Thursday, July 28, 2016

You Can Reduce Fuel Costs - Ideas For Fuel Cost Reduction



Fleetmatics Helps in Fuel Cost Reduction



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Companies that have multiple vehicles that rely on gasoline or diesel fuel to service their customers have an entire staff of drivers, and a responsibility to see that those drivers are making the most efficient use of their vehicles, time and fuel. Without close supervision and sophisticated monitoring systems to control these factors, they are in danger of losing profits due to these unmanaged costs.

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Friday, July 15, 2016

Exploring Engineering - Book Information



https://books.google.co.in/books?id=A96oBAAAQBAJ


Exploring Engineering: An Introduction to Engineering and Design

Philip Kosky, Robert T. Balmer, William D. Keat, George Wise
Academic Press, 11-Jun-2015 - Technology & Engineering - 552 pages


Exploring Engineering, Fourth Edition: An Introduction to Engineering and Design presents the emerging challenges engineers face in a wide range of areas as they work to help improve our quality of life. In this classic textbook, the authors explain what engineers actually do, from the fundamental principles that form the basis of their work to the application of that knowledge within a structured design process. The text itself is organized into three parts: Lead-On, Minds-On, Hands-On. This organization allows the authors to give a basic introduction to engineering methods, then show the application of these principles and methods, and finally present a design challenge. This book is an ideal introduction for anyone interested in exploring the various fields of engineering and learning how engineers work to solve problems.

Organization of Industrial Engineering Department - Suggestion by Hugo Diemer in 1912


HUGO DIEMER, M.E., Professor of Industrial Engineering, Pennsylvania State College, and Consulting Industrial Engineer.

Hugo Diemer was the first faculty member of Industrial Engineering and he developed the first undergraduate programme in industrial engineering in Pennsylvania State College.

In the following article he explained the development of staff assistance to manufacturing department.

Factory Organization in Relation to Industrial Education
Author(s): Hugo Diemer
Source: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 44, TheOutlook for Industrial Peace (Nov., 1912), pp. 130-140
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy ofPolitical and Social Science


Type of Staff Organization to be Applied to Manufacturing Side of Industries.



Mr. Harrington Emerson suggested staff control to cover four groups: 1, men; 2, materials; 3, equipment; 4, methods and conditions.

Mr. Frederick Taylor advocated  shop control to be handled by four types of executive functional heads whom he designates as 1, "gang boss;" 2, "speed boss;" 3, "inspector," and 4, "repair boss."

Diemer proposed staff departments for  1. records; 2. materials; 3. plant, equipment and processes; 4. men.

Work of  functional staff departments 


Department of Records.

It is primarily a research and advisory department the results of whose investigations and whose recommendations are brought up at such meetings of department heads and others as may have been predetermined. It is the duty of the record department to see that from each set of records is secured a method of most effective analysis so that the records of the past may be compared with records of the present and conclusions may be drawn as to future action. The individuals engaged in this department must be experts in theory of accounts, the science of statistics, the art of graphical presentation and cost accounting. The tendencies and facts indicated by an analysis of the records must be brought forcibly to the attention of all individuals whose actions based on experience and intuition differ from the action indicated by an analysis of figures, records and statistics.


Department of Materials.
This department assesses relation between materials indicated by the technology (designs) and the availability of various materials in the market, with constant attention to cost reduction as well as the bettering of product.

Department of Plant, Equipment and Processes.

This department is concerned with: 1., routing; 2. scheduling; 3. motion and time studies; 4. preparation of instruction sheets and cards; 5, standardization of equipment. In all of these matters the work of the staff department ends with the adoption of the method.

The routine work is carried on by men adapted to carry out routine work successfully that is line management and operating employees. For instance, the routine work of the planning or production department, is not a staff department activity.

1.Routing.-This involves a study of the processes and product and the preparation of process maps for the various classes of product and determination of most predominant paths, together with floor spaces, weights, bulks, etc., involved, and recommendations as to rearrangements of equipment, and departments and proposals as to building modifications and extensions. It consists further in the designation of which department, machine and class of individuals are to perform the operations indicated by the instructions and the recording of such assignments in such a way that the scheduling department can, in consultation with the department of records, prepare means for enabling the planning or production department to have positive definite information as to the work ahead for each individual, machine and department.

2. Scheduling.-This consists of the determination of the manner in which all orders which are to be worked on by the various departments of the establishment are to be listed so as to determine their sequence and the methods of preparing a definite program in order that the shop may be provided by the production department with a daily schedule covering the sequence of all work for the day.

3. Motion and Time Studies.-Motion study consists of the analysis of each process into its ultimate simplest steps, and the elimination of useless or improper motions. This process is prerequisite to and more difficult than time study, which consists in the timing with a stop watch all the elements indicated by the motion study. Based on motion studies, detailed instructions are to be prepared which are to be the standard practice and are not to be departed from. Proposals for different steps or methods from the standard are to be encouraged and duly rewarded if they result in improvements. The instruction sheets are to be furnished to the production or planning department by the staff department on plant, equipment and processes in just the same manner that the designing department furnishes the detailed shop working drawings for the designed product.

4. Standardization of Equipment.-This covers all items other than those involving motion and time studies, such as tools, appliances and fixtures.

5. Department of Men.-This staff department will consider: i). hygiene and efficiency; ii). psychology and efficiency; iii). industrial education and efficiency; iv).  development of loyalty, through social and religious activities.

Hygiene and Efficiency.-This section will deal with hygiene aspects like adequate provisions for pure and abundant drinking water, proper sanitary and toilet arrangements, first aid to the injured, eye-strain due to poor light, poorly directed light, glare, lassitude due to impure air or too dry air, discomfort due to temperature being too hot or too cold, together with installation of proper remedies and maintenance of proper conditions.

Psychology and Efficiency.- Careful researches must be made as to the presence of avoidable fatigue due to such factors as monotony of occupation, long maintenance of a single position, constant repeti- tion of certain movements, lack of conversation, studies of temperaments of eligible candidates for promotion so as to give due consideration to these characteristics of future gang leaders, assistant foremen, foremen and other officials.   Sympathy and discipline have to be simultaneously displayed by leaders of people.


Industrial Education.-This department provides for training of apprentices, and provides  means for each individual, so far as possible, for attaining greater efficiency. There must be systematic selection of each individual for his work and he must be given planned systematic training for further development.  This department also takes care of shop library or libraries.

Development of Loyalty Through Social and Religious Activities.- Systematic and continuous efforts must be made to make each individual's work inspiring and to get each man interested in his work. The system of promotion must be such as to afford numerous examples whereby ambition may be preserved.  Activities in the interests of good fellowship and social democracy will tend toward fair play for all and the avoidance of sharp practices in the dealings of employees with each other.


It is interesting to note this function indicated by Diemer.
4. Standardization of Equipment.-This covers all items other than those involving motion and time studies, such as tools, appliances and fixtures.

