Williams, J. A. C.
Description:
i. Introduction and. Historical Note
A convenient dichotomy of the technology of Work
Study in everyday use1 is
(a)Method Study
(b) Work measurement
This applies to most current work conditions and techniques
although the work sampling techniques of ratio delay and
memomotion do not fill conveniently into either. The usual
chart methods and photographic techniques used in. method
study stem from the practice of the Gilbreths so th4t same
practitioners equate method study with motion study 4. Such
a view would necessarily restrict method study to movement at
normal temperatures and leave outside the study of work conditions
which are the interest of the ergonomist. In
everyday practice no rigid division of the study of industrial
work situations can be made and an eclectic approach is
required even in the big organisations employing specialists.
The term 'ergonomist' is used in the sense that the technician
concerned has a wider interest and training than that needed
for motion study, Such D. use stems back to P.N.. Taylor Whose
use3 of the term Time Study (as opposed to the modern 'time
study') implied
(a) the study of work and experimentation to
develop the best method of performing a
job which was then standardised
(b) the division of a work cycle into elements,
the timing by stopwatch of these when
performed. by a selected, suitably trained
and highly motivated worker. The addition
of allowances for rest, necessary delays
etc. and the establishment of a time to be
used as a basis for planning anal control
and the setting up of a wage incentive
scheme.
(c) The analysis of all such established times
so that a system of synthetic times can be
used for forward planning.