Foundations of “Scientific”

Operations Management:
The Study of Work Systems

WORK MEASUREMENT
Text Chapter 7
 Some Motivation
“.. This led him to review the payroll records. Here he
learned that for several months the workers' productivity
had been slipping ..”
- Faltering Factory

“The Maintenance section has been complaining of

being overworked due to frequent breakdowns in the coil
winding group, and has asked the Industrial Engineering
(IE) section to reverse the cutbacks in maintenance
personnel. The IE head is reluctant, but has agreed to
observe and examine the matter. However, the only
resources he has to do such a study are two engineering
interns with limited exposure to processes and people.”
- Eastern Electric Enterprises
 ON MEASUREMENT

“Standard: the rate at which a ‘first class man’ could

work using the best procedure”
- Frederick Taylor, Father of Scientific Management

“Management monitored us on average call handling

time, or AHT’s.
As our group got the more painful customers, our AHT
benchmarks were higher at two-and-a-half-minutes per
call.”
- ON@TCC
 Work Measurement

• “The application of techniques designed to

establish the time for a qualified worker to
carry out a specified job at a defined level of
performance.” - ILO

• Comprises techniques such as:

– Direct Time Study^ - Work Sampling^
– Synthetic Standards- Predetermined Time Systems
 Why Measure Work ?
• Basis for Planning & Scheduling

• Comparison of Alternative Methods

• Basis for Performance Evaluation & Control

• Basis for Financial Incentives

• Data for Costing

• Prevent Exploitation
DIRECT TIME STUDY
 Direct Time Study Approach
• Define the job with its method/ elements, and
inform stakeholders of the study

• Determine the number of cycles to observe (n)

• Time the job elements to get each element’s

Observed Time (OT), and rate the worker pace
(PR)

• Determine Normal Time (NT)

• See
Compute
Text p.313 Standard Time (ST)
 PACE & RATING
• Assessment of pace of work relative to
observer’s concept of Normal pace
• A few examples of Normal pace:
– Walking pace 3 miles/ hour
– Sorting 52 cards into 4 decks in 0.4 minutes
• Usually rated on 0-100 scale (Normal = 100%)
• Consider difficulty and pace of task in rating
• May have to rate each element separately (e.g.,
Machine vs. Manual work)
• Avoid studying if pace unnatural (< 75 or > 133)
Time Study Calculations (p.315-316)
• Select and/or Average each element time to get
Observed Time OT = ∑xi ÷ n
• Normal Time NT = OT × PR
• ST = NT × Allowance Factor
= NT (1 + A) where A is the allowance %
- If based on Job time
• Alternately: ST = NT ÷ (1-A)
- If based on Workday time
• NEGOTIATE!
 Allowances
Relaxation Allowances:
Fixed:
Personal Needs (5-7% ILO norms)
Fatigue (4% ILO Norms)
Variable:
For environmental & other job factors

Contingency/ Policy Allowances:

For “legitimate” time losses/ delays
that are not measurable each cycle
 Time Study Example 3 (p.316-317)
• A time study for an assembly operation yielded the
following observed times for one element of the job, for
which the analyst gave a pace rating of 1.13 (i.e.113%).
Using an allowance of 20% of job time, determine the
standard time for the element.
• Obs. No. (i) 1 2 3 4 5
• Time (xi in min.) 1.12 1.15 1.16 1.12 1.15
• Obs. No. (i) 6 7 8 9
• Time (xi in min.) 1.18 1.14 1.14 1.19
OT = ∑xi ÷ n = 10.35 ÷ 9 = 1.15’
NT = OT × PR = 1.15 × 1.13 = 1.30’
ST = NT × (1+A) = 1.30 × 1.20 = 1.56’
WORK SAMPLING
 Work Sampling
• For infrequent, long-cycle, or service tasks

• “A method of finding the percentage of

occurrence of a certain activity/ state by
statistical sampling and random
observations” - ILO

• Key decisions to be statistically established:

– How many observations ? ^
– When to take observations ?
 Work Sampling Snapshot
Total
Observations

Not
Working
Working

In Setup/ Under Awaiting Awaiting Personal

Idle
Operation Close Repair Repair Supplies Needs
Example Findings for Salespeople

Sales in Travel
person 20%
20%
Telephone
sales Paperwork
12% 17%
Lunch and
personal
10%
Telephone
within firm Meetings
13% and other
8%
Work Sampling Notation & Formulae
Text p. 319-320
 Work Sampling Notation
• True proportion being estimated: p

• Statistical confidence factor required: z (e.g.

