UNIT 2 – Technical Domain of and customer movement, maintain

Operations Management flexibility, use labor and space

effectively, promote high employee
Module 5: Facility and Location
morale and customer satisfaction,
Planning provide for good housekeeping and
maintenance, and enhance sales as
Introduction: appropriate in manufacturing and
• In both goods-producing and service- service facilities.
providing organizations, facility
layout and work design influence the FOUR MAJOR LAYOUT PATTERNS
ability to meet customer wants and 1. PRODUCT LAYOUT
needs, and provide value. A poorly • Is an arrangement based on the
designed facility can lock sequence of operations that is
management into a noncompetitive performed during the manufacturing
situation, and be very costly to of a good or delivery of a service. It
correct. For many service support a smooth and logical flow
organizations, the physical facility is where all goods or services move in a
a vital part of service design. In can continuous path from one process
also play a significant role in creating stage to the next using the same
a satisfying customer experience, sequence of work tasks and
particularly when customer contact is activities. Examples of industries that
high. are using a product-layout pattern
• Location decisions represent a key include winemaking, credit card
part of the strategic planning process processing, paper manufacturers,
of virtually every organization. And, insurance policy processing, and
although it might appear that location automobile assembly lines.
decisions are one-time problems
pertaining to new organizations, ADVANTAGES:
existing organizations often have a 1. Lower work-in-process
bigger stake in these kinds of inventories
decisions than new organization. 2. Shorter processing times
3. Less material handling
CONTENT: 4. Lower labor skills
➢ Facility Layout – refers to the specific 5. Simple planning and control
arrangement of physical facilities. systems
Facility layout studies are necessary
whenever DISADVANTAGES:
(1) a new facility is constructed; 1. A breakdown of one piece of
(2) there is a significant change in equipment can cause the entire
demand or throughput volume; process to shut down
(3) a new good or service is 2. A change in product design or
introduced to the customer benefit the introduction of new
package; and products may require major
(4) different processes, equipment, changes in the layout
and/or technology are installed. 3. Flexibility can be limited
“A good layout should support the 2. PROCESS LAYOUT
ability of operations to accomplish its • Consists of a functional grouping of
mission.” equipment or activities that do similar
work. Job shops are an example of
➢ The purposes of layout studies are to firms that use process layouts to
minimize delays in materials handling provide flexibility in the products that
 can be made and the utilization of cellular manufacturing system, they
equipment and labor. Legal offices, become more aware of their
shoe manufacturing, jet engine contribution to the final product; this
turbine blades, and hospitals use a increases morale and satisfaction
process layout. and ultimately, quality and
productivity.
Advantages:
1. Generally require a lower investment 4. FIXED-POSITION LAYOUT
in equipment • Consolidates the resources
2. Equipment is normally more general necessary to manufacture a good or
purpose deliver a service, such as people,
3. The diversity of jobs inherent in a materials, and equipment, in one
process layout can lead to increased physical location. Rather than
worker satisfaction moving work-in-process from one
work center to another, it remains
DISADVANTAGES: stationary. The production of large
1. High movement and transportation items such as heavy machine tools,
costs airplanes, buildings, locomotives,
2. More complicated planning and and ships usually accomplished in a
control systems fixed-position layout. The fixed
3. Longer total processing time and position layout is synonymous with
higher worker-skill requirements the “project” classification of
process. Service-providing firms also
3. CELLULAR LAYOUT use fixed-position layouts; examples
• The design is not according to the include major hardware and software
functional characteristics of installations, sporting events, and
equipment, but rather by self- concerts.
contained groups of equipment
(called cells) needed for producing a Comparison of Basic Layout Patterns
particular set of goods or services.
The cellular concept was developed Characteristics Product Process Cellular Layout Fixed-Position
at the Toyota Motor Company. Layout Layout Layout
Demand High Low Moderate Very low
Cellular layout facilitate the volume
processing of families or parts with Equipment High Low High Moderate
utilization
similar processing requirements. Automation High Moderate High Moderate
The procedure of classifying parts potential
into such families is called group Set up/ change High Moderate Low High
over
technology. requirements
• Because the workflow is Flexibility
Type of
Low
Highly
High
General
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
standardized and centrally located equipment specialized Purpose specialization specialization
in a cellular layout, materials-
handling requirements are reduced,
enabling workers to concentrate on FACILITY LAYOUT IN SERVICE
production rather than on moving ORGANIZATIONS
parts between machines. Quicker • Service organizations use a product,
response to quality problems within process, cellular, and fixed-position
cells can improve the overall level of layouts to organize different type of
quality. Since Machines are closely work. In service organizations, the
linked within a cell, additional floor basic trade-off between product and
space becomes available for other process layouts concerns the degree
productive uses. Because workers
have greater responsibility in a
 of specialization versus flexibility. exchange rates, costs or local
Services must consider: attitudes.
