Industrial Engineering is System Efficiency Engineering. It is Machine Effort and Human Effort IE. 4 Million Page View Blog. 200,000+ visitors. (36,000+ pv, 25,500+ visitors in 2025.)------------------
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Human Effort Engineering and Human Effort Industrial Engineering can be distinguished.
Human effort engineering is the job of process design engineers and engineering managers. - Narayana Rao
Human Effort Industrial Engineering tries to understand the speed with which a motion can be made with various loads and in various positions. It also tries to locate and eliminate motions which are not contributing to the completion of a task or activity. It tries to adjust locations of materials and tools so that distances of motion can be minimized.
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Industrial Engineering is System Efficiency Engineering.
Machine Effort Industrial Engineering and Human Effort Industrial Engineering are important components.
Interesting to note that the book "Motion Study" by Frank Gilbreth was published in 1911 along with Scientific Management and Principles of Industrial Engineering.
4 questions to ask before swapping out human labor for AI
byBetsy Vereckey Aug 23, 2023
Why It Matters
Generative AI is a worthwhile investment when humans are able to ask the right questions and easily evaluate the accuracy of the answers, MIT Sloan’s John Horton says.
Human Work In the Age of Smart Machines Hardcover – October 6, 2020
by Jamie Merisotis (Author)
We are living through a time of upheaval and social unrest, with increasing threats to global health, democratic institutions, and the world’s economies. But behind the alarming headlines is another issue that must be quickly addressed: the role of workers is being transformed—and often rendered obsolete—by automation and artificial intelligence.
As Jamie Merisotis, the president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, argues in Human Work In the Age of Smart Machines, we can—and must—rise to this challenge by preparing to work alongside smart machines doing that which only humans can: thinking critically, reasoning ethically, interacting interpersonally, and serving others with empathy.
In Human Work, Merisotis, author of the award-winning 2015 book America Needs Talent, offers a roadmap for the large-scale, radical changes we must make in order to find abundant and meaningful work in the 21st century. His vision centers on developing our unique capabilities as humans through a lifetime of learning opportunities that are easy to navigate, deliver fair results, and offer a broad range of credentials—from college degrees to occupational certifications. By shifting long-held ideas about how the workforce should function and expanding our concept of work, he argues that we can harness the population’s potential, encourage a deeper sense of community, and erase a centuries-long system of inequality.
As the headlines blink red, now is the time to redesign education, training, and the workplace as a whole. Yes, many jobs will be lost to technology, but if we promote people’s deeper potential, engaging human work will always be available.
If there is any one element to the engineering of service systems that is unique, it is the extent to which the suitability of the system for human use, human service, and excellent human experience has been and must always be considered. An exploration of this emerging area of research and practice, Advances in the Human Side of Service Engineering covers a broad spectrum of ergonomics and human factors issues highlighting the design of contemporary service systems.
Human Effort Engineering and Human Effort Industrial Engineering can be distinguished.
Human effort engineering is the job of process design engineers and engineering managers. - Narayana Rao
Human Effort Industrial Engineering tries to understand the speed with which a motion can be made with various loads and in various positions. It also tries to locate and eliminate motions which are not contributing to the completion of a task or activity. It tries to adjust locations of materials and tools so that distances of motion can be minimized.
2018
January 2018
Turning Men into Machines? Scientific Management, Industrial Psychology, and the “Human Factor”
Maarten Derksen
15.5University of Groningen
The conventional view that the increasing influence of psychologists and other social scientists "humanized" management theory and practice needs to be amended. Taylor's scientific management was not less human than later approaches such as Human Relations, but it articulated the human factor differently, and aligned it to its own instruments and practices. Further research into human behavior and modifications job designs are welcome, but Taylor need to be criticized for his innovations and insights.
Time and Motion Study of Visian ICL
by Erik Mertens, MD, FEBOphth A time and motion study of the Visian ICL, conducted by Erik L. Mertens, MD, FEBOphth, showed that the Visian ICL Preloaded saves 12 surgical steps; whereas implantation of the nonpreloaded Visian ICLs required 23 steps, the preloaded model required only 11. http://eyetube.net/video/time-and-motion-study-of-visian-icl/
A manual of Time and Motion Study - a practical guide to the measurement of human endeavour in industry and to the development of productive efficiency
by W. Hendry
Download full book from http://www.library.wisc.edu/selectedtocs/ca1714.pdf
Has a chapter on waste elimination in various departments of factory
Mr. Jisnu Basu, Workshop, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Mr. Bijan Sarkar, Production Engineering Dept., and Mr. Ardhendu Bhattacharyya, Mechanical Engineering Dept. of Jadavpur University, authored a paper "Change in Occupational Dynamics due to Technology Upgradation: A Study in a Cigarette Factory in Eastern India" in Udyog Pragati, October-December 2009. The paper discusses psychological workstation dimenions. Engineers are discussing behavioral aspects related to workstations.
