Time study technique in a fast changing process

[Ven80]

I am an Industrial Engineer assigned to perform time study. The problem I face is that the process as such takes overall time of less than 80 seconds, and there are 6 to 7 steps in the process. How do I go about this?
I need to find the pieces per hour to run the production schedule.
Thanks

 

[PSE]

Try doing the usual break down of steps needed for the process. Then when you go out to actually do the study, concentrate only on one step at a time rather than capturing a complete flow all at once.

Regards,

 

[griffengm]

This is an application for the Palm software discussed in another thread.
Short duration steps can be timed as fast as you can tap the screen.
Griffy

 

[lucasdjian]

Try recording a video o this processes. It's an usefuk tool especialy in Smed studies.

 

[ietech]

MTM (Motion Time Measurement) was method used about 20 years ago for short cycle highly repetitive tasks and considers each motion involved for each element of your task. It used 8 millimeter film to establish a TMU (Time Mesurement Unit) based on the number of frames per minute. You really don't need to film anything as the TMUs are already established for each motion involved by the MTM developer -- i.e, reach, grasp, move, find, and many many more.

It has been a long time since I used this method so my memory fails me on the details. This is probably still used or at least something similar. Try doing a Google search for "MTM"

It is a sure fit for the study you describe.

Good Luck,
ietech

 

[ietech]

Here is a link for the nethod I described in my previous post.

http://www.mtm.org/public/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1

I got the name wrong -- MTM is Methods-Time Measurement not Motion Time Measurement.

 

[sman72]

I suppose from a different angle, the theory of constraints dictates that the process is controlled by the slowest operation, therefore if you know that it is around 80 seconds but you are producing at say 20 second intervals then you know that the limiting process has a cycle time of 20 seconds and that is what needs to be scheduled and nothing else. It will all come down to the ERP software that you use and how well it deals with the scheduling of the process'. By the sound of it, it is a dedicated line so therefore only the line itself requires to be scheduled and not the process'.

Cheers