INTRODUCTION TO WORK STUDY

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) and Frank B. Gilbreth (1869-1924) are originators of work study
(Time & Motion study). Time and motion study were developed separately. Taylor invented time study
whereas Gilbreth invented motion study.

Work study is a technique which deals with the problems:

 As to how should a job be done/completed, and

 How much time a job should take for completion

Objective of work study is to determine the best method of performing each operation and to eliminate
wastage so that production increases with less human fatigue. The work study is also used in
determining the standard time that a qualified worker should take to perform the operation when
working at a normal pace.

Method Study (Motion Study)

Historical Background In this field, pioneering work was done by Frank B. Gilbreth. In 1885, at the age of
17, was a junior apprentice bricklayer at Whitten and Co. He soon discovered that if proper coordination
between the mason and labor is maintained then the speed of bricklaying increases many times. During
1910, lot of work was done by him with name of “motion study”. In 1917, he suggested the adoption of
“Motion Study”. Later on, the scope of motion study was enlarged and it was named as “Method Study”.

Definitions

According to Frank B. Gilbreth, motion study is “the science of eliminating wastefulness as well as
unnecessary, ill-directed and in-efficient motions”. Frank B. Gilbreth was only interested in motion
economy by eliminating repetitive motions during the performance of a job and determining the best
and convenient method of performing a job under the existing conditions so that a worker can
consistently work for a longer time with maximum comfort and safety.

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
costs.

Objectives of Method Study

Some important objectives of method study are:

i. The improvement of processes and procedures.

ii. To eliminate wastage of time and labor

iii. Prevention of fatigue and breaking the monotony (dullness) of repetitive work.

iv. To find the best way of doing a job.

v. To improve the design of workplace layout.

vii. Reduction of waste and scrap, improvement in quality.

viii. Effective material handling.

ix. Greater job satisfaction, higher standards of safety and health.

x. Improvement in the flow of production and processes.

Need of Method Study

i. Method/motion study is a means of enhancing the production efficiency (productivity) of the firm by
elimination of waste and unnecessary operations.

ii. It is a technique to identify non-value adding operations by investigation of all the factors affecting
the job.

iii. It is the only accurate and systematic procedure-oriented techniques to establish time standards.

iv. It is going to contribute to the profit as the savings will start immediately and continue throughout
the life of the product.

v. It has got universal applications such as in:

a. Industries

b. Marketing, sales and distributions

c. Material handling

d. Design

e. Building and other constructions

f. Hospitals

g. Transport etc.

Pre-requisites of Conducting a Method Study

 The workers must be taken into confidence

 They should not feel that they are kept in dark

 Good human relationship

 Good working conditions Role of Work Study in Improving Productivity Both the aspects of work study
i.e., method study and work measurement tend to raise the productive efficiency of the workers and
hence, the productivity of an industry.
Method study increases productivity because it:

i. Cuts down the work content of the job by eliminating unnecessary and unuseful/unproductive
motions

ii. Develops the best method of doing a job which imparts least fatigue to the operators

iii. Results more effective use of machinery, man-power and material.

iv. Improves design of work place layout

v. Improves the better working conditions and relations

Work measurement increases productivity because it:

i. Reduces ineffective time

ii. Suggest rest, pauses and other allowances which results the operators in a position to maintain their
productive efficiency

iii. Provide a sound basis for giving incentives to the workers to produce more

iv. Calculates the correct man-power required for doing a job, and

v. Aids in accurate production planning

Hence, if correct and systematic work study is done in any organization than higher

productivity is natural.

Procedure of conducting Method Study

Method study procedure consists of the following steps (See Figure 1):

1. Select

2. Record

3. Critically examine

4. Develop the best method

6. Install

7. Maintain

Recording Techniques

The recording techniques are designed to simplify and standardize the recording work.

The purpose of recording can be summarized as follows:

i. To enable the process to be clearly understood

ii. To present the existing facts for analysis

iii. To submit the proposals to the management in a form which can be easily

understood

iv. To guide supervisors and operators regarding detailed operating instructions

In order to make presentation of facts clearly, without any difficulty and to enable to

grasp them quickly and clearly, it is better to use symbols instead of written description.

The following are the basic types of diagrammatic aids used for recording and

communicating a work method. These are:

i. Process Charts

ii. Diagrams

iii. Templates and Models

Figure 1: Procedure in Method Study

Process Charts

Definition

A chart representing a process may be called a process chart and is used for recording a

process in a compact manner, as a means of better understanding it and improving it. The

chart represents graphically or diagrammatically the sequence of operations or events that

occur during the performance of a task or a process. The chart uses various sets of

symbols and aids for better understanding and examining the process.

