motion study
1
5.3
- noun
- /ˈmoʊʃən ˈstʌdi/
- Specialized
:
estudio de movimientos
- After the motion study, the factory implemented changes that significantly increased productivity.
- time-motion study
Examples
-
Early time-motion studies helped to shorten operations and improve product quality.
Academic text (2012) -
The team conducted a motion study to identify ways to reduce unnecessary steps in their workflow.
-
Managers insisted that they had made time-motion studies in the field to calculate fair new rates of pay.
Academic text (2002) -
I had completed a very good final paper, a time-and-motion study of Chock Full O'Nuts, a restaurant chain.
Fiction book (1990) -
Early time-motion studies would help workers perform operations more efficiently, and quality-control gauges and measuring devices were used to monitor quality.
Academic text (2012) -
To enhance overall efficiency, the manager requested a detailed motion study of the assembly line operations.
Synonyms
1
4.1
A careful check of a job to find faster, easier ways to do it
People watch how workers do a job to find the fastest, easiest way to do it
A study that measures how long each part of a job takes to find a faster way
A careful timing of movements to find faster ways to do a job
A careful measure of how long a task takes to find faster ways to do it
Antonyms
How Thorough
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally built from 'motion' (movement) and 'study' (systematic examination), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to studying movements. However, the specialized sense — a technical analysis aimed at improving efficiency and minimizing time/effort (as in time‑and‑motion studies) — is a professional extension that may not be fully predictable without exposure. Therefore it is partly transparent but contains domain-specific nuance.
Etymology
Motion study comes from early factories where engineers watched every motion—each hand movement and step—and made a study of them to cut out extra actions and save time and effort. So today motion study means looking closely at a job to find the best, fastest way to do it.