Solutions Manual: Ch01-Introduction-s

Review Questions
1.1 Define work.
Answer: As defined in the text, work is an activity in which one exerts physical and
mental effort to accomplish a given task or perform a duty.
1.2 What are basic motion elements? Give some examples.
Answer: Basic motion elements are actuations of the limbs and other body parts while
engaged in performing the task. Examples include reaching, grasping, moving something,
walking and eye movement.
1.3 What is a work element?
Answer: A work element is defined as a series of work activities that are logically grouped
together because they have a unified function in the task.
1.4 Why is time important in work?
Answer: Reasons given in the text include the following: (1) The most frequently used
measure of work is time. (2) Most workers are paid according to the amount of time they
work. (3) Workers must arrive at work on time. (4) While on the job, workers must utilize
their time effectively. (5) When production workers are paid on an incentive plan, they
earn their bonuses based on how much time they can save relative to the standard time for
a given task. (6) Labor and staffing requirements are based on workloads measured in units
of time.
1.5 Define work system as a physical entity.
Answer: As a physical entity, a work system is a system consisting of humans,
information, and equipment that is designed to perform useful work.
1.6 Define work system as a field of professional practice.
Answer: As a field of professional practice, work systems includes (1) work methods,
which consists of the analysis and design of tasks and jobs involving human work activity,
(2) work measurement, which involves the analysis of a task to determine the time that
should be allowed for a qualified worker to perform it, and (3) work management, which
refers to the various organizational and administrative functions that must be accomplished
to achieve high productivity of the work system and effective supervision of the workers.
1.7 What are some of the functions included within the scope of work management?
Answer: As listed in the text, the functions of work management include (1) organizing
the workers to perform the specialized tasks that constitute the workload in each
department, (2) motivating the workers to perform the tasks, (3) evaluating the jobs in the
organization so that each worker is paid an appropriate wage or salary commensurate with
the type of work performed, (4) appraising the performance of workers to reward better-
performing workers appropriately, and (5) compensating the workers using a rational
payment system for the work they perform.

1
Work Systems and the Methods, Measurement, and Management of Work 
by Mikell P. Groover. ISBN 0­13­140650­7. 
© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.  All rights reserved. 
Solutions Manual: Ch01-Introduction-s

1.8 Name the four broad categories of worker occupations.

Answer: The four broad categories of worker occupations are (1) production workers, (2)
logistics workers, (3) service workers, and (4) knowledge workers.
1.9 Define productivity.
Answer: As defined in the text, productivity is the level of output of a given process
relative to the level of input.
1.10 Labor is one input factor that determines productivity. What are two other factors that are
more important than labor in improving productivity? Define each of these two additional
input factors.
Answer: The two additional input factors are capital and technology. Capital refers to the
substitution of machines for human labor; for example, investing in an automated
production machine to replace a manually operated machine. Technology refers to a
fundamental change in the way some activity or function is accomplished. It is using a
brand new type of machine to replace the previous type.
1.11 What is the difference between the labor productivity ratio and the labor productivity
index?
Answer: The labor productivity ratio is defined as the output work units (e.g., tons of steel
produced, number of automobiles produced) divided by the number of input labor hours,
whereas the labor productivity index is the labor productivity ratio in some period of
interest divided by the labor productivity ratio in a defined base year.
1.12 A given task performed by a worker can be considered to consist of the basic productive
work content and excess nonproductive activities. (a) What is meant by the term basic
productive work content? (b) What is meant by the term excess nonproductive activities?
Answer: As defined in the text, (a) the basic productive work content is the theoretical
minimum amount of work required to accomplish the task, where the amount of work is
expressed in terms of time; and (b) the excess nonproductive activities are the extra
physical and mental actions performed by the worker that do not add value to the task, nor
do they facilitate the productive work content that does add value.
1.13 What are the three categories of excess nonproductive activities, as they are defined in the
text?
Answer: The three categories of excess nonproductive activities are (1) excess activities
caused by poor design of the product or service, (2) excess activities caused by inefficient
methods, poor work layout, and interruptions, and (3) excess activities caused by the
human factor.
Problems
Productivity
1.1 A work group of 5 workers in a certain month produced 500 units of output working 8 hr/day
for 22 days in the month. (a) What productivity measures could be used for this situation,
2
Work Systems and the Methods, Measurement, and Management of Work 
by Mikell P. Groover. ISBN 0­13­140650­7. 
© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.  All rights reserved. 
Solutions Manual: Ch01-Introduction-s

