Work Methods Improvements

Method study is the process of subjecting work to systematic, critical scrutiny to make it more effective and/or more efficient. It is one of the keys to achieving productivity improvement. It is the systematic recording and critical examination of existing and proposed ways of doing work, as a means of developing and applying easier and more effective methods and reducing costs.
It was originally designed for the analysis and improvement of repetitive manual work but it can be used for all types of activity at all levels of organization.

Method Study can be undertaken in any organization for any of the following purposes i.e.; improvement of processes and procedures, improvement in the design of plant and equipment, improvement in layout, improvement in the use of men, materials and machines, economy in human effort and reduction of unnecessary fatigue, improvement in safety standards or development of better working conditions.

For whatever reasons an organization needs to carry out the Method Study, it ultimately gains time, money since the improved method is determined after a thorough study of work i.e.; by eliminating, combining, re-arranging or simplifying work.

Time Standards Development

As the saying goes "What you cannot measure, you cannot control". Hence, for efficient control any organization desires to establish work standards through work measurement techniques.

Work measurement is a critical tool needed to provide any organization with standards in order to enable it to efficiently plan the manpower, evaluate the performance of employees and equipment against work standards thus impacting an increase in their bottom line profits.

Work measurement is a basic tool that enables organizations in many ways i.e; to find ineffective time in a process, to set standard for output level, to evaluate workers performance, to plan work force numbers, to determine available capacity, to compare alternate work methods, to facilitate operations scheduling, and to establish wage incentive schemes etc.

Office / Plant Layout Development / Improvement

Also termed Facility layout and design, it is an important component of a business's overall operations, both in terms of maximizing the effectiveness of the production process and meeting the needs of the employees. The basic objective of layout is to ensure a smooth flow of work, material, and information through a system. The basic meaning of facility is the space in which a business's activities take place, The layout and design of that space impacts greatly how the work is done i.e.; the flow of work, materials and information through the system. The key to good facility layout and design is ease of future expansion or change, space utilization, ease of communication and support, safety, the integration of the needs of the people (personnel and customers), materials (raw material, finished product and in-process materials), and the machinery in such a way that they create a single, well-functioning system.

Machine Capacity Determination

In Pakistan, the capital cost of the plant and machinery is a very significant investment bought usually through bank loans.

Since the investment in plant and machinery entails a high borrowing rate, it therefore becomes the prime concern to utilize the machinery to its optimum capacity. It is therefore a very basic area of concern to the investor to know the equipment capacities and how to operate it at optimum efficiency level. This requires efficient process layout, good operator training, efficient equipment maintenance and optimum loading i.e; ensuring maximum up-time for production.

Production Capacity is one of the most important criteria used for vendor selection by the buyers. It is because the production time of an order is directly proportional to vendor's production capacity. So it is very important that marketing and planning personnel should be aware of the production capacity of their production units.

Capacity of a factory is primarily expressed in terms of how much pieces the factory produces on daily basis for the specific product. According to the product category, machine requirement may change and daily average production in each style may vary. So to be specific during booking orders, planner should know exactly how much capacity is needed to procure the order in a given time period.

Manpower Planning Against Workload

Workload analysis is needed to: #1 identify the actual needs of human resources both in terms of quality and quantity in the short term and long term. #2 identify the current and future training needs, which facilitate designing training programs according to actual needs. #3 maintaining the appropriate number of employees in the work system, to ensure not to prevent or delay processing the customer's transactions.

Manpower Planning is necessary to provide the organization with a robust workforce plan of human capital that is required for both, current and future needs to execute strategic business goals.

Organizations are changing fast. Due to technological innovations, staff requirement in an organization is always subject to review. How many staff is needed in an organization. How many machines can one employee handle? How many tellers at a bank are required to efficiently handle customers, or how many waiters are needed in a restaurant? These and such daily issues need a thorough and professional study to determine the staffing requirement.

Workload Analysis can be undertaken to determine the optimal manpower requirement for the organization. This can also provide the vital strategic inputs to recruitment in bringing in the necessary right fit (in terms of skill sets, timing and placement).