Many different methods are now being utilized in aiding engineers to determine significant parameters for designing tractor components. The technique discussed in this paper utilizes time-lapse photography in a time-and-motion study of industrial tractors. This time-lapse method makes the determination of vehicle parameters easier and more reliable. Vehicle parameters determined by this method are productivity, cycle times, operating procedures, operator movements and machine lost time.
Every engineer would like more information in designing a final product. At present, this information is acquired by marketing feedback, service reports or testing the product. In most cases the engineer is still left grasping for more information regarding how this machine is used and what types of operations does it really go through. Such information would be very useful in product life determinations now that increased emphasis is being placed on product reliability in the courts.
Instrumenting a tractor and testing it to gather the data can be an expensive operation while market feedback is by word of mouth and too many biases are created.
A new approach in time and motion study was applied to gathering engineering data. The type of data that was acquired by this method included usage time per week, average engine RPM, percent time on various jobs, average and peak cycle times for loaders and backhoe work, backhoe swing cycle times and angle of swing, operator corrections needed for backhoe work, average trench depth, operator movements, operator comments and general system procedures for dumping, peeling or scraping with a loader.