Industrial engineering has not developed adequately this aspect of industrial engineering.


Department of Materials.
This department assesses relation between materials indicated by the technology (designs) and the availability of various materials in the market, with constant attention to cost reduction as well as the bettering of product.

Department of materials is also an interesting idea that was later developed into value engineering by L.D. Miles.






Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Principles of Industrial Engineering - Centenary Year

The book, Principles of Industrial Engineering, by Charles Buxton Going was published in the year 1911. 2010-11 is its centenary year. Industrial engineers can read this book now in http://www.archive.org/details/principlesofindu00goinrich.

In the first chapter Going explained the work of industrial engineers in a very clear and vivid manner. Every industrial engineering student is to be advised to read this chapter. The chapter is given below. (Summary of the chapter is available in  What is industrial engineering? Going's Answer in 1911  )

This book has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book 
to enter  the public domain.  A public domain book is one that was never subject 
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. 

CHAPTER I 

____________________________________________________________________________
 


THE ORIGIN OF THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM 

INDUSTRIAL engineering is the formulated science of management. 
It directs the efficient conduct of manufacturing, construction, transportation, or even 
commercial enterprises of any undertaking, indeed, in which human labor is directed to 
accomplishing any kind of work. It is of very recent origin. 

Indeed, it is only just emerging from the formative period has only just crystallized, so to
speak,from the solution in which its elements have been combining during the past one or
two decades. The conditions that have brought into being this new applied science, this
new branch of engineering, grew out witnessed in other fields of human effort when some
great change, internal or external, forced them from a position of very minor importance
into that of a of the rise and enormous expansion of the manufacturing system. This
phenomenon of the evolution of a new applied science is like those that have been major
service to civilization. Columbus could blow across the ocean in a caravel to an unknown
landfall; but before a regular packet service could be its own, by which new practitioners
can be trained, by which certainty, safety run between New York and Liverpool navigation
must be made a science.
It has drawn upon older, purer sciences for its fundamental data upon astronomy, meteorology
and hydrography, and later upon marine steam engineering and electricity; but out of all 
these it has fused a distinct body of science of and efficiency of performance may be 
substantially assured. 

Navigation is not merely making correct observation of the sun and stars, of lights and
beacons, of log and lead; it is not merely directing the propelling and steering machinery;
it is not merely knowledge of courses and distances; it is not merely storm strategy. It is
the co-ordination of all these in handling the equipment provided by the marine engineer and
naval architect, through the work of a crew of men.
In somewhat like manner, industrial engineering has drawn upon mechanical engineering, upon
economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, accountancy, to fuse from these older sciences 
a distinct body of science of its own. It does not consist merely in the financial or 
commercial direction, nor merely in running the power-plant or machinery, nor merely in 
devising processes or methods. It consists in co-ordinating all these things, and others, in 
the direction of the work of operatives, using the equipment provided by the engineer, 
machinery builder, and architect. 

The cycle of operations which the industrial engineer directs is this: Money is converted 
into raw materials and operations of purchase, manufacture, sale, and the administration 
connected with each. labor; raw materials and labor are converted into finished product or 
services of some kind; finished product, or service, is converted back into money. The 
difference between the first money and the last money is (in a very broad sense) the gross 
profit of the operation. Part of this is absorbed in the intervening conversions

Now the starting level (that is, the cost of raw materials and labor) and the final level
(the price obtainable for finished product) these two levels are generally fixed by
competition and market conditions, as surely and as definitely as the differences in level
between intake and tail race are fixed in a water power. Hence our profit, like the energy
conversions between these levels. In the hydroelectric delivered at the bus bars, varies not
only with the volume passing from level, to level, but with the efficiency of the losses are
commercial, manufacturing, administrative. It is power-plant, the conversion losses are
hydraulic, mechanical and electrical. In any industrial enterprise the conversion many
mechanical engineers superintending special depart- with the efficiency of these latter
conversions that industrial engineering is concerned.
The industrial engineer may have in his organization staff cient and economical production.
He is concerned not only ments  design or construction, or the power-plant, for in- 
stance  while his own duty is to co-ordinate all these factors, and many more, for the one 
great, central purpose of effi- is the inclusion of the economic and the human elements es- 
with the direction of the great sources of power in nature, but with the direction of these 
forces as exerted by machinery, working upon materials, and operated by men. It 
pecially that differentiates industrial engineering from the agement of men and the 
definition and direction of policies older established branches of the profession. To put it 
in another way : The work of the industrial engineer not only covers technical counsel and 
superintendence of the technical elements of large enterprises, but extends also over the 
man- is analytical  we might almost call it passive to distinguish in fields that the 
financial or commercial man has always considered exclusively his own. 

In general, the work of the industrial engineer, or, to use a yet more inclusive term which 
is coming into general use, the efficiency engineer, has two phases. The first of these in a 
form that increases our useful working knowledge of it from the second phase, which is 
synthetic, creative, and most emphatically active. The analytical phase of industrial or 
efficiency engineering deals merely with the things that already exist. It examines into 
facts and conditions, dissects them, analyzes them, weighs them, and shows them are normal. 
To this sort of work Harrington Emerson ap- the industry with which we have to deal. To this province 
of industrial engineering belong the collection and tabulation of statistics about a business,
the accurate determination and analysis of costs, and the comparison of these costs with 
established standards so as to determine whether or not they systematic inquiry into the 
means and methods used for replies the term ** assays," speaking of labor assays, expense 
assays, etc., and maintaining (with good reason) that the expert efficiency engineer can make determinations of this 
sort as accurately, and compare them with standards as intelligently, as an assayer can 
separate and weigh the metal in an ore. To this province belong also such matters as 
total result are often made surprisingly and effectively man-
ceiving, handling, and issuing materials, routing and transporting these materials in process
of manufacture, the general arrangement of the plant, and the effect of this arrangement upon
economy of operation. To this province belongs, also, the reduction of these data and other 
data to graphic form, by which their influence and bearing upon 
ifest. It is wonderful how much new knowledge a man The great purpose and value, indeed, of 
these analytical may gain about even a business with which he thinks he is thoroughly 
familiar by plotting various sorts of data on charts where, say, the movement of materials 
back and forth, or the rise of costs under certain conditions, are translated immediately 
into visible lines instead of being put into the indirect and rather unimpressive form of 
long descriptions or tabular columns of figures. 




creative and synthetic phase, goes on from this point and functions of industrial engineering
is that they visualize the operations of the business and enable us to pick out the weak
spots and the bad spots so that we can apply the right remedies and apply them where they are needed. They make us apprehend the presence and the relative importance of elements which would otherwise
remain lost in the mass, undetected by our unaided senses. 

