cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 125 cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 126 126 section 2 Product Design and Process Selection The operations manager's job, by definition, deals with managing the personnel that create a firm's products and services. To say that this is a challenging job in today's complex environment is an understatement. The diversity of the workforce's cultural and educational background, coupled with frequent organization restructuring, calls for a much higher level of people management skills than has been required in even the recent past. The objective in managing personnel is to obtain the highest productivity possible without sacrificing quality, service, or responsiveness. The operations manager uses job design techniques to structure the work so that it will meet both the physical and behavioral needs of the human worker. Work measurement methods are used to determine the most efficient means of performing a given task, as well as to set reasonable standards for performing it. People are motivated by many things, only one of which is financial reward. Operations managers can structure such rewards not only to motivate consistently high performance but also to reinforce the most important aspects of the job. JOB DESIGN DECISIONS Job design # Job design may be defined as the function of specifying the work activities of an individual or group in an organizational setting. Its objective is to develop job structures that meet the requirements of the organization and its technology and that satisfy the jobholder's personal and individual requirements. Exhibit TN4.1 summarizes the decisions involved. These decisions are affected by the following trends: 1 Quality control as part of the worker's job. Now often referred to as "quality at the source" (see Chapter 7), quality control is linked with the concept of empowerment. Empowerment, in turn, refers to workers being given authority to stop a production line if there is a quality problem, or to give a customer an on-the-spot refund if service was not satisfactory. 2 Cross-training workers to perform multiskilled jobs. As companies downsize, the remaining workforce is expected to do more and different tasks. 3 Employee involvement and team approaches to designing and organizing work. This is a central feature in total quality management (TQM) and continuous improvement efforts. In fact, it is safe to say that virtually all TQM programs are team based. Exhibit TN4.1 Job Design Decisions Who What Where When Why How Mental and physical characteristics of the workforce Task(s) to be performed Geographic locale of organization; location of work areas Time of day; time of occurrence in the workflow Organizational rationale for the job; objectives and motivation of the worker Method of performance and motivation ltiri jo rue 7 L late \ V st ture / cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 127 Job Design and Work Measurement technical note 127 "Informating" ordinary workers through e-mail and the Internet, thereby expanding the nature of their work and their ability to do it. In this context, informating is more than just automating work—it is revising work's fundamental structure. Northeast Utilities' computer system, for example, can pinpoint a problem in a service area before the customer service representative answers the phone. The rep uses the computer to troubleshoot serious problems, to weigh probabilities that other customers in the area have been affected, and to dispatch repair crews before other calls are even received. Extensive use of temporary workers. Manpower, a company specializing in providing temporary employees, has over 1.9 million temporary employees worldwide on its payroll. Automation of heavy manual work. Examples abound in both services (one-person trash pickup trucks) and manufacturing (robot spray painting on auto lines). These changes are driven by safety regulations as well as economics and personnel reasons. Most important of all, organizational commitment to providing meaningful and rewarding jobs for all employees. Companies featured on Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" use creative means to keep employees satisfied, and offer generous severance and compassion when cuts must be made (see www.fortune.com for the current list of companies). BEHAVIORAL CONSIDERATIONS IN JOB DESIGN___________________________ Degree of Labor Specialization Specialization of labor is the two-edged sword of job design. On one hand, specialization has made possible high-speed, low-cost production, and from a materialistic standpoint, it has greatly enhanced our standard of living. On the other hand, extreme specialization (as we see in mass-production industries) often has serious adverse effects on workers, which in turn are passed on to management. In essence, the problem is to determine how much specialization is enough. At what point do the disadvantages outweigh the advantages? (See Exhibit TN4.2.) Specialization of labor Advantages of Specialization To Management To Labor 1. Rapid training of the workforce 2. Ease in recruiting new workers 3. High output due to simple, repetitive work 4. Low wages due to ease of substitutability of labor 5. Close