A Picture is Worth . . .

It looks like you need to engineer your engineering department. In my opinion, your problem is caused by using a traditional "manual" system which requires writing information rather than viewing information.

At my time study seminars, attendees are required to write up a method of a job (which I show them on video). After they write it up manually, they are asked to count how many words and how much time it took to describe the 15-minute video segment.

They quickly realize that the old adage, "a picture really is worth a thousand words" is correct. Then, my recommendation (to them and to you) is that they no longer write up jobs, but instead, make videos of them. Video recording is easier, less expensive and a more effective way to document standards than spending the time doing all that writing plus, the videos keep them current and fair.

Usually, the person writing up the jobs is a key person who could be used for more valuable things. So, freeing your key people is only one of the benefits to using videos. Another benefit is faster training of new operators.

For work standards to be effective, employees must have complete confidence in the standard. The key to employee acceptance is employee involvement and empowerment in the determination of the final work standard. Thus, video recordings allow workers to see what engineers see, when they see it, making the entire standard's setting process more believable to the workers. On the other hand, your present technique of setting standards does not afford employees the opportunity to see a graphic, objective presentation of themselves working.

Videos also reduce the subjectivity inherent when rating workers. Different angles, degrees of zoom and finally playback in slow or stop motion allow more than one evaluation at the same time with open communication between engineers (to establish common frames of reference). Once a performance rating has been determined, the next step is establishment of time data. Here again, videos are of great value.

Consider another situation. What happens when a standard that has been established becomes dormant for a period of time due to any changes? Should that operation ever return, the original workers may no longer be available, and so the engineering department must expend their time and effort to duplicate the setting of the standard to prove out the standard. But by having the original standard video documented, you always can refer back to the worker(s) used to set the standard.

Here's another example. How often have you found that your written standards were not updated to reflect changes in workplace layout, motion patterns, attachments or equipment? If a supervisor or a worker makes a subtle change which is difficult to describe in written form some time later, we are confronted with a creeping "loose rate." Video recordings of the standards are not dependent on journalistic ability or individual interpretation, and thereby offer objective interpretation regardless of turnover.

Further benefits from videos can be found in the areas of training supervision, new hires or retraining existing employees. At the outset of usual training programs, new employees generally find it difficult to establish confidence or relate personally to a production goal. For this very reason, many training programs employ drill training techniques to gradually introduce the trainee to the ultimate goal.

Videos have produced a very interesting and effective supplement to the practice of elemental job training. Seeing the entire standard being performed instills confidence in the trainee and helps form a mental image of the ultimate goal. This video image remains with the trainee as the individual elements of the job are learned. The same library of video recordings serve as documentation of standard data also can function as an extremely effective training resource for supervisor training.

Let's examine the simple requirements for introducing video recordings in your company. You will need: a mobile unit consisting of a low-light digital video camera with a zoom lens; a playback methodology using a hand-held remote capable of stop and slow motion; and a display monitor, and a rolling video work station which can easily be brought to the work areas of the jobs to be video taped.

For easy information retrieval, every video recording should be coded according to your products and every operational sequence within that product. Since you are making digital recordings, each operation within each product should be assigned an operation location number. For example: Video #: "X" digital counter numbers 1563 to 1895 – operation "First Assembly," Machine: XXXX, Product: ABCD12345-XXXX, Date, Factory, etc.

Now let me discuss authenticity and the need to remember that word all through the standard's setting process. Authentic studies are necessary if your company wants to achieve true efficiency, accurate production standards and meaningful goals.  Even before taking the video there are six important standard's ingredients that must be met in order to end up with a believable long-lasting highly productive standard. Your time study analyst's work studies must never forget to include each and every one these necessary steps:

1. Determine the most preferred methods record them using video documentation and explain them to your supervisors and employees, and get their support;

2. Establish and record quality requirements, again getting support from your supervisors and employees;

3. Initially study the employees  who are closest to a work pace considered "normal," or 100 percent;

4. Ensure that your employees are motivated to succeed and motivated by money before implementing incentive systems for higher production of first quality goods;

5. Ensure that the person who takes and/or develops your standards has formal training in industrial engineering and is believable and objective;

6. Establish and use the correct personal, fatigue and delay allowances for each job you study; and finally,

7. Time Study analyst to get the area supervisor to sign off on the standard thereby having that supervisor not only buy into the standard but to then authoritatively distribute the standard to the operator(s) effected by the standard. Until the supervisor approves the standard it cannot be implemented.