1.96 for 95% confidence, 2.33 for 98% etc. as
tabulated on p.314)

• Accuracy required in estimate

– Acceptable absolute error ‘e’ (i.e. range p̂ + e) where
p̂ is the current estimate of the proportion (average)

• Number of observations i.e. sample size (n)

See Text p.319
 Formulae for Determining n
If accuracy is stated as absolute (i.e. range p̂ + e as in book):

z2 p̂ (1 – p̂ )
n>
e2
If accuracy is stated as relative, i.e. as a proportion of p,
Acceptable relative percentage error is ‘a’ (i.e. range p̂ ± a × p̂ ) :

z2 (1 – p̂ )
n>
a2 p̂
Note:
The second formula is not from the book,
but is algebraically equivalent since e = a × p̂
 Work Sampling Study Approach
• Identify the workers/ machines to be studied, and inform
workers and supervisors of the purpose
• Start with an initial estimate of p̂ (use 0.5 if no data
available), and compute sample size
• Develop random observation schedule (p.320-322)
• Take random observations, calculate p̂ as observed, and
re-compute sample size if needed based on observed p̂ .
• Determine estimated proportion p of specified activity or
state based on revised sample size

See Text p.320

 Work Sampling Example 4 (p.319-320)
• A supermarket manager wants to estimate the proportion
of time that clerks spend marking price changes on
merchandise. The manager wants 98% confidence that
the resulting estimate will be within 5% (e) of the true
value. No initial estimate of the proportion is available.
• For 98% confidence, z = 2.33 (table on p.314).
• At preliminary estimate of p̂ = 0.5,
n = (2.33÷0.05)2 × 0.5 × (1-0.5) = 542.89 ~ 543 observ.
• After 20 initial observations, the proportion was estimated
as 0.10, so the sample size is recomputed as:
n = (2.33÷0.05)2 × 0.1 × (1-0.1) = 195.44 ~ 196 observ.
 Work Sampling Implications
• Needs less skill than full Direct Time Study
• Can cover larger area and longer time span,
hence potentially more representative
• Observation less intrusive
• Less opportunity for operator to change method/
behaviour

• Snapshot view: Not as detailed as Time Study

• Miss out on Pace/ Rating assessments
 SYNTHETIC STANDARDS
• For non-repetitive (but similar) tasks, or runs
which are not long enough to conduct Time Study
• Useful for estimation (planning/budgeting/quoting)
– Many jobs may have common elements which can be
individually estimated and then combined
• Based on historical records/ experience, establish
relationships between time required and key job
parameters (e.g. Weight, Area, Distance etc.)

• Assumes that processes continue unchanged

• Easier to estimate physical time; Mental time?
 Synthetic Standards Example
Time required (Y in minutes) to load a pallet with material
to fill requisitions:

Y = 5.02 + 3.37 X1 + 0.45 X2

where
X1 = Number of boxes carried in a pallet load
X2 = Number of requisitions served by a pallet load

Thus for a pallet carrying 6 boxes and filling 2 requisitions,

Y= 5.02 + 3.37 × 6 + 0.45 × 2 = 26.14’

Established by regression analysis for a specific situation

 PREDETERMINED TIME SYSTEMS
• For very short cycle repetitive tasks (Pharma,
Electronics etc.)
• Database of extremely detailed standard work
elements
– (e.g., Reach, Move, Select, Grasp, Transfer etc.)
• Parametrized based on weight, size, precision,
difficulty level etc.
• New jobs disaggregated into combinations of
above elements, and estimated accordingly
• Major (commercial) systems: MTM, WFU, MOST
Another Example: An Order Entry Job
Cycles
Element ↓ 1 2 3 4 5 Ratin Avg. NT
g
Pick Up .07 .06 .07 .05 .07 90

Enter .50 .49 .52 .53 .48 100

Check .06 .07 .08 .07 .07 90

Put Away - - - - .15 90

(batch of 5)
 Order Entry Job Example
Cycles
Element ↓ 1 2 3 4 5 Ratin Avg. NT
g
Pick Up .07 .06 .07 .05 .07 90 .064

Enter .50 .49 .52 .53 .48 100 .504

Check .06 .07 .08 .07 .07 90 .07

Put Away - - - - .15 90 .03

(batch of 5)
 Order Entry Job Example
Cycles
Element ↓ 1 2 3 4 5 Ratin Avg. NT
g
Pick Up .07 .06 .07 .05 .07 90 .064 .0576

Enter .50 .49 .52 .53 .48 100 .504 .504

Check .06 .07 .08 .07 .07 90 .07 .063

Put Away - - - - .15 90 .03 .027

(batch of 5)

Total Normal Time for Job: .057+.504+.063+.027 = 0.6516