Sober
I have a brotherinlaw that works industrial engineering. He has spent the majority of his early years in the garment industry, specifically Blue Jeans.
Each step of the process is timed. Many times, on many different subjects, and the results are then tabulated against the quality of the work. After those products are deemed worthy quality wise, all those studies that did not produce a quality product are discarded. The slowest 5% and the fastest 5% are also discarded.
What is left is a pretty narrow time allotment for each step of the work, from spreading the material in thick piles 100 feet long, cutting each section with the least amount of waste, supplying each section with the loops, zippers, brass grommets etc etc, and each jean is made. Each little movement is studied, and wasted movement eliminated.
A UPS time study is pretty much the same way. The time that it takes you to enter your package car, place the diad into the holder, while your other hand begins to fasten the seat belt, while the now free hand that placed the diad is grasping the seatbelt, while the now other free hand starts the engine. As your vehicle starts to move, that time has been studied the same way. Each movement has been choreographed and is seamless.
There is a defined time allowance for each time you do that. And stop, select and dismount. None of that changes much from one delivery to another.
Where we get into trouble is on area time. And that is where I believe the problems began. Many times, the last time studies were done by people that either did not have much training, or could care less. After all, how can you do a time study on a driver when the clipboard is not in hand, and the time study person is talking on the phone to someone for 20 minutes. And then they play catchup, or try.
My last time study was done by one of our districts best time study guys. I would guess he has done several thousand. I gained almost an hour on the last time study, that took almost an hour away. I went from scratch -50, to being over almost every day by 45 minutes. After the last time study, went back to being under allowed every day by 10-70 clicks. So there is a real issue with how the on road time study is done.
UPS is not interested in cutting routes to where you are beat every day (I really dont believe it), but in their haste to get time studies done, there were a lot of things done that skewed the results on many routes. And some parts of some routes were never studied, as they were shuffled from one area to another while the studies were ongoing.
So the individual components to the time study are set in stone. They dont change. What screwed up a lot of areas was the human element. Whether stupidity, lack of proper knowledge, haste, who knows. But what is for sure is that there are some routes that are really badly in need of study before production discipline means anything.
As far as the original subject of the thread, there are a lot of areas that the trace will not put the driver in an area that has restrooms/eating establishments available. When they created the trace, there was no consideration for lunch made.
Therefor, when it comes time for lunch, you do have the right to break trace and go to lunch. You are to stay on the clock until you park the car. That is when your lunch period begins. And it stops when you climb back into the package car again to leave.
If there is a travel time of more than a few minutes involved, there might be cause to have a meeting with UPS, the driver and the BA to discuss any issues that come up.
There is no way I would ever eat in my package car. Heat, cold, humidity, vermin, and dirt are all reasons. We deserve a place to sit and relax, after being able to wash the crap off our hands.
d
