Labor Minutes Per Unit Metric (LMPU)

The LMPU (Labor Minutes Per Unit) metric is used to measure the amount of labor used to produce a single unit or product. LMPU is used mainly used to measure the efficiency of the production process. 

Definitions and Calculation

Calculating LMPU for a single pitch

LMPU = (Operator Count × (Planned Production Minutes + Non-Production Minutes)) ÷ Actual

• Labor Minutes is the total number of minutes operators were checked into a line for a pitch.
• Actual is the amount of product actually produced during the Pitch, Shift, Day, or Week.
• Operator Count is the number of operators who worked on the production line during the pitch. Operator Count is pulled from the Production Pitch board input labeled Operator Count. The Operator Count is automatically entered when a line is set up to have users check in.  When this setting is enabled, Operator Count is adjusted for the time an operator was checked into the line.
• Planned Production Minutes is taken from the Production Pitch Boards. These minutes are determined during the scheduling of the pitch board.
• Non Production Minutes like the Planned Production Minutes, are also determined when scheduling the Production Pitch Board. Non Production Minutes are also part of the equation because of the associated labor cost.

Calculating LMPU for multiple pitches

Since Operator Count is not constant for multiple pitches, it cannot be averaged. It cannot be summed, either. In order to calculate an accurate LMPU, Operator Count must be extracted from the above calculation. Once extracted, we can perform the LMPU calculation using the sums of the remaining pieces.

LMPU = sum(Pitch Labor Minutes) ÷ sum(Pitch Actual)

Pitch Labor Minutes = Pitch Operator Count × (Pitch Planned Production Minutes + Pitch Non-Production Minutes)

Helpful Tips

• LMPU is a good metric to use when trying to determine labor costs during fluctuating demands.
• LMPU is also a good metric to use as a driver for Continuous Improvement projects.
• LMPU is dependent on the correct operator count being entered on the Production Pitch Board. If a line is set up to allow operators to check in, it is dependent on operators checking in and out of a line on time.
• example: If 2 operators worked the entire pitch, the Operator Count will be 2.
• example: If 2 operators worked for half of the pitch, the Operator Count would be 1.
• If you do not want to calculate labor minutes for part of a pitch (e.g. breaks), either have Operators check out of the line or adjust the Operator Count for the pitch. 
• You can turn on Operator Check In from: Setup > Lines > [Select a Line] > Enable Operator Portal Check In
• Select the "Default the operator count to the value of the last pitch" option in Production settings to help get the correct operator count in the pitch board.
• Use the Production Skills module to have operators log in and out of the production line. This feature automatically counts them towards the headcount of LMPU.
• LMPU is calculated using a sum of Pitch Labor Minutes when reporting for Shift, Day, or Week to improve accuracy.

Prorating

This metric will be prorated in certain areas of the application. Please see the article on Prorated Production Metrics for more information.

Related Articles

• Time Per Unit Metric (TPU)
• Performance Metric (PPP %)