Subject: Industrial Engineering And Management

Topic: Work Study

Difficulty: High

Work measurement is defined as “The application of techniques designed to establish the time for a qualified worker to carry out a specified job at a defined level of performance.”

Work measurement is also called as Time study. Work measurement is absolutely essential for both the planning and control of operations. Without measurement data, we cannot determine the capacity of facilities or it is not possible to quote delivery dates or costs.

Work measurement data is used for manpower planning. This is because it gives information about the total hours required to perform the job. This helps to estimate the number and type of employees who are required to do the job. It ensures that there will not be any excess staff.

Work measurement data is used for production planning and scheduling. This is because this data is used for making production standards. This data is also used for scheduling. Scheduling means to fix starting and finishing time for each job. This cannot be done without measurement data.

Following are the objectives of Work measurement:

1) Comparing alternative methods.

2) Assessing the correct initial manning.

3) Planning and control.

4) Realistic costing.

5) Financial incentive schemes.

6) Delivery date of goods.

7) Cost reduction and cost control.

8) Identifying substandard workers.

9) Training new employees.