Productivity Improvement, Work Measurement, and Wage Payments

Vocabulary flashcards from lecture notes on productivity improvement, work measurement, and wage payments.

Methods Study

The systematic recording and critical analysis of the way of doing things in order to make improvements.

Work Measurement

Establishes a time standard for a qualified worker to carry out work at a defined rate of working.

Frederick W. Taylor

"Father of Scientific Management"

Frank and Lilian Gilbreth

Founders of Modern Motion Study Technique, increasing worker productivity through reduction of wasted motion.

Therbligs

17 basic motions that make up any job or assignment; 8 are effective since they advance progress; 9 are ineffective and must be eliminated to increase productivity

Henry Ford

Known for the Moving Assembly Line and other mass production techniques.

Standard of Living

The extent to which a person can provide necessities for sustaining and enjoying life, which may differ in different parts of the world.

Productivity

Output divided by Input.

Partial Productivity

Ratio of output to a single input (e.g., output/labor, output/energy).

Multi-Factor Productivity

Ratio of output to a group of inputs (e.g., output/(labor+capital+energy)).

Total Productivity

Ratio of total outputs and total inputs.

Fish/Ishikawa Diagram

Cause and effect diagram used to analyze contributing factors to an undesirable effect.

Pareto Chart

Based on the 80-20 rule; items of interest are identified and measured on a common scale and arranged descendingly.

Nominal Group Technique

Discussion formal providing everyone an equal voice in the problem selection process

Brainstorming

Enables problem solvers to expand their thinking and create ideas in a short period of time; can be structured or unstructured.

Check Sheet

Helps record the frequency of outcomes of an event to detect trends.

Gantt Chart

Project planning and control tool presenting anticipated completion times for activities as bars plotted against time.

PERT Chart

Graphically portrays the optimum way to attain some predetermined objective, generally in terms of time (Program Evaluation and Review Technique).

Operation Process Chart (OPC)

Chronological sequence of operations, inspections, time allowances, and materials used in a process.

Flow Process Chart

Records non-production hidden costs such as distances traveled, delays, and temporary storages in more detail than an OPC.

Flow Diagram

Drawing of plant areas with flow lines indicating the movement of material from process to process.

Worker-Machine Process Chart

Used to study, analyze, and improve one workstation at a time, showing the time relationship between the worker and the machine cycle.

Gang Process Chart

Used to analyze and improve multiple workstations working together

Operations Analysis

Simplifying operational procedures and effectively utilizing equipment and material handling.

Setup

Time required to prepare a device, machine, process, or system for a function or job.

Plant Layout - Straight-line Layouts / Product Layouts

Machinery arranged such that flow (travel) from operation to operation is minimized; grouping workstations according to product.

Plant Layout - Functional Layouts / Process Layouts

Grouping similar facilities; grouping workstations according to activity.

Travel Charts (From-to chart)

Analyzes material movements using a matrix presentation to quantify handling between areas.

Muther’s Systematic Layout Planning (SLP)

A structured approach to plant layout design involving charting relationships, establishing space requirements, and evaluating alternative arrangements.

Work Design

Fitting the task to the man, considering manual work, motion economy principles, ergonomics, and working/environmental conditions.

5S

Applied to create a safer and organized workspace: sort, set in order, scrub/clean, standardize, sustain.

Wastes

Anything that adds costs to products without adding value (e.g., waiting, excess motion, defects, overproduction, inventory).

Decision Tables

Tool used in the choosing of ideal methods.

Value Engineering

Tool used in the choosing of ideal methods.

Cost Benefit Analysis

Tool used in the choosing of ideal methods.

Crossover Charts

Tool used in the choosing of ideal methods.

Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM)

Tool used in the choosing of ideal methods.

The Hawthorne Effect

People behave differently when being studied.

Job Analysis

Procedure of creating careful appraisal of each job then recording the details of the work.

Job Evaluation

A technique for equitably determining the relative worth of different jobs in an organization.

