Work Measurement Program

Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS)

Student Walking on the Fairfax Campus

Large Scale Measurement Program

After consideration of the challenges facing FSIS in its effort to appropriately scale indirect workloads, the GMU team recommended an approach for an overall work measurement study. The necessary artifacts and activities are detailed in the figure below. While a project of this scale was not achievable in the timeframe allowed for this study, it provided context for the case study which was conducted.

Program Overview
Large Scale Work Measurement Program Framework

Case Study

The large scale work measurement program described above is well beyond what could be accomplished within a semester of work. Therefore, the GMU team worked with FSIS to limit the study to a useful effort that is achievable within the established time and effort limits.

The scope of this project was to perform a subset of the work measurement program tasks described above, limited to a single inspection task. That task, as selected by the FSIS, was the MT60 sampling program. This case study focuses on the task decomposition, data collection, and data analysis of the direct and indirect tasks related to the MT60 sampling program, as illustrated in the figure below. Tasks to be examined will include the sampling method and the interaction of inspectors with PHIS in support of the task.

Program Overview - Case Study
Large Scale Work Measurement Program Framework - Case Study

MT60 Sampling Program

The MT60 sampling program is designed to detect E. coli and six relevant non-E. coli STEC serogroups in beef manufacturing trimmings produced via on-site slaughter of cattle. According to the FSIS document, "Randomly Selecting Beef Trim to be Collected under the Beef Manufacturing Trimmings (MT60) Sampling Program", the intent of the MT60 sampling program is to "assess the effectiveness of slaughter and dressing operations and to verify that establishments are effectively addressing STEC [Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli]".

Process Decomposition

Based on input from FSIS, the GMU team developed a structured decomposition of the MT60 process, including direct, indirect and internal / external travel process steps. A data collection sheet (DCS) was created based on this decomposition. This DCS was a simple and consistent tool for use by Data Collectors in documenting their work measurement data.

Data Collection

The Food Safety and Inspection Service sent out data collection packages to establishments across the country scheduled to perform the MT60 task during the data collection period for this work measurement study. The data collection period began on November 1, 2013 and ended on November 15, 2013. Along with the DCS, Data Collectors were provided instructions for entering data in each of the data fields, and a stop watch to capture work measurement data.

A total of 107 DCSs were received by November 18, 2013. Among the 107 DCSs, 13 DCSs indicated either that the MT60 task was not being performed during the data collection window or were simply blank. Six additional forms were excluded from analysis due to significant issues with the submitted data. This resulted in 88 DCS for analysis.