The second phase of industrial engineering the active, 
ufacture; the correction of inefficiencies, whether of power, effects improvements, devises
new methods and processes, introduces economies, develops new ideas. Instead of
merely telling us what we have been doing or what we are doing, it makes us do the same thing
more economically or shows us how to do a new thing that is better than the old. 
To this part of works management belongs, for example, the rearrangement of manufacturing 
plants, of departments, or of operations so as to simplify the process of man- 
requires that he shall have technical knowledge and scien- transmission, equipment or labor;
the invention and application of new policies in management which make the ideals
and purposes of the head operate more directly upon the conduct of the hands; the devising
of new wage systems by which, for example, stimulus of individual reward proportioned to 
output makes the individual employee more productive. 

The exercise of these functions, whether analytical or creative, by the industrial engineer 
or the efficiency engineer, 
It deals with materials, but not so much with their me
tific training, but in somewhat different form from the equipment of the mechanical engineer
and somewhat differently exercised.
Industrial engineering deals with machinery; but not so much with its design, construction,
or abstract economy, which are strictly mechanical considerations, as with selection, 
arrangement, installation, operation and maintenance, and the influence which each of these 
points or all of them together may exert upon the total cost of the product which 
that machinery turns out. 

in progress and visualizing the result so that the manager
chanical and physical constants, which are strictly technical considerations, as with their
proper selection, their standardization, their custody, transportation, and manipulation.
It deals very largely with methods ; but the methods with which it is particularly concerned
are methods of performing work; methods of securing high efliciency in the output of 
machinery and of men; methods of handling materials, and establishing the exact connection 
between each unit handled and the cost of handling; methods of keeping track of work 
their most effective work.
of the works may have a controlling view of everything that is going on; methods of recording
 times and costs so that the efficiency of the performance may be compared with known 
standards; methods of detecting causes of low efficiency or poor economy and applying the 
necessary remedies. 

It deals with management that is, with the executive and administrative direction of the 
whole dynamic organization, including machinery, equipment and men. 

It deals with men themselves and with the influences which stimulate their ambition, enlist 
their co-operation and insure 

chanical engineer, the electrical engineer, the mining en-
It deals with markets, with the economic principles or laws affecting them and the mode of
creating, enlarging, or controlling them. 

The most important elements of industrial engineering are summed up in this alliterative list
 machinery, materials, methods, management, men and markets. And these six elements are 
interpreted and construed by the aid of another factor whose name also begins with  Money. 
Money supplies the gauge and the limit by which the other 
 

factors are all measured and adjusted. This of course is true not alone of industrial 
engineering; the civil engineer, the mechanical engineer being retained to carry out some 
piece of 
gineer, each and all must normally be expected to make money for his employer or client. One 
of the simplest principles of the profession, but one which the mere technician sometimes 
finds it hardest to keep in mind, is that the primary purpose for which the engineer is 
usually engaged is to direct the employment of capital so that it may pay back 
dividends to its owners. And while this is generally true of all engineering employment, it 
is most particularly, con- 
tinuously and everlastingly true of works management. It is much easier to conceive of the 
civil engineer or the me- 
work in which scientific accuracy is demanded regardless of the $75 cost with some actual 
item of material, labor, or cost, than it is to conceive of a shop superintendent being 
directed or even permitted to manufacture a line of product regardless of cost. 

It is the ever-present duty of the industrial engineer, of the efficiency engineer, to study 
constantly, and to study constantly harder and harder, the question of equivalency between 
the dollars spent and the things secured. It is not sufficient, for example, for him to know 
that a machine sold for $100 costs $75 to make. This may be a very good 
profit and the machine itself may be an excellent one. There may be vouchers honestly 
connecting every cent of expense. Nevertheless, the industrial engineer must con- 
dustrial engineer is tt) determine with the utmost possible stantly look back of these
figures to see whether by some change of machinery, some modification of materials, some
alteration of methods, some higher skill in management, some stimulus to the men, he can
make the machine cost less than $75 for its manufacture, or can make it a better ma- 
chine for the same cost, or perhaps can do both. 

In short, the industrial engineer is under unending and unremitting pressure to secure a true
 proportion between what he spends and what he gets. And the proportion is never true so 
long as the smallest opportunity remains for getting more in return for what he spends, or 
for spending less in payment for what he gets. The function of the in- 
afterward, as they were under the older order. If you con-
wisdom and insight whether and where any disproportion between expenditure and return exists,
 to find the amount of the disproportion, the causes of such disproportion, and to 
apply effective remedies. 

The forces causing this pressure for the reduction of cost are principally two. The older 
and cruder is competition. The later and larger, which in itself carries the answer to 
competition, is the effort toward efficiency. 

Competition was not created by the manufacturing system. It existed from the foundation of 
the world. But it took on a new meaning and new activity when the things began to be made 
first and sold after (as they are under the manufacturing system) instead of being sold first
 and made 
he can only compare the thing which has been made with what
tract to buy something which is not yet in existence a bridge, a house, a suit of clothes, or
 what not the bargain is largely a matter of estimate, often, indeed, a matter of guess work,
 on both sides. You have to strike a mental balance between the several alternatives 
presented and compare in your mind net results of cost, design, quality, certainty and 
promptness of delivery, personality, credit, and perhaps many other things, some of them 
intangible, and some only to be proved by the outcome. The proposition that seems 
most attractive is closed; the competing ones are never carried out at all. The buyer never 
can tell with absolute certainty whether or not he got the best value for his money; 
the ability to reduce costs become fundamental. Competi-
he thinks the other things would have been if they had been made. The seller does not know
until everything is over whether or not he made a profit, or how much. But when you sell 
things already made, like lathes or high-speed engines or dynamos, off the sales-room floor, 
the prospective buyer can make the most absolute and intimate comparison between the things 
and their prices. He can compare Brown & Sharpe with Lodge & Shipley, Harrisburg with 
the Ball engine, Westlnghouse with Crocker- Wheeler. He can compare accurately design, 
quality, cost before a word or a dollar passes. The necessity for offering the best goods 
for the least money and yet making a fair profit becomes vital and insistent, and so the 
knowledge of actual costs and secured among producer, consumer, and employee. Effi- 

tion has therefore been in one way a tremendous force for economy in manufacturing. And yet, 
by a paradox, in another way competition has been one of the great sources of waste, by 
causing duplication of plant, of organization, of equipment, of sales effort, and of 
middle-men — none of which may have any better reason for existence than some- 
one's desire to share in tempting-looking profits, but all of which must be paid by the 
consumer — all of which become a burden on society at large. 