1. volume of demand;
2. range of the types of services FACTORS THAT AFFECT LOCATION
offered; DECISIONS
3. degree of personalization of the 1. Labor productivity
service; 2. Exchange rate and currency risk
4. skills of employees; and • although wage rates and
5. cost productivity may make a
country seem economical,
Those that need the ability to provide a unfavorable exchange rates
wide variety of services to customers with might negate savings.
differing requirements usually use a 3. Costs
process layout. For example, libraries place a. Tangible costs are those costs that
reference materials, serials, and microfilms are readily identifiable and precisely
into separate areas; hospitals group measured.
services by function also, such as b. Intangible costs – a category of
maternity, oncology, surgery, and X-ray; and location costs that cannot be easily
insurance companies have office layouts in quantified such as quality of life and
which claims, underwriting, and filing are government.
individual departments. Service 4. Attitudes
organizations that provide highly • attitudes of national, state and
standardized services tend to use product local governments toward
layouts. For example, the layout of the private property, zoning,
kitchen at a small pizza restaurant that has pollution and employment
both dine-in and delivery. stability may be in flux. Work
attitudes may also differ from
LOCATION STRATEGY country to country, region to
• Once management is committed to a region, and small town to city.
specific location, many costs are 5. Proximity to markets
firmly in place and difficult to reduce. • for many firms it is extremely
For instance, if a new factory location important to locate near
is in region with high energy cost, customers. Particularly, service
even good management with an organizations, like drugstores,
outstanding energy strategy is restaurants, post offices find
starting at a disadvantage. proximity to market is the
Management is in similar bind with its primary location factor.
human resource strategy if labor in 6. Proximity to suppliers
the selected location is expensive, ill- • Firms locate near their raw
trained or has a poor work ethic. materials and suppliers
• The location decision often depends because perishability and
on the type of business. For transportation cost or bulk.
industrial location decisions, the 7. Proximity to competitors Clustering
strategy is usually minimizing cost, • the location of competing
whereas for retail and professional companies near each other,
service organizations, the strategy often because of a critical
focuses on maximizing revenue. mass of information, talent,
Companies make location decisions venture capital or natural
relatively infrequently, usually resources.
because demand has outgrown the
current plant’s capacity or because of
changes in labor productivity,
FACTORS AFFECTING COUNTRY DECISION WHAT IS LOCATION INTELLIGENCE?
• Government rules, attitudes, stability, • Location intelligence blends the
incentives analysis of objects (such as people,
• Labor availability, attitudes, business, points of interest, or
productivity, cost geographic regions) with their spatial
• Availability of suppliers, attributes (such as average age,
communications, energy median income, average driving
• Culture and economy distance, or average educational
• Location of markets attainment) to inform decision-
• Exchange rate making for operational efficiencies,
revenue growth, or more effective
FACTORS AFFECTING REGION/ management. These location
COMMUNITY DECISION intelligence capabilities can be
• Attractiveness of region (culture, integrated with both operational and
taxes, climate, etc.) analytical applications to help
• Labor availability, costs, attitudes increase revenues, decrease costs,
towards unions and improve productivity and
satisfaction.
• Environmental regulations of state
and town
TYPES OF LOCATIONS
• Proximity to customers and suppliers
• The type of location you choose
• Corporate desires/costs and
depends largely on the type of
availability of utilities
business you’re in, but there are
• Government incentives enough mixed-use areas and creative
• Land/construction costs applications of space limit that you
should give some thought to each
FACTORS AFFECTING SITE DECISION type before making a final decision.
