What is Cycle Time, Basic Time and Standard Time? Difference Between Cycle Time, Basic Time and Standard Time.

In the apparel industry, Cycle Time, Basic Time and Standard Time are mostly used by Industrial engineer and work study office. Sometimes we become confused about their exact definition, formula and calculation procedure of Cycle Time, Basic Time and Standard Time. The purpose of this article is to clear each things step by step.

Cycle Time

Cycle time is the duration of time from the starting point of a task to the starting point of the next task. This time is captured by the observation of a person’s work by stopwatch.

Example: Let say a sewing machine operator doing pocket joining task. We can start counting the starting point from any point of task. Let say we take the starting point as picking the pocket. We start the stopwatch. Now operator did the entire tsk until next picking point. Whenever he is going to pick the next pocket, stop the stop watch. See the time. This is cycle time of pocket joining. Normally cycle time is counted by the 5 times average of a task.

The formal formula for Cycle Time is-

Cycle time = Total Machine Time + Total Material handling time.

This Cycle Time is also known as Observed Time.

Basic Time

Basic Time is the time which is obtained by multiplying rating factor to the Cycle Time (Observed Time).

The formal formula for Basic Time is-

Basic Time = (Cycle Time × Performance Rating)/100

This Basic Time is also known as Normal Time. Allowances are not included in the Basic Time.

Standard Time

Practically nobody can do work continuously for a long time without taking rest. During working there may occurred machine and needle breakage as well as need to manage bundle during working.  Also many other issues may occurred during working.

To measure standard time, some additional time is added due to different types of allowance and non-avoidable issues.

Formally, standard Time is the time which is measured under the specific conditions as well as considering defined label of performance. 

So,

Standard Time = Basic Time + Allowances

The following type of Allowances are applicable in garments industry.

1. Relaxation Allowance

            ✓ Personal Allowance

            ✓ Fatigue Allowance

2. Contingency Allowance

3. Machine Time Allowance

 

The below chart will show the construction of different time.

Summary: Above chart shows that

• The Observed Time is Cycle Time
• Basic Time is obtained by multiplying the Cycle Time and rating factor.
• When different allowances are added with Basic Time it converts to Standard Time