How UnivEl Works
UnivEl is the heart of our work management system. It consists of three
major parts. These parts include:
 1. Manufacturing
Information about your product
2. Determination
of the work involved
3. Information
about the objects to be moved and the specifics of the workplace.
Once our software has this information it takes the
place of many engineers, producing accurate work control information,
work standards and costs and unlimited what-if possibilities to make your
product better and to work smarter.
1. Manufacturing Information about your product
The first part allows you to input your manufacturing
information such as parts and their relationship in the subsystems, materials
used, etc. This part also gives you control of your tools, where-used,
and information about materials to be purchased or part components and
their place in the work process.
2. Determination of the work involved
Part two determines the motions used by the shop person
to accomplish the work needed. These motions can be defined by simple
English language descriptions which can be obtained from an engineer or
directly from the shop floor person doing the work. The key to this system
is that it reproduces the exact work described and computes times for
those exact work descriptions using a model of the human as part of the
software, so that when one gives the software a description of the work
motions to be carried out, they are translated by the human model into
times required to accomplish each of these motions. There are no intermediate
table lookups or other indirect information which needs to be accumulated
or modified to determine the standard time.
3. Information about the objects to be moved and the specifics of
the work place.
Part three takes into account the specifics of the work
station and the parts being used through a special set of training factors
called Training Information Elements (TIE's) which allow the work system
to be applied to any manufacturing situation. Using these Tie's, the system
modifies the normal motion times by taking into account various aspects
of the object or workplace which would change the speed of the normal
motion.
Our software gives you a series of choices which when
selected allow our system to engineer any changes in the time required
by your specific work requirements. In this way, the times remain accurate
for any type of manufacturing and any type of work process or work geometry.
These Tie's are determined through a training session in which the user
selects from a series of straightforward on-screen choices involving the
object being moved; the workplace geometry and the workplace locations
involved in the work. The choices are intuitive and easy to make. These
five Tie's are then used by a special intelligent engineering system already
built into the software to complete the necessary work engineering. Once
you've selected the Tie's, your job is done. Our software does the engineering
for you — and our software results are accurate and reproducible
- and data clerks can do it too.
The Tie's include :
1. Target
Location within the work area, where the object being moved will relocate.
2. The original
Location of the object being moved
3. The type
of Path traveled by the object being moved (straight, obstructed, etc.
- you will be given the choices on-screen).
4. The requirements
for maintaining a grip on the object with one or both hands - again, you
will be given the choices on-screen.
5. The level
of pressure exerted by the arms or body to maintain control move the object
- also, chosen from a series of on-screen choices.
Remember, the selection of Tie's is from a list of special
choices which are used by the software to complete intelligent engineering
of your work. The choices are all at an intuitive level and do not require
complex judgments or an engineering background. The engineering is built
in.
This work system is so accurate and easy to understand,
workers feel as comfortable with it as they do with real time measurements
of their work. Data clerks can be given the English language descriptions
of the work being done and they can give you back accurate and reproducible
standards - accurate to within five percent.
In fact, the system gives workers a more fair standard
time than a stop watch, because our software already includes normal pace,
so that the worker is not stuck with measurements on a single day when
he may be working faster than normal.
Our system eliminates the black box approach so often
criticized by workers using other work management software which is not
as straightforward in its computation of standard times. Our system is
as direct as a stop watch on the shop floor and because of this fact,
our software has never been successfully challenged by labor representatives
in more than twenty-five years of use in sixty different types of industries.
No other work management software can make that claim.
MTM vs. UnivEl - SUMMARY
(Click here for more detail.)
All predetermined time systems have been based on developed
incremental times, with each increment covering a defined range for each
variable. Standard Data developed from these systems has even broadened
these ranges to be more inclusive.
In effect, however, there is only one combination of
variables which the developed time exactly fits.
Another problem has been inconsistency between data
applicators. Despite rules and specifications, too much is left to individual
judgment.
Finally, the vast amount of detailed analysis and time-
consuming computations quickly become a source of frustration to the Industrial
Engineer. Today's generation of powerful personal computers (PC's) has
enabled MI Systems to make a modification of its highly successful mainframe
manufacturing work management system especially for PC users. This new
manufacturing software system retains much of the capabilities of the
larger MI Systems manufacturing planning and control system which has
been used in installations across the nation.