• Access to air, rail, highway and
waterway systems 1. Home-based
• Proximity to needed • this is perhaps the trendiest location
services/suppliers for a business these days, and many
• Site size and cost entrepreneurs start at home, then
• Zoning restrictions move into commercial space as their
• Environmental impact issues business grows. You can run a home-
based business from an office in a
THE VALUE OF LOCATION spare bedroom, the basement, the
• The growing popularity of mapping attic-even the kitchen table.
web sites and handled GPS (Global
Positioning Satellite) devices is 2. Retail
indicative of the continuing • retail space comes in a variety of
recognition of the value of location. shapes and sizes and may be located
And even with the growth of online in enclosed malls, strip shopping
shopping and virtual commerce, all centers, free-standing buildings,
business transactions and events downtown shopping districts or
still take place with the parties mixed-use facilities. You’ll also find
located at some physical location. retail space in airports and other
Clearly, the nature of business transportation facilities, hotel
transactions and events is influenced lobbies, sports stadiums, and a
by location as well as the associated variety of temporary or special event
demographics of the participating venues.
parties.
3. Mobile goal orientation necessary in a quality-
• Whether you’re selling to the general focused company generally requires a long-
public or other businesses, if you term commitment as a key part of a
have a product or service that you company's strategic plan.
take to your customers, your ideal
location may be a car, van or truck. One of the important concepts of quality
management is employee involvement. It is
4. Commercial a very important factor to consider in any
• commercial space includes even quality management initiative, as it is a
more options than retail. Commercial system wherein employees are encouraged
office buildings and business parks to use their expertise and knowledge to
offer traditional office space geared suggest methods for improvement in their
to business that do not require a work areas.
significant amount of pedestrian or
automobile traffic for sales. You’ll Some of the most successful companies
find commercial office space in are those that have achieved a close
downtown business districts, relationship between workers and the
business parks, and sometimes managers. The policies in these companies
interspersed among suburban retail fostered teamwork, participation,
facilities. continuous learning and flexibility. The key
is to let employees take a big role in the
5. Industrial success of the company. By trying to allow
• If your business involves them to be part of the decision making can
manufacturing or heavy distribution, somewhat make them feel that the
you’ll need a plant or warehouse organization is seeing them as part of the
facility. Light industrial parks growth.
typically attract smaller
manufacturers in nonpolluting One of the important concepts of quality
industries as well as companies that management is employee involvement. It is
need showrooms in addition to a very important factor to consider in any
manufacturing facilities. Heavy quality management initiative, as it is a
industrial areas tend to be older and system wherein employees are encouraged
poorly planned and usually offer rail to use their expertise and knowledge to
and/or water port access. suggest methods for improvement in their
work areas.

MODULE 7: HUMAN RESOURCE Some of the most successful companies

are those that have achieved a close
MANAGEMENT
relationship between workers and the
managers. The policies in these companies
INTRODUCTION
fostered teamwork, participation,
As cited by ROBERTA RUSSEL, most
continuous learning and flexibility. The key
successful quality-oriented firms today
is to let employees take a big role in the
recognize the importance of their
success of the company. By trying to allow
employees when developing a competitive
them to be part of the decision making can
strategy. Quality management is an integral
somewhat make them feel that the
part of most companies ‘strategic design,
organization is seeing them as part of the
and the role of employees is an important
growth.
aspect of quality management. To change
management ‘s traditional control-oriented
As an example, Nissan Motor Philippines'
relationship with employees to one of
corporate philosophy includes a statement
cooperation, mutual trust, teamwork, and
about the value of its human resources.
They see their employees as the heart of worker, tasks are individual activities
their company. consisting of elements, which
encompass several job motions, or
A safe, healthy working environment is a basic physical movements.
basic necessity to keep employees • Scientific management broke down a
satisfied. Successful companies provide job into its simplest element and
special services like recreational activities, motions, eliminated unnecessary
day care, flexible work hours, cultural motions, and then divided the tasks
events, picnics, and fitness centers. Notice among several workers so that each
that these are services that treat employees would require only minimal skill. This
like customers, an acknowledgment that system enabled companies to hire
there is a direct and powerful link between large numbers of cheap, unskilled
employee satisfaction and customer laborers, who were basically
satisfaction interchangeable and easily replaced.
If a worker was fired or quit, another
It is important that employees understand could easily be placed on the job with
what the strategic goals of the company are virtually no training expense. In this
and that they feel like they can participate in system, the timing of job elements
achieving these goals. Employees need to (by stopwatch) enabled management
believe they make a difference, to be to develop standard times for
committed to goals and have pride in their producing one unit of output.
work. Workers were paid according to their
total output in a piece-rate system. A
Employee commitment and participation in worker was paid “extra" wages
the strategic plan can be enhanced if according to the amount he or she
employees are involved in the planning exceeded the “standard" daily
process, especially at the local level. As the output. Such a wage system is based
strategic plan passes down through the on the premise that the single
organization to the employee level, motivating factor for a worker to
employees can participate in the increase output is monetary reward.