Process Chart Types

Process charts are of the following types:

i. Outline Process Chart

ii. Flow Process Chart

iii. Two-hand Process Chart

Process Chart Symbols

In 1947 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) established five (05)

standard symbols which are universally accepted to prepare charts. The various symbols

used in process charts are as follows (Table 1):

A flow process chart is detailed version of outline process chart and it records all the

events. It is defined as a graphical representation of all events, operations, inspections,

transportations, delays and storages occurring during a process by means of process

symbols.

There are three types of flow process charts, namely:

i. Man-type flow process chart

ii. Material-type flow process chart

iii. Equipment-type flow process chart

Man-type-records activity of worker/operator (See Figure 2(a))

Figure 2(a): Man-type Flow Process Chart

Material-type-records what happens to the material (See Figure 2(b))

Equipment-type-records the manner in which the equipment is used (See Figure 2(c))

Exercise 1: Task: Riveting the two MS plates by means of rivets (Butt Joint).

Exercise 2: Task: Making the casting ready for machining.

Chart begins- Casting lying in foundry

Chart ends- Casting ready for machining

1. Draw a left hand and right-hand chart for signing a letter and give detailed

summary.

2. Draw a LH and RH chart for opening a bottle of coke.

3. Draw a RH and LH chart for changing the battery of wall cloak

Multi-activity Chart

It is a chart where a number of workers work in a group or an individual operator handles

two or more machines or equipment, their activities are recorded on a common time

scale and thus, shows inter-relations between them.

They may be of the following type:

i. Man-machine chart---one man handling one job or one machine.

ii. Man-multi machine chart---one man handling number of machines.

iii. Multi-man chart---a group is doing one job.

iv. Multi-man-machine chart---a number of persons working on a computer system.

Exercise 1: An operator working on two machines (See Figure 4(a)).

It is a drawing or a diagram which is drawn to scale and marks the path followed by men

and materials. Flow diagram is used to supplement the flow process chart. It shows the

relative position of productive machinery, storage area, jigs, fixtures, etc. shown by

joining the symbols with straight lines. Flow diagram may minimize the number of

movements or repetitive movements which results in a lot of saving both in cost as well

as efforts required to do a job.

Work measurement is also called by the name ‘time study’. Work measurement is absolutely

essential for both the planning and control of operations. Without measurement data, we cannot

determine the capacity of facilities or it is not possible to quote delivery dates or costs. We

are not in a position to determine the rate of production and also labor utilization and efficiency.

It may not be possible to introduce incentive schemes and standard costs for budget control.

Objectives of Work Measurement

The use of work measurement as a basis for incentives is only a small part of its total application.

The objectives of work measurement are to provide a sound basis for:

1. Comparing alternative methods.

2. Assessing the correct initial manning (manpower requirement planning).

3. Planning and control.

4. Realistic costing.

5. Financial incentive schemes.

6. Delivery date of goods.

7. Cost reduction and cost control.

8. Identifying substandard workers.

9. Training new employees.

7.6.2 Techniques of Work Measurement

For the purpose of work measurement, work can be regarded as:

1. Repetitive work: The type of work in which the main operation or group of operations

repeat continuously during the time spent at the job. These apply to work cycles of extremely

short duration.

2. Non-repetitive work: It includes some type of maintenance and construction work,

where the work cycle itself is hardly ever repeated identically.

Various techniques of work measurement are:

1. Time study (stop watch technique),

2. Synthesis,

3. Work sampling,
4. Predetermined motion and time study,

5. Analytical estimating.

Time study and work sampling involve direct observation and the remaining are data based

and analytical in nature.

1. Time study: A work measurement technique for recording the times and rates of

working for the elements of a specified job carried out under specified conditions and for

analyzing the data so as to determine the time necessary for carrying out the job at the defined

level of performance. In other words, measuring the time through stop watch is called time study.

2. Synthetic data: A work measurement technique for building up the time for a job or pans

of the job at a defined level of performance by totaling element times obtained previously from

time studies on other jobs containing the elements concerned or from synthetic data.

3. Work sampling: A technique in which a large number of observations are made over a

period of time of one or group of machines, processes or workers. Each observation records what

is happening at that instant and the percentage of observations recorded for a particular activity,

or delay, is a measure of the percentage of time during which those activities delay occurs.