control over work flow and workloads 1. Little or no education required to obtain work 2. Ease in learning job Disadvantages of Specialization To Management To Labor Difficulty in controlling quality because no one has responsibility for entire product Worker dissatisfaction leading to hidden costs arising from turnover, absenteeism, tardiness, grievances, and intentional disruption of production process Reduced likelihood of improving the process because of workers' limited perspective Limited flexibility to change the production process to produce new or improved products Boredom stemming from repetitive nature of work Little gratification from work itself because of small contribution to each item Little or no control over the work pace, leading to frustration and fatigue (in assembly-line situations) Little opportunity to progress to a better job because significant learning is rarely possible on fractionated work Exhibit TN4.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Specialization of Labor cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 128 128 section 2 Product Design and Process Selection Recent research suggests that the disadvantages dominate the advantages much more commonly than was thought in the past. However, simply stating that for purely humanitarian reasons, specialization should be avoided is risky. The reason, of course, is that people differ in what they want from their work and what they are willing to put into it. Some workers prefer not to make decisions about their work, some like to daydream on the job, and others are simply not capable of performing more complex work. To improve the quality of jobs, leading organizations try different approaches to job design. Two popular contemporary approaches are job enrichment and sociotechnical systems. Job Enrichment Job enlargement generally entails adjusting a specialized job to make it more interesting to the job holder. A job is said to be enlarged horizontally if the worker performs a greater number or variety of tasks, and it is said to be enlarged vertically if the worker is involved in planning, organizing, and inspecting his or her own work. Horizontal job enlargement is intended to counteract oversimplification and to permit the worker to perform a "whole unit of work." Vertical enlargement (traditionally termed job enrichment) attempts to broaden workers' influence in the transformation process by giving them certain managerial powers over their own activities. Today, common practice is to apply both horizontal and vertical Job enrichment enlargement to a given job and refer to the total approach as job enrichment. The organizational benefits of job enrichment occur in both quality and productivity. Quality in particular improves dramatically because when individuals are responsible for their work output, they take ownership of it and simply do a better job. Also, because they have a broader understanding of the work process, they are more likely to catch errors and make corrections than if the job is narrowly focused. Productivity improvements also occur from job enrichment, but they are not as predictable or as large as the improvements in quality. The reason is that enriched work invaribly contains a mix of tasks that (for manual labor) causes interruptions in rhythm and different motions when switching from one task to the next. Such is not the case for specialized jobs.1 Sociotechnical Systems Consistent with the job enrichment philosophy but focusing more on the interaction Sociotechnical systems between technology and the work group is the sociotechnical systems approach. This approach attempts to develop jobs that adjust the needs of the production process technology to the needs of the worker and work group. The term was developed from studies of weaving mills in India and of coal mines in England in the early 1950s. These studies revealed that work groups could effectively handle many production problems better than management if they were permitted to make their own decisions on scheduling, work allocation among members, bonus sharing, and so forth. This was particularly true when variations in the production process required quick reactions by the group or when one shift's work overlapped with other shifts' work. Since those pioneering studies, the sociotechnical approach has been applied in many countries—often under the heading of "autonomous work groups," "Japanese-style work groups," or employee involvement (EI) teams. Most major American manufacturing companies use work teams as the basic building block in so-called high employee involvement plants. They are now becoming common in service organizations as well. The benefits of teams are similar to those of individual job enrichment: They provide higher quality and greater productivity (they often set higher production goals than general management), do their own support work and equipment maintenance, and have increased chances to make meaningful improvements.2 One major conclusion from these applications is that the individual or work group requires a logically integrated pattern of work activities that incorporates the following job design principles: 1 Task variety. An attempt must be made to provide an optimal variety of tasks