What Is a Time and Motion Study?
A time and motion study is a method of analysing how work is carried out to identify opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce wasted effort and make better use of available resources.
It combines two approaches:
- Motion study: Observing the physical movements involved in carrying out the work to identify unnecessary actions or inefficient methods.
- Time study: Measuring how long a task or individual activity takes to complete.
Together, these approaches help organisations understand how work is performed in practice, rather than relying only on how a procedure is documented.
Time and motion studies are commonly used in manufacturing, maintenance, logistics and other operational environments where tasks are repeated and small improvements can make a significant difference over time.
How Does a Time and Motion Study Work?
A time and motion study usually involves observing a task, breaking it into individual activities and measuring how long each activity takes.
The process typically follows five stages:
- Select the task: Identify a repeatable activity where delays, variation or unnecessary effort may be affecting performance.
- Observe the work: Watch how the task is completed, including the sequence of activities, equipment used and movements involved.
- Measure the time: Record the duration of each activity across several repetitions to understand typical performance and variation.
- Identify inefficiencies: Look for unnecessary movement, waiting time, repeated actions, poor equipment positioning or other causes of delay.
- Test improvements: Make appropriate changes, then measure the task again to assess whether performance has improved.
For reliable results, the study should account for normal variations in working conditions, equipment and task complexity.
It is also important to involve the people carrying out the work. Their practical experience can help explain why certain activities take longer and whether proposed improvements are realistic.
What Are Examples of Time and Motion Studies?
Time and motion studies can be applied to many types of operational work.
Manufacturing: A production manager might study a machine changeover to understand how much time is spent preparing tools, adjusting equipment, completing safety checks and verifying the setup.
Maintenance: An engineering team could examine a routine servicing task to identify delays caused by missing information, repeated trips for equipment or unnecessary paperwork.
Logistics: A warehouse might analyse picking and packing activities to understand how walking distances, stock locations and handling methods affect completion times.
Assembly: A manufacturer could observe how components and tools are positioned at a workstation to reduce unnecessary reaching, movement and handling.
In each example, the objective is to improve the way work is organised without compromising safety, quality or required checks.
What Are the Benefits of Time and Motion Studies?
A well-planned study can help organisations:
- Identify bottlenecks: Understand which activities create delays or interrupt the flow of work.
- Reduce wasted effort: Remove unnecessary movements, repeated actions and avoidable waiting.
- Improve process consistency: Establish practical methods that can be followed across shifts and locations.
- Support better planning: Use realistic task durations to inform scheduling and resource allocation.
- Improve productivity: Make better use of available time, equipment and resources.
- Support continuous improvement: Compare performance before and after changes to understand what works.
Time and motion studies should focus on improving processes, not simply expecting people to work faster. Improvements must preserve safe working practices, appropriate rest and the quality of completed work.
How Can Digital Work Execution Data Support Time and Motion Studies?
Traditional time and motion studies rely heavily on direct observation and manual measurements.
Digital systems can complement this approach by providing information from work that has already been completed.
For example, digital work execution data can include task start and completion times, recorded checks, reported issues and information about individual jobs.
Analysing this information across repeated activities can help organisations identify patterns, compare task durations and investigate where delays occur.
However, digital completion data does not automatically explain why a task took longer or identify unnecessary physical movements. Direct observation and feedback from workers may still be needed to understand the underlying cause.
This is where data-driven continuous improvement becomes valuable. By combining practical observations with reliable information from completed work, organisations can make more informed decisions about process improvements.
How WorkfloPlus Supports Time and Motion Analysis
WorkfloPlus captures structured information while operational work is being carried out.
Employees follow digital work instructions and complete required checks, while the platform captures information such as timestamps, responses, measurements and reported issues.
When a job is completed, WorkfloPlus generates a digital job report containing the information and evidence collected during execution.
This information can help organisations review completed activities, compare results and identify recurring issues that may be affecting performance.
Work execution data can also be connected to business intelligence tools such as Power BI for more detailed analysis across jobs and processes.
Although WorkfloPlus is not a dedicated time and motion study tool, the information it captures can provide useful supporting evidence for operational reviews and continuous improvement.
Related Terms
Learn More
- Data-Driven Continuous Improvement – Discover how information captured during everyday work can help identify inefficiencies, understand process variation and support lasting improvements.
- How Digital Work Instructions Enable Continuous Improvement – Explore how standardised instructions and information captured during work can support better operational decisions.
- WorkfloPlus for Manufacturing – See how WorkfloPlus supports consistent work execution, production quality and the collection of reliable operational data.