Cycle Time Study: A Sample Essay For Inspiration & Mimicking

Question 1:
Sources of value added work in the process are those sources that are actually critical for the process. In all the cases for value added work, the whole project progresses during the stage. For instance, any actual work done on the project is a source of value added work. At the end of that particular stage, the entire project will have progressed. For example, after writing, typing, proofing, printing, and distributing a document, it signifies actual progress of the entire project. This would be an example of value added work in the project. Non-value added work includes those activities within the project that will actually have to be accomplished thought they are not particularly responsible for any significant progress within the progress itself. For instance, there is a queue of 40 hours during the time cycle. Although it is listed as part of the cycle, it does not on its own add any value to the project. However, it is an example of non-value added work in this particular process. Question 2:
The main differences noted between the actual times spent and potential has been noted in writing, proofing, tying, copying, and distribution of various documents during the course of the cycle. This brings to a total of over 60 hours above the estimated time. This presents the biggest opportunities for improving the cycle time of this process. The first step in improving this process is identifying the reasons why the actual time spent on the activity is much longer than the initial estimates. This is very important as it ensures that going forward, the estimated time is close to the actual time spent on the activity. This ensures that for the overall cycle, the time spent for these activities is planned for and does not lead to delays. Therefore improving potential best time estimates would lead to the whole situation working better.Question 3:
The estimated time taken to resolve open issues was 104 hours while the actual work took 106 hours. There is a minor difference between the potential and the actual work. This means that there might be an opportunity for improvement in this process. However, looking at it closely, we realize that there is a less than 2% deviation between the actual time taken and the initial estimates. It becomes increasingly difficult to make improvements when the percentages are very slow. There would be an opportunity for improvement to bring the time further down but it would become more difficult as the difference becomes smaller.Question 4:
The most difficult critical issues to deal with in the design of such a time cycle study are unforeseen circumstances. In this case, the design includes all the potential times to accommodate various tasks. However, unforeseen issues may arise that result in the actual and potential cycle time. For example in this design, the time needed for writing, typing, proofing, printing and distributing various documents have been exceeded on all occasions. The actual time taken is several magnitudes higher than the initial estimates from a potential cycle time of 0.5 hours to an actual cycle time of 21.9 hours. This means that in absence of measures to accommodate unforeseen circumstances, the entire schedule and cycle time would be disrupted highly. Critical issues affected by unforeseen circumstances are therefore more difficult to deal with than straightforward issues where prediction of cycle time is easier.