within each job. Too much variety can be inefficient for training and frustrating for cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 129 Job Design and Work Measurement technical note 129 the employee. Too little can lead to boredom and fatigue. The optimal level is one that allows the employee to rest from a high level of attention or effort while working on another task or, conversely, to stretch after periods of routine activity. Skill variety. Research suggests that employees derive satisfaction from using a number of skill levels. Feedback. There should be some means for informing employees quickly when they have achieved their targets. Fast feedback aids the learning process. Ideally, employees should have some responsibility for setting their own standards of quantity and quality. Task identity. Sets of tasks should be separated from other sets of tasks by some clear boundary. Whenever possible, a group or individual employee should have responsibility for a set of tasks that is clearly defined, visible, and meaningful. In this way, work is seen as important by the group or individual undertaking it, and others understand and respect its significance. Task autonomy. Employees should be able to exercise some control over their work. Areas of discretion and decision making should be available to them.3 PHYSICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN JOB DESIGN # Beyond the behavioral components of job design, another aspect warrants consideration: the physical side. Indeed, while motivation and work group structure strongly influence job performance, they may be of secondary importance if the job is too demanding from a physical (or "human factors") standpoint. One approach to incorporating the physical costs of moderate to heavy work in job design is work physiology. Pioneered by Eastman Kodak in the 1960s, work physiology sets work-rest cycles according to the energy expended in various parts of the job. For example, if a job entails caloric expenditure above five calories per minute (the rough baseline for sustainable work), the required rest period must equal or exceed the time spent working. Obviously, the harder the work, the more frequent and longer the rest periods. (Exhibit TN4.3 shows caloric requirements for various activities.) Ergonomics is the term used to describe the study of the physical arrangement of the work space together with the tools used to perform a task. In applying ergonomics, we Work physiology Ergonomics Type of Activity Sitting at rest Writing Typing on a computer Medium assembly work Shoe repair Machining roning Heavy assembly work Chopping wood Digging Tending furnace Walking upstairs Typical Energy Cost in Required Minutes of Rest Calories per Minute* for Each Minute of Work 1-7 - 2.0 - 2.0 - 2-9 - 3-0 - 3-3 - 44 - 5-1 - 7-5 1 8.9 2 12.0 3 12.0 3 Calorie Requirements for Various Activities *Five calories per minute is generally considered the maximum sustainable level throughout the workday. cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 130 130 section 2 Product Design and Process Selection On this microwave oven assembly, the work process has been designed to fit the worker rather than forcing the employees to conform to the work. strive to fit the work to the body rather than forcing the body to conform to the work. As logical as this may sound, it is actually a recent point of view. WORK METHODS______________________________ # In contemporary industry, responsibility for developing work methods in large firms is typically assigned either to a staff department designated methods analysis or to an industrial engineering department. In small firms, this activity is often performed by consulting firms that specialize in work methods design. The principal approach to the study of work methods is the construction of charts, such as operations charts, worker-machine charts, simo (simultaneous motion) charts, and activity charts, in conjunction with time study or standard time data. The choice of which charting method to use depends on the task's activity level—that is, whether the focus is on (1) a production process, (2) the worker at a fixed workplace, (3) a worker interacting with equipment, or (4) a worker interacting with other workers (see Exhibit TN4.4). (These charting techniques were introduced in Chapter 4, where they were used to aid in process analysis. Chapter 6 introduces the service blueprint that accounts for customer interactions.) A Production Process The objective in studying a production process is to identify delays, transport distances, processes, and processing time requirements to simplify the entire operation. The underlying philosophy is to eliminate any step in the process that does not add value to the product. The approach is to flowchart the process and then ask the following questions: What is done? Must it be done? What would happen if it were not done? Where is the task done? Must it be done at that location or could it be done somewhere else ? When is the task done? Is it critical that it be done then or is there flexibility in time and sequence? Could it be combined with some other step in the process? How is the task done? Why is it done this way? Is there another way? Who does the task? Can