A case study for determining standard time in a multi-pattern and short life-cycle production system

This study presents two approaches for determining standard time in a multi-pattern and short life-cycle production system. We explain the approaches through conducting a case study on a tableware manufacturing company, gathering field data on the company that represent the characteristics of the multi-pattern and short life-cycle production system. In the first approach, based on the production field data, new weights for each variable in function and difficulty grade categories are estimated and corresponding model for determining standard time is developed. In the second approach, the standard time is determined based on the existing weights for each variable in two categories. Multiple regression models are developed for each approach. Based on standard time data, a conversion table reflecting the comprehensive difficulty is generated and used for differentiating the items produced by each worker.