and what are the values of their respective productivity ratios? (b) Suppose that in the next
month, the same work group produced 600 units but there were only 20 workdays in the
month. Using the same productivity measures as before, determine the productivity index
using the prior month as a base.
Solution: (a) Possible measures of productivity, O = 500 units
(1) Output units per person-month: LPR = 500/5 = 100 units/person-month
(2) Output units per person-day: LPR = 500/5(22) = 4.545 units/person-day
(3) Output per labor hour: LPR = 500/5(22)(8) = 0.568 units/hr
(b) O = 600 units/month
(1) Output units per person-month: LPR = 600/5 = 120 units/person-month
(2) Output units per person-day: LPR = 600/5(20) = 6.0 units/person-day
(3) Output per labor hour: LPR = 600/5(20)(8) = 0.75 units/hr
Productivity index (using month 1 as base)
(1) LPI = 120/100 = 1.2
(2) LPI = 6.0/4.545 = 1.32
(3) LPI = 0.75/0.568 = 1.32
1.2 A work group of 10 workers in a certain month produced 7200 units of output working 8
hr/day for 22 days in the month. Determine the labor productivity ratio using (a) units of
output per worker-hour and (b) units of output per worker-month. (c) Suppose that in the
next month, the same work group produced 6800 units but, there were only 20 workdays in
the month. For each productivity measure in (a) and (b), determine the productivity index for
the next month using the prior month as a base.
Solution: (a) Productivity measure = units of output per worker-hour
LPR = 7200/10(8)(22) = 4.091 units/hr
(b) Productivity measure = units of output per worker-month
LPR = 7200/10(1) = 720 units/wrkr-mo
(c) For LPR in (a), LPR = 6800/10(8)(20) = 4.25 units/hr
LPI = 4.25/4.091 = 1.039 = 103.9%
For LPR in (b), LPR = 6800/10(1) = 680 units/wrkr-mo
LPI = 680/720 = 0.944 = 94.4%
1.3 A work group of 20 workers in a certain month produced 8600 units of output working 8
hr/day for 21 days. (a) What is the labor productivity ratio for this month? (b) In the next
month, the same worker group produced 8000 units but there were 22 workdays in the month
and the size of the work group was reduced to 14 workers. What is the labor productivity
ratio for this second month? (c) What is the productivity index using the first month as a
base?
Solution: (a) LPR = 8600/20(8)(21) = 2.559 units/hr
(b) LPR = 8000/14(8)(22) = 3.247 units/hr
(c) LPI = 3.247/2.559 = 1.269 = 126.9%
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Work Systems and the Methods, Measurement, and Management of Work 
by Mikell P. Groover. ISBN 0­13­140650­7. 
© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.  All rights reserved. 
Solutions Manual: Ch01-Introduction-s

1.4 There are 20 forging presses in the forge shop of a small company. The shop produces
batches of forgings requiring a setup time of 3.0 hours for each production batch. Average
standard time for each part in a batch is 45 seconds, and there are an average of 600 parts
in a batch. The plant workforce consists of two workers per press, two foremen, plus three
clerical support staff. (a) Determine how many forged parts can be produced in 1 month, if
there are 8 hours worked per day and an average of 21 days per month at one shift per day.
(b) What is the labor productivity ratio of the forge shop, expressed as parts per worker-
hour?
Solution: (a) Time to produce a batch = TB
TB = 3.0(60) + (45/60)(600) = 180 + 450 = 630 min = 10.5 hr
Hours/month = 8(21) = 168 hr/mo
Rp = 168/10.5 = 16 batches/mo per press
With 20 presses, Rp = 20(16) = 320 batches/mo
With Q = 600 pc/batch, Rp = 320(600) = 192,000 pc/mo
(b) Total labor hours during month = 8(21)(2 x 20 + 2 + 3) = 168(45) = 7560 hr/mo
LPR = 192,000/7560 = 25.4 pc/wrkr-hr
1.5 A farmer's market is considering the addition of bar code scanners at their check-out
counters, which would use the UPC marked on all grocery packages. Currently, the
check-out clerk keypunches the price of each item into the register during check-out.
Observations indicate that an average of 50 items are checked out per customer. The clerk
currently takes 7 seconds per item to keypunch the register and move the item along the
check-out table. On average it takes 25 seconds to total the bill, accept money from the
customer, and make change. It then takes 4 seconds per item for the clerk to bag the
customer's order. Finally, about 5 seconds are lost to transition to the next customer. Bar
code scanners would eliminate the need to keypunch each price, and the time per item
would be reduced to 3 seconds with the bar code scanner. (a) What is the hourly
throughput rate (number of customers checked out per hour) under the current check-out
procedure? (b) What would be the estimated hourly throughput rate if bar code scanners
were used? (c) If separate baggers were used instead of requiring the check-out clerk to
perform bagging in addition to check-out, what would be hourly throughput rate? Assume
that bar code scanners are used by the clerk. (d) Determine the productivity index for each
of the two cases in (b) and (c), using (a) as the basis of comparison and hourly customers
checked out per labor hour as the measure of productivity.
Solution: (a) Current check-out procedure:
Time per customer Tc = 50(7 + 4) + 25 + 5 = 580 sec = 9.667 min
Hourly throughput rate Rp = 60/9.667 = 6.21 customers/hr per clerk
(b) With bar code scanner:
Time per customer Tc = 50(3 + 4) + 25 + 5 = 380 sec = 6.333 min
Hourly throughput rate Rp = 60/6.333 = 9.47 customers/hr per clerk
(c) Bar code with separate bagger:
Time per customer for clerk Tc = 50(3) + 25 + 5 = 180 sec = 3.0 min
Time per customer for bagger Tc = 50(4) + 5 = 205 sec = 3.417 min
4
Work Systems and the Methods, Measurement, and Management of Work 
by Mikell P. Groover. ISBN 0­13­140650­7. 
© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.  All rights reserved. 
Solutions Manual: Ch01-Introduction-s

where the 5 sec for bagger is assumed transition time between customers
Hourly throughput rate Rp = 60/3.417 = 17.56 customers/hr per lane (clerk and bagger)
(d) For (b), LPI = 9.47/6.21 = 1.525
For (c), LPI = ½(17.56/6.21) = 1.414 (reduced by ½ because two workers per lane)

5
Work Systems and the Methods, Measurement, and Management of Work 
by Mikell P. Groover. ISBN 0­13­140650­7. 
© 2007 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.  All rights reserved.