someone else do it? Should the worker be of a higher or lower skill level? cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 131 Job Design and Work Measurement technical note 131 Activity Objective of Study Study Techniques Production process Eliminate or combine steps; shorten transport distance; identify delays Flow diagram, service blueprint, process chart Worker at fixed workplace Simplify method; minimize motions Operations charts, simo charts; apply principles of motion economy Workers interaction with equipment Workers interaction with other workers Minimize idle time; find number or combination of machines to balance cost of worker and machine idle time Activity chart, worker-machine charts Maximize productivity; minimize nterference Activity charts, gang process charts Exhibit TN4.4 Work Methods Design Aids These thought-provoking questions usually help eliminate much unnecessary work and simplify the remaining work by combining processing steps and changing the order of performance. The process chart is valuable in studying an overall system, though care must be taken to follow the same item throughout the process. The subject may be a product being manufactured, a service being created, or a person performing a sequence of activities. Exhibit TN4.5 shows a process chart (and flow diagram) for a clerical operation. Exhibit TN4.6 shows common notation in process charting. Can you suggest any ways to improve this process? (See Problem 2.) Worker at a Fixed Workplace Many jobs require the worker to remain at a specified workstation. When the nature of the work is primarily manual (such as sorting, inspecting, making entries, or assembly operations), the focus of work design is on simplifying the work method and making the required operator motions as few and as easy as possible. There are two basic ways to determine the best method when a methods analyst studies a single worker performing an essentially manual task. The first is to search among the workers and find the one who performs the job best. That person's method is then accepted as the standard, and others are trained to perform it in the same way. This was basically F. W. Taylor's approach, though after determining the best method, he searched for "first-class men" to perform according to the method. (A first-class worker possessed the natural ability to do much more productive work in a particular task than the average. Workers who were not first class were transferred to other jobs.) The second way is to observe the performance of a number of workers, analyze in detail each step of their work, and pick out the superior features of each worker's performance. This results in a composite method that combines the best elements of the group studied. Frank Gilbreth, the father of motion study, used this procedure to determine the "one best way" to perform a work task. Taylor observed actual performance to find the best method; Frank Gilbreth and his wife Lillian studied movie film as shown on the right. Through micromotion analysis—observing the filmed work performance frame by frame—the Gilbreths studied work very closely and defined its basic elements, which were termed therbligs ("Gilbreth" spelled backward, with the t and h transposed). As part of his work, Gilbreth constructed wire representations of the path of motion. Their study led to the rules or principles of motion economy, such as "The hands should begin and complete the motions at the same time" and "Work should be arranged to permit natural rhythm." cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 132 132 section 2 Product Design and Process Selection Exhibit TN 4.5 Flow Diagram and Process Chart of an Office Procedure—Present Method Superintendent Secretary Purchasing agent Stenographer RESEARCH LABORATORY Offices h L> n n Supervisor's office Present Method M Proposed Method D SUBJECT CHARTED Requisitio Chart begins at supervisor's desk ai PROCESS CHART n for small tools DATE id ends at CHART BY J.CH typist's desk in purchasing department CHARTNO. R136 DEPARTMENT Research laboratory SHEET NO. 1 OF 1 DIST IN FEET TIME IN MINS. CHART SYMBOLS PROCESS DESCRIPTION 30 --J^D D V Requisitions written by supervisor (one copy) 180 O ■=> C£» V On supervisor's desk (awaiting messenger) 65 1 O <£] D V By messenger to superintendent's secretary 120 O i=>_ĽÍ» V On secretary's desk (awaiting typing) 30 <^> D D V Requisition typed (original requisition copied) 15 .5 0\D DV By secretary to superintendent 480 O ■=> D>V On superintendent's desk (awaiting messenger) 15 O O ^DV Examined and approved 480 0 ■=> npB v On superintendent's desk (awaiting approval) 20 .5 O

