Summary A time standard is defined as the time required to produce a product at a workstation with the following three conditions: (1) a qualified, well trained operator, (2) working at a normal pace, and (3) doing a specific task. How many machines do we need ? The answer depends on two questions: 1. How many pieces need to be manufactured per shift? 2. How much time does it take to make one part (time standard)? How many people should we hire ? At 500 pieces per hour it would take 2 hours to make 1,000 pieces. If the efficiency is 75 % then we need 2 hours per 1,000 pieces / 75% = 2.67 hours for 1,000 pieces. # of hours / 8 hours per employee = # of employees needed. Product costs may include the following: Manufacturing costs (50%): Direct labor (8%), direct materials (25%), overhead (17%). Front end costs (50%): Sales and distribution costs (15%), advertising (5%), administrative overhead (20%), engineering (3%), profit (7%). Inventory is a huge cost in manufacturing, so knowledge of time standards will reduce inventory requirements, which will reduce cost. There will always be a workstation or cell that has more work than others. This station is defined as the 100 % loaded station, or bottleneck station , and will limit the output of the whole plant. Productivity is measured as output divided by input. For example: output = 1,000 units per day / Input = 50 people @ 8 hours per day = 1000 / 400 = 2.5 units per work hour. Productivity improvement is accomplished by: 1. Identifying non productive time and eliminating it. 2. Identifying poorly maintained equipment and fixing it. 3. Identifying causes for downtime and eliminating them. 4. planning ahead for the next job. A National Science Foundation study found that when workers pay was tied to their efforts, productivity improved, cost was reduced, workers pay increased, and workers morale improved. A basic rule of production management is , “All expenses must be cost justified.” Budgeting is one of the most important management tools. Rating the operator includes 4 factors: skill, consistency, working conditions, and effort (which is most important). Allowances fall into 3 categories: personal, fatigue, and delay.