Personal fatigue and delay (PFD) 2

[edszygenda]

I have currently been doing time studies in certain areas on the manufacturing floor. We are gathering the data for a new job costing project. I was told by my boss to use a 30% (PFD) tacked onto all of my actual process times. He had told me that this was the percentage that he used 3 years ago...is this percentage still valid today? Where could I go to research this issue if i needed to?

 

[PSE]

While I do not know of an actual research resource that I could point you to (Society of Manufacturing Engineers perhaps), the 30% PFD figure seems to be a "rule of thumb" or de-facto standard. It has been used at least by all the employers that have worked with.

Regards,

 

[ddbyrd3]

My opnion is this:

For new process establishment, I always use a 15% PF&D factor until such a time that the operators become experts in the assembly process.

After that I will actually remove ALL PF&D allowed in the processing time. My professor, and another Lean Expert told me that the first and last break account for all needed PF&D time and they dont factor ANY PF&D into thier cycle times.

30% is huge if you ask me, that is an incredibale amount of time. When I do factor PF&D, I have always heard that 15%-20% is acceptable.

 

[BillPSU]

30% PF&D are very large percentages, when I was first trained in time study 14%-15% were the norm. The percentage used is still an adjustment to what you have timed. I also know unless you are in an incentive shop (typically union) the number used really is meaningless. Labor in the US is not usually a big cost factor in the manufacture of a product. My current company has 4-5% labor in the cost of the product and my last company it was 6-7% labor. Labor is easy to squeeze but shows little impact in your costs. Quality, leadtime, and design are usually better areas to pursue costs. Easy time standards make everybody look like champions when 100% performance is achieved and people feel like contributing members of a good company.