D> V On purchasing agent's desk (awaiting approval) 30 O O ^DV Examined and approved 240 0 ■=> qj* v On purchasing agent's desk (awaiting messenger) 5 .25 O D DV Purchase order typed 240 0 ■=> Eľr» v On stenographer's desk (awaiting transfer to main office) O O D D V 105 2237.25 3 4 2 8 Total Note: Requisition is written by a supervisor, typed by a secretary, approved by a superintendent, and approved by a purchasing agent. Then a purchase order is prepared by a stenographer. Exhibit TN4.6 Notation for the Process Chart in Exhibit TN4.5 Operation. Something is actually being done. This may be work on a product, some support activity, or anything that is directly productive in nature. Transportation. The subject of the study (product, service, or person) moves from one location to another. Inspection. The subject is observed for quality and correctness. Delay. The subject of the study must wait before starting the next step in the process. Storage. The subject is stored, such as finished products in inventory or completed papers in a file. Frequently, a distinction is made between temporary storage and permanent storage by inserting a T or P in the triangle. cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 133 Job Design and Work Measurement technical note 133 Once the motions for performing the task have been identified, an operations chart may be made, listing the operations and their sequence of performance. For greater detail, a simo (simultaneous motion) chart may be constructed, listing not only the operations but also the times for both left and right hands. This chart may be assembled from the data collected with a stopwatch, from analysis of a film of the operation, or from predetermined motion-time data (discussed later in the chapter). Many aspects of poor design are immediately obvious: a hand being used as a holding device (rather than a jig or fixture), an idle hand, or an exceptionally long time for positioning. Worker Interacting with Equipment When a person and equipment operate together to perform a productive process, interest focuses on the efficient use of the person's time and equipment time. When the operator's working time is less than the equipment run time, a worker-machine chart is a useful device in analysis. If the operator can operate several pieces of equipment, the problem is to find the most economical combination of operator and equipment, when the combined cost of the idle time of a particular combination of equipment and the idle time for the worker is at a minimum. Worker-machine charts are always drawn to scale, the scale being time as measured by length. Exhibit TN4.7 shows a worker-machine chart in a service setting. The question here is, whose utilization use is most important? Software from Deneb Robotics is designed to help companies plan to meet production goals. wearing a harness with 11 sensors, the worker demonstrates software that helps engineers maximize efficiency on a production line by coordinating the movements of humans and robots working side by side (see the monitor). Worker-Machine Chart for a Gourmet Coffee Store Exhibit TN4.7 Time in Seconds 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Person Machine Customer Time in sec. Clerk Time in sec. Coffee Grinder Time in sec. 1. Ask grocer for 1 pound of coffee (brand and grind) Wait 5 15 Listen to order Get coffee and put in machine, set grind, and start grinder 5 15 Idle Idle 5 15 _3. Wait 21 Idle while machine grinds 21 Grind coffee 21 _4. Wait 12 Stop grinder, place coffee in package, and close it 12 Idle 12 Receive coffee from grocer, pay grocer, and receive change 17 Give coffee to customer, wait for customer to pay for coffee, receive money, and make change 17 Idle 17 Summary Customer Clerk Coffee Grinder Idle Time 48 sec. 21 sec. 49 sec. Working Time 22 49 21 Total Cycle Time 70 70 70 Utilization Percentage Customer utilization = | = 31% Clerk utilization = | = 70% Machine utilization = | = 30% The customer, the clerk, and the coffee grinder (machine) are involved in this operation. It required 1 minute 10 seconds for the customer to purchase a pound of coffee in this store. During this time the customer spent 22 seconds, or 31 percent of the time, giving the clerk his order, receiving the ground coffee, and paying the clerk. He was idle the remaining 69 percent of the time. The clerk worked 49 seconds, or 70 percent of the time, and was idle 21 seconds, or 30 percent of the time. The coffee grinder was in operation 21 seconds, or 30 percent of the time, and was idle 70 percent of the time. cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 134 134 section 2 Product Design and Process Selection Exhibit TN4.8 Activity Chart of Emergency Tracheotomy 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Nurse First Doctor Orderly Second Doctor Nurse Supervisor Scrub Nurse Detects problem Notifies doctor Gets mobile cart Makes diagnosis Notifies nurse supervisor Helps patient to breathe Notifies second doctor Opens OR Calls scrub nurse Notifies orderly Assures availability of laryngoscope and endotracheal tube Moves patient to OR Moves to OR Moves patient to OR Moves to OR Sets up equipment Scrubs Dons gown and gloves Operates laryngoscope and inserts endotracheal tube Performs tracheotomy Calls for rPPB machine 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Source: Data Taken from H. E. Smalley and J. Freeman, Hospital Industrial Engineering (New York: Reinhold, 1966), p. 409. Workers Interacting with Other Workers The degree of interaction among teams may be as simple as one operator handing a part to another, or as complex as a cardiovascular surgical team of doctors, nurses, anesthesiologist, operator of an artificial heart machine, X-ray technician, standby blood donors, and pathologist (and perhaps a minister to pray a little). An activity or a gang process chart is useful