The new and ethically fine ideal, therefore, is efficiency the reduction of costs and the 
elimination of waste for the primary purpose of doing the thing as well as it can 
be done, and the distribution of the increased profits thus 
ciency is a concept as much finer than competition as crea- 
inefficient and develop the efficient, thus producing a nation
tion, conservation, is finer than warfare. It is a philosophy an interpretation of the relations of things that may be applied not only to industry but to all life. Let me quote a few sentences from Harrington
 Emerson's ** Efficiency as a Basis for Operation and Wages " : 

** If we could eliminate all the wastes due to evil, all men would be good; if we could 
eliminate all the wastes due to ignorance, all men would have the benefit of supreme wisdom; 
if wc could eliminate all the wastes due to laziness and misdirected efforts, all men would 
be reasonably and health- fully industrious. It is not impossible that through efficiency 
standards, with efficiency rewards and penalties, we could in the course of a few generations
 crowd off the sphere the of men good, wise and industrious, thus giving to God what 
is His, to Caesar what is his, and to the individual what is shall see particularly something
 that it is of the utmost im- 

his. The attainable standard becomes very high, the attainment itself becomes very high. . . 

" Efficiency is to be attained not by individual striving, but solely by establishing, from 
all the accumulated and available wisdom of the world, staff-knowledge standards 
for each act by carrying staff standards into effect through directing line organization, 
through rewards for individual excellence; persuading the individual to accept staff stand- 
ards, to accept line direction and control, and under this double guidance to do his own 
uttermost bpst." 

Efficiency, then, and in consequence industrial engineering, which is the prosecution of 
efficiency in manufacturing, involves much more than mere technical considerations or 
technical knowledge. If we consider the way in which the manufacturing system came into 
existence, we can quite easily and clearly discover its most important elements; wc 
practical achievement must always be interwoven with the*
portance for us to understand, and that is that it did not originate in technical advances
alone, and it has never depended upon technical advances alone, but it has been in- 
fluenced at least in equal and perhaps in larger proportion by economic or commercial 
conditions, and by another set of factors which are psychological that is, which have to 
do with the thoughts and purposes and emotions of men. 

The point is very important, because true and stable in- 
dustrial progress, whether for the individual, the manufac- 
turing plant or corporation, or the nation at large, depends
upon a wise co-ordination and balance between technical, 
commercial, and human considerations. It is frequently 
necessary in addressing a commercial audience to empha- 
size the importance of the technical element. Before a 
technical audience, on the other hand, emphasis must often 
be laid on the commercial and psychological factors that in 
had been perfected to a point of practical service.
technical factor. Every great industrial organization and every great step in industrial progress to-day includes all three elements, but they will perhaps appear more distinct if we look at the origin and source of the manufacturing sys- tem, out of which this new science of industry has sprung. The origin of the manufacturing system was clearly enough the introduction of a group of inventions that came in close sequence about the end of the eighteenth century and be- ginning of the nineteenth. These were the steam engine, mechanical spinning and weaving machinery, the steamboat, the locomotive, and the machine-tool. It is commonly as- sumed that the great cause of the entire movement was Watt's improvement of the steam engine — that the indus- trial era which began a little more than a century ago was, so to speak, waiting in suspense, in the hush of things un- born, ready to leap into being as soon as the prime mover
ways had something near the quality and quantity of en-
This view seems to be incomplete. The steam engine had been discovered, forgotten, and rediscovered, it would be difficult to say how often, from the time of Hero or earlier down to the time of Watt — forgotten and ignored because the world had no use for it ; the economic conditions were not ripe for it. If there had been the same demand for power to pump the mines in England, the same demand for machinery in the textile industries of England, the same need for better vehicles to transport commercial products by land and by sea, in the time of Papin or the Marquis of Worcester that there was in the time of Watt, I think it is quite conceivable that the inventions which made Watt fa- mous would have come a full century earlier, and his genius would have been exerted upon a later stage of the problem, as the genius of Willans and Corliss and Parsons and Curtis has been within the period of our own lives. I am strongly inclined to believe that the world has al-
success depends upon commercial opportunity. There must
gineering talent it has been able to use. When civilization was dependent chiefly upon roads, aqueducts, bridges and buildings, it got them. We have never done some of these things better, technically speaking, than the Assyrians, or the Romans, or the architects of the great cathedrals of the middle ages; some, indeed, we perhaps never shall do again as well. Newcomen, Watt, Arkwright, Stephenson, Besse- mer, applied genius to a new sort of opportunity, rather than embodied in themselves a new order of genius. They may indeed have been greater than other workers who preceded them, but the more important element in their success is that the world was at last ready and waiting as it never had been before for the peculiar product of genius they had to offer. This readiness that opened the door to their success was due to economic or commercial conditions, not merely to the technical invention. In its larger relations, then, technical be a potential market. Bessemer steel could not have found
mercial factor. There must be a potential market; but it
any welcome in the Stone Age. The typewriter would not have succeeded in the dark ages when no one but a few clerics could read and write. Savages who traded cocoa- nuts for beads and brass wire could afford no encouragement to the manufacturer of the cash register or the adding ma- chine. It was not because of thermodynamic inefficiency that Hero's engine failed of adoption. On the other hand, when the world was ready for steam power it accepted very gladly to begin with a very crude machine, and technical im- provement went step by step with larger practical utilization, sometimes leading and sometimes following. There must, then, be a potential market or application, or advance in the applied sciences will be limited. This is an axiom to be placed alongside of another — that there must be scientific study and research, or industries based upon the applica- tions of science will stagnate and remain at a low stage of efficiency. The second factor in industrial progress, then, is the com-
shown us that in many cases there is no such thing as a fixed
does not follow from this that technical progress is wholly subordinate to economic conditions. The inventor or the engineer is not of necessity merely a follower of progress in commerce or industry. Many of the great* advances in ap- plied science, or in branches of industrial achievement per- haps too lowly to be called applied science, have been made by man who foresaw not only technical possibilities but commercial possibilities — who undertook not only to per- fect the invention but to show the world the advantage of using it. I think this was substantially the case with wire- less telegraphy, with the cash register and typewriter. No- body had demanded these things because nobody had thought of them, and the productive act in each instance included not only technical insight into the possibilities of doing the thing, but human insight into the fact that people would ap- preciate these things and use them if they could be furnished at or below a certain cost. Modern industrial methods have
cian. This would not have been because the extraordinary
demand beyond which supply can not be absorbed, but that demand is a function of cost of production. There may be no demand at all for an article costing a dollar, but an al- most unlimited demand for the same article if it can be sold at five cents. A large part of the work of the production engineer lies in the creation of methods by which the cost of production is decreased and the volume of production is thereby increased, with advantages to both the producer and the consumer. In all these cases you see that technical achievement, technical success, is closely
interlocked with industrial or economic conditions, and with the understanding and control of
industrial or economic influences and forces. 

The third factor in industrial progress is the psychological factor — the element 
contributed by the mental attitude, emotions, or passions of men. I might suggest its 
possible importance by reminding you that there were centuries in which the inventor of the 
steam engine, far from being rewarded, would have been burned at the stake as a magi- 
ficient to energize an industrial movement. In the case of
character of the achievement was unrecognized, but because its nature was misinterpreted.
That particular form of expressing intellectual dissent has gone out of date. We are 
much more civilized now, and nineteenth- or twentieth-century inventors who are far ahead of 
their times are no longer burned; they are merely allowed to starve to death; while 
those who are timely, but not commercially shrewd, are usually swindled by some promoter, who
 in turn is frozen out by a trust. In any case, you see, the simple technician gets 
the worst of it industrially, not because his physical science is weak, but because his 
commercial and mental shrewdness is not correspondingly developed. 