4. Predetermined motion time study (PMTS): A work measurement technique whereby

times established for basic human motions (classified according to the nature of the motion and

conditions under which it is made) are used to build up the time for a job at the defined level of

performance. The most commonly used PMTS is known as Methods Time Measurement (MTM).

5. Analytical estimating: A work measurement technique, being a development of estimating,

whereby the time required to carry out elements of a job at a defined level of performance is

estimated partly from knowledge and practical experience of the elements concerned and partly

from synthetic data.

The work measurement techniques and their applications are s shown in Table 7.2.
TIME STUDY

Time study is also called work measurement. It is essential for both planning and control of

operations.

According to British Standard Institute time study has been defined as “The application of

techniques designed to establish the time for a qualified worker to carry out a specified

job at a defined level of performance.”

Steps in Making Time Study

Stop watch time is the basic technique for determining accurate time standards. They are

economical for repetitive type of work. Steps in taking the time study are:

1. Select the work to be studied.

2. Obtain and record all the information available about the job, the operator and the

working conditions likely to affect the time study work.

3. Breakdown the operation into elements. An element is a instinct part of a specified

activity composed of one or more fundamental motions selected for convenience of

observation and timing.

4. Measure the time by means of a stop watch taken by the operator to perform each

element of the operation. Either continuous method or snap back method of timing could

be used.

5. At the same time, assess the operators effective speed of work relative to the observer’s

concept of ‘normal’ speed. This is called performance rating.

6. Adjust the observed time by rating factor to obtain normal time for each element
Normal Observed time Rating

100 = ×

7. Add the suitable allowances to compensate for fatigue, personal needs, contingencies.

etc. to give standard time for each element.

8. Compute allowed time for the entire job by adding elemental standard times considering

frequency of occurrence of each element.

9. Make a detailed job description describing the method for which the standard time is

established.

10. Test and review standards wherever necessary. The basic steps in time study are

represented by a block diagram in Fig. 7.5.

Computation of Standard Time

Standard time is the time allowed to an operator to carry out the specified task under specified

conditions and defined level of performance. The various allowances are added to the normal

time as applicable to get the standard time as shown in Fig. 7.6.

Standard time may be defined as the, amount of time required to complete a unit of work:

(a) under existing working conditions, (b) using the specified method and machinery, (c) by an

operator, able to the work in a proper manner, and (d) at a standard pace.

Thus basic constituents of standard time are:

1. Elemental (observed time).

2. Performance rating to compensate for difference in pace of working.

3. Relaxation allowance.

4. Interference and contingency allowance.

5. Policy allowance.
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, effective method has been developed.

Even under the best working method situation, the job will still demand the expenditure of human

effort and some allowance must therefore be made for recovery from fatigue and for relaxation.

Allowances must also be made to enable the worker to attend to his personal needs. The

allowances are categorised as: (1) Relaxation allowance, (2) Interference allowance, and (3)
Contingency allowance.

1. RELAXATION ALLOWANCE

Relaxation allowances are calculated so as to allow the worker to recover from fatigue. Relaxation

allowance is a addition to the basic time intended to provide the worker with the opportunity to

recover from the physiological and psychological effects of carrying out specified work under

specified conditions and to allow attention to personal needs. The amount of allowance will

depend on nature of the job.

Relaxation allowances are of two types: fixed allowances and variable allowances.

Fixed allowances constitute:

(a) Personal needs allowance: It is intended to compensate the operator for the time

necessary to leave, the workplace to attend to personal needs like drinking water, smoking,

washing hands. Women require longer personal allowance than men. A fair personal

allowance is 5% for men, and 7% for women.

(b) Allowances for basic fatigue: This allowance is given to compensate for energy expended

during working. A common figure considered as allowance is 4% of the basic time.

2. VARIABLE ALLOWANCE

Variable allowance is allowed to an operator who is working under poor environmental conditions

that cannot be improved, added stress and strain in performing the job.

The variable fatigue allowance is added to the fixed allowance to an operator who is

engaged on medium and heavy work and working under abnormal conditions. The amount of

variable fatigue allowance varies from organization to organization.

3. INTERFERENCE ALLOWANCE

It is an allowance of time included into the work content of the job to compensate the operator

for the unavoidable loss of production due to simultaneous stoppage of two or more machines

being operated by him. This allowance is applicable for machine or process controlled jobs.