Spot Inspection

Periodic checking to ensure implementation of established standards.

Lot-by-lot Inspection

Sampling procedure where samples are examined to determine the quality of entire production.

100% Inspection

Inspection of all units and rejecting defects.

Classification Method / Grade Description Plan

Job Evaluation System where employees are grouped in Classes.

Point System

Job Evaluation System where points are assigned to degrees.

Factor Comparison Method

Job Evaluation System where Skill, Mental requirement, Physical requirement, Responsibility, Working conditions are ranked.

Ranking Method

Job Evaluation System.

Observed Time

Raw time recorded during time study.

Normal Time

Observed time adjusted for worker performance.

Standard Time

Normal time with allowances added.

Standard Performance

Level of performance attained by an experienced operator working under customary conditions at an adequate and maintainable speed.

Speed Rating

A performance evaluation method that considers the rate of work accomplishment.

Pace Rating

Benchmarks are provided for broad range of work to identify normal pace

Objective Rating

Establishes a single assignment to which the pace of all jobs is compared; after judgement of pace, a secondary factor assigned to the job indicates its relative difficulty.

Westinghouse System

Considers skill, effort, condition (work environment), and consistency in performance rating.

Synthetic Rating

Uses predetermined time systems to eliminate subjectivity in rating.

Allowances

Compensate for unavoidable delays or other lost time excluded from normal time.

Time Study

Work measurement technique for recording time of performing a job/elements under specified conditions.

Snapback Method

Watch time returns to zero after watch is read at the breakpoint of each element

Continuous Method

Allows stopwatch to run the entire duration of the study

Repetitive Elements

Occur in every work cycle of an operation.

Occasional Elements

Occurs in regular or irregular intervals of work cycles.

Constant Elements

Basic time remains constant wherever it is performed.

Variable Elements

Basic time varies due to product, equipment, or process.

Manual Elements

Performed manually.

Machine Elements

Performed automatically without worker influences in between.

Governing Elements

Occupy longer times within a work cycle than that of any other element which is being performed concurrently.

Foreign Elements

Not part of elements being time studied.

Work Sampling

Investigates how portions of total time are devoted to different activities that comprise a job or work situation.

Standard Time Data

Elemental times obtained from time studies which is stored for later use

Time Study Formula

Algebraic expression that establishes a time standard in advance of production by substituting known values peculiar to the job for variable elements

Micromotion Analysis

Analysis of Therbligs

Predetermined Time Systems (PTS)

Consists of a set of time data and systematic procedure to analyze and break down a manual task into motions, body movements, or other elements of human performance, and assigns each the appropriate time value.

Time-Measurement Unit (TMU)

Most PTSs use TMU , 1 TMU = 0.0001 hr; 1hr = 100,000 TMU; 1 second = 27.8 TMU

Maynard Operation Sequence Technique (MOST)

PTS that focuses on work involving the movement of objects from one location to another in a workplace; Assumes that to move an object, a standard sequence of events occurs.

Synchronous Servicing

Ideal case where both the worker and machine/s are occupied the entire cycle

Random Servicing

Unknown machine serving time (both when and how long)

Day Work Plan

compensation based on number of hours worked times an established hourly base rate

Piecework Plan

standards expressed in money and the operators are rewarded proportionally to their output

Standard-hour Plan

standards are expressed in time rather than money; operators are rewarded proportionally to output

Gain Sharing Plans (Productivity Sharing Plans)

share the benefits of improved productivity, cost reduction, and/or quality improvement

Improshare (Improved Productivity through Sharing plan)

variation of standard-hour plan; compares work hours saved for a given number of units produced to the hours required to produce the same number of units during a base period

Employee Stock-Ownership Plans (ESOP)

Trust that holds company stock for its employees

Profit Sharing

Employers pay employees special current/deferred sums based on company prosperity (profit)

The Learning Curve

graphical presentation of the decrease in time to perform a task; improvement of performance resulting from learning