Application of time and motion study to increase the productivity and efficiency

The productivity and efficiency in any construction is always a challenge. Due to various factors the efficiency of men and machine gets reduced hampering the productivity. The purpose of this study is to highlight the benefits of time and motion study employed in construction sector. Time and motion study and work sampling has been employed to measure the productivity of the various construction activities and the paper discusses its application to the various phases of erection of steel structure such as installation of purlins, installation of primary beams and installation of secondary beams on the arrival slab of an airport. The parameters such as efficiency, productivity, tool time, support time and idle times are observed. Motion corrections and time corrections are applied. It is expected that employing lean concepts to construction will help in increasing productivity and reduce risks. After first week of observation and then employing time and motion study corrections, an increase of 37.95% is observed in terms of efficiency, an increase of 218.03% is observed in terms of productivity and an increase of 93.25% is observed in terms of tool time. The idle time showed a decrease of 40.24%.The results are highly promising and hence the management of construction industry need to consider the application of time and motion study not only from the point of view of enhancing efficiency and resource usage, but should also discuss the soft side of employee psychology.