This work management software replaces tedious manual
methods with specialized manufacturing process formulas and work simulation
algorithms which allow rapid and accurate calculation of the time required
to setup and operate manufacturing process machines and the time and cost
required to assemble the individual parts into a finished product. The
software is resident on the PC for individual interactive engineering
transactions. The PC version has the ability to integrate vertically with
MI Systems mini or mainframe software if desired.
UnivEl IS NOT A PREDETERMINED TIME SYSTEM. UnivEl does
not use standard data. UnivEl generates real data from an accurate model
of the human. UnivEl does not interpolate from a set of tables. UnivEl
produces exact times for each new condition — GENERATED FROM THE
MOVEMENTS OF THE UnivEl MODEL HUMAN, MAKING UnivEl AS ACCURATE AS A STOP
WATCH MEASUREMENT ON THE SHOP FLOOR, USING REAL PEOPLE - CUSTOM FIT TO
YOUR EXACT NEEDS. The UnivEl system generates manufacturing work methods,
element by element and machine process times, producing clear, step-by-step
English language instructions for the part operation, part, subassembly
and end-item, and automatically generates a manufacturing database for
the parts for use by the MCIE III PLUS DATAMANAGER system.
UnivEl is the main engine for the MCIE III PLUS work
simulation. The system is both accurate and simple to use. It allows the
manufacturing engineer to develop plans for new facilities, new manufacturing
procedures and more and does not require complicated and costly real time
experiments on the shop floor. With UnivEl, it is possible to produce
new process plans, new work cell designs and new methods before the fact
and be confident that when these new plans are implemented, the manufacturing
shop floor will produce results that have been designed to get the job
done right, on-time and for the optimum costs. Workers on the shop floor
appreciate the use of UnivEl because it gives them a reasonable chance
for inputting their floor knowledge while producing manufacturing plans
that are realistic in terms of the pace required and any possible union
concerns about shop floor methods and procedures.
A logical approach to overcoming drawbacks to work measurement
systems would be to identify and build an ideal system, overcoming the
weaknesses of other systems. To meet the criteria, an ideal system should:
Produce exacting
time values.
Eliminate performance
rating.
Be fast and
simple in processing.
Be consistent
in application.
Eliminate manual
calculations.
Produce detailed
methods documentation.
Incorporate
formulas for process times.
The UnivEl program has been developed to meet these criteria.
In addition, a number of other attributes have been
developed to make UnivEl much more than a predetermined time system.
The MCIE III PLUS allows the analysis of the process
engineering as applied to the facilities available to the manufacturer.
The MCIE III PLUS also provides engineering analysis of set up methods,
jigs and fixtures, flow of work, workplace design, utilization of work
centers, application of specific machines and available human resources.
Tool resources required and tool lead times are included automatically
in the analysis of cost and times plus alternate routings and much more.
Other systems use Standard Data which has a number of
drawbacks in comparison to our MCIE III PLUS system. Most other systems
use Standard Data derived from MTM micro-motion calculations. Standard
Data is an averaged work set which does not necessarily include the specifics
of your particular work methods, machines or workplace.
PHASE I — Knowledge Engineering/Training the Software
Knowledge Engineering
At the Engineering Workstation, the engineer first educates
the software by inputting the manufacturing expertise needed for the company's
products. This expertise includes information such as the types of processes
required to manufacture the various parts, the parts involved in the various
subassemblies and the subassemblies included in the end-item, materials
required, workstation geometries and machines used and other information
which is part of the company's manufacturing process. The system also
is educated as to the work elements included in an operation for the various
types of operations. This group of work elements is broken down into a
set operational pieces which make up one operation. These operational
pieces contains a set of work elements which is useful for variant planning
purposes. For a typical operational piece there may be many work elements.
However, there are an average of about eight process operations in the
making of a part. The development of this information is all interactive
and uses prompts and special windows to guide the user.
THE ENGINEERING ELEMENTS ARE ALL INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
WHICH REQUIRE NO SPECIAL EXPERTISE ON THE PART OF THE USER.
Training the Software — Five Training information elements (Tie's)
In the UnivEl system there are five training information
elements (TIES) which make up A work element. It is in describing these
Tie's that the applicator informs the computer how to calculate time.