Taking a larger view of it, we shall see that almost every important advance in engineering 
progress is made only after a period of pause, an interval following proof of the tech- 
nical achievement, following even demonstration of its commercial economy. We might call this
 the psychological lag the time necessary for the growth of human faith suf- 
the electric railway, or the motor vehicle, for example, this this psychological or human 
element is of immense, even 

lag was measured by years. Bessemer could not convince 
the ironmasters of England, and had to build his own plant. 
Westinghouse, having gained after much difficulty an audi- 
ence with the greatest railroad manager of that day, was 
told that this practical railroad man had no time to waste 
on a damn fool who expected to stop railroad trains with 
wind. The matter deserves emphasis because it is almost 
certain to enter into the individual experience of every man. 
You will have to make someone believe you, and believe in 
you, before you can get anywhere or do anything. When a 
technical man has a proposition to put before an individual, 
or a group of individuals, or society at large, he is very 
likely to think that scientific demonstration of its technical 
soundness ought to be convincing. You will find, however, 
that men at large will substantially ignore scientific proof, 
and that you must add to it, second, proof of the commer- 
cial or economic argument, and third, that psychological 
force which convinces not the reason, but the emotions. In 
all industrial engineering, which involves dealing with men, 
trial activities go badly wrong in their philosophy, and get
controlling importance. The principles of the science are absolute, scientific, eternal. But methods, when we are dealing with men, must recognize the personal equation (which is psychologic) or failure will follow. The differ- ences between the several philosophies of works management as expressed in the wage systems which we are going to con- sider later are psychological. Success in handling men and women, which is one of the most important parts of the work of the industrial engineer, is founded on knowledge of human nature, which is psychology. The great industrial movement, then, with which we have to do is triune in its nature, the
three chief elements being the technical or scientific, the economic or commercial, and 
the psychological or human. They seldom respond at equal rates to the impetus of advance. 
Sometimes the technician pushes so far ahead that the world loses touch with what he 
is doing and his work lies long unused until civilization catches up; sometimes the 
commercial tendency is unduly aggressive, and discourages or impedes real scientific achieve- 
ment; very often the men most concerned with the indus- 
____________________________________________________________________________
disastrously false notions as to what makes for real progress and real welfare. More
difficulties, perhaps, come from this cause than from any other. 

To the technical man, it is an ever-present duty to keep in view absolute ideals, to seek 
every chance for their advancement, and to mould conditions and men so as to obtain con- 
stantly nearer approach to these ideals; but in doing this he must never forget to attach 
full weight to economic conditions, and he must never allow himself to ignore human nature. 

 
Footnote

1 A systematic presentation of the field of industrial engineering from 
an entirely different point of view and by a very different method will 
be found in " Factory Organization and Administration," by Prof. Hugo 
Diemer; McGraw-Hill Book Co. 


____________________________________________________________________________
Updated 15 July 2016,  11 January 2012

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Industrial Engineering - Month Focus Methods and Topics



January  - Material Productivity

February - Productive Maintenance, Equipment Productivity

March - Industrial Engineering Economics

April - Industrial Engineering Statistics

May - Industrial Engineering Measurement

June - Productivity Management

July  - Scientific Management, Principles of Industrial Engineering, Product Design Efficiency

August -  Machine Work, Process Improvement

September - Human Effort Engineering

October -  Optimization

November - Management Processes Improvement, Materials Handling, Layout, Tooling

December - Energy

Friday, July 8, 2016

July Second Week - Industrial Engineering Knowledge Revision


The principles explain the question what is industrial engineering (IE)?

Basic Principles of Industrial Engineering


1. Develop science for each element of a man - machine system's work related to efficiency and productivity.
2. Engineer methods, processes and operations to use the laws related to the work of machines, man, materials and other resources.
3. Select or assign workmen based on predefined aptitudes for various types of man - machine work.
4. Train workmen, supervisors, and engineers in the new methods, install various modifications related to the machines that include productivity improvement devices and ensure that the expected productivity is realized.
5. Incorporate suggestions of operators, supervisors and engineers in the methods redesign on a continuous basis.
6. Plan and manage productivity at system level.
(The principles were developed on 4 June 2016 (During Birthday break of 2016 - 30 June 2016 to 7 July 2016).

The principles were developed by Narayana Rao K.V.S.S. based on principles of scientific management by F.W. Taylor) More details: Basic Principles of Industrial Engineering http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2016/07/basic-principles-of-industrial.html


Second Week of July


8 July


11. Illustrations of Success of Scientific Management - Bicycle Balls Inspection Example

12. Scientific Management in Machine Shop

9 July


13. Development of Science in Mechanic Arts

14. Study of Motives of Men

10 July


15. Scientific management in its essence

16. Role of Top Management in Implementing Scientific Management

11 July


17. Scientific Management Summarized

18. Harrington Emerson - A Pioneer Industrial Engineer


12 July


19. The Twelve Principles of Efficiency - Part 1

20. The Twelve Principles of Efficiency - Part 2


Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Role of Top Management in Implementing Scientific Management - F.W. Taylor


Continued from
Scientific Management in Its Essence - F.W. Taylor

Directors of the Company Have to Understand the Fundamental Principles of Scientific Management


The writer would again insist that in no case should the managers of an establishment, the work of which is elaborate, undertake to change from the old to the new type unless the directors of the company fully understand and believe in the fundamental principles of scientific management and unless they appreciate all that is involved in making this change, particularly the time required, and unless they want scientific management greatly.

Distribution of Productivity Gain between Shareholders, Employees and Consumers


Doubtless some of those who are especially interested in working men will complain because under scientific management the workman, when he is shown how to do twice as much work as he formerly did, is not paid twice his former wages, while others who are more interested in the dividends than the workmen will complain that under this system the men receive much higher wages than they did before.

It does seem grossly unjust when the bare statement is made that the competent pig-iron handler, for instance, who has been so trained that he piles 3 6/10 times as much iron as the incompetent man formerly did, should receive an increase of only 60 per cent in wages.

It is not fair, however, to form any final judgment until all of the elements in the case have been considered. At the first glance we see only two parties to the transaction, the workmen and their employers. We overlook the third great party, the whole people,--the consumers, who buy the product of the first two and who ultimately pay both the wages of the workmen and the profits of the employers.

