Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine June Issue 2018 | Page 54
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Myth Buster
Are you measuring work
content right?
“How you do and what you do is going to decide how long you will take to do it”. Time is a by-product of the method
being followed. SAM (Standard Allowed Minute) or SMV (Standard Minute Value) of an operation is a common way
of expressing the work content of an operation in terms of minute value. But there is a great deal of conceptual
understanding that goes behind calculating the same. The normal time for an operation is defined as the time that
a qualified operator would take to perform the job if he or she worked at a normal tempo. Professor Prabir Jana
from NIFT, Delhi demystifies the preconceptions of some popular technologies to lay bare ‘facts’ that can help in
using technology better.
Time Study is the only
way to measure the work
content of any operation
WRONG
Time Study is one of the two
ways of measuring work content
of any operation. Use of PMTS
(Predetermined Motion Time
Systems) is the second method by
which work content of any operation
can be estimated. For measuring
work content by Time Study,
operation has to be in progress.
The work study engineers actually
observe the operation, measure time
using stopwatch, add allowances
and arrive at Standard Minute
Value. Through PMTS, any PMTS
practitioner can estimate the work
content of an operation in advance.
Rating is a very
subjective process
RIGHT
Operator performance or operator
rating is in a way as indication
of how normal, skilled, effective,
correct and consistent they are.
Operator performance (also called
operator rating) is a key ingredient
to arrive at Standard Allowed
Minute. Once the time is recorded by
stopwatch by work study engineers,
one has to assess the rating of
the operator. The rating system
Earlier Time
Study (more
so for method
study) used to be
done by trained
and qualified
industrial
engineers. A
Time Study
board, decimal
stopwatch, Time
Study sheet and
pencils were used.
The industrial
engineers are
required to have
good hand-eye
coordination
for simultaneous
observation
and writing
ability. Now
videography and
software tools are
available which
have de-skilled
the process
requires an analyst to evaluate
the operator’s skill, effort, the
environmental conditions of the
workplace, and the consistency
between elemental time values.
It also attempts to evaluate the
speed of an operator’s motions,
dexterity and the effectiveness
of motions employed to perform
the task. There are different
rating systems being followed;
however, all resort to qualitative
measurement parameters, a few
of which are mentioned above.
This is basically subjective
assessment of many objective
parameters.
Higher the rating, higher
will be the operator’s
skills
WRONG
One should not confuse between
multi-skilling and performance. In
my experience in Indian factories,
operators are generally graded
as A, B or C based on how many
different types of operations they
can perform (often having a direct
correlation with their experience).
These grades are often misused
as their performance indicators,
which is incorrect. Performance or
rating indicates how an operator
can perform an operation (a skill),
and has no relation with how many
54 Apparel Online Bangladesh | JUNE 2018 | www.apparelresources.com
different operations he/she can
perform. After all, one can be either
‘Master’ of few or ‘Jack’ of many.
Personal and fatigue
allowances are
constant for all
organisations
WRONG
Personal allowances are basically
to take care of personal needs
of individuals like washrooms,
drinking water, etc. Although
the amount of personal time
required will vary with individual
more than with the kind of work;
it is a fact that employees need
more personal time when the
work is heavy and done under
unfavourable conditions. It
is said that for light work (e.g.
garment sewing jobs), where
the operator works 8 hours per
day without any organised
rest periods, 2% to 5% time
on an average will be allowed
for personal needs. The word
‘unfavourable conditions’ is
very important; it is observed
that on a hot and humid day
without proper air cooling system
in the sewing floor and a drinking
water facility at a distance, may
result in 13% personal allowance!
At present there is no fully
satisfactory way of measuring