Method Study
Method Study
SYLLABUS:
Methods engineering: Analysis of work methods using different types of process chart and flow
diagrams- Critical examination- Micro motion study and therbligs- Principles of motion economy.
Work measurement-Performance rating.-Determination of allowances and standard time. Job
evaluation and merit rating - Objectives and principles of job evaluation--Wages and Incentives-
Primary wage systems- Wage incentive plans.
WORK STUDY:
• Work study is one of the most important management techniques which is employed to
improve the activities in the production.
• The main objective of work study is to assist the management in the optimum use of the
human and material resources.
• It has three aspects:
➢ More effective use of plant and equipment.
➢ More effective use of human effort.
➢ Evaluation of human work.
• Work study is simply the study of work. It is the analysis of work into smaller parts followed
by rearrangement of these parts to give the same effectiveness at lesser cost.
• It examines both the method and duration of the work involved in a process.
Importance/objectives of work study:
• Method Study: “Method study is the systematic recording and critical examination of existing
ways of doing work, as a means of developing and applying easier and more effective
methods and reducing costs”.
• Work Measurement: Work measurement is concerned with the determination of the
amount of time required for a qualified worker to carry out a specified job at a defined level
of performance.
• Method study is the systematic recording and critical examination of existing and proposed
ways of doing work as a means of developing and applying easier and more effective methods
and reducing cost.
Objectives of Method Study:
• According to the nature of the job being studied and the purpose for which the record is
required, the following are the most generally used techniques:
• The construction and interpretation of process charts are simplified by the use of two or more
of the following symbols.
• These symbols divide the task selected into five functions and all activities can be so divided.
• In addition to the basic symbols discussed above, there are symbols for combined activities
also. The important event has the outer symbol.
• Flow line is continued down the line until the point where next component joins it.
• The symbol on the main flow line after the junction of the main and the other flow line is
assigned the next higher serial number.
• The brought-out parts are also shown in the operation process chart. The flow line of the
brought-out part terminates at the point the part enters the assembly. This procedure is
illustrated in the Fig. 41.4.
• Flow process chart only shows the sequence of various activities necessary for performing
the specified work. It does not show clearly the path of movement of men and materials from
one location to another.
• The path of movement (i.e. movement between two locations and the number of times a
movement is repeated) can be better visualized by flow diagrams, string diagrams or models.
• The flow diagram is used to supplement the flow process chart.
flow diagram:
String diagram:
• String diagram is a scale layout drawing on which length of a string is used to record the extent
as well as the pattern of movement of a worker.
• String diagram is a model or scaled plan of the shop, in which every machine or equipment is
marked and a peg/pin is struck in the area representing the facility.
• It is especially valuable where journeys are irregular in nature.
• The main advantage of string diagram over flow diagram is that repetitive movements
between workstations are difficult to be traced on the flow diagram can conveniently shown
on string diagram.
• When there is too much of movement involved then, a flow pattern may become unreadable.
• The flow diagram makes use of pencils or pens to draw the path of the men or material
whereas the string makes use of threads to draw the same.
• All the manual work consists of few fundamental hand motions which are performed over
and over again.
• To facilitate micromotion study, Mr. Gilbreth divided all the human movements into elements
according their purpose.
• These are called THERBLIG (Reverse of his name). There are 18 therbligs, as shown in the with
figure
• A worker while performing a task makes use of number of motions or movements. The careful
examination of these motions may reveal that some of these motions:
➢ are unnecessary and can be eliminated.
➢ can be combined/modified by changing their sequence.
➢ can be simplified by effecting changes in the work bench layout.
➢ can be performed more efficiently by other members of the body.
• The study of an operation in terms of individual motions of a worker performing the operation
is known as motion analysis.
• A careful study was conducted on fatigue of factory operations on regular production work.
It showed that the amount of fatigue can be reduced to an extent by following the PRINCIPLES
OF MOTION ECONOMY.
• It emphasises how to use body members, how to locate the tools and equipments and how
to design the work place.
