WORK

MEASUREMENT
WORK MEASUREMENT
Work measurement is the process
of establishing the time that a
given task would take when
performed by a qualified worker
working at a defined level of
performance.
A qualified worker is 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
Work measurement also refers to
the process of estimating the
amount of worker time required to
produce one unit of output.
A goal of work measurement is to

develop labor standards that can

be used for planning and
controlling operations.
LABOR STANDARDS
A laborstandard is the number
of worker-minutes required to
complete an element,
operation, or product under
ordinary operating conditions.
Labor standards are used in:
◦Cost estimation
◦Pricing of products and services
◦Fixing wage rates and incentive
pay systems
◦Capacity planning
◦Production scheduling
◦Decide equipment requirements
Labor Standards
A labor standard can be
determined using one or more
of the following approaches
Time study
Work sampling
Predetermined time standards
TIME STUDY
 Time study is defined as a work
measurement technique for recording
the times and rates of working for
elements of specific job carried out
under specific conditions and for
analyzing the data so as to obtain the
times necessary for carrying out the
job at a defined level of performance.
PROCEDURE FOR CONDUCTING
TIME STUDY
 For conducting time study, recording
the times and rates of working for the
elements of a specified job carried
out under specified conditions and
analyzing the data so as to obtain the
time necessary for carrying out the
job at a defined level of performance.
 This study is conducted by the time
study expert, who should be familiar
with all the information related to the
job and the conditions in which it is
being done.
 The location of the expert should be

such that he can watch all the operations

and movements of the workers without
disturbing them from suitable distance.
SUITABLE JOBS FOR A TIME STUDY
 Job performed by a single worker in a

fixed location
 Job involves repetitive short cycles
 Job expected to continue unchanged for a

long period
 Job produces large quantities of output
 Resulting time standard must be very

accurate
Time Study
1. Analysts use stopwatches to time the
operation being performed by
workers
2. These observed times are then
converted into labor standards
3. The labor standards are expressed in
minutes per unit of output for the
operation
Determining Labor Standards
from Time Studies
Performance Allowance
Rating Fraction

Observed Normal Standard

Time Time Time
Time Study
◦ The determination, with the use of a
stopwatch, of how long it takes to complete a
task or set of tasks.
◦ Normal time = Observed performance time
per unit x Performance rating
◦ Piece rate is the rate paid for work
completed.
◦Break down tasks by:
 Defining each work element.
 Separating human work from
machine work.
 Defining operator and machine
delays separately.
◦ Steps
 Breakdown the new job into its
elements
 Match elements to the time for similar
job-specific elements in the elemental
table.
 Adjust elements for special
characteristics of the new job.
 Add element times together and add
delay and fatigue allowances.
ALLOWANCES
 To get the standard time a proper
allowance must be added considering
the working conditions. While
deciding the quantum of allowance to
be added to the normal time,
following types of allowances are
considered
1. Relaxation Allowance
The amount of this allowance depends
upon the nature of the job and includes
the following two categories of
allowances:
 Personal need Allowance. It provides for
the necessary to go away from the work
place to attend the personal needs such as
washing, going to lavatory and getting a
drink etc. It is commonly taken as 5% for
male and 7% Female workers.
Fatigue Allowance. Fatigue
allowance is provided to recover
worker, from the physical and
physiological effect of carrying
out work. It contains
 A constant portion ( the minimum or
basic fatigue allowances) which must
be adequate for a worker who carried
out the job while seated, engaged on
light work in an ideal working
conditions. This is generally
considered as 4% for both men and
women
◦A variable portion is added when
the working condition are severe.
It is based on factors which vary
the working conditions. These
factors are:
 Standing or other abnormal
position
 Use of force
 Light
 Atmosphere condition
 Visual strain
 Manual strain
 Mental strain
2. INTERFERENCE
ALLOWANCE
 When one worker is attending more
than one machine, then, interference
is the time for which one or more
machine unit remains idle while
attending is occupied with the work
on other machine units.
The allowance provided to
compensate this idleness due to
interference is known as
interference allowances
3. PROCESS ALLOWANCE
 Thisis an allowance provided to
compensate for enforced idleness during
a process. This includes loss of time due
to
◦ No work
◦ Power failure
◦ Faulty material
◦ Faulty tools or equipments
4. CONTINGENCY
ALLOWANCES
This is an allowance of time to
meet legitimate, irregular and
frequent items of work or delays
which cannot economically be
measured correctly. It usually
taken as less than 5%.
5. SPECIAL ALLOWANCES
 These allowances are decided as a policy
matter of management. These are allowed
for activities which are normally not a part
of the operation cycle but are essential for
satisfactory performance of work.
 These include the following items

◦ Start up
◦ Cleaning
◦Shut down
◦Set Up
◦Change Over
◦Tool changing and regrinding
TIME STUDY CAN
EQUIPMENTS
Stop Watch
Time Recording Machine
Motion Picture Camera
Electronic timer
Normal
Normal time
time == Observed
Observed performance
performance
time
time per
per unit
unit xx Performance
Performance rating
rating

Standard time = Normal

Standard time = Normal time
time ..
11 --Allowances
Allowances
Example: Time Study Approach
In a time study of a manufacturing
operation, the average time observed to
complete a product was 8.6 minutes. The
performance rating applied to the
observed worker was 0.95 and the
allowance during an 8-hour shift was
12.5% or 60 minutes. Compute the labor
standard.
 Observed time = 8.6 minutes
 Performance rating = 0.95
 Allowance fraction = 0.125
 Normal time = Observed time x Performance
rating
= 8.6 x 0.95
= 8.17 minutes
 Standard Time = Normal time / (1 -Allowance)

= 8.17 / (1 - .125)
= 8.17 / (0.875)
= 9.337 minutes
WORK SAMPLING
 The work of one or more employees is
randomly sampled at periodic intervals
 The results of these studies are used to:

 Set allowances used in labor

standards
 Set labor standards
SUITABLE JOBS
 Job performed by a single worker in a fixed
location
 Job involves repetitive short cycles
 Job expected to be changed periodically as

customer orders change

 Job produces relatively small quantities of

output
 Resulting time standard used for accounting

cost standard, pricing analysis, and production

planning
Example: Work Sampling
A work sampling study was performed on an
electronic assembly operation at OK Instruments. The
study covered an 8-hour shift with a single worker.
The results of the study were:
Activity % of Worker’s Time
Assemble Units 80
Allowances 20
If the worker received a performance rating of
1.20 on the Assemble Units activity and 400 units were
assembled during the study, what is the labor standard
for this operation?
1) Compute the average time per assemble:
= Total Minutes of Assembly Work
Number of Units Assembled
= .8(480)/400 = .960 minutes per unit

2) Compute the normal time per unit:

= (Average Time per Unit)(Performance Rating)
= .960(1.20) = 1.152 minutes per unit
3) Compute the labor standard:
= Normal Time/(1 – Allowance Fraction)
= 1.152/(1 - .20) = 1.44 minutes per unit
 The employee selected for the time study
has produced 20 units of product in an 8
hour day. Your observations made the
employee nervous and you estimate that
the employee worked about 10 percent
faster than what is a normal pace for the
job. Allowances for the job represent 25
percent of the normal time. Determine the
normal and standard time for the job
Normal time = Time worked x (Perf. rating)
Number of units produced

= (480 minutes/20) x (1.10)

= 26.4 minutes

Standard time = NT .
1 – Allowances

= (26.4)/(1-0.25)

= 35.2 minutes