Interference allowance varies in proportion to number of machines assigned to the operator.

The interference of the machine increases the work content.

4. CONTINGENCY ALLOWANCE

A contingency allowance is a small allowance of time which may be included in a standard time
to meet legitimate and expected items of work or delays. The precise measurement of which is

uneconomical because of their infrequent or irregular occurrence.

This allowance provides for small unavoidable delays as well as for occasional minor extra

work:

Some of the examples calling for contingency allowance are:

Tool breakage involving removal of tool from the holder and all other activities to insert

new tool into the tool holder.

Power failures of small duration.

Obtaining the necessary tools and gauges from central tool store. Contingency allowance

should not exceed 5%.

5. POLICY ALLOWANCE

Policy allowances are not the genuine part of the time study and should be used with utmost care

and only in clearly defined circumstances.

The usual reason for making the policy allowance is to line up standard times with requirements

of wage agreement between employers and trade unions.

The policy allowance is an increment, other than bonus increment, applied to a standard time

(or to some constituent part of it, e.g., work content) to provide a satisfactory level of earnings

for a specified level of performance under exceptional circumstances. Policy allowances are

sometimes made as imperfect functioning of a division or part of a plant.

ILLUSTRATION 1: Assuming that the total observed time for an operation of

assembling an electric switch is 1.00 min. If the rating is 120%, find normal time. If an

allowance of 10% is allowed for the operation, determine the standard time.
1. TOYS AND JOB DESIGN AT THE HOVEY AND BEARD COMPANY

The following is a situation that occurred in the Hovey and Beard Company, as reported by

J. V. Clark.

This company manufactured a line of wooden toys. One part of the process involved spray

painting partially assembled toys, after which the toys were hung on moving hooks that carried

them through a drying oven. The operation, staffed entirely by women, was plagued with
absenteeism, high turnover, and low morale. Each woman at her paint booth would take a toy

from the tray beside her, position it in a fixture, and spray on the color according to the required

pattern. She then would release the toy and hang it on the conveyor hook. The rate at which

the hooks moved had been calculated so that each woman, once fully trained, would be able to

hang a painted toy on each hook before it passed beyond her reach.

The women who worked in the paint room were on a group incentive plan that tied their

earnings to the production of the entire group. Since the operation was new, they received a

learning allowance that decreased by regular amounts each month. The learning allowance was

scheduled to fall to zero in six months because it was expected that the women could meet

standard output or more by that time. By the second month of the training period, trouble had

developed. The women had progressed more slowly than had been anticipated, and it appeared

that their production level would stabilize somewhat below the planned level. Some of the women

complained about the speed that was expected of them, and a few of them quit. There was

evidence of resistance to the new situation.

Through the counsel of a consultant, the supervisor finally decided to bring the women

together for general discussions of working conditions. After two meetings in which relations

between the work group and the supervisor were somewhat improved, a third meeting produced

the suggestion that control of the conveyor speed be turned over to the work group. The women

explained that they felt that they could keep up with the speed of the conveyor but that they could

not work at that pace all day long. They wished to be able to adjust the speed of the belt,

depending on how they felt.

After consultation, the supervisor had a control marked, “low, medium, and fast” installed

at the booth of the group leader, who could adjust the speed of the conveyor anywhere between

the lower and upper limits that had been set. The women were delighted and spent many lunch

hours deciding how the speed should be varied from hour to hour throughout the day. Within a

week, a pattern had emerged: the first half-hour of the shift was run on what the women called

“medium speed” (a dial setting slightly above the point marked “medium”). The next two and

one-half hours were run at high speed, and the half-hour before lunch and the half-hour after

lunch were run at low speed. The rest of the afternoon was run at high speed, with the exception
of the last 45 minutes of the shift, which were run at medium speed.

In view of the women’s report of satisfaction and ease in their work, it is interesting to note

that the original speed was slightly below medium on the dial of the new control. The average

speed at which the women were running the belt was on the high side of the dial. Few, if any,

empty hooks entered the drying oven, and inspection showed no increase of rejects from the paint

room. Production increased, and within three weeks the women were operating at 30 to 50

percent above the level that had been expected according to the original design.

Evaluate the experience of the Hovey and Beard Company as it reflects on job design,

human relationships, and the supervisor’s role. How would you react as the supervisor to the

situation where workers determine how the work will be performed? If you were designing the

spray-painting set-up, would you design it differently?