• If these rules are applied, obviously it will result in higher output of manual labour with
minimum fatigue.
• They may be grouped under three headings:
1. Use of the human body:
➢ The two hands should begin and complete their movements at the same time.
➢ The two hands should not be idle at the same time except during periods of rest.
➢ Smooth continuous motions of the hands are preferable to zigzag motions or straight-line
motions involving sudden and sharp changes in direction.
➢ free swinging movements are faster, easier and more accurate than restricted or
controlled movements.
➢ Rhythm is essential to the automatic performance or repetitive operations. The work
should be arranged to permit easy and natural rhythm whenever possible.
➢ Work should be arranged so that eye movements are confined to a comfortable area
without the need for frequent changes of focus.
2. Arrangement of the work place:
➢ Definite and fixed stations should be provided for all tools and materials to permit habit
formation.
➢ Tools and materials should be pre-positioned to reduce searching.
➢ Gravity feed bins and containers should be used to deliver the materials as close to the
point of use as possible.
➢ Tools, materials and controls should be located within the maximum working area and as
near to the worker as possible.
➢ Materials and tools should be arranged to permit the best sequence of motions.
➢ Provision should be made for adequate lighting and a chair of the type and height to
permit good posture should be provided.
➢ The colour of the work place should contrast with that of the work and thus reduce eye
fatigue.
3. Design of Tools and Equipments:
➢ The hand should be relieved of all work of holding the work piece where this can be done
by jigs and fixture or foot operated device.
➢ Two or more tools should be combined wherever possible.
• Work measurement (also called as time study) is the method of establishing the time required
by the qualified worker to carry out a specified job at a defined level of performance.
• Work measurement is concerned with investigating, reducing and subsequently eliminating
ineffective time.
Objectives of work measurement:
1. Determine the time required to do a job.
2. Cost reduction and cost control.
3. Identifying sub-standard workers.
4. Training of employees.
Advantages and scope of work measurement:
1. Work measurement determines normal time for a task and thereby establishes a
fundamental basis of a sound wage incentive scheme.
2. Work measurement provides the necessary data for efficient planning.
3. Work measurement provides a basis for standard costing.
4. Work measurement allows the most economic utilization of plant and machinery.
TECHNIQUES OF WORK MEASUREMENT:
1. Time study:
• Time study is a technique for determining the time necessary to carry out a given activity.
• Accurate measurement of time is necessary from limited number of observations.
Terms used in time study:
➢ Observed time: It is the time recorded by stopwatch during the observation of activity.
➢ Rating factor: During the time study, time study engineer carefully observes the
performance of the operator. This performance is compared with standard.
𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 =
𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
➢ Normal time or basic time: It is the calculated time of the activity of the operator
considering the rate of performance.
𝑁𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 𝑂𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑋 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟
➢ Allowances: The normal time for an operation does not contain any allowances for the
worker. It is impossible to work throughout the day even though the most practicable,
2. Work sampling:
• It is a method of finding the percentage occurrence of a certain activity by statistical
sampling and random observations.
• Work sampling is used to estimate the proportion of workers' time that is devoted to
different elements of work activity.
• The sampling process should be completely unbiased and each part comprising the
population must have an equal chance of being drawn. This can be ensured with the help
of random sampling.
Advantages of work sampling
➢ Many operators or activities which are difficult or uneconomical to measure by time study
can readily be measured by work sampling.
➢ Two or more studies can be simultaneously made of several operators or machines by a
single study person.
3. Analytical estimation:
• Analytical estimating is a work measurement technique in which the time required to
carry out elements of a job at a define level of performance is estimated partly.
• Analytical estimating is used to determine the time values for jobs having long and non-
repetitive operations.
• Analytical estimating finds its application in repair and maintenance work, tool rooms,
construction, job production, office routines, etc.
JOB EVALUATION:
• Job evaluation is the technique used to correct inequalities in wages and install a systematic
method of pricing of jobs.
• It is a systematic process of evaluating different jobs of an organisation.
• Jobs are studied or evaluated and numerical value or an approximate classification is assigned
to each job.