The rights of the people are therefore greater than those of either employer or employee. And this third great party should be given its proper share of any gain. In fact, a glance at industrial history shows that in the end the whole people receive the greater part of the benefit coming from industrial improvements. In the past hundred years, for example, the greatest factor tending toward increasing the output, and thereby the prosperity of the civilized world, has been the introduction of machinery to replace hand labor. And without doubt the greatest gain through this change has come to the whole people--the consumer.

Through short periods, especially in the case of patented apparatus, the dividends of those who have introduced new machinery have been greatly increased, and in many cases, though unfortunately not universally, the employees have obtained materially higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. But in the end the major part of the gain has gone to the whole people.

And this result will follow the introduction of scientific management just as surely as it has the introduction of machinery.

To return to the case of the pig-iron handler. We must assume, then, that the larger part of the gain which has come from his great increase in output will in the end go to the people in the form of cheaper pig-iron. And before deciding upon how the balance is to be divided between the workmen and the employer, as to what is just and fair compensation for the man who does the piling and what should be left for the company as profit, we must look at the matter from all sides.

First. As we have before stated, the pig-iron handler is not an extraordinary man difficult to find, he is merely a man more or less of the type of the ox, heavy both mentally and physically.

Second. The work which this man does tires him no more than any healthy normal laborer is tired by a proper day's work. (If this man is overtired by his work, then the task has been wrongly set and this is as far as possible from the object of scientific management.)

Third. It was not due to this man's initiative or originality that he did his big day's work, but to the knowledge of the science of pig-iron handling developed and taught him by some one else.

Fourth. It is just and fair that men of the same general grade (when their all-round capacities are considered) should be paid about the same wages when they are all working to the best of their abilities. (It would be grossly unjust to other laborers, for instance, to pay this man 3 6/10 as high wages as other men of his general grade receive for an honest full day's work.)

Fifth. As is explained (page 74), the 60 per cent increase in pay which he received was not the result of an arbitrary judgment of a foreman or superintendent, it was the result of a long series of careful experiments impartially made to determine what compensation is really for the man's true and best interest when all things are considered.

Thus we see that the pig-iron handler with his 60 per cent increase in wages is not an object for pity but rather a subject for congratulation.

After all, however, facts are in many cases more convincing than opinions or theories, and it is a significant fact that those workmen who have come under this system during the past thirty years have invariably been satisfied with the increase in pay, which they have received, while their employers have been equally pleased with their increase in dividends.

The writer is one of those who believes that more and more will the third party (the whole people), as it becomes acquainted with the true facts, insist that justice shall be done to all three parties. It will
demand the largest efficiency from both employers and employees. It will no longer tolerate the type of employer who has his eye on dividends alone, who refuses to do his full share of the work and who merely cracks his whip over the heads of his workmen and attempts to drive them into harder work for low pay. No more will it tolerate tyranny on the part of labor which demands one increase after another in pay and shorter hours while at the same time it becomes less instead of more efficient.

And the means which the writer firmly believes will be adopted to bring about, first, efficiency both in employer and employs and then an equitable division of the profits of their joint efforts will be scientific management, which has for its sole aim the attainment of justice for all three parties through impartial scientific investigation of all the elements of the problem. For a time both sides will rebel against this advance. The workers will resent any interference with their old rule-of-thumb methods, and the management will resent being asked to take on new duties and burdens; but in the end the people through enlightened public opinion will force the new order of things upon both employer and employee.

It will doubtless be claimed that in all that has been said no new fact has been brought to light that was not known to some one in the past. Very likely this is true. Scientific management does not necessarily involve any great invention, nor the discovery of new or startling facts. It does, however, involve a certain combination of elements which have not existed in the past, namely, old knowledge so collected, analyzed, grouped, and classified into laws and rules that it constitutes a science; accompanied by a complete change in the mental attitude of the working men as well as of those on the side of the management, toward each other, and toward their respective duties and responsibilities. Also, a new division of the duties between the two sides and intimate, friendly cooperation to an extent that is impossible under the philosophy of the old management. And even all of this in many cases could not exist without the help of mechanisms which have been gradually developed.

F.W. Taylor, Scientific Management

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Scientific Management in Its Essence - F.W. Taylor


Continued from

The history of the development of scientific, management up to date, however, calls for a word of warning. The mechanism of management must not be mistaken for its essence, or underlying philosophy. Precisely the same mechanism will in one case produce disastrous results and in another the most beneficent. The same mechanism which will produce the finest results when made to serve the underlying principles of scientific management, will lead to failure and disaster if accompanied by the wrong spirit in those who are using it. Hundreds of people have already mistaken the mechanism of this system for its essence. Messrs. Gantt, Barth and the writer have presented papers to, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers on the subject of scientific management. In these papers the mechanism which is used has been described at some length. As elements of this mechanism may be cited:

Time study, with the implements and methods for properly making it.

Functional or divided foremanship and its superiority to the old-fashioned single foreman.

The standardization of all tools and implements used in the trades, and also of the acts or movements of workmen for each class of work.

The desirability of a planning room or department.

The "exception principle" in management.

The use of slide-rules and similar timesaving implements.

Instruction cards for the workman.

The task idea in management, accompanied by a large bonus for the successful performance of the task.

The "differential rate."

Mnemonic systems for classifying manufactured products as well as implements used in manufacturing.

A routing system.

Modern cost system, etc., etc.

These are, however, merely the elements or details of the mechanism of management. Scientific management, in its essence, consists of a certain philosophy, which results, as before stated, in a combination of the four great underlying principles of management:*

[*Footnote: First. The development of a true science.
Second. The scientific selection of the workman.
Third. His scientific education and development.
Fourth. Intimate friendly cooperation between the management and the men.]

When, however the elements of this mechanism, such as time study, functional foremanship etc., are used without being accompanied by the true philosophy of management, the results are in many cases disastrous. And, unfortunately, even when men who are thoroughly in sympathy with the principles of scientific management undertake to change too rapidly from the old type to the new, without heeding the warnings of those who have had years of experience in making this change, they frequently meet with serious troubles, and sometimes with strikes, followed by failure.

The writer, in his paper on "Shop Management," has called especial attention to the risks which managers run in attempting to change rapidly from the old to the new management in many cases, however, this warning has not been heeded. The physical changes which are needed, the actual time study which has to be made, the standardization of all implements connected with the work, the necessity for individually studying each machine and placing it in perfect order, all take time, but the faster these elements of the work are studied and improved, the better for the undertaking. On the other hand, the really great problem involved in a change from the management of "initiative and incentive" to scientific management consists in a complete revolution in the mental attitude and the habits of all of those engaged in the management, as well of the workmen. And this change can be brought about only gradually and through the presentation of many object-lessons to the workman, which, together with the teaching which he receives, thoroughly convince him of the superiority of the new over the old way of doing the work. This change in the mental attitude of the workman imperatively demands time. It is impossible to hurry it beyond a certain speed. The writer has over and over again warned those who contemplated making this change that it was a matter, even in a simple establishment, of from two to three years, and that in some cases it requires from four to five years.

