Understanding production standards
hat is a standard? A
standard is the amount of pounds, pieces or units that a
well-trained person or crew is expected to produce, with
specified quality, in a given time, working at a normal pace.
Experience has proven that employees working at hourly rates
will usually be 50 percent to 60 percent productive. I have
always said that an hourly worker is penalized if he/she works
fast and is rewarded if he/she works slowly.
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Above all, do not establish standards from
past performances on jobs where the worker has been working at
a straight hourly wage.
Thus, standards established from past
performances under such conditions will be very unfair to you.
If you are using any form of work
measurement, it is essential that the employees trust the
standards. If you are not using a work measurement system, you
should be using it for the successful operation of your plant.
A training session for the workers,
discussing the determination of work standards, would be most
beneficial. Workers who understand the system are usually
happier with it.
My past articles on the subject of
training employees explain, in detail, how to establish and
conduct a viable training program (November, 2000, December, 2000, and
January 2001).
This training program is critical in
training the operator in the correct methodology on a
particular machine, unit or work station.
The standard must, therefore, be
established in accordance with the correct methodology and
operator training given, as well as the environment and
conditions existing in your particular plant.
Standards used on one plant should not be
used in another plant since the variables are usually different:
type of equipment, automation, steam pressure, maintenance
management, working conditions and environment. My past
articles are good references on these variables (August, 1999,
October, 2001, November, 2001, December, 2001, January, 2002,
and February, 2002).
Never revise or change a standard once it
is established unless you change the methodology or the
equipment.
You may be using the standards recommended
by the manufacturer of the equipment, and in this case the
manufacturer arrived at such figures through time studies
according to his procedures for doing the job. If you deviate
from those procedures, the standard will probably be incorrect.
If a qualified engineer, or a very
experienced person in fabric care production, sets the
standards for your plant, you will be very accurate since those
standards have been tailored to your plant, equipment and
environment, etc.
Development of job study and standards
Job analysis
In 1895, Frederick W. Taylor, the
so-called “Father of Scientific Management,”
presented a paper entitled, “A Piece Rate System,”
before the Society of Mechanical engineers.
In this paper, Taylor presented the
techniques which he and his associates found had produced
substantial increases in production, with equally substantial
reductions in unit costs. The Taylor system permitted, for the
first time, a determination of standards of production.
Taylor’s emphasis was on the
improvement of tools and methods for each job, and on time
studies for every element of work included in a job. He found
that each job consists of subdivisions which can be isolated,
and that these elements may vary as they are performed by
different workers. They are not necessarily performed in the
same manner each time. The easiest and quickest method can be
selected as the standard method to be used on the job.
Job evaluation
The development of these techniques of
time and motion studies made possible highly reliable
calculations of production standards on which to base equipment
requirements and costs of production. However, the standards
did not include provisions for determining proper wages to
workers on various jobs.
During the period from 1910 to 1920,
personnel executives recognized the importance of “Job
Analysis” in determining the qualifications necessary for
a job. This technique was found valuable as a basis for
standardizing wages.
Job evaluation, as applied to productive
workers, became inevitable as the result of enactment of state
minimum wage laws and the insistence of organized labor leaders
for standard wages in industry. It is today recognized by
management as a highly desirable procedure for determining
sound and defensible job wage rates. It is an important
prerequisite to any wage incentive plan.
All of these factors are based on the
basic procedures for the setting of standards. In our industry
it is critical to know the production rates of our employees
and the effectiveness of our production units and individual
pieces of equipment.
The finishing department, especially, is
the most productive operation in the plant since this function
determines when the work will be completed and whether the cost
to produce the finished garment is profitable or not. It is in
the finishing department that much labor is expended with
continuous movement and great effort, and it is here where we
must be the most efficient and the worker most motivated.
How often do we say to our manager when an
employee doesn’t show for work: “You do the
pressing and I will do the spotting.”
How the engineer sets the standards
There are several factors to be considered
by the engineer when setting standards:
Elements are
the “breakdown” of an operation into the several
related motions which usually go together. The same elements
may occur in several different operations, but the time for
such identical elements will always be the same, no matter
where they recur, providing the conditions under which they are
used are always uniform. The entire job is broken down into
elements so that they can be accurately timed and recorded.
Numbers of cycles studied for a fair representation of the job.
The job should be studied for at least ten cycles to
obtain a fair representation of the time required for the job.
What is “leveling?” The time required to do the job is timed
by using a decimal minute stop watch. The time recorded for
each element, arriving at an average time for each element.
However, due to skill or effort of the operator, this time may
not be correct for a person working at a normal pace.
Therefore, the engineer must judge the efficiency of the
operator while performing the job.
