The MTM ASSOCIATION e. V. is one of the leading industrial associations in the field of human work with more than 240 member companies representing about 2.5 million employees. With the association, the Deutsche MTM-Gesellschaft mbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of MTM ASSOCIATION e. V. with MTM Digital Solutions, the MTM Institute and the MTM Academy, the MTM organization has a unique position in the market. The statutory mission of the non-profit association is to foster the dissemination of the process language MTM (Methods-Time Measurement), the internationally recognized method standard for the description, evaluation and design of human work.
The MTM method was developed in the mid-1940s in the USA. From there it began its triumphal procession throughout the world. The MTM ASSOCIATION e. V. as the largest national association has made it its business to establish and develop MTM as a global standard in the international partner network One-MTM.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
MTM ASSOCIATION: How can an assembly line be timed so that output is as high as possible and worker stress and cycle balancing losses are as low as possible? To answer this question, the work planner uses methods of time determination. With MTM as method, companies have not only an instrument for time determination they also can discover potentials for improvement at the same time. They can calculate processes, products and personnel requirements exactly, significantly increase productivity in the company and contribute to employee health.
For this tasks Deutsche MTM-Gesellschaft mbH offers entire solutions from a single source: consulting, engineering services, qualification and software for designing assembly-friendly products, ergonomic and productive workplaces and processes, and for implementing sustainable productivity management. MTM Digital Solutions is a business unit of Deutsche MTM-Gesellschaft mbH to develop software solutions to apply MTM for designing work systems and business processes for almost 40 years.
E.E: What’s the news for 2021 about new products?
MTM ASSOCIATION: The introduction of modern work measurement is (still) not an issue for many medium-sized companies. Determining reliable, work-related time data is complicated, tedious and expensive, they say. But what can the company’s own production actually achieve? One does not know exactly – and that is the problem. Deutsche MTM-Gesellschaft mbH has the solution: MTM-Easy, the first cloud-based software for determining assembly times. MTM-Easy is the uncomplicated entry point and perhaps the first step on the way to systematic work measurement. Companies are empowered to compare their current assembly times against a benchmark time.
MTM-Easy is designed to help small to medium businesses that currently have little or no time measurement incorporated into their business model. These users are questioning their current operation’s performance. This is a solution that requires the user to ONLY have knowledge of their operation, and NO knowledge of Industrial Engineering tools. MTM-Easy focuses on work place and process step documentation, and not necessarily on precise work times. MTM-Easy gives the user a tool to show the impact of work place improvement. MTM-Easy gives the user experience in identifying process steps. These are the first steps to incorporating time management into their operation.
Companies that have tested MTM-Easy report savings of more than 50 percent. Another big advantage is that you doesn’t have to be an MTM expert. Users need no training and no costly software installation – they simply register in the new web store at mtm-easy.com and get started.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
MTM ASSOCIATION: MTM-Easy is the solution for the easily, quickly an reliably determination of assembly times. The software for MTM experts is TiCon. TiCon creates a transparent and standardized process from the customer enquiry via product calculation to the final production planning. TiCon is available as platform for Windows (TiCon for Windows), SAP (TiCon for SAP) and Siemens Teamcenter (TiCon for Teamcenter). In addition, the software can be integrated into all other PPS and PLM systems according to customer requirements. Currently there are more than 500 installations with about 25,000 users worldwide.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
MTM ASSOCIATION: Today, the manufacturing industry is faced with the permanent challenge of having to master the highly dynamic markets, the ever-increasing pressure to innovate, cut costs, time and quality, and the effects of demographic change. Improvements in day-to-day operations alone are no longer sufficient. It is much more important to set the course for the planning of work systems as early as possible in the product development process, i.e. already in development and design. MTM’s unique selling point is its ability to provide quantitative information on the quality of processes (productivity and ergonomic design) at this early
stage of the product development process. This preventive function offers the best opportunities for efficient and human-oriented productivity management.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
MTM ASSOCIATION: The industrial engineer no longer moves only in the real world; with the digitization of production, he must bridge the gap between the real and virtual worlds. The basis for the design of human work is and remains reliable time data. The question is how efficiently data can be collected and processed in the future. The Industrial Engineer 4.0 no longer creates classic planning analyses, but instead uses automatically collected motion data. This bridge from the real to the digital world can only be built on the basis of MTM.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
MTM ASSOCIATION: The challenge is to digitize the planning of human work. The MTM process building blocks are the prerequisite for linking the digital planning world with the real working world through their standard performance reference. MTM standardizes the digital planning and simulation systems. With the development of the process building block system MTM-HWD® (Human Work Design) and the corresponding software solution, we have created the prerequisite for converting digital motion data (e.g. from human simulation, motion capture or VR/AR systems) into reliable, comprehensible and human-oriented time and ergonomics data in our work systems.
MTMmotion® is another innovative product that bridges the gap between the real and virtual (working) worlds. Using digital human models is linked to the desire to be able to better capture and depict the human factor within work systems and, above all, to do so more realistically. The temporal evaluation and temporal control of human models are therefore increasingly based on MTM analysis of automatically determined motion data.
Prof. Dr. Peter Kuhlang, Managing Director Deutsche MTM-Gesellschaft mbH
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2021?
MTM ASSOCIATION: For almost 40 years, the experts at Deutsche MTM-Gesellschaft mbH have been supporting the players in work measurement. “The big advantage for our customers: Consulting for successful productivity management, comprehensive engineering services, the right software solutions and, of course, certified training come from a single source – that’s only available from us”, says Prof. Dr. Peter Kuhlang, Managing Director GmbH and CEO MTM ASSOCIATION e. V.
Kuhlang, one of the initiators of the international partner network One-MTM, also pushes the further dissemination of the MTM process language. The standardization of MTM training across national borders and continents has picked up considerable momentum, particularly as a result of digitization and the switch to online offerings, he notes. With a central contact in the organization and referrals to the partner network, One-MTM ensures that customers have everything they need at production sites worldwide – be it MTM training, consulting services or software solutions – available locally or digitally.
This year, the global MTM Community will come together at the MTM SUMMIT on October 20 and 21, 2021 – in Hamburg, Germany, and online at summit.mtm.org.