Understanding Different Times
In this guide, we will define and exemplify different time-related terms to help you understand how worker productivity and efficiency are measured and managed.
Shift Hours
Shift hours are the total time scheduled for a worker's shift, from the start to the end of the shift.
Example: The shift is from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, which makes his shift hours 8 hours in total.
Shift Time
Shift time is the actual time available for work during a shift, calculated in minutes.
Example: If John works an 8-hour shift, his shift time is 8 hours × 60 minutes/hour = 480 minutes.
Paid Time
Paid time is the time that the worker is compensated for, not including time spent on breaks.
Example: If John has a 30-minute lunch break, his paid time is 480 minutes (shift time) - 30 minutes (break) = 450 minutes.
Check-in times
Fingerprint Authentication Enabled:
- The system records the exact timestamp of an employee's fingerprint scan upon entry.
- Employees have a 10-minute grace period to rescan their fingerprint without being logged out.
- If a second scan occurs after 10 minutes, it is considered a log-out event.
- Example: If an employee scans their fingerprint at 7:46 AM and then resubmits at 7:55 AM due to uncertainty, the system disregards the second scan and retains 7:46 AM as the official check-in time.
Fingerprint Authentication Disabled:
- Employee presence in the factory is determined through login activity on the Garment IO device.
- If an employee scans their card before the shift start time, this scan is considered the official check-in time.
- Any scans after the first one are recorded as log-out attempts but do not affect the shift end time, which remains as per the scheduled shift duration.
- Check-in timestamps from device logins can be modified later by HR personnel if necessary.
- If an employee logs into the device after the shift start time, the system assumes the shift start time as the check-in timestamp for fairness.
Examples:
- If an employee scans their card at 7:56 AM for an 8:00 AM shift, the system records 7:56 AM as the check-in timestamp.
- If an employee scans their card at 8:10 AM, the system assigns 8:00 AM as the check-in time since the exact entry time is unknown. However, HR personnel can adjust this if required.
Check-out times
Fingerprint Authentication Enabled:
- The system records the exact timestamp of an employee’s fingerprint scan when checking out.
- Employees have a 10-minute grace period to rescan their fingerprint without being checked back in.
- If a second scan occurs after 10 minutes, it is considered a check-in event rather than a check-out.
- Example: If an employee scans their fingerprint at 3:46 PM and then rescans at 3:55 PM due to uncertainty, the system disregards the second scan and retains 3:46 PM as the official check-out time.
Fingerprint Authentication Disabled:
- Once an employee has logged in and has a check-in timestamp, the system automatically assigns the shift end time as the default check-out time.
- If the employee scans their card on the Garment IO device after the shift end time, the system records the actual device logout timestamp as the check-out time.
- Check-out timestamps from device logins can be modified later by HR personnel if necessary.
Examples:
- If an employee scans their card at 3:56 PM for a 4:00 PM shift end, the system records 4:00 PM as the check-out timestamp. However, HR personnel can adjust this if required.
- If an employee scans their card at 4:10 PM, the system assigns 4:10 PM as the check-out time since the exact exit time is unknown but confirmed to be after shift end.
Assigning Shifts
The attendance period is defined as the duration between an employee’s check-in timestamp and check-out timestamp. An attendance period may consist of one or multiple shifts, depending on whether the employee works overtime.
To ensure accurate calculation of breaks and available working hours, the system automatically allocates shifts to each attendance period.
Tolerance Period
A tolerance period is a predefined grace period that applies before the shift starts or after the shift ends. This helps determine whether an employee's working hours should include an overtime shift or remain within the main shift.
Example Scenario
- Main shift: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
- Overtime shift: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
- 30-minute tolerance
Employee A:
- Check-in: Before or during the main shift (or within the 30-minute tolerance before 8:00 AM)
- Check-out: 4:25 PM
- Shift allocation: Only the main shift is assigned. Since the employee logged out within the tolerance period, overtime is not added.
- Cost calculation: All beats performed are calculated using the main shift rate.
Employee B:
- Check-in: Before or during the main shift
- Check-out: 6:03 PM
- Shift allocation: Both the main and overtime shifts are assigned. Since the employee logged out beyond the tolerance period, the overtime shift is included in the attendance period.
- Cost calculation: Beats performed between 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM are calculated using the overtime rate instead of the normal rate.
Employee C:
- Check-in: 4:15 PM
- Check-out: 5:57 PM
- Shift allocation: Only the overtime shift is assigned. Since the employee checked in after the main shift ended, they are considered part of the overtime shift only.