The first few changes which affect the workmen should be made exceedingly slowly, and only one workman at a time should be dealt with at the start. Until this single man has been thoroughly convinced that a great gain has come to him from the new method, no further change should be made. Then one man after another should be tactfully changed over. After passing the point at which from one.-fourth to one-third of the men in the employ of the company have been changed from the old to the new, very rapid progress can be made, because at about this time there is, generally, a complete revolution in the public opinion of the whole establishment and practically all of the workmen who are working under the old system become desirous to share in the benefits which they see have been received by those working under the new plan.

Inasmuch as the writer has personally retired from the business of introducing this system of management (that is, from all work done in return for any money compensation), he does not hesitate again to emphasize the fact that those companies are indeed fortunate who can secure the services of experts who have had the necessary practical experience in introducing scientific management, and who have made a special study of its principles. It is not enough that a man should have been a manager in an establishment which is run under the new principles. The man who undertakes to direct the steps to be taken in changing from the old to the new (particularly in any establishment doing elaborate work) must have had personal experience in overcoming the especial difficulties which are always met with, and which are peculiar to this period of transition. It is for this reason that the writer expects to devote the rest of his life chiefly to trying to help those who wish to take up this work as their profession, and to advising the managers and owners of companies in general as to the steps which they should take in making this change.

As a warning to those who contemplate adopting scientific management, the following instance is given. Several men who lacked the extended experience which is required to change without danger of strikes, or without interference with the success of the business, from the management of "initiative and incentive" to scientific management, attempted rapidly to increase the output in quite an elaborate establishment, employing between three thousand and four thousand men. Those who undertook to make this change were men of unusual ability, and were at the same time enthusiasts and I think had the interests of the workmen truly at heart. They were, however, warned by the writer, before starting, that they must go exceedingly slowly, and that the work of making the change in this establishment could not be done in less than from three to five years. This warning they entirely disregarded. They evidently believed that by using much of the mechanism of scientific management, in combination with the principles of the management of "initiative and incentive," instead of with these principles of scientific management, that they could do, in a year or two, what had been proved in the past to require at least double this time. The knowledge obtained from accurate time study, for example, is a powerful implement, and can be used, in one case to promote harmony between the workmen and the management, by gradually educating, training, and leading the workmen into new and better methods of doing the work, or, in the other case, it may be used more or less as a club to drive the workmen into doing a larger day's work for approximately the same pay that they received in the past. Unfortunately the men who had charge of this work did not take the time and the trouble required to train functional foremen, or teachers, who were fitted gradually to lead and educate the workmen. They attempted, through the old-style foreman, armed with his new weapon (accurate time study), to drive the workmen, against their wishes, and without much increase in pay, to work much harder, instead of gradually teaching and leading them toward new methods, and convincing them through object-lessons that task management means for them somewhat harder work, but also far greater prosperity. The result of all this disregard of fundamental principles was a series of strikes, followed by the down-fall of the men who attempted to make the change, and by a return to conditions throughout the establishment far worse than those which existed before the effort was made.

This instance is cited as an object-lesson of the futility of using the mechanism of the new management while leaving out its essence, and also of trying to shorten a necessarily long operation in entire disregard of past experience. It should be emphasized that the men who undertook this work were both able and earnest, and that failure was not due to lack of ability on their part, but to their undertaking to do the impossible. These particular men will not again make a similar mistake, and it is hoped that their experience may act as a warning to others.

In this connection, however, it is proper to again state that during the thirty years that we have been engaged in introducing scientific management there has not been a single strike from those who were
working in accordance with its principles, even during the critical period when the change was being made from the old to the new. If proper methods are used by men who have had experience in this work, there is absolutely no danger from strikes or other troubles.

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Study of Motives of Men - F.W. Taylor


Continued from

Accurate Study of the Motives Which Influence Men. 


There is another type of scientific investigation which has been referred to several times in this paper, and which should receive special attention, namely, the accurate study of the motives which influence men. At first it may appear that this is a matter for individual observation and judgment, and is not a proper subject for exact scientific experiments. It is true that the laws which result from experiments of this class, owing to the fact that the very complex organism--the human being--is being experimented with, are subject to a larger number of exceptions than is the case with laws relating to material things. And yet laws of this kind, which apply to a large majority of men, unquestionably exist, and when clearly defined are of great value as a guide in dealing with men. In developing these laws, accurate, carefully planned and executed experiments, extending through a term of years, have been made, similar in a general way to the experiments upon various other elements which have been referred to in this paper. Perhaps the most important law belonging to this class, in its relation to scientific management, is the effect which the task idea has upon the efficiency of the workman. This, in fact, has become such an important element of the mechanism of scientific management, that by a great number of people scientific management has come to be known as "task management."

There is absolutely nothing new in the task idea. Each one of us will remember that in his own case this idea was applied with good results in his school-boy days. No efficient teacher would think of giving a class of students an indefinite lesson to learn. Each day a definite, clear-cut task is set by the teacher before each scholar, stating that he must learn just so much of the subject; and it is only by this means that proper, systematic progress can be made by the students. The average boy would go very slowly if, instead of being given a task, he were told to do as much as he could. All of us are grown-up children, and it is equally true that the average workman will work with the greatest satisfaction, both to himself and to his employer, when he is given each day a definite task which he is to perform in a given time, and which constitutes a proper day's work for a good workman. This
furnishes the workman with a clear-cut standard, by which he can throughout the day measure his own progress, and the accomplishment of which affords him the greatest satisfaction.

The writer has described in other papers a series of experiments made upon workmen, which have resulted in demonstrating the fact that it is impossible, through any long period of time, to get work-men to work much harder than the average men around them, unless they are assured a large and a permanent increase in their pay. This series of experiments, however, also proved that plenty of workmen can be found who are willing to work at their best speed, provided they are given this liberal increase in wages. The workman must, however, be fully assured that this increase beyond the average is to be permanent. Our experiments have shown that the exact percentage of increase required to make a workman work at his highest speed depends upon the kind of work which the man is doing.

It is absolutely necessary, then, when workmen are daily given a task which calls for a high rate of speed on their part, that they should also be insured the necessary high rate of pay whenever they are
successful. This involves not only fixing for each man his daily task, but also paying him a large bonus, or premium, each time that he succeeds in doing his task in the given time. It is difficult to
appreciate in full measure the help which the proper use of these two elements is to the workman in elevating him to the highest standard of efficiency and speed in his trade, and then keeping him there, unless one has seen first the old plan and afterward the new tried upon the same man. And in fact until one has seen similar accurate experiments made upon various grades of workmen engaged in doing widely different types of work. The remarkable and almost uniformly good results from the correct application of the task and the bonus must be seen to be appreciated.