Training UnivEl for your manufacturing needs is simple: You just tell
the software a little about your work and the work place. You then train
the software to do your type of work by telling the software about your
workplace and the types of objects you have to pickup and use in the manufacture
of your product. UnivEl utilizes a unique, proprietary algorithm requiring
the entry of just five numeric Training Information Elements to completely
define any manual work element.
First, tell us what your product is and the parts in
each subassembly. Let us know what types of materials and tools you use.
Then, for each operation, you can define a typical group of work elements
known as Operational Pieces or OP's which make up this type of operation.
These operation work elements are stored in an OP which contains these
work elements. These Operational Pieces are special and allow the software
to quickly build new manufacturing methods and modify them automatically
when changes are needed.
To generate a work element one applies the manufacturing
knowledge about the build process using the five Training Information
Elements (Tie's) which comprise the basic elements of the Manufacturing
Knowledge system. These five Knowledge Tie's bring together the human
work conditions involved in the work element and connect them to other
work elements which make up a definable piece of an operation. These operation
pieces are known as OP's (Operation Pieces) which is an operational subset
of a complete operation. A set of these OP's can then be connected to
form an operation. To educate our work software, one then defines the
Knowledge Tie's by training the software as to the manufacturing work
methods used in each operation piece, as follows:
Knowledge TIE 1. Definition of Gross Work Conditions
(Geometry of the Workperson) — These Tie's are conditions of handling
such as hand handling and the arm, leg, and body movements involved in
performing an activity. (Front, side, rear, with or without bend)
Knowledge TIE 2. Physical Work Locations (Geometry of
the workplace) — The physical location TIE defines the location from
which an object is obtained or to which it is placed, and the complexity
of gaining or relinquishing control.
Knowledge TIE 3. Distance — This is the linear
measurement of movement such as point to point moves, belt buckle distance
moved in a walk, etc.
Knowledge TIE 4. Effective Net Weight — This TIE
is an expression of weight or resistance factors which slow the person's
movement through the distance involved. These effects are the result of
momentum, swing weights or other inertial-type effect on the person trying
to move the object.
Knowledge TIE 5. Control Dimension — This TIE is
the critical dimension which most affects the types of moves which can
take place within the geometrical constraints of the workplace. Typically,
this dimension is the largest dimension of the object which constrains
the way the object can be moved within the workplace.
Because UnivEl uses a model of real human motion, its
input is like the directions given to shop floor personnel, so UnivEl
is not easily challenged by shop personnel. In fact, with UnivEl, you
can virtually eliminate time consuming time studies and never again worry
about performance levels on a particular measurement day in the shop.
Learning curves are avoided also, because only the real methods are used
and well recognized times are included for key parts of the model. MI
Systems warrants its UnivEl-generated standard times to be consistent
with the Society For Management's concept of normal pace in sampling (three
MPH walking pace, dealing 52 playing cards into four stacks in 0.5 minutes).
UnivEl's accuracy is +/- 5% to a level of 95% statistical confidence at
0.04 minutes.
PHASE II — APPLICATION OF THE WORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Once the Operational Parameter (OP) sets are determined,
they can be connected into higher level sets of operations, parts, assemblies,
etc. for use in the manufacturing build process. The user can then interactively
build and develop work methods for manufacturing processes and assembly
procedures that are optimal for the manufacture of the product. Once the
software is trained, any person can use the system to produce new manufacturing
methods, times and costs. The software automatically builds and documents
the work documentation, resource information, tool kits, routings and
other manufacturing information and assigns database files according
to the individual part for each part operation. The system automatically
integrates the Bill of Materials and allows the user to produce work methods
documentation by the subassembly and end-item, as required. What-if's
and changes due to new ECO's are done with a single input to reflect the
changes on the ECO and the software automatically finds and changes all
work information that is affected. The software furnishes reports which
include information on materials, where-used, tools, where-used, process
plans, including work methods instructions for machine operators, machine
feeds and speeds, machines process times, indirect work methods, times
and costs, part master cost and associated manufacturing information on
facilities used, lot size, unit of measure, part cost by operation, subassembly
and end item, product structure, direct and indirect standards, queues,
shop routings by start time and much more.
In Summary, the UnivEl system is the best because it:
Produces
exacting time values which are reproducible by diverse user types.
Eliminates
performance rating because it is the ideal human, with a constant
performance level.
Is fast and
simple in processing — Ten times faster than MTM for the same
accuracy.