- Cost calculation: Beats performed are calculated using the overtime rate.
Idle Time
Idle time is the time when a worker is not engaging in production due to reasons beyond their control.
Example: If John waits 20 minutes for a delayed batches from the previous processes, this is considered idle time.
You can check this article: Understanding Idle time to understand more about idle time.
Maintenance Time
Maintenance time is the time taken to repair or maintain a machine that is necessary for the worker to perform their job.
Example: If John stops working because a machine breaks down and spends 30 minutes waiting for it to be repaired, this is his maintenance time.
Available Time
Available time is the total time a worker is available to work after accounting for idle and maintenance time, assuming they are accepted.
Available time = Paid Time - Accepted Idle Time - Accepted Maintenance Time
Examples
Example 1: If John's idle time request for waiting on materials is rejected by the supervisor, his available time remains at 450 minutes (the paid time), as idle time is not deducted.
Example 2: If John's maintenance request is accepted because the machine breakdown was legitimate, and he waited 30 minutes for the repair, his available time is 450 minutes (paid time) - 0 minutes (idle time, since it was rejected) - 30 minutes (accepted maintenance time) = 420 minutes.
Example 3: If both John's idle time and maintenance time requests are accepted, with 20 minutes for idle time and 30 minutes for maintenance, his available time is 450 minutes (paid time) - 20 minutes (idle time) - 30 minutes (maintenance time) = 400 minutes.
Idle and maintenance time requests must be approved to affect available time.
Two types of available time exist:
- Utilized available time: This refers to the cumulative amount of available time that employees were engaged in during the selected period. It includes the available time of employees who actively participated in at least one production process. The system does not include available time for employees who came to the factory and did not do any production process.
- Total available time: This encompasses the overall available time of all employees, regardless of whether they were utilized or not. It accounts for the entire duration of availability for each employee, regardless of their level of involvement in production activities.
Beat/ Actual Production Time
Beat time or Actual Production Time is the time it takes for a worker to complete a single batch of work on a certain process
Examples
Example: If John completes a batch in 60 minutes, that is his beat time/ actual production time.
If during this hour, he had 5 minutes of approved idle time and 10 minutes of approved maintenance time, his actual production time should be 45 minutes for this batch and process after deducting approved idle and maintenance times
Production Time
Production Time is the expected time for an employee to finish the pieces produced. It is calculated by multiplying the quantity produced by the SAM minutes of the same process, style category and machine.
Examples
Example
John produced 300 pieces using the stitch left sleeve that have a SAM of 0.3 minutes per piece and finished 150 pieces for process "assemble front and back sleeved to the left side that have a SAM of 1.5 minutes per piece. This means that the total production time is (300*0.3 + 150*1.5 = 90 + 225 = 315 minutes in total
After knowing the production time and available time for each employee it is very easy to calculate the different efficiencies inside our system. Check this article Understanding System Efficiencies: Operational, Labor, and Throughput
Wasted Time
Wasted time includes any time during the shift when the worker is not engaged in productive work and is not idle or waiting for machine to be fixed.
Start of Day (SOD)
SOD wasted time is the time from the shift start or fingerprint log until the worker logs into the machine to begin working.
Examples
Example 1 - with Fingerprint enabled: If John's fingerprint log was at 8:01 AM and he logged into the machine at 8:15 AM then his SOD wasted time is 14 minutes.
Example 2 - with Fingerprint enabled: If John's fingerprint log was at 7:45 AM and he logged into the machine at 8:15 AM then his SOD wasted time is 15 min because we calculate from the start of the shift.
Example 3 - without Fingerprint: If shift starts at 8:00 AM but John did not log into the machine until 8:15 AM, his SOD wasted time is 15 minutes.
End of Day (EOD)
EOD wasted time is from the worker's last recorded production until the end of the shift.
Examples
Example 1- with Fingerprint enabled: If John records his last batch at 3:50 PM and fingerprint log out at 4:00 PM, his EOD wasted time is 10 minutes.
Example 2- with Fingerprint enabled: If John records his last batch at 3:50 PM and fingerprint logs out at 4:15 PM, his EOD wasted time is 10 minutes because we take the wasted time till shift end.
Example 3 - without Fingerprint: If John finishes his last batch at 3:45 PM but until the end of his shift at 4:00 PM he did not perform anything, his EOD wasted time is 15 minutes.
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