How to Conduct a Time Study: Time Study Equipment

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Time Study Equipment
The minimum equipment required for conducting a time study has changed very little since Taylor first introduced them in the late 1800’s. They are listed as a stopwatch, time study board, time study form and a pocket calculator. Videotape equipment is also useful if available (Niebel & Freivalds, 2014, p. 418).

Stopwatches
The time study equipment available for use today has progressed with the technological advances made in the last fifty years. However, the stopwatch remains the most widely recognized symbol in the field of time studies. Thomas proclaims that “The work measurement symbol remains the stopwatch, but today’s sophisticated tools are a far cry from that. Data can be gathered with a host of automated data collection equipment” (Thomas, 2006, p. 36). While it is true that automated data collection tools are readily available today, they are more efficiently used in other time measurement forms like work standards and predetermined times. The stopwatch is still the most widely used time measurement tool that is used on the production floor when conducting actual time studies. The stop watches of today will generally come in two different types, the traditional mechanical decimal minute watch (See Figure 1.1) and the more user friendly electronic stopwatch (See Figure 1.2). The decimal minute watch typically will have a dial divided into 100 equal divisions with each representing 0.01 minutes. The watch hand will make one complete revolution every minute. The smaller dial on the typical decimal minute watch will be divided into 30 equal spaces, each of these divisions will represent one minute, and every complete rotation of the smaller dial will represent 30 minutes. The watch is controlled by the ...

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...ommended when beginning a time study that the analyst start his stop watch at the beginning of a whole minute on a separate “master clock”. The master clock will document the actual time of day the study began. It can also serve as a secondary witness to the overall time of the study. There are typically two techniques of recording time studies when referring to stop watch recordings. They are referred to as the continuous timing method and the snapback method.

Works Cited

Barnes, R. M. (1980). Motion and time study: Design and measurement of work (7th ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
Hashim, N. D. (2008). Time study implementation in manufacturing industry. Retrieved from http://www.eng.mft.info/UploadedFiles/gFiles/ffeb69332c5a484.pdf?
Niebel, B. W., & Freivalds, A. (2014). Niebel's methods, standards, and work design (13th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.

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