[From J. V. Clark, “A Healthy Organization,” California Management Review, 4, 1962]

2. PRODUCTIVITY GAINS AT WHIRLPOOL

Workers and management at Whirlpool Appliance’s Benton Harbor plant in Michigan have

set an example of how to achieve productivity gains, which has benefited not only the company

and its stockholders, but also Whirlpool customers, and the workers themselves.

Things weren’t always rosy at the plant. Productivity and quality weren’t good. Neither

were labor-management relations. Workers hid defective parts so management wouldn’t find

them, and when machines broke down, workers would simply sit down until sooner or later

someone came to fix it. All that changed in the late 1980s. Faced with the possibility that the

plant would be shut down, management and labor worked together to find a way to keep the plant

open. The way was to increase productivity-producing more without using more resources.

Interestingly, the improvement in productivity didn’t come by spending money on fancy machines.

Rather, it was accomplished by placing more emphasis on quality. That was a shift from the old

way, which emphasized volume, often at the expense of quality. To motivate workers, the

company agreed to gain sharing, a plan that rewarded workers by increasing their pay for

productivity increases.

The company overhauled the manufacturing process, and taught its workers how to improve

quality. As quality improved, productivity went up because more of the output was good, and
costs went down because of fewer defective parts that had to be scrapped or reworked. Costs

of inventory also decreased, because fewer spare parts were needed to replace defective output,

both at the factory and for warranty repairs. And workers have been able to see the connection

between their efforts to improve quality and productivity.

Not only was Whirlpool able to use the productivity gains to increase workers’ pay, it was

also able to hold that lid on price increases and to funnel some of the savings into research

Questions

1. What were the two key things that Whirlpool management did to achieve productivity

gains?

2. Who has benefited from the productivity gains?

3. How are productivity and quality related?

4. How can a company afford to pay it workers for productivity gains?

(Source: Based on “A Whirlpool Factory Raises Productivity-And Pay of Workers:’ by Rick Wartzman,

from The Wall Street journal, 1992.)

3. STATE AUTOMOBILE LICENSE RENEWALS

Vinay, manager of a metropolitan branch office of the state department of motor vehicles,

attempted to perform an analysis of the driver’s license renewal operations. Several steps were

to be performed in the process. After examining the license renewal process, he identified the

steps and associated times required to perform each step as shown in table below.
Vinay found that each step was’ assigned to a different person. Each application was a

separate process in the sequence shown in the exhibit. Vinay determined that his office should

be prepared to accommodate the maximum demand of processing 120 renewal applicants

per hour.

He observed that the work was unevenly divided among the clerks, and that the clerk who

was responsible for checking violations tended to shortcut her task to keep up with the other

clerks. Long lines built up during the maximum demand periods.

Vinay also found that general clerks who were each paid Rs.12.00 per hour-handled jobs

1,2,3, and 4. Job 5 was performed by a photographer paid Rs.16 per hour, Job 6, the issuing of

temporary licenses, was required by state policy to be handled by a uniformed motor vehicle

officer. Officers were paid Rs.18 per hour, but they could be assigned to any job except

photography.

A review of the jobs indicated that job 1, reviewing the application for correctness, had to

be performed before any other step. Similarly, job 6, issuing the temporary license, could not be

performed until all the other steps were completed. The branch offices were charged Rs.20 per

hour for each camera to perform photography

Vinay was under severe pressure to increase productivity and reduce costs, but the regional

director of the department of motor vehicles also told him that he had better accommodate the

demand for renewals. Otherwise, “heads would roll.”

Questions

1. What is the maximum number of applications per hour that can be handled by the present

configuration of the process?

2. How many applications can be processed per hour if a second clerk is added to check

for violations?

3. Assuming the addition of one more clerk, what is the maximum number of applications

the process can handle?

4. How would you suggest modifying the process to accommodate 120 applications per

hour?

(Source: P. R. Olsen, W. E. Sasser, and D. D. Wyckoff, Management of Service Operations: Text, Cases,
and Readings, Pp. 95-96, @ 1978.)

4. MAKING HOTPLATES

Group of 10 workers were responsible for assembling hotplates (instruments for heating

solutions to a given temperature) for hospital and medical laboratory use. A number of different

models of hotplates were being manufactured. Some had a vibrating device so that the solution

could be mixed while being heated. Others heated only test tubes. Still others could heat solutions

in a variety of different containers.