For example, if the operator being studied
is exceptionally well qualified for the job, it would be unfair
to ask everyone to produce at this standard. Therefore, an
adjustment must be made in the time. This adjustment is called
“leveling” or “rating.” If the operator
is performing at 120 percent, then 20 percent must be added to
the raw time to arrive at a fair time for the job. Thus, we
have compensated for the difference in performance of the
operators. Conversely, if the operator is rated at only 80
percent performance, the engineer would reduce the raw time by
20 percent. The leveling factor is one of the most important
skills an industrial engineer must develop.
Allowances are
the last step that is applied to the time study. Allowances are
usually expressed in percentages applied to the actual times.
The allowance compensates for personal needs, fatigue and
necessary delays in performing the job. The following
allowances are usually used in time studies for the fabric care
industry:
1) Personal allowance compensates for breaks, time required to go the
restroom or the drinking fountain. This allowance usually is 5
percent.
Everyone will tire as the day progresses,
depending on the physical exertion of the job. Most jobs will
require a 5 percent fatigue allowance. This could be more for
some jobs when more strenuous physical exertion is required.
For example, the finisher in the shirt laundry department
pressing at a fast pace all day may require a higher percentage
for fatigue.
2) Delays which
are unavoidable in performing the job must be compensated for
in the job. Naturally, all such delays must be studied in order
to reduce them to a minimum. In our industry, 4 percent is the
usual amount allowed for unavoidable delays.
The three above allowances will total 14
percent which is added to the time required for the job. From
these allowances you can see that the engineer is not
“guessing” at standards, but is establishing them
in a very scientific manner. It should also point out to you
that standards should not be estimated or derived from past
performance if good productivity is to be obtained.
Selecting general standards for work
measurement is most successful when your methods, equipment and
conditions match those from which the standards were derived.
It would not be practicable to adopt a standard applicable for
a pants legger press that finishes the leg in one operation if
the plant were using a utility press which requires at least
two lays to finish the pants leg.
Establishing standards for a finishing
unit that must finish various types of garments that require
more or less lays and more or less hand touch up is most
difficult. This applies chiefly to a silk unit which must
finish blouses, dresses, lined skirts, pleated skirts, silk and
acetate slacks, ties, etc. In this regard, the engineer must
study each of the above items of apparel and establish a
standard for each. Then, the plant manager must use the
computer’s production report listing all the items taken
in at the customer service area to base his/her estimate of
time required to complete that part of the day’s work.
With my high production plant at Ft.
Meade, MD, and my package plants in Baltimore, I depended on my
production report to estimate the time for completion of the
day’s work which was taken in the previous day and
completed, most times, the next day since it was promised on
regular service for the next successive day. When the work for
the day was completed as estimated, and bagged for delivery,
the plant workers went home. They were guaranteed a full
day’s pay if they could get the work out before eight
hours. They were penalized for unsatisfactory quality by losing
time and bonus.
No matter what methodology you use to
compute production standards and time, never lose sight of the
need for constant supervision and inspection for quality as
well as production of units. The reward for quality is as
important as the reward for production.
A complete discussion of incentive systems
for plant workers can be found in my articles for July 1999 and August 1999.
Note: My spotting video, “The Caplan
Method of Stain Removal,” which includes my comprehensive
text and the handy spotting board reference, is available in
English, Korean (video only) and Spanish (video only) from the
Golomb Group, c/o Dennis McCrory, 7664 Plaza Court,
Willowbrook, IL 60521, phone (800) 679-5856. A lecture and
demonstration are presented similar to my classes over the
years at IFI and SDA. This video and text are ideal for
training inexperienced spotters as well as a good review for
experienced spotters.
Also available from the Golomb Group, in
English and Spanish, is my video on step-by-step shirt
finishing which includes my comprehensive text in loose-leaf
form (English only) outlining each procedure for a
single-operator and two-operator cabinet shirt unit using a
cabinet sleever. Proper forming of the collar using heated
collar formers is demonstrated. Each lay is demonstrated for
top quality with very little effort by the operators.
Attractive detailing and packaging of the hangered shirt,
padding, steam pressures and timing are all discussed. A unique
wash formula to give whiter whites, brighter colors and total
removal of grease and body oils is included in the loose-leaf
note book.
Stan Caplan has over 35 years experience
in his own high volume dry-cleaning, laundry and tailoring
plant and two package plants with adjoining coin-operated
laundry and drycleaning. Stan is the former chief instructor at
the International Fabricare Institute, the Southwest
Drycleaners Association and various other trade
association-sponsored schools throughout the US and courses in
Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Singapore and Hong Kong. Stan
offers consulting, training and engineering services in all
areas from customer service area to the boiler room since 1981.
His complete system withtotal quality management will produce
maximum efficiency, economy and product excellent quality. Stan
can be reached at 7341 Amberly Lane, Suite 310, Delray Beach,
FL 33446, phone/fax (561) 496-2548. His e-mail address is stancap100@aol.com.
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