Time Study
A time study measures how long a task or process actually takes under normal working conditions.
The goal is not simply to make people work faster. A good time study helps establish realistic expectations, identify bottlenecks, understand where time is being lost, and make better decisions about staffing, equipment, layout, and production planning.
What Is a Time Study?
A time study measures how long a task or process actually takes under normal working conditions.
The goal is not simply to make people work faster. A good time study helps establish realistic expectations, identify bottlenecks, understand where time is being lost, and make better decisions about staffing, equipment, layout, and production planning.
What a Time Study Looks At
Cycle Time — How long does it actually take to complete one full production cycle?
Individual Work Elements — Which portions of the job consume the most time?
Waiting & Delays — Where is the operator or machine waiting for material, information, equipment, or another process?
Operator & Machine Time — How much of the cycle requires hands-on labor versus automatic machine operation?
Material Handling — How much time is spent retrieving, moving, positioning, or staging material and parts?
Variation — How consistent is the process from cycle to cycle, and what causes significant differences?
Why Time Studies Matter
Without good timing data, production standards and improvement decisions can easily be based on assumptions.
Time studies can help:
- Establish realistic production standards
- Identify bottlenecks
- Balance workloads
- Reduce unnecessary motion and waiting
- Evaluate staffing requirements
- Compare process or equipment options
- Support capacity planning
- Measure whether an improvement actually worked
When a Time Study Makes Sense
A time study is especially useful when:
- Production consistently misses expected output
- Staffing requirements are unclear
- One operation appears to be holding up the process
- Work needs to be balanced between operators or stations
- New equipment or automation is being considered
- Cycle-time estimates are based on assumptions
- A process improvement needs to be measured before and after implementation
BrewerMade’s Approach
BrewerMade looks beyond the stopwatch.
The goal is to understand why the process takes the time it does—including layout, material handling, equipment, work methods, waiting, and unnecessary motion—so the study can lead to practical improvements rather than just another production number.