development of local plans to achieve • Scientific management also proved to
overall corporate goals. have serious disadvantages. Workers
frequently became bored and
THE CHANGING NATURE OF HUMAN dissatisfied with the numbing
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT repetition of simple job tasks that
• The principles of scientific required little thought, ingenuity, or
management developed by F. W. responsibility. The skill level required
Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s in repetitive, specialized tasks is so
dominated operations management low that workers do not have the
during the first part of the twentieth opportunity to prove their worth or
century. Taylor's approach was to abilities for advancement. Repetitive
break jobs down into their most tasks requiring the same
elemental activities and to simplify monotonous physical motions can
job designs so that only limited skills result in unnatural physical and
were required to learn a job, thus mental fatigue.
minimizing the time required for
learning. This approach divided the EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
jobs requiring lees skill from the work • Motivation is a willingness by an
required to set up machinery and employee to work hard to achieve the
maintain “ñ, which required greater company's goals because that effort
skill. In Taylor's system, a job is the satisfies some employees' need or
set of all the tasks performed by a objective. Thus, employee motivation
 is a key factor in achieving company Table 1 Evolution of Theories of Employee
goals such as product quality and Motivation
creating a quality workplace.
However, different things motivate
employees. Obviously, financial
compensation is a major motivating
factor, but it is not the only one and
may not be the most important. Other
factors that motivate employees
include self-actualization (such as
integrity, responsibility, and
naturalness), achievement and
accomplishment recognition,
relationships with coworkers and
supervisors, the type and degree of
work supervision, job interest, trust CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN HUMAN
and responsibility, and the RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
opportunity for growth and
advancement. JOB TRAINING
• In companies with a commitment to
• In general, job performance is a quality, job training is extensive and
function of motivation combined with varied. Expectations for performance
ability. Ability depends on education, and advancement from both the
experience, and training, and its employee and management tend to
improvement can follow a slow but be high. Typically, numerous courses
clearly defined process. On the other are available for training in different
hand, motivation can be improved jobs and functions. Job training is
more quickly. but there is no clear-cut considered part of a structured
process for motivating people. career- development system that
However, certain basic elements in includes cross training and job
job design and management have rotation. This system of training and
been shown to improve motivation, job rotation enhances the flexibility of
including the production process we
mentioned earlier. It creates talent
• Positive reinforcement and reserves that can be used as the
feedback need arises when products or
• Effective organization and processes change or the workforce is
discipline reduced
• Fair treatment of people
• Satisfaction of employee needs • Training is a major feature of all
• Setting of work-related goals companies with quality management
• Design of jobs to fit the programs. Two of W. E. Deming's 14
employee points refer to employee education
• Work responsibility and training. Most large companies
have extensive training staffs with
• Empowerment
state-of-the-art facilities. Federal
• Restructuring of jobs when
Express has a television network that
necessary
broadcasts more than 2000 different
• Rewards based on company as training course titles to employees.
well as individual performance Many UPS employees are part-time
• Achievement of company goals college students, but each receives
 more training than most skilled innovate and act on their own in an
factory workers in the United States. atmosphere of trust and respect. Five
of W. E. Deming's 14 points for
CROSS TRAINING quality improvement relate to
• In cross training an employee learns employee empowerment.
more than one job in the company. Empowerment requires employee
Cross training has a number of education and training, and
attractive features that make it participation in goal setting. The
beneficial to the company and the advantages of empowerment include
employee. For the company it more attention to product quality and
provides a safety measure with more the ability to fix quality problems
job coverage in the event of quickly, increased respect and trust
employee resignations and among employees, lower
absenteeism, and sudden increases absenteeism and higher productivity,
in a particular job activity. Employees more satisfying work, less conflict
are given more knowledge and with management, and fewer middle
variety so that they won't get as managers. However, empowerment
easily bored, they will find more value can also have some negative
in what they do, and their interest aspects. Employees may abuse the
level in the company will increase. power given to them; empowerment
Because of their increased may provide too much responsibility
knowledge, they will have the for some employees; it may create
opportunity to move to other jobs conflicts with middle management; it
within the company without leaving. will require additional training for
Employees will respect each other employees and managers which can
because they will be more familiar be costly; group work, which often is
with each other's jobs. However, an integral part of empowerment, can
cross training requires a significant be time-consuming and some
investment in time and money, so the employees may not make good
company should be committed to its decisions.
