Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Discount or incentive
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-13
2001-10-16
Stamber, Eric W. (Department: 2162)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Discount or incentive
C705S031000, C705S032000, C702S136000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06304851
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to time and motion studies, and more particularly, to collecting time and event data for time and motion studies.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Beginning at least with the manufacturing revolution at the end of the nineteenth century, the study of the human body at work has been an integral component of improving productivity and efficiency. The study of the human body at work is often referred to as time and motion study. Briefly stated, a time and motion study is the direct observation of an activity being performed by a worker to determine the time which should be allowed the worker, who has normal skill and ability and is working at a normal pace, to perform the defined activity according to a proven method and under specified conditions. This includes allowances for fatigue and for personal and unavoidable delays. Further background information regarding the science of time and motion studies can be found, for example, in “Work Measurement, A System Approach,” by George L. Smith, Jr., Grid Publishing Inc., Ohio, USA (1978).
Time and motion studies became widely instituted around the end of the nineteenth century when factories began using electricity to power machinery that emphasized the handling and movement of materials using conveyor belts, cranes and other devices. Scientists and engineers realized that the human body is a system that was subject to the laws of conservation of energy (i.e., the first and second laws of thermodynamics), just like any other piece of machinery. Thus, the human body began to be viewed as a source of latent power that was integral to the efficiency and productivity of working systems such as a factory.
Time and motion study was being pioneered during this time period by individuals such as Frederick W. Taylor, and is now recognized as an important component of industrial engineering. In the early nineteen hundreds, consultants were often brought into factories by management to increase the efficiency and reduce the fatigue of workers. Frank and Lillian Gilbreths were early consultants that were well known for their consulting work and for their definition of sixteen basic units of movement which they dubbed “therbligs”.
From the early days of time and motion study by people such as the Gilbreths and Frederick W. Taylor to current day practices, little has changed in the method by which time and event data is collected. This may be because the data collected for analysis is primarily the same today as it was one hundred years ago. While the activities being studied and the methods/means of data analysis may be quite different today that those of one hundred years ago, the steps of data collection have undergone little change.
For example, for any given task, a time and motion study analyst initially divides the task into activities or actions. The activities should be carefully chosen so that they are logical, have discreet beginning and ending points, are of an appropriate length in duration, and are worker controlled. The analyst may then conduct the time and motion study. This usually comprises the steps of the analyst observing the worker performing the various activities of the task, and recording appropriate time and event data associated with each activity. The data recorded for each activity may include comments, elapsed time, counts, or any other suitable information or measurements that might have bearing upon the accuracy and validity of the study.
The data collection steps described above have essentially gone unchanged in the last one hundred years. Moreover, the basic equipment utilized in data collection today is also substantially the same. From the earliest days, time and motion analysts have used a sweep-hand stopwatch and a clipboard with a data sheet attached thereto for collecting time and motion study data. The stopwatch has been preferably calibrated in decimal minutes, and typically mounted to the clipboard. Thus, the analyst times the activity using the stopwatch and then manually enters the time it takes the worker to complete the observed activity on data sheet attached to the clipboard. In addition, the analyst also manually records on the data sheet information such as the type activity, the counts (if applicable), comments, or any other defining parameters or measurements relevant to the time and motion study. This is a time consuming task that distracts the analyst from observing the worker. Thus, the analyst may miss or lose track of the activity which may result in corrupted or inaccurate data. Further, recording all the necessary information by writing on the data sheet can often times be difficult if the activities are short in duration, also resulting in corrupt or inaccurate data. Since the analyst enters subjective information such as comments, there may be little to no standardization. This may result in meaningless data when comments of one analyst are combined with comments of another analyst. Once the data has been collected, the data is now typically keyed into a computer so as to put the data in an electronic format for analysis. This can be a time consuming task, and may introduce even further opportunity for error in the data.
An alternative to the sweep-hand stopwatch is the digital watch-board such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,553 to Clifford N. Sellie, Sr. Digital watch-boards typically comprise a clipboard surface for attaching a data sheet on which the analyst manually records various information and data. The digital watch-board may also include electronic circuitry for recording the elapsed time for an activity, and for associating each recorded time with an activity number. The activity numbers are assigned in a particular order corresponding with a customary sequence of activities for a task. The digital watch-board automatically increments the activity number when the end of each activity is noted. Thus, the analyst is required to match activity numbers to particular activities either during or after the time and motion study. Further, if the activities are taken out of the pre-assigned, customary sequence, then the analyst must take further steps to enter in a new activity number that will be defined later by the analyst. Accordingly, the analyst is still relegated to manually writing down data defining the activity being recorded so that later it can be associated with an elapsed time recorded in a memory of the digital watch-board. Digital watch-boards also appear to require significant training to operate because of the limited information typically available on the display of a digital watch-board, and the non-intuitive toggle switches utilized for controlling the operation of the digital watch-board.
A deficiency of both the stopwatch/clipboard and digital watch-board is that the analyst is distracted from his/her observation of the worker in order to record data on a data sheet and/or to operate a timing device. In addition, both the stopwatch/clipboard and digital watch-board can be bulky and heavy, and therefore, physically taxing on the analyst who must often times carry the stopwatch/clipboard or digital watch-board as he/she follows a worker throughout a day. The analyst also may have to perform additional data entry tasks in order to place all the collected data in a format for analysis, for instance, in an electronic form.
In an effort to circumvent the deficiencies of the stopwatch/clipboard and digital watch-board, the use of video equipment has been proposed for conducting time and motion studies. The video equipment may be setup to continuously film an activity so that the recorded video can be later reviewed at the convenience of the analyst. However, the video recording equipment is typically stationary and is not able to follow a worker performing activities outside the viewing angle of the stationary camera, thereby making it difficult in many instances to collect complete data records for a time and motion study. The output from video equipment is not readily usable for analysis, but has t
Kmack Kenneth C.
Krigline Kevin K.
Morgan, Jr. William C.
Tipsword Jackie L.
Vallejo Vicente E.
Alston & Bird LLP
Stamber Eric W.
Tesfamariam Mussie
The Coca-Cola Company
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