Without work standards, your business can’t work efficiently.

“The modern history of work flows can be traced to Frederick Taylor and H. Gantt. Together, they launched the study of the deliberate, rational organization of work in the context of manufacturing. The types of work flow of concern to Taylor and his contemporaries primarily involved mass and energy flows. These were studied and improved using time and motion studies. While the assembly line remains the most famous example of a work flow from this era, the early thinking around work was far more sophisticated than is commonly understood.”
- Wikipedia

Measuring work in the modern world requires a systems perspective, so companies must begin looking beyond the traditional methods of measurement to achieve the most efficient operations.

Get beyond tradition and discover the latest work measurement techniques at the one-day Best Practices in Managing Work Standards event. Leading experts in measuring work flows and improving work systems will be on hand for one-on-one interaction, covering the following topics and more:

• Applying work measurement tools in a job shop environment
• Using work sampling in a production operation
• Tracking flow times
• Managing standards in distribution

What is work measurement?

Work measurement is performed to develop the standard time to perform operations. Time standards have traditionally been defined as the time required by a typical operator working at a normal pace to perform a specified task using a prescribed method, with time for personal needs, fatigue, and delay allowed. Time standards, work standards, or just standards are critical pieces of management information that apply to all kinds of work, including manufacturing, assembly and clerical. Managing this information is essential to the successful operation of organizations.

Standards provide the following information:

• Data for scheduling. Production schedules cannot be set unless times for all operations are known. Delivery dates cannot be promised unless times for all operations are known.
• Data for staffing. The number of workers required cannot accurately be determined unless the time required to process the existing work is known.
• Data for line balancing. The correct number of workstations for optimum work flow depends on the processing time, or standard, at each workstation, including operation times and setup times.
• Data for materials requirement planning. MRP systems cannot operate properly without accurate work standards.
• Data for system simulation. Simulation models cannot accurately simulate operation unless times for all operations are known.
• Data for wage payment. To be equitable, wages generally must be related to productivity. Expected productivity when compared with actual productivity can only be determined through the use of work standards.
• Data for costing. An organization’s profitability lies in its ability to sell products for more than it costs to produce them. Work standards are necessary to determine the labor component of costs and the correct allocation of production costs to specific products. 
• Data for employee evaluation. In order to assess whether individual employees are performing as well as they should, a performance standard is necessary for measurement. Without a standard it is impossible to determine the level of performance.