Methods-Time Measurement (MTM) is a predetermined motion time system that is used primarily in industrial settings to analyze the methods used to perform any manual operation or task and, as a product of that analysis, set the standard time in which a worker should complete that task.
Films were taken using constant speed cameras, running at 16 frames per second, of the work performed by qualified workers on the shop floor at the Westinghouse Brake and Signal Corporation. Each sequence was rated during filming by three qualified Industrial Engineers. These ratings had to agree within a close band, otherwise the sequence was not used.
The rating, or Levelling, system used was the Westinghouse or LMS system – so called after its originators Lowry, Maynard and Stegemerten. This system considers four factors independently: