JOB DESIGN AND
WORK
MEASUREMENTS
Jeremiah R. Garcia
METHODS ANALYSIS
• It focuses on how a task is accomplished.
• Whether controlling a machine or making or assembling
components, how a task is done makes a difference in
performance, safety and quality.
• Methods techniques are used to analyze:
• Movement of individuals or material. – The analysis is performed
using flow diagrams and process charts.
• Activity of human and machine and crew activity. The analysis is
performed by activity charts.
• Body movement (primarily arms and hands). - This analysis is
performed using operations charts.
Visual Workplace
• A visual workplace uses low-cost visual devices to share
information quickly and accurately.
• The visual workplace can eliminate non value added
activities by making standards, problems and
abnormalities visual.
LABOR STANDARDS
• Labor standards are the amount of time required to
perform a job or part of a job.
• Effective manpower planning is dependent on a
knowledge of the labor required.
• Labor standards are set in four ways:
• Historical experience
• Time studies
• Predetermined time standards
• Work sampling
Historical Experience
• Labor standards can be estimated based on historical
experience – that is, how many labor hours were required
to do a task the last time it was performed.
• They are usually available from employee time cards or
production records.
• However, they are not objective, and we do not know their
accuracy, whether they represent a reasonable or a poor
work pace, and whether unusual occurrences are
included.
Time Studies
• The classical stopwatch study, or time study, originally proposed
by Frederick W. Taylor in 1881, involves timing a sample of a
worker’s performance and using it to set a standards.
• A trained and experienced person can establish a standard by
following these eight steps:
• Define the task to be studied.
• Divide the task into precise elements.
• Decide how many times to measure the task.
• Time and record elemental times and ratings of performance.
• Compute the average observed (actual) time.
• Determine performance rating and then compute the normal time for
each element
• Add the normal times for each element to develop a total normal time for
the task.
• Compute for the standard time.
Time Studies
• Normal time = (Average observed time) x (Performance
rating factor)
• Average observed time = (Sum of the times recorded to
perform each element) / Number of observations
• Standard time = (Total normal time) / (1 – Allowance
factor)
Example: Time Studies
Time Studies
• Personal time allowances are often established in the
range of 4% to 7% of total time, depending on nearness
to rest rooms, water fountains and other facilities.
• Delay allowances are often set as a result of the actual
studies of the delay that occurs.
• Fatigue allowances are based on our growing knowledge
of human energy expenditure under various physical and
environmental conditions.
• Time study requires a sampling process; so the questions
of sampling error in the average observed time naturally
arises.
Time Studies
Example: Time Studies
Predetermined Time Standards
• Predetermined time standards divide manual work into
small basic elements that already have established times
(based on very large samples of workers).
• Predetermined time standards are an outgrowth of basic
motions called Therbligs.
• Therbligs include such activities as select, grasp, position,
assemble, reach, hold, rest and inspect.
Work Sampling
• The fourth method of developing labor or production
standards, work sampling was developed in England by L.
Tippet in the 1930s.
• Work sampling estimates the percent of the time that a
worker spends on various tasks.
• Random observations are used to record the activity that
a worker is performing.
• The results are primarily used to determine how
employees allocate their time among various activities.
Work Sampling
• The work sampling procedure can be summarized in five
steps:
• Take a preliminary sample to obtain an estimate of the parameter
value.
• Compute the sample size required.
• Prepare a schedule for observing the worker at appropriate times.
The concept of random numbers is used to provide for random
observation.
• Observe and record worker activities.
• Determine how workers spend their time (usually as a percentage).