Once those seven criteria are understood by the time study analyst and the immediate first-line supervisor, it is advisable to inform both the supervisor and worker(s) prior to the day and approximate time you're planning to make the recording and explain that upon completion of the recording and its analysis the video will be played back for their comments. There is a proven psychological value in having all employees view the operation prior to setting the standard. It involves them in what they did and will be the basis upon which the final standard is to be established.

The process is simple. First, record a general view of the operation showing all motion patterns and placement of parts in the work area. Include a large table-top stop clock in the scene. Next, take a zoom lens close-up view showing all the hand and finger movements. Any other necessary job ingredients also should be recorded. Usually, between 10 to 15 complete work cycles are all that is necessary, and they should be recorded without interruption so that any delay factors that are an integral part of the operation can be considered when determining the time standards.

As the video of the operation begins  it is very important that the whom ever is taking the video record, in detail, by dictating into the camera's microphone the all the expected quality criteria of the observed product. This will avoid any future standards complaints where operators could complain about a "tight" standard claiming that the company is now asking for higher quality than when the engineer set the standard.

The third step in this procedure is analysis of the job. One of the distinct advantages of videos is that the analysis can now be made by any of your engineers as their available time allows. After the objective analysis, you are ready to include the operators in the process of setting the standards. When the methods have been finalized and the supervisor, engineer and operators have agreed upon the standard practices and quality, cycle time studies can be made from each video sequence. The time cycles should only record motion groupings rather than details, since any required detail can be referenced at any future time from the videos. This saves time and is certainly putting the engineer to better use. If the company requires written studies, a clerk that is far less expensive than an engineer can be trained to do the final write-ups.

The next step is the installation of the standard. The video console is rolled out o the work area, and the employee is shown the operation and performance rate captured on the video and asked, "Compared to someone doing that job how would you rate yourself when 100% is normal. Any pace less than 100% would be rated lower and any pace higher than your concept of normal would be a higher percentage." (Here is where engineers usually get blown away. It has been our experience that operators usually rate themselves consistently lower than the engineers.) When the engineer is satisfied that the worker understands the time values, s/he or she should then show the supervisor and employee a calculation of the final rate determination. The engineer should use this experience to reinforce his or her credibility with the worker.

The final step is the documentation of the installed standard. You can use digital video editors to edit and insert special effects for training as well as documentation. Or, simply audio dub any documentation comments and instructions onto the video. If for your traditional purposes you need a comfort zone, you can make a written standards sheet.

To retrieve standards information, as was  suggest above you use the database that contains basic information such as factory, department, tape number and counter location, etc. As you evolve toward a complete conversion to video recordings, you will find your engineering department's paperwork load dramatically decreasing and its credibility increasing. We've done this for our clientele and you can do the same thing for your company.

In closing, you may be asking  why it is necessary to go through such an elaborate time study procedure when less precise measurements and motivational techniques could be implemented much more easily. Well, let me ask you, "Why wouldn't you use a rubber band to continually measure from Point A to Point B?" The answer is simple. The measurement would not be consistently accurate from one reading to the next.  Video oriented Time studies, on the other hand,  provide you with a tool much like a ruler made of a hard, stable material, with which to measure your operations. Whether you pick up this “ruler" this week or next month or next year, an inch still will be an inch.

Thank you for your question and remember, the best angle to solving any problem is the try angle.

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