These two elements, the task and the bonus (which, as has been pointed out in previous papers, can be applied in several ways), constitute two of the most important elements of the mechanism of scientific management. They are especially important from the fact that they are, as it were, a climax, demanding before they can be used almost all of the other elements of the mechanism; such as a planning department, accurate time study, standardization of methods and implements, a routing system, the training of functional foremen or teachers, and in many cases instruction cards slide-rules, etc. (Referred to  in  more detail on page 129?.)

The necessity for systematically teaching workmen how to work to the best advantage has been several times referred to. It seems desirable, therefore, to explain in rather more detail how this teaching is done. In the case of a machine-shop which is managed under the modern system, detailed written instructions as to the best way of doing each piece of work are prepared in advance, by men in the planning department. These instructions represent the combined work of several men in the planning room, each of whom has his own specialty, or function. One of them, for instance, is a specialist on the proper speeds and cutting tools to be used. He uses the slide-rules which have been above described as an aid, to guide him in obtaining proper speeds, etc. Another man analyzes the best and quickest motions to be made by the workman in setting the work up in the machine and removing it, etc. Still a third, through the time-study records which have been accumulated, makes out a timetable giving the proper speed for doing each element of the work. The directions of all of these men, however, are written on a single instruction card, or sheet.

These men of necessity spend most of their time in the planning department, because they must be close to the records and data which they continually use in their work, and because this work requires the use of a desk and freedom from interruption. Human nature is such, however, that many of the workmen, if left to themselves, would pay but little attention to their written instructions. It is necessary, therefore, to provide teachers (called functional foremen) to see that the workmen both understand and carry out these written instructions.

Under functional management, the old-fashioned single foreman is superseded by eight different men, each one of whom has his own special duties, and these men, acting as the agents for the planning department (see paragraph 234 to 245 of the paper entitled "Shop Management"), are the expert teachers, who are at all times in the shop, helping, and directing the workmen. Being each one chosen for his knowledge and personal skill in his specialty, they are able not only to tell the
workman what he should do, but in case of necessity they do the work themselves in the presence of the workman, so as to show him not only the best but also the quickest methods.

One of these teachers (called the inspector) sees to it that he understands the drawings and instructions for doing the work. He teaches him how to do work of the right quality; how to make it fine and exact where it should be fine, and rough and quick where accuracy is not required,--the one being just as important for success as the other. The second teacher (the gang boss) shows him how to set up the job in his machine, and teaches him to make all of his personal motions in the quickest and best way. The third (the speed boss) sees that the machine is run at the best speed and that the proper tool is used in the particular way which will enable the machine to finish its product in the shortest possible time. In addition to the assistance given by these teachers, the workman receives orders and help from four other men; from the "repair boss" as to the adjustment, cleanliness, and general care of his machine, belting, etc.; from the "time clerk," as to everything relating to his pay and to proper written reports and returns; from the "route clerk," as to the order in which he does his work and as to the movement of the work from one part of the shop to another; and, in case a workman gets into any trouble with any of his various bosses, the "disciplinarian" interviews him.

It must be understood, of course, that all workmen engaged on the same kind of work do not require the same amount of individual teaching and attention from the functional foremen. The men who are new at a given operation naturally require far more teaching and watching than those who have been a long time at the same kind of jobs.

Now, when through all of this teaching and this minute instruction the work is apparently made so smooth and easy for the workman, the first impression is that this all tends to make him a mere automaton, a wooden man. As the workmen frequently say when they first come under this system, "Why, I am not allowed to think or move without some one interfering or doing it for me!" The same criticism and objection, however, can be raised against all other modern subdivision of labor. It does not follow, for example, that the modern surgeon is any more narrow or wooden a man than the early settler of this country. The frontiersman, however, had to be not only a surgeon, but also an
architect, house-builder, lumberman, farmer, soldier, and doctor, and he had to settle his law cases with a gun. You would hardly say that the life of the modern surgeon is any more narrowing, or that he is more of a wooden man than the frontiersman. The many problems to be met and solved by the surgeon are just as intricate and difficult and as developing and broadening in their way as were those of the frontiersman.

And it should be remembered that the training of the surgeon has been almost identical in type with the teaching and training which is given to the workman under scientific management. The surgeon, all through his early years, is under the closest supervision of more experienced men, who show him in the minutest way how each element of his work is best done. They provide him with the finest implements, each one of which has been the subject of special study and development, and then insist upon his using each of these implements in the very best way. All of this teaching, however, in no way narrows him. On the contrary he is quickly given the very best knowledge of his predecessors; and, provided (as he is, right from the start) with standard implements and methods which represent the best knowledge of the world up to date, he is able to use his own originality and ingenuity to make real additions to the world's knowledge, instead of reinventing things which are old. In a similar way the workman who is cooperating with his many teachers under scientific management has an opportunity to develop which is at least as good as and generally better than that which he had when the whole problem was "up to him" and he did his work entirely unaided.

If it were true that the workman would develop into a larger and finer man without all of this teaching, and without the help of the laws which have been formulated for doing his particular job, then it would follow that the young man who now comes to college to have the help of a teacher in mathematics, physics, chemistry, Latin, Greek, etc., would do better to study these things unaided and by himself. The only difference in the two cases is that students come to their teachers, while from the nature of the work done by the mechanic under scientific management, the teachers must go to him. What really happens is that, with the aid of the science which is invariably developed, and through the instructions from his teachers, each workman of a given intellectual capacity is enabled to do a much higher, more interesting, and finally more developing and more profitable kind of work than he was before able to do. The laborer who before was unable to do anything beyond, perhaps, shoveling and wheeling dirt from place to place, or carrying the work from one part of the shop to another, is in many cases taught to do the more elementary machinist's work, accompanied by the agreeable surroundings and the interesting variety and higher wages which go with the machinist's trade. The cheap machinist or helper, who before was able to run perhaps merely a drill press, is taught to do the more intricate and higher priced lathe and planer work, while the highly skilled and more intelligent machinists become functional foremen and teachers. And so on, right up the line.

Encourage Workmen to Suggest Improvements in Methods and Implements


It may seem that with scientific management there is not the same incentive for the workman to use his ingenuity in devising new and better methods of doing the work, as well as in improving his implements, that there is with the old type of management. It is true that with scientific management the workman is not allowed to use whatever implements and methods he sees fit in the daily practice of his work. Every encouragement, however, should be given him to suggest improvements, both in methods and in implements. And whenever a workman proposes an improvement, it should be the policy of the management to make a careful analysis of the new method, and if necessary conduct a series of experiments to determine accurately the relative merit of the new suggestion and of the old standard. And whenever the new method is found to be markedly superior to the old, it should be adopted as the standard for the whole establishment. The workman should be given the full credit for the improvement, and should be paid a cash premium as a reward for his ingenuity. In this way the true initiative of the workmen is better attained under scientific management than under the old
individual plan.

F.W. Taylor, Scientific Management

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Scientific Management in Its Essence - F.W. Taylor

Updated 9 July 2016,  4 August 2013