implementation and sure of the
benefits it hopes to realize from cross TEAMS
training. • The use of teams optimizes employee
involvement. Teams can differ
JOB ENRICHMENT according to their purpose, level of
• The objective of job enrichment is to responsibility, and longevity. Some
create more opportunities for teams are established to work on a
individual achievement and specific problem and then disband;
recognition by adding variety, others are more long-term, formed to
responsibility, and accountability to monitor a work area or process for
the job. This can also lead to greater continual improvement. Most teams
worker autonomy, increased task are not totally democratic and have
identity, and greater direct contact some supervisory oversight,
with other workers. although some have more authority
than others. Quality circles typically
EMPOWERMENT have a supervisor in charge. In
• Empowerment is giving employees general, for teams to be effective,
responsibility and authority to make they must know what their purpose
decisions. For quality management and roles are relative to the
programs to work, it is generally company's goals, as well as the
conceded that employees must be extent of their empowerment, have
empowered so that they are willing to the skills and training necessary to
 achieve their goals, and possess the ALTERNATIVE WORKPLACES AND
ability to work together as a team. TELECOMMUTING
• An alternative workplace is a
• Self-directed teams, though not combination of nontraditional work
totally independent, are usually locations, settings, and practices that
empowered to make decisions and supplements or replaces the
changes relative to the processes in traditional office. An alternative
their own work area. This degree of workplace can be a home office, a
responsibility is based on trust and satellite office, a shared office, a
management's belief that the people shared desk or an open workspace
who are closest to a work process where many employees work side-by-
know how to make it work best. Team side. Another form of alternative
members tend to feel more workplace is telecommuting,
responsibility to make their solutions performing work electronically
work, and companies typically reward wherever the worker chooses.
teams for performance improvement.
TEMPORARY AND PART-TIME EMPLOYEES
FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULES • A trend among service companies in
• Flexible work schedules or flextime is particular is the use of temporary, or
becoming an increasingly important contingent, employees. Part-time
workplace format. It refers to a employees accounted for over 40% of
variety of arrangements in which job growth in the retail industry
fixed times of arrival and departure during the 1990s. Fast-food and
are replaced by a combination of restaurant chains, retail companies,
"core" or fixed time and flexible time. package delivery services, and
Core time is the designated period financial firms tend to use a large
during which all employees are number of temporary employees.
present, say 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Companies that have seasonal
Flexible time is part of the daily work demand make extensive use of
schedule where employees can temporary employees. Some firms
choose their time of arrival and lease people for jobs, especially for
departure. In some cases, an computer services. As companies
employee may bank or credit hours- downsize to cut costs, they turn to
that is, work more hours one day and temporary employees to fill
bank those hours in order to take a temporary needs without adding to
shorter work day in the future. In their long-term cost base. People
other cases, an employee may vary with computer skills able to work
work days during the week, for from home have also increased the
example, work four 10-hour days pool of available temporary workers.
followed by a three-day weekend.
While flextime helps the company EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION
attract and retain employees and • Good human resource management
promotes job satisfaction, it can practices or motivation factors
make it difficult to compensate for cannot compensate for insufficient
sudden changes in the workload or monetary rewards. If the reward is
problems that can arise that require perceived as good, other things will
quick reactions. motivate employees to give their best
performance. Self-motivation can go
only so far it must be reinforced by
financial rewards. Merit must be
measured and rewarded regularly;
 otherwise performance levels will not not a good fit for the employee, then
be sustained. it will not be performed well.
Frederick Herzberg identified several
attributes of good job design, as
MANAGING DIVERSITY IN THE follows:
WORKPLACE
• In order to be successful with a • An appropriate degree of
diverse workforce, companies must repetitiveness
provide climate in which all • An appropriate degree of
employees feel comfortable, can do attention and mental
their job, feel like they are valued by absorption
the organization, and perceive that • Some employee responsibility
they are treated fairly. However, for decisions and discretion
inequalities too often exist for • Employee control over their
employees because of race, gender, own job
religion, cultural origin, age, and • Goals and achievement
physical or mental limitations. The feedback
elimination of racism, sexism, • A perceived contribution to a
cultural indifference, and religious useful product or service
intolerance cannot be mandated by • Opportunities for personal
higher management or managed by relationships and friendships
financial incentives. Companies as a • Some influence over the way
whole, starting with top management, work is carried out in groups
must develop a strategic approach to
• Use of skills
managing diversity in order to meet
the challenges posed by a diverse
workforce.

