary to record the performance rating assessment. When a large number of observations has been recorded, the percentage time taken by each recorded activity can be calculated. Statistical techniques can be used to determine the number of observations required for a desired level of accuracy and, if properly applied, the use of random sampling can offer reliable results as the basis of information about workloads, movements, machine down-time, etc. or as the basis of standard times. Group sampling techniques Group sampling techniques (or group timing techniques) are based on the premiss that for many jobs (especially in office environments) there is no fixed cycle and thus fixed interval sampling will produce accurate and reliable results, Thus such techniques use fixed interval sampling normally at fairly short intervals, to take sampling data of a group of workers. Often the interval is sufficiently short for the observer to be in constant observation of the group, taking sampled observations almost continually. Thus the study is almost like a continuous time study but the observer is able to cover a group of workers. Estimating techniques Estimating is used in many areas to arrive at approximate measures. The nearness of the estimate to the actual measure depends on the experience of the estimator in the area in which he or she is working. For work measurement purposes, estimators must be fully trained and experienced in the type of work for which they are estimating times. Generally, estimating is used to provide times for work which would be too expensive to measure in other ways, or where the level of detail and accuracy required is not high. For estimating techniques to be used as work measurement tools they must follow the three-stage procedure outlined earlier importantly there must be an analysis stage when the job is examined and broken down into convenient, constituent parts. Thus, it

is not enough to estimate a complete, long-cycle job in its entirety; the estimator must analyse the job and make an estimate on the basis of his or her experience, for individual operations or activities within the job. A number of techniques have been derived to systematize the process of estimating to provide times with known reliability. The most common of these is comparative estimating which is based on the establishment of benchmark jobs of known work content (or target time), established by measurement. Other jobs are then compared with these benchmark jobs and slotted into the appropriate time slot and allotted the appropriate time value. Synthesis Synthesis is not a measurement technique as such but is included here since it is used to derive times for jobs and activities. When measurement was first undertaken, it was noticed that in particular types of work, the same or similar job elements occurred regularly through a range of jobs. Thus, if it was possible to derive times for those elements it should be possible to build up, or synthesize, a time for any new job which was made up of elements that had been previously measured. This is the technique of synthesis.

applied. The second type of element is the variable element, in which the time taken for completion of the element varies with some property or attribute of the work being carried out. Thus the time taken for the element paint board will vary with the size of the board. Typically such elements will vary with size or weight but there may be more complex factors or a number of factors involved. For these elements, a range of studies is carried out and the databank typically holds either a table of values which will cover the expected range of the factor(s) that will occur, or a time formula which will allow the time for any given value of the factor(s) to be calculated. By applying the times for all the constant and variable elements that occur in a new job, the time for that job can be synthesized without the need for direct measurement. Synthesis thus needs considerable effort and expense to create the databank of element times, but once established, this databank allows times to be created quickly and cost-effectively, even for jobs which have yet to go into production. Predetermined time systems (PTS) PTS are a logical extension of the concept of synthesis since they are based on the premiss that all work consists of basic human motions and that times can be assigned to these motions if they are defined and classified in a systematic way. For example, if an operator is to use a spanner to turn a nut, the motions he or she will use are something like:
q

Element
times are established by some measurement technique

reach for spanner; pick up spanner; move spanner to nut; position spanner on nut; turn spanner.

q q q q

Element times are established by some measurement technique commonly time study and stored in a databank. These element times are of two basic types. The first are constant elements, which are the same, and thus have the same time, whenever they are performed. When such an element occurs in a new job, the time recorded against the element in the databank is

The time taken to perform the reach for the spanner will depend on, perhaps, the size of the spanner and the distance it is away. PTS systems are built up from large numbers of studies, which include performance assessment, taken on a large number of jobs which are analysed in detail and categorized. Eventually, this process allows a table of different types and distance of the motion reach to be drawn up and a time to be assigned to each. These data, together with data on the other basic motions, are incorporated into a datacard which is supplied with the system.
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An observer measuring a job with a PTS simply observes the job and analyses it into its constituent basic motions. The parameters affecting each one (such as distance) are recorded and the appropriate category of the motion is obtained from the datacard together with the associated time value. There is no need for the observer to carry out performance rating since the times on the datacard are for the average, qualified worker. The original PTS were all detailed, low-level systems but many have now been developed into higher-level systems, by combining basic motions into higher-order data blocks, offering faster application but with a less detailed analysis. One of the commonest systems in Europe is MTM (methods times measurement) which consists of a family of techniques at different levels suitable for different types of work. Application techniques general It is important to distinguish between a work measurement system and the way in which it is applied. Thus a measurement system refers to the way in which elemental or activity times are obtained; the application technique

refers to the way in which times for jobs are created using these data. For example, it is possible for an observer to take a time study of a job and then to calculate the standard time for the job, taking into account any allowances. Alternatively, the observer may take the time study and feed the data into a computerized system which carries out all calculations and produces the resultant standard time. Thus the application of time study may be manual or computerized. This is true of all of the measurement techniques. Computerized work measurement The increasing power and availability of personal computers has provided the means to apply work measurement more effectively and more cheaply. There are many computerized systems available, some being simply application techniques which will take data from any source (existing time study data, time formulae, estimated data, etc.) and some being based around a particular measurement system. Such systems will perform the calculation and storage of data for that particular technique. Thus electronic time study systems collect data are an electronic study board; the data are

then transferred to a computer which performs the subsequent analysis and calculation. Most of the computerized systems allow times to be created for jobs from base level data and then for parts of jobs or operations to be stored as higher-level data to permit synthesis of new jobs at a faster rate using these common operations. One of the main advantages of a computerized system is the ease of updating higher level data when the base data changes, say with a method change or a change in the working environment. All jobs which include a particular element or operation will automatically be updated if the element or operation time is modified. Work measurement is still commonly practised and seems to be more popular across the rest of Europe than it does in the UK. Like all other techniques it is not a panacea but, used properly, at the right time, it can make a significant contribution to the pursuit of effective working and high productivity.

Anna Baines is a freelance journalist.

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