MODAPTS was developed by Chris Heyde in the 1960's based upon his experience with the MTM-2 time system. MODAPTS is currently supported via the International MODAPTS Association or IMA (www.modapts.org). The IMA is a non-profit organization headquartered in the United States.
A complete manual on the MODAPTS language for work can be located on and purchased from the IMA website. A list of courses provided by certified instructors is also available.
A default set of MODAPTS templates are included with Assembly Planner, as is a MS Excel lookup data file that can be easily modified by any user.
MODAPTS codes consist of a letter followed by a number. The letter indicates the type of the activity being performed (typically a movement of a body appendage) and the number indicates the time associated to that movement as measured in a unit called a MOD (1 MOD = 0.129 seconds).
MODAPTS Element Types
MODAPTS has two element types:
M: for code-based element strings
P: User-specified process times. Simply enter a quantity of MOD's in the Left Code field, or enter a time value followed by a dash and the time unit code.
L: for literal means to ignore the line because it represents a comment
The MODAPTS parser supports basic one-handed motions (use the LEFT hand code column), or two-handed motions. In addition, the parser supports segmented code multiplication, or internal exclusion. Examples of these formatting options are shown below.
Multiplication of codes can be accomplished by using the Frequency column for applying the multiplication to the entire element line, or by simply prefixing a string of MODAPTS codes contained within parenthesis by an integer factor. Similarly, codes can be ignored by the parser by enclosing them within angle brackets. In the following example, the first element line is repeated 3 times and code segment (M2P5 M1P0) is repeated 2 times within that. As such the total time for the element becomes 72 MODS. On the second element line of this example, you can see how the code W5 is ignored from the parser, which typically indicates that the operator is walking while performing the M3P5 task twice.
Multiplication of Codes
Another way to address internal tasks (two tasks performed concurrently) is to specify the tasks in the right and left hand code fields. When using codes for both hands concurrently, the parser will assume that those tasks can actually be performed simultaneously and will simply use the time associated with the longer element hand. This is considered a High skilled task, which is the default for the application, although you could specify an "H" in the special codes field to indicate this explicitly. Optionally, you can specify an "L" in the special codes column to indicate that the task is performed by a Low skilled operator, and thus the times for each hand would be added together.
Internal Tasks