• Although there is no magic formula

for successfully managing diversity,
education, awareness,
communication, fairness, and
commitment are critical elements in
the process. Employees must be
educated about racial, gender,
religious, and ethnic differences; they
must be made aware of what it is like
to be someone who is different from
themselves. This also requires that
lines of communication be open
between different groups, and
between employees and
management. Most importantly,
successful diversity management
requires a commitment from top
TABLE 2. ELEMENTS OF JOB DESIGN
JOB DESIGN
• A key element in employee THE ELEMENTS OF JOB DESIGN
motivation and job performance is to
make sure the employee is well A. TASK ANALYSIS- determines how to
suited for a job and vice versa. If a do each task and how all the tasks fit
job is not designed properly and it is together to form a job. It includes
 defining the individual tasks and the most efficient manner possible; if
determining their most efficient all the present tasks are necessary;
sequence, their duration, their or if new tasks should be added. The
relationship with other tasks, and analyst might also want to see how
their frequency. the job fits in with other jobs-that is,
B. WORKER ANALYSIS- determines the how well a job is integrated into the
characteristics the worker must overall production process or a
possess to meet the job sequence of jobs. The development
requirements, the responsibilities the and installation of new machinery or
worker will have in the job, and how equipment, new products or product
the worker will be rewarded. changes, and changes in quality
C. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS- it standards can all require that a job be
refers to the physical location of the analyzed for redesign.
job in the production or service
facility and the environmental • The primary tools of methods
conditions that must exist. These analysis are a variety of charts that
conditions include things such as illustrate in different ways how a job
proper temperature, lighting, or a work process is done. These
ventilation, and noise. charts allow supervisors, managers,
D. ERGONOMICS- as it is applied to and workers to see how a job is
work is fitting the task to the person. accomplished and to get their input
It deals with the interaction of work, and feedback on the design or
technology, and humans. redesign process. Two of the more
Ergonomics applies human sciences popular charts are the process
like anatomy, physiology, and flowchart and the worker-machine
psychology to the design of the work chart.
environment and jobs, and objects
and equipment used in work. The PROCESS FLOWCHART
objective of ergonomics is to make • A process flowchart is used to
the best use of employees' analyze how the steps of a job or how
capabilities while maintaining the a set of jobs fit together into the
employees' health and well-being. overall flow of the production
E. TECHNOLOGY AND AUTOMATION- process. Examples might include the
the worker-machine interface is flow of a product through a
possibly the most crucial aspect of manufacturing assembly process, the
job design, both in manufacturing making of a pizza, the activities of a
industries and in service companies surgical team in an operating room,
where workers interface with or the processing of a catalogue mail
computers. New technologies have or telephone order.
increased the educational
requirements and need for employee • A process flowchart uses some basic
training. The development of symbols shown in Figure 2 to
computer technology and systems describe the tasks or steps in a job or
has heightened the need for workers a series of jobs. The symbols are
with better skills and more job connected by lines on the chart to
training. show the flow of the process.

JOB ANALYSIS
• Methods analysis is used to redesign
or improve existing jobs. An analyst
will study an existing job to
determine if the work is being done in
 Figure 4. Worker-Machine Chart

It was to select the best worker among a

group of workers and use that worker's
methods as the standard by which other
workers were trained. Alternatively, Gilbreth
studied many workers and from among
them picked the best way to perform each
activity. Then he combined these elements
to form the "one best way" to perform a
task.

MOTION STUDY
Figure 3. Process Flowchart of Copying Job • The study of the individual human
motions used in a task. The purpose
WORKER-MACHINE CHART of motion study is to make sure that a
• A worker-machine chart illustrates job task does not include any
the amount of time a worker and a unnecessary motion by the worker
machine are working or idle in a job. and to select the sequence of
This type of chart is occasionally motions that ensure that the task is
used in conjunction with a process being performed in the most efficient
flowchart when the job process way.
includes equipment or machinery.
The worker- machine chart shows if • Motion study originated with Frank
the worker's time and the machine Gilbreth, a colleague of F. W. Taylor's
time are being used efficiently that is, at the beginning of the twentieth
if the worker or machine is idle an century. F. W. Taylor's approach to
excessive amount of time. the study of work methods was to
select the best worker among a group
of workers and use that worker's
methods as the standard by which
other workers were trained.
Alternatively, Gilbreth studied many
workers and from among them
picked the best way to perform each
activity. Then he combined these
elements to form the "one best way"
to perform a task.