in plotting each individual's activities on a time scale similar to that of the worker-machine chart. A gang process chart is usually employed to trace the interaction of a number of workers with machines in a specified operating cycle to find the best combination of workers and machines. An activity chart is less restrictive and may be used to follow the interaction of any group of operators, with or without equipment being involved. Such charts are often used to study and define each operation in an ongoing repetitive process, and they are extremely valuable in developing a standardized procedure for a specific task. Exhibit TN4.8, for example, shows an activity chart for a hospital's emergency routine in performing a tracheotomy (opening a patient's throat surgically to allow the patient to breathe), where detailed activity analysis is critical and any delay could be fatal. Work measurement WORK MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS % The fundamental purpose of work measurement is to set time standards for a job. Such standards are necessary for four reasons: 1 To schedule work and allocate capacity. All scheduling approaches require some estimate of how much time it takes to do the work being scheduled. cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 135 Job Design and Work Measurement technical note 135 2 To provide an objective basis for motivating the workforce and measuring workers' performance. Measured standards are particularly critical where output-based incentive plans are employed. 3 To bid for new contracts and to evaluate performance on existing ones. Questions such as "Can we do it?" and "How are we doing?" presume the existence of standards. 4 To provide benchmarks for improvement. In addition to internal evaluation, benchmarking teams regularly compare work standards in their company with those of similar jobs in other organizations. Work measurement and its resulting work standards have been controversial since Taylor's time. Much of this criticism has come from unions, which argue that management often sets standards that cannot be regularly achieved. (To counter this, in some contracts, the industrial engineer who sets the standard must demonstrate that he or she can do the job over a representative period of time at the rate that was set.) There is also the argument that workers who find a better way of doing the job get penalized by having a revised rate set. (This is commonly called rate cutting.) With the widespread adoption of W. Edwards Deming's ideas, the subject has received renewed criticism. Deming argued that work standards and quotas inhibit process improvement and tend to focus the worker's efforts on speed rather than quality. Despite these criticisms, work measurement and standards have proved effective. Much depends on sociotechnical aspects of the work. Where the job requires work groups to function as teams and create improvements, worker-set standards often make sense. On the other hand, where the job really boils down to doing the work quickly, with little need for creativity (such as delivering packages for UPS as the box on page 136 relates), tightly engineered, professionally set standards are appropriate. Work Measurement Techniques There are two common techniques for measuring work and setting standards: time study and work sampling. The choice of techniques depends on the level of detail desired and the nature of the work itself. Highly detailed, repetitive work usually calls for time study analysis. When work is infrequent or entails a long cycle time, work sampling is the tool of choice. A time study is generally made with a stopwatch, either on the spot or by analyzing a Time study videotape for the job. The job or task to be studied is separated into measurable parts or elements, and each element is timed individually. Some general rules for breaking down the elements are 1 Define each work element to be short in duration but long enough so that it can be timed with a stopwatch and the time can be written down. 2 If the operator works with equipment that runs separately (meaning the operator performs a task and the equipment runs independently), separate the actions of the operator and of the equipment into different elements. 3 Define any delays by the operator or equipment into separate elements. After a number of repetitions, the collected times are averaged. (The standard deviation may be computed to give a measure of variance in the performance times.) The averaged times for each element are added, yielding the performance time for the operator. However, to make this operator's time usable for all workers, a measure of speed or performance rating must be included to "normalize" the job. The application of a rating factor gives what is called normal time. For example, if an operator performs a task in two minutes and the time-study analyst estimates her to be performing about 20 percent faster than normal, the operator's performance rating would be 1.2 or 120 percent of normal. The normal time would be computed as 2 minutes x 1.2, or 2.4 minutes. In equation form, Normal time = observed performance time per unit x Performance rating Normal time cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 136 136 section 