With the appropriate small tools, each worker assembled part of a hotplate. The partially

completed hotplate was placed on a moving belt, to be carried from one assembly station to the

next. When the hotplate was completed, an inspector would check it over to ensure that it was

working properly. Then the last worker would place it in a specially prepared cardboard box for

shipping.

The assembly line had been carefully balanced by industrial engineers, who had used a time

and motion study to break the job down into subassembly tasks, each requiring about three

minutes to accomplish. The amount of time calculated for each subassembly had also been

“balanced” so that the task performed by each worker was supposed to take almost exactly the

same amount of time. The workers were paid a straight hourly rate.

However, there were some problems. Morale seemed to be low, and the inspector was

finding a relatively high percentage of badly assembled hotplates. Controllable rejects-those

“caused” by the operator rather than by faulty materials-were running about 23 percent.

After discussing the situation, management decided to try something new. The workers

were called together and asked if they would like to build the hotplates individually. The workers

decided they would like to try this approach, provided they could go back to the old program if

the new one did not work well. After several days of training, each worker began to assemble

the entire hotplate.

The change was made at about the middle of the year. Productivity climbed quickly. By the

end of the year, it had leveled off at about 84 percent higher than during the first half of the year,

although no other changes had been made in the department or its personnel. Controllable rejects
had dropped from 23 percent to 1 percent during the same period. Absenteeism had dropped

from 8 percent to less than 1 percent. The workers had responded positively to the change, and

their morale was higher. As one person put it, “Now, it is my hotplate.” Eventually, the reject

rate dropped so low that the assembly workers themselves did all routine final inspection. The

fulltime inspector was transferred to another job in the organization.

Questions

1. What changes in the work situation might account for the increase in productivity and

the decrease in controllable rejects?

2. What might account for the drop in absenteeism and the increase in morale?

3. What were the major changes in the situation? Which changes were under the control

of the manager? Which were controlled by workers?

4. What might happen if the workers went back to the old assembly line method?

(Source: The Modern Manager, by Edgar F. Huse, copyright @ 1979 by West Publishing Company.)
Principles of Motion Economy

Principles Governing Motion Study

Set of rules were designed by Gilberth in order to develop better method. They are:

 Both hands should move simultaneously. This reduces fatigue.

 Both hands should complete their movements at the same time i.e. they should

start and finish their motions at the same time.

 Both hands should not be idle at the same time unless in a rest period.

 Between two movements there should be some time gap. The time gap is called

elapsed time (pass).

 Motion of both the hands should be symmetrical and in opposite directions and

should be made simultaneously.

 Hesitation in any movement observed at any time should be analyzed.

 The shortest time demonstrated by any worker should be marked and efforts
should be made to attain it.

 The number of motions required to do a particular work should be clearly

specified.

 Variations in time for any movement should be avoided and causes recorded.

 All motions should be easy, natural and should reduce fatigue.

Introduction to Therbligs

To facilitate the analysis of motion, Gilberth developed a set of smaller hand motions

some of which could be combined to give a complete motion. The smaller motions he

termed as “Therbligs” (reverse spelling of his name). They are 18 in numbers. For the

purpose of recording the motions, he split up different motions of a process into 18

fundamental hand motions. Every therblig is represented by a symbol, a definite color

and with a word or two to record the same (See Table 2).
Micro-motion Study

Micro-motion study means the study of micro (small) motions know as Therbligs. Each

human activity is divided or split into small movements. The purpose of such study is to

find for an operator one best pattern of movement which involves less efforts, time, and

fatigue to accomplish a task. This study is best suited for those operations which are short

in cycle and are repeated thousands of time (such as packing of sweets into boxes, food

canes into cartons, launching of space craft, missiles, modern cricket, athletics etc.).

Micro-motion study involves taking motion pictures of an activity while being

performed by the operator with a timing device kept in the field of view and than film is

studied on the projector frame by frame.

Following equipment are required for this study:

1. Movie camera.

2. 16mm film for recording.

3. Micro-chronometer or Wink counter (1 Wink=1/2000 of a minute).

4. Motion picture projector with screen.

Exercise: What are the advantages and applications of micro-motion study? Give the
step-wise procedure of micro-motion study.

Exercise: Study the motions used in following operations using therbligs:

i. Cleaning your teeth with tooth brush.

ii. Packing three types of sweets in a box.

iii. Punching a hole in a lock body.

iv. Planting a flower plant in the pot.

Note: Use both the hands in performing the above tasks.