What is Work Measurement?
Work Measurement is used to develop standard times needed to perform operations. Time standards have traditionally been defined as the time required by an average skilled operator, working at a normal pace, to perform a specified task using a prescribed method, allowing time for personal needs, fatigue, and delay.
Work measurement is widely known as "Time and Motion Study", "Productivity Measurement", "Work Study", etc.
Significance of Work Measurement:
Work is measured to obtain data/information. The information obtained is useful input for developing Standardized Work, Costing, Staffing, Scheduling, Line Balancing, Materials Requirements Planning, System Simulation, Wage Payment, Employee Evaluation, Employee Training, Sales, Marketing, and Design, etc.
Methods of Work Measurement:
Typical Work Measurement applications:
- Stopwatch Study-Generally applied for continuous indirect labor studies (example: Performing a time study on a forklift truck driver for an entire shift)
- Work Sampling Study-Generally applied to study non-repetitive tasks with long cycle times (example: maintenance operator, support personnel, etc.)
- MODAPTS, MOST, and MTM are generally applied to study repetitive tasks, with short cycle times, involving direct labor personnel (example: assembly line operator, machine center operators, etc.)
In a system involving different types of work elements, a combined approach using stop watch time study, work sampling, and MODAPTS/MOST/MTM is effective to understand the true system cost.