timestudy timestudy timestudy timestudyINDUSTRY ADVISOR
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Time Study
A Waste of Time?
By Gene Levine - www.genelevine.com
In his classic book, Incentive Management, the late James F. Lincoln, former President of Lincoln Electric Company said;
"There are few ideas that will provoke as radically different and intense reactions as the word ‘Piecework’. Piecework is often thought of by labor as a little less than robbery. It is thought of by management as an efficient plan for reducing cost of labor and therefore a very proper economic objective. The public thinks of it as the exploiters’ method of sweating profits out of workers who dare to lose their jobs. As is usually true when there is a sharp deference of opinion on any point, all divergent views have some truth in them. None, however, is entirely accurate."
The main goal of piecework is to increase production and/or reduce costs. The main goal of time study is piecework. Although there are many benefits that can be gleaned from properly executed time studies, the main goal is still piecework.
Can you achieve the objectives of time study (not M.T.M.) without the use of a watch? Or, is there another way to achieve time study’s goal? If so, what is another way to set accurate piece rates?
The answer is multi-dimensional and requires pre-qualifications for the discussion that will follow. First, let’s define time study and its necessary ingredients.
My definition of time study:
"A procedure used to determine the time it should take a well trained, qualified person, with average motivation, working at normal pace, using a specific method, to do a specific task of acceptable quality criteria. The procedure employs the stopwatch as a measuring device. The concept of time study is often expanded to include the improvement of an operation."
A properly executed time study must therefore, by necessity, be preceded by an agreement on acceptable quality criteria and the preferred method. Furthermore, if the time study is to result in a piece rate, both the company and the time study person must be credible, and, money must be the prime motivator for the operators.
Note that I believe the stopwatch is only used to determine the time it should take. That’s all time studies can do. As a measuring device it has its inherent limitations. Due to the leveling/rating procedure (which requires judgment), it is an art, not a science. Yet, we think of it, and use it, like some kind of cure-all, which it is not.
Have stopwatches evolved into crutches we cannot discard, and become pieces of furniture we hide behind to avoid dealing with the workers? Has time study evolved into a technique that is more concerned about the mathematics of the study than the person being timed? Has it become a dangerous tool that is being asked to do that which it was never designed to do? Do the people who take time studies thoroughly understand its limitations? These are the questions I hope to answer now.
First, I’ll discuss the time study people, and the firms they work for. Any person with the responsibility of setting piece rates should be a professional, or should at least have been trained by a professional. The reason is obvious. Look what’s at stake.
Show me rate problems and I’ll show you people problems. Show me instances where workers are not achieving what the study says they can achieve and I’ll show you either a time study person who has received little or no intense training from a professional, or a company that lacks professionalism and integrity. Show me electronic and/or computerized time study techniques and I’ll show you firms and executives who rely more on the technology of the business than on the people who comprise the business. Show me firms who leave nothing to guesswork and chance and I’ll show you many of their people left to guesswork and chance. Show me a manager who says, "It’s easier to lower a rate than raise it; so set the rate tight," and I’ll show you a workforce who knows more about rates than that manager.
I’m often asked, "How long should a proper time study take?" The answer can be found in the answer to another question, "How long is a piece of string?" The answer is "It’s from one end to the other." A proper time study should take as long as necessary to achieve its objective!
The time study person who views his or her job as one of setting a standard and hoping the operator will make it has the wrong job title. Their correct title should be clever clerk. Why? Well, using their rates, we cannot be certain that production will increase and/or costs will drop; so, who needs then? Although there are no guarantees in life, we can, and must, do better than speculation. If they cannot pay for themselves why have them? When a time study cannot be relied upon to produce the desired effect, it is a waste of time.
Time study is also a waste of time if a time study person truly understands that the job is not over until after the workers affected by the study have increased their production and/or reduced costs. It’s a waste of time for these professionals because they will achieve the results they’re seeking whether they use time study or not. Why, in the cases of both the clever clerk and the professional, is it a waste of time? Because, the clever clerk really doesn’t understand that the time study is only able to tell you what could be done, and it cannot get it for you. The clever clerk just doesn’t understand what really motivates people. This person says, "My rates are right, but, the people just don’t want to work anymore!"
On the other hand, knowledgeable time study people not only know the art of time study but also know how to successfully deal with others. These people know full well that it is the operators, not them, who set the rates and achieve the required production. They know that piece rates do not motivate, they only serve to reinforce employees’ opinions of themselves. Knowing these things, these people do not need time study to get others to achieve. They use it as a means to an end, not as an end unto itself. They use their time at the operator’s workstation constructively to establish rapport and confidence by demonstrating concern, empathy and integrity. They recognize the golden opportunity they have, that which no other. person in the company has – uninterrupted time with the employee – and they maximize it.
In my opinion, that’s why so many people who either take, or use time studies as some kind of gospel run into trouble. They lose perspective and forget its limitations, the main idea being, The study is only as good as the person holding the watch! Studies will fail regardless of whether you use either continuous or snapback techniques. They’ll fail whether you use one, two, three, four or more stopwatches, or, even the new electronic computer watches. In the final analysis, results will always be in proportion to one thing, and only one thing, and that is the person holding the watch, and how well that person understands people in addition to the technique.
So let’s never forget that setting rates and getting labor to produce at those rates are two different things. Time study is not an insurance policy to greater productivity. But, used differently than in its traditional form, it need not be a waste of time, and, it could end up being one of the most effective management tools available today.
There are no shortcuts to a properly executed time study. There are however, alternatives. To take time studies you need a stopwatch. To achieve its objectives, you do not! Let me explain:
Piece rates make a broad assumption. The assumption, and it’s only an assumption, is that people, all people, are motivated by money and only money. Anyone who believes that money is the only motivator is joined by those who believe in tooth fairies. Money is a motivator. But, it’s only one of many other motivators, including . . .
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