The Operation Chart is similar to a process chart, except that it picks up one particular step in a whole process and breaks it down into the work of each hand, shown in parallel columns.
The Operation Chart is used in making a more detailed study of some particular part of the process. In this chart, the movements are broken down into the activities of both the right and left hand. The finer analysis show where necessary motions are being made and where delays occur in work.
The same symbols may be used, with the understanding that this time the small circle means a movement of the arm, the large circle a movement of the fingers, with the arm more or less stationary. The triangle indicates complete idleness of both arm and fingers. The symbols used are:
Movement of arm
Movement of fingers
Inspection
Delay
It takes considerably more skill to make an operation chart than a process chart- man analysis. It is practically impossible to make an accurate operation chart of two hands except through film analysis. Each hand can, however be followed by a separate observer and actions of both hands studied, particularly for delays.
example is given in figure 47.3. It would be well to consider here if the idle hand (especially the left hand in step 7) would perform a more active part in the process, such as turning the potato as pared.
Thus the main uses of process and operational charts are for educational and promotional purposes. In this they serve an extremely useful end. They help in training investigators, they make one motion and time conscious, they sharpen one's power of observation, and they help in learning the principles of effective work. In other words, charting creates an orderly environment for the development of improved work methods, but in the final analysis, much of the creation is the product of the analyst's ingenuity.
Participants