TOPIC IV : Time Study

Course Outcomes
At the end of the course, the students should be able to:

1. Define what is time study

2. Determine appropriate time study equipment

3. Learn how to select and time the job
4. Know how to rate the worker

Learning Outcomes
After successful completion of this module, the students should be able to:
5. Understand and explain time study
6. Comprehend the functions of time study equipment
7. Describe the qualification of a qualified worker
8. Recognize the standard time
Course Materials
What is Time Study?
It is a work measurement technique for recording the times of performing a certain
specific job or its elements carried out under specified conditions, and for analyzing the data so
as to obtain the time necessary for an operator to carry it out at a defined rate of performance.
Time Study Equipment
If time studies are to be made, certain items of equipment are essential. Basic time study
equipment consists of:
a. A stop watch
b. A study board
c. Time study forms
Although any or all of these maybe replaced with electronic equivalents. The study
person will need to be carrying the timing and recording devices whenever a time study is
made. Other measuring instruments will be required from time to time to obtain data on the work
being measured such as tape measures, steel rules, micrometers, spring balances and so on.
In addition, a reliable clock with a second hand for recording study start and finish times.
The Stop Watch: is the measuring instrument to observe elemental timings usually a decimal
watch. Two types of watches are in general use for time study, namely the mechanical and
electronic.
Mechanical watches can again be subdivided into thee fly back and non-fly back types
as well as the split hand stopwatch in less common use.
Electronic stop watches maybe part of a specially designed study board or capture
device. Mechanical type watches maybe obtained with any of three graduated scales:

 Recording one minute per revolution by intervals of 1/5 of a second, with a small hand
recording 30 minutes;
 Recording one minute per revolution calibrated in 1/100ths of a minute, with a small
hand recording 30 minutes (the decimal –minute watch)
 Recording 1/100th of an hour per revolution calibrated in 1/10,000ths of an hour; a small
hand records up to one hour in 100 divisions (the decimal-hour watch)
The Time study board: is simply a flat board having fittings to hold a stop watch and time study
forms.
Stopwatch Time Study
-requires an operator to do the operation; thus it cannot be done ahead of production. In
general, it requires the operator to do the operation over and over rather than doing different
tasks intermittently (such as might be done in office or maintenance work). Before the timing is
done, the method must be analyzed. The objectives of Time study are:
For cost allocation.
For scheduling production.
For determining pay incentive and fair days for individual employees

Setting the Performance Standard.

Standard work is obtain times from:
• direct observation - time studies and sampling
• from observing similar jobs (pre-determined data)
• reports of those doing the work (trusting their reports)
All involve some form of sampling and generally work measurement requires training for
consistency of collection and judgment.
Basic Procedure of Time study
1. Selecting the job for time study.
The reason for which time study may be done: -

 The job is new or not previously carried out.

 Change the method of existing time standard.
 Complaint received regarding the time standard.
 A bottle neck operation (holds up other activities).
 Changes in the management policy time standard are used.
2. Obtaining and recording information.
Details regarding method, operator, job and working conditions will be recorded. The operators
should be a representative worker with a normal pace neither too fast nor too slow, working
conditions like temperature, dust, smoke, noise etc…, working position (standing, sitting,
bending…).

3. Define the elements; break the job in to elements convenient for timing.
Element: is a distinct part of a job selected for convenience of observation, measurement and
analysis.
4. Measure time duration for each elements and asses the rating.

There are two principal methods to timing. These are:-

I. Cumulative: the watch runs throughout the study; from the start of the first element until the
whole study is completed. At the end o each element the reading is recorded in individual
element times are obtained by successive subtraction.
II. Fly back timing: at the end of each element the hand of the stop watch returned to zero and
allowed to start immediately, the time for each element is obtained directly.

Cycle time - the maximum time that the product is available at each workstation if the production
rate is to be achieved.

5. Extend Observed Time into Normal Time.

The representative time established from the observation data is the working of an operator at a
certain pace. The observed time is converted in to basic or normal time by multiplying it by
rating factor.

NORMAL TIME = OBSERVED TIME * PERFORMANCE RATING (%)

100
6. Determine relaxation and other allowances.
Some additional time is added in normal time because the operator can’t work continuously.
Those allowances needed to provide the operator to attend to his personal needs includes:
Relaxation allowances.
Interference allowances.
Contingency allowances.
Policy allowances.

