MODAPTS is a simple and descriptive language for understanding
work, tasks or activities.
The time needed to carry out any job is determined in large
part by what the person performing the job has to do. MODAPTS
provides a code for describing any work action and provides a
time, a comfortable time, for that action. The letters used in
MODAPTS codes have a clear association with the names of the
actions they describe. They are easier to remember than those
in comparable systems, yet they still retain the same level of
accuracy.
The figures used in MODAPTS codes show the time needed for
the part of the body involved to carry out the necessary action
at a comfortable pace, which could be maintained as part of a
work cycle for a full working day. All MODAPTS times are multiples
of 0.129 seconds MODAPTS is a form of shorthand, or a succinct
language for describing the sequence of body actions involved
in carrying out particular work. It provides a script for how
the work is done, action by action.
MODAPTS can be used to:
• establish a reasonable and sustainable time to complete
a job or a proposed job;
• determine the best method and workplace layout to perform
a given task
• balance the flow of work
• cost a job,
• develop standard operating procedures and work instructions
• provide a framework for the analysis of actions and postures
in the workplace
• match workers' best actions with appropriate jobs
• quantify the degree of disability for particular tasks
MODAPTS stands for MODular Arrangement of Predetermined Time
Standards. It is one of the more recently developed Predetermined
Motion Time System (PMTS) but it differs from others in that
it focuses on the body part doing the moving rather than the
distance covered by the body part of the object being handled.
This difference contributes to MODAPTS speed of use, when matched
with comparable systems. .
MODAPTS is based on empirical studies done in the late 1960s
and 1970s with hundreds of people in different work situations,
covering many different aspects of work. These studies were guided
by Chris Heyde. The goal of these studies was to collect unexceptional
performances, ie natural speeds, unremarkable for being fast
or slow.
Various versions of MODAPTS have been translated into Japanese,
German, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Russian. MODAPTS
is currently used in many countries and by some large corporations
such as Ford the United States. The current HEYDE'S MODAPTS book
has been translated into Japanese by the Japan Institute of Plant
Maintenance. MODAPTS is also used by occupational therapists
in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the USA and the United
Kingdom.