• The relative job values are thus converted into definite wage rates by assigning the money
rate of pay to each job according to a definite system or scale.
• Job evaluation deals with the job only and not with the individuals who perform these jobs.
• For evaluating the individuals another method known as merit rating is used.
OBJECTIVES OF JOB EVALUATION:
1. Rate the job and not the man: Job requirements are definite and fixed. The man selected for
training may have plus or minus points as regards the job, thus the payments should be made
accordingly.
2. Explainable elements: The elements selected should be as few as possible but should cover
the necessary requirements for every job.
A. Ranking method:
• This is the easiest and simplest method of job evaluation.
• In this method the jobs are ranked from the most important one to the least important.
• Each departmental head arranges the jobs in their department in the order of
importance.
• While ranking, following points are considered:
➢ Amount of work involved.
➢ Supervision needed.
➢ Extent of responsibility required.
➢ Difficulties involved in the work.
➢ Knowledge and experience needed.
Advantages:
➢ This method is simple, consumes less time and requires fewer forms.
➢ It can be easily mastered and administrated.
➢ It is suitable for small organisations involving lesser number of jobs to be evaluated,
➢ It is economical.
Disadvantages:
➢ It is less accurate than other methods, because of judgement factors and also all
jobs do not possess the same factors.
➢ It lacks in actual information. It only shows higher or lower values but does not
show how much one job differs from others.
➢ It is not suitable for large organisations.
1. Ranking method.
2. Paired comparison method.
3. Man to man comparison.
4. Check list plan.
1. Ranking Method:
• Ranking is the oldest, simplest and most conventional method.
• In this method the workers are arranged in rank from best or most satisfactory to worst
or least satisfactory.
• There is another way of ranking by classifying the jobs in a firm in terms of various level
of skill or responsibility and rank the workers accordingly.
• This method however does not indicate points of difference between two or more of
them or does not indicate specific strengths and weakness.
• This method is used in business organizations where there are few employees.
2. Paired Comparison Method:
• In this method each man is compared with every other man, one at a time.
• Comparison is done with one trait (i.e. ability to perform the job).
• For example, A’s performance is compared to that of B’s, and decision is made concerning
whose performance is better.
• Then A is compared to C, D and E in order. Next, B must be compared with all others;
individually.
• The same approach is used for other personnel.
• Once all the possible combinations are considered, points scored by each employee are
totaled and is ranked according to his aggregate score in relation to aggregate score of
each other employee.
• This method is not suitable where number of employees is large. This method also does
not indicate specific strengths and weaknesses.
3. Man to Man Comparison Plan:
• The plan was widely used in U.S.A. in rating military officers and hence sometimes is also
known as Army Rating scale.
• This is based on five basic characteristics:
➢ Physical qualities.
➢ Personal qualities.
➢ Intelligence.
WAGES:
• The remuneration paid to the worker is called wage.
• Wages can also be defined as the remuneration paid under contract by an employer to an
employee for the work performed by him.
• Wages should be sufficient to satisfy the ordinary needs and necessities of the worker provide
him some comforts of life and help him in maintaining his standard of living.
Desirable characteristics of good wage/incentive system:
➢ It should guarantee an adequate minimum wage. It creates a feeling of security in the
workers.
➢ The wage system should be simple and easy to understand.
➢ It should not involve excessive clerical work and thereby increase the ultimate cost.
➢ Time and motion study should be the basis for correct work standards on which wages are
based.
➢ The wage system should be fair for both the employer and employee and should be
acceptable to both.
➢ It must reward the worker according to his efficiency and merit. The reward should be
generous.
➢ To meet changing economic conditions, it should have sufficient flexibility.
TYPES OF WAGE PLANS (METHODS OF WAGE PAYMENT):
INCENTIVES:
• Incentive is an inducement or reward given to the worker for his efficiency and hard work.
• In this system the worker gets a guaranteed minimum wage plus some extra payment or
bonus for extra work done over and above the standard work.
• Incentive motivates and encourages the worker to produce more and better.