7. Calculate Standard Time for the job.

Standard Time- is the total time in which a job should be computed at standard performance.
Standard time= (Normal time*1/1-allowance)
Thus basic constituent of standard time are:
 Observed time.
Performance rating to compensate for difference in pace of working.
Various allowances.
It can also be defined as the time required producing a product at a work station with the
following three conditions:
1) A qualified, well-trained operator
2) Working at a normal pace
3) Doing a specific task.
These three conditions are essential to the understanding of time study. The standard time is
one of the most important pieces of information produced in the manufacturing department.
It is used to develop answers for the following problems:

 Determining the number of machine tools to buy

 Determining the number of production people to employ
 Determining manufacturing costs and selling prices
 Scheduling the machines, operations, and people to do the job and
deliver on time
 Determining the assembly line balance, determining the conveyor belt
speed, loading the work cells with the correct amount of work, and
balancing the work cells
 Determine individual worker performance and identifying operations that
are having problems so the problems can be corrected
 Paying incentive wages for outstanding team or individual performance
 Evaluating cost reduction ideas and picking the most economical method
based on cost analysis, not opinion
 Evaluating new equipment purchases to justify their expense
 Developing operation personnel budgets to measure management
performance.
Performance Rating
Performance- is the accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards
of accuracy, completeness, cost, and speed.
Performance Rating- can be defined as the procedure in which the time study engineer
compares the performance of operator(s) under observation to the Normal Performance and
determines a factor called Rating Factor. Determination of performance rating is an important
step in the work measurement procedure. It is based entirely on the experience, training, and
judgment of the work-study engineer. It is the step most subjective and therefore is subject to
criticism.
Rating Factor = Observed Performance
Normal Performance
System of Rating
There are several systems of rating the performance of operator on a job.
These are: Pace Rating, Westinghouse System of Rating, Objective Rating , Synthetic Rating A
brief description of each rating method follows.
1. Pace Rating
Under this system, operator's performance is evaluated by considering his rate of
accomplishment of the work. The study person measures the effectiveness of the operator
against the concept of normal performance and then assigns a percentage to indicate the ratio
of the observed performance to normal or standard performance.
2. Westinghouse System of Rating
This method considers four factors in evaluating the performance of operator: skill, effort,
conditions and consistency.
− Skill: may be defined as the proficiency at of an individual in
following the given method
− Effort: measures the speed with which the skill is applied.
− Conditions: like temperature, vibrations, light and noise that affect the operators’ performance.
− Consistency; factors which affect consistency to perform the work repeatedly with same time.
3. Objective Rating
In this system, speed of movements and job difficulty are rated separately and the two
estimates are combined into a single value.
Rating of speed or pace is done by selecting adjustment factors corresponding to characteristics
of operation with respect to: amount of body used, foot pedals, bimanual ness, eye-hand co-
ordination, handling requirements and weight handled or resistance encountered.
The rating factor R can be expressed as
R=PxD
Where: P = Pace rating factor, and
D = Job difficulty adjustment factor.
Allowances
Allowances are generally applied to total cycle time as some percentage of it, but sometimes
these are given separately for machine time as some percentage and for manual effort time
some other percentage. Most companies allow the following allowances to their employees.
1. Delay Allowance
This time allowance is given to operator for the numerous unavoidable delays and interruptions
that he experiences every day during the course of his work. These interruptions include
interruptions from the supervisor, inspector, planners, expediters, fellow workers, production
personnel and others.
This allowance also covers interruptions due to material irregularities, difficulty in maintaining
specifications and tolerances, and interference delays where the operator has to attend to more
than one machine.
2. Fatigue Allowance
This allowance can be divided into two parts:
(i) Basic fatigue allowance and
(ii) Variable fatigue allowance.
The basic fatigue allowance is given to the operator to compensate for the energy expended for
carrying out the work and to alleviate monotony. For an operator who is doing light work while
seated, under good working conditions and under normal demands on the sensory or motor
system, a 4% of normal time is considered adequate. This can be treated as a constant
allowance.
3. Personal Allowance
This is allowed to compensate for the time spent by worker in meeting the physical needs, for
instance a periodic break in the production routine. The amount of this allowance can be
determined by making all-day time study or work sampling. Mostly, a 5 % allowance for
personal time (nearly 24 minutes in 8 hours) is considered appropriate.
4. Special Allowances
These allowances are given under certain special circumstances. Some of these allowances
and the conditions under which they are given are:
Policy Allowance: Some companies, as a policy, give an allowance to provide a satisfactory
level of earnings for a specified level of performance under exceptional circumstance.
Training Allowance: This allowance is provided when work is done by trainee to allow him to
make reasonable earnings.
Rework Allowance: This allowance is provided on certain operation when it known that some
percent of parts made are spoiled due to factors beyond the operator's control. The time in
which these spoiled parts may be reworked is converted into allowance.
Assessment/Activity:
Make a full application of time study by doing a Sandwich Preparation using 6(six) slices
of bread to make 3 sandwiches and fill it with your favorite spread. This is an individual
homework to be submitted by your respective leaders.