2 Product Design and Process Selection Work Measurement at United Parcel Service Grabbing a package under his arm, Joseph Poliše, a driver for United Parcel Service (UPS), bounds from his brown delivery truck and toward an office building here. A few paces behind him, Marjorie Cusack, a UPS industrial engineer, clutches a digital timer. Her eyes fixed on Poliše, she counts his steps and times his contact with customers. Scribbling on a clipboard, Cusack records every second taken up by stoplights, traffic, detours, doorbells, walkways, stairways, and coffee breaks. Eighty thousand UPS drivers travel 1.2 billion miles per year and deliver more than 13 million packages a day. On average, UPS drivers move in and out of the truck 200 times a day. An unnecessary step or indirect travel path reduces the effectiveness of the driver and impacts service to the customer. One minute saved each day saves the company $5 million annually. For this reason, UPS spends millions each year to train its drivers in proper, efficient, and safe work methods. Approximately 1,118 industrial engineers at UPS ensure efficient and reliable customer service by conducting time studies on drivers' routes to provide job method instruction. They have measured even the finest details of the drivers' job, including determining on which finger drivers should consistently carry their key rings to avoid losing them. In addition to developing specific job methods, UPS provides drivers with custom-built package vehicles with features Loading efficiency is studied extensively by UPS, resulting in UPS trucks that carry as much as 30 PERCENT MORE PACKAGES THAN AN AVERAGE TRUCK. including • Domed seats that allow the driver to slide on and off easily at each delivery stop. • A drop floor well located behind the rear wheel housing, making the rear of the vehicle only a short step from the ground for easy entry. • Bulkhead doors that allow easy access to the package compartment and save the driver steps in selecting parcels for delivery. Source: Abstracted from D. Machauba, "Up to Speed: United Parcel Service Gets Deliveries Done by Driving Its Workers," The Wall Street Journal, April 22,1986, p. 1. Information provided by UPS, 1999. In this example, denoting normal time by NT, NT =2 (1.2) = 2.4 minutes When an operator is observed for a period of time, the number of units produced during this time, along with the performance rating, gives NT: Time worked Number of units produced x Performance rating Standard time Standard time is derived by adding to normal time allowances for personal needs (such as washroom and coffee breaks), unavoidable work delays (such as equipment breakdown or lack of materials), and worker fatigue (physical or mental). Two such equations are Standard time = Normal time + (Allowances x Normal time) or ITN4.1] ST =NT(l + Allowances) cha06369_tn04.qxd 2/7/03 4:02 PM Page 137 Job Design and Work Measurement technical note 137 and [TN4.2] ST AT 1 — Allowances Equation (TN4.1) is most often used in practice. If one presumes that allowances should be applied to the total work period, then equation (TN4.2) is the correct one. To illustrate, suppose that the normal time to perform a task is one minute and that allowances for personal needs, delays, and fatigue total 15 percent; then by equation (TN4.1) ST = 1(1 + 0.15) = 1.15 minutes In an eight-hour day, a worker would produce 8 x 60/1.15, or 417 units. This implies 417 minutes working and 480 — 417 (or 63) minutes for allowances. With equation (TN4.2), ST 1 1-0.15 1.18 minutes In the same eight-hour day, 8 x 60/1.18 (or 408) units are produced with 408 working minutes and 72 minutes for allowances. Depending on which equation is used, there is a difference of nine minutes in the daily allowance time. EXAMPLE TN4.1: Time Study for a Four-Element Job Exhibit TN4.9 shows a time study of 10 cycles of a four-element job. For each element, there is a space for the watch readings that are recorded in lOOths of a minute. Space is also provided for summarizing the data and applying a performance rating. SOLUTION The value of T is obtained by averaging the observed data. PR denotes the performance rating and is multiplied with T to obtain the normal time (NT) for each element. The normal time for the job is the sum of the element normal times. The standard time, calculated according to equation (TN4.1), is given at the bottom of Exhibit TN4.9. • Exhibit TNa. Time Study Observation Sheet Identification of Operation Assemble 24" X 36" Chart Blanks Date 10/9 Began Timing: 9:26 Ended Timing: 9:32 Operator 109 Approval fyfcl Observer cjfcV Element Description and Breakpoint Cycles Summary 1 0,00 2 3 4 5 6 1 8 9 10 XT T PR NT 1 Fold over end (grasp stapler) .07 .07 .05 .07 .09 .06 .05 .08 .08 .06 .68 .07 .90 .06 .07 .61 .14 .67 .74 .78 .33 .88 .47 .09 2 Staple five times (drop stapler) .16 .14 .14 .15 .16 .16 .14 .17 .14 .15 1.51 .15 1.05 .16 .73 .75 .78 .87 .40 .94 .47 .05 .61 .74 3 Bend and insert wire (drop pliers) .22 .25 .22 .25 .23 .23 .71 .76 .75 .74 7.36 .74 1.00 .74 .45 .00 .50 .07 .63 .17 .68 .31 .86 .48 4 Dispose of finished chart (touch next sheet) m .09 .10 .OH .09 .11 .17 .08 .17 .08 1.01 .10 .90 .09 .54 .09 .60 .15 .77. .78 .80 .39 .03 .56 0.5 norr mm - fo eye 5 5 wd ite 6