Is Consistent
in application — always producing the same answers for
the same conditions.
Is Accurate
to 5 percent in application.
Produces detailed
methods documentation which exactly reflects the work done
on the shop floor for the time generated.
Incorporates
formulas for process times and integrates these with the work
done during the manufacture of the part.
In addition, UnivEl uses artificial intelligence technology
to make its input system easier to use and to manipulate information so
that even a non-engineer can use it. Much of the engineering is built
into, or is the result of, intelligent systems applications making UnivEl
times consistent from user to user and extremely accurate from industry
to industry, product to product and part to part.
The software uses accepted standards for work pace and
formulas for machine process times so that the engineer can quickly determine
the time and cost associated with the various manufacturing and assembly
operations required to fabricate each part and assemble the parts into
assemblies in the end item.
If the manufacture of an individual part requires multiple
operations, the software simulates the time and cost required for each
operation and stores the information by the individual part number so
that the engineer can determine cumulative times and costs for manufacture
of the part and can then accumulate the costs for all the parts in a subassembly
or finished product.
The foregoing has not been intended as a comprehensive
statement of work measurement. It is presumed that the user is familiar
with the necessity for, and problems involved in, work measurement, although
this is not a requisite to learning to use the UnivEl System. Furthermore,
the obvious advantages and desirability of predetermined times will not
be expounded here.
Although much study and refinement have gone into present
day systems, they all have drawbacks. UnivEl is a system developed by
Industrial Engineers for use by Industrial Engineers and designed to incorporate
modern computers to achieve the most ideal system possible.
Standards, Time and UnivEl
The UnivEl system generates manufacturing work methods
and machine process times, producing clear, step-by-step English language
instructions for the part operation, subassembly and end-item, and automatically
generates a manufacturing database for the part for use by the MCIE III
PLUS DATAMANAGER system.
The MCIE III PLUS allows the analysis of the process
engineering as applied to the facilities available to the manufacturer.
Analysis of flow of work, utilization of work centers, application of
specific machines and available human resources, tool resources required
and tool lead times are included in the analysis of cost and times for
various alternate routings.
In the UnivEl system there are five factors which make
up time. It is in describing these factors that the applicator informs
the computer how to calculate time.
These five factors are:
1. Definition of Gross Work Conditions (Geometry of
the Workperson) — These conditions refer to hand handling and the
arm, leg, and body movements involved in performing an activity. (Front,
side, rear, with or without bend)
2. Physical Work Locations (Geometry of the workplace)
— The physical location description defines the location from which
an object is obtained or to which it is placed, and the complexity of
gaining or relinquishing control.
3. Distance — This is the linear measurement of
movement such as point to point moves, belt buckle distance moved in a
walk, etc.
4. Effective Net Weight — This variable is an expression
of weight or resistance factors which slow the person's movement through
the distance involved. These effects are the result of momentum, swing
weights or other inertial-type effect on the person trying to move the
object.
5. Control Dimension — This variable is the critical
dimension which most affects the types of moves which can take place within
the geometrical constraints of the workplace. Typically, this dimension
is the largest dimension of the object which constrains the way the object
can be moved within the workplace.
LABOR PERFORMANCE REPORTING AND CONTROL SYSTEM (P.A.R.)(Optional)
PAR is a modular labor performance reporting system.
After receiving input data from the shop, the system creates audit reports,
performance reports, exception reports and trend reports. The software
is used to solve problems as they occur. PAR also documents production
history for future planning and problem avoidance.
FEATURES
MI Systems
software provides complete performance reporting outputs by job, operator,
work center, department, plant, and company with exception reports to
users according to established criteria.
The software
supplies graphical histogram tracking of performance to evaluate trends
before they become problems.
Information
gathered through the labor system is used for MRP II, standard and job
cost variance analysis, incentive wage payment, tracking of order status,
capacity planning for manpower and machines from a single data source.
The software
contains full featured input edits to prevent use of bad performance data
in planning and failure prevention systems.
Provision
to track up to 999 expense categories
The system
accepts input in user-definable formats as well as pre-loaded formats
for records.
BENEFITS
Closes the
communication loop between shop floor and control system allowing comparison
of actuals against plan so that the system is dynamic and progress
is continuous.
Labor output
of exception reports and histogram performance graphs simplify management's
audit so that potential problems can be corrected before they affect
production.
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