Time and motion studies

If analytical methods are at the heart of biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing, then protein concentration methods are the workhorse assays. A time and motion study of the discovery, development, and manufacture of a protein-based product would probably confirm the most frequently performed assay to be protein concentration. In the 1940s Oliver H. Lowry developed the Lowry method while attempting to detect miniscule amounts of substances in blood. In 1951 his method was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. In 1996 the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) reported that this article had been cited almost a quarter of a million times, making it the most cited research article in history. This statistic reveals the ubiquity of protein measurement assays and the resilience of an assay developed over 60 years ago. The Lowry method remains one of the most popular colorimetric protein assays in biopharmaceutical development, although many alternative assays now exist. 

Measure the design of the existing job or team. A questionnaire methodology may be used as well as other analysis tools such as job analysis, time and motion study, and variance analysis. The goal is to gain a measure of the job as it currently exists. 

Time and motion studies of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth [Gilbreth and Gilbreth, 1917]... 

Industrial or occupational safety and health professionals have been involved for some time now in the analysis of tasks that must be performed in the workplace and the human interface that must occur in order to accomplish a given task. In actuality, the modern methods of task analysis and job analysis were initially developed as a result of the somewhat historic time and motion studies conducted in the early twentieth cenmry. These techniques were later enhanced further during the U.S. Department of Labor s efforts in occupational analysis conducted in 1930. These... 

Work-study, including time and motion studies, looked at efficient ways to design production. Tayloristic production-line methods paid too little attention to the whole person and their needs and, although they are now recognized as a mistake, they may have been the best approach in, for example, the World War II production of Liberty ships. 

Another justification is found in the undisputed success of Scientific Management Theory. Introduced by the American engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor at the beginning of the twentieth century. Scientific Management had demonstrated how a breakdown of tasks and activities could serve as the basis for improving work efficiency and had by the 1930s established time-and-motion studies as a practical technique. The basic principles of Scientific Management are ... 

The worker to be observed should be experienced and capable in all parts of the job. To strengthen full co-operation and participation, the reason for the exercise must be clearly explained. The JHA is neither a time and motion study in disguise, nor an attempt to uncover individual unsafe acts. The job, not the individual, is being studied in an effort to make it safer by identifying hazards and making modifications to eliminate or reduce them. The worker s experience can be important in making improvements. 

Industrial engineers perform time and motion studies of workers, set standards of work performance, and propose new and improved work methods to increase productivity. They employ quality control techniques to reduce waste and customer complaints. They use statistical procedures to establish reasonable tolerances in quality and develop procedures for making routine checks of product quality. In all of their work, industrial engineers must carefully monitor costs of production and seek ways to reduce costs without compromising product quality. 

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