Original Knol - http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/human-effort-engineering-bulletin-board/ 2utb2lsm2k7a/ 2225
Updated 1 October 2020, 27 June 2018, 20 January 2018, 12 June 2016,, 26 Oct 2014
Online Education/Training Session on "Effective Industrial Engineering and Productivity Management."
I developed an online education/training session on "Effective Industrial Engineering and Productivity Management." I can present the session in one hour, one and half hour or two-hour long sessions. The sessions will be valuable when company industrial engineers and other engineers and managers attend as a group. Industrial engineers require active cooperation and participation of other engineers and managers in their studies and projects. Hence a common presentation and discussion on effectiveness will be very useful.
Supporting Information.
Effective Industrial Engineering - Some Thoughts by Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.
Effective industrial engineering has to satisfy management about the contribution it made to the organization year after year.
The prime contribution of IE has to be cost reduction through productivity improvement.
For each step or operation in the process chart - material processing, inspection, handling & transport, warehousing, temporary stocking & delay, when operators are involved, a two-handed process chart is to be prepared for each operator involved. Similar a machine work sheet or chart is also to be prepared to study machine work in the process.
The Two-handed process chart for Motion Study
The two-handed process chart is a process chart in which the activities of a worker's hands (or limbs) are recorded in their relationship to one another
The two-handed process chart shows the two hands (and if the feet are involved, feet also) of the operative moving or static in relation to one another, usually in relation to a time scale.
The two-handed process chart is prepared for analysis of repetitive operations. At least, one complete cycle of the work is to be recorded. Recording of every movement of the hand is recorded.
Symbols and Meanings
O OPERATION Is used for the activities of grasp, position, use, release,
etc., of a tool, component or material.
=> TRANSPORT Is used to represent the movement of the hand (or limb) to
or from the work, a tool or material.
D DELAY is used to denote time during which the hand or limb being charted is idle (although the others may be in use). ▼ HOLD is used to represent the activity of holding the work, a tool or material — that is, when the hand being charted is holding something.
Preparing the chart requires observation and this enables the motion study specialist to gain
an intimate knowledge of the motions involved in the job.
The first step in making an operation chart, or left- and right-hand chart or two-handed chart is to draw a sketch of the work place, indicating the contents of the bins and the location of tools and materials. Then observe the motions of one hand of the operator. Mentally record each motion and then compare the motions and with the mental picture prepared. Then record the motions of that hand and then compare once again. Thus, the motions of one hand, say left hand are observed for number of cycles and the chart is filled on the appropriate side. Then, the other hand is observed, mentally recorded, compared, then it is written on the paper and compared.
Each motion is subjected to questioning from ECRS perspective. From the questioning, improvements are developed. A brain storming group can be formed for the questioning of each motion. The group can be shown some successful motion study examples through videos or printed articles and reports. The ideas that are generated should be written down in chart form when they occur. Different ideas are compared. The best method is generally that which requires the fewest movements.
The two-handed process chart can be applied to assembly as well as component making jobs. In the assembly of small parts with close fits, "positioning" should be shown as a separate movement apart from the actual assembling movement. Attention gets focused on the different movements that way improvements in each movement can be thought of during simplifying activity.
Improving The Assembly Process of Down lighter by using Two Hand Process Chart
Kajal Sejpal
International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology (IJEAT)
ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-6 Issue-4, April 2017
In this project, productivity is improved by optimizing certain operations of the manual assembly process of a product. In this paper, flow process chart of assembly line of a particular product is
studied. The two hand process chart of selective time consuming operations is carried out. The time saved and improvement to the operations is noted. A new standard process in manual assembly line is created, time is saved as well as energy of the worker is also saved. This leads to increased units of production and lesser fatigue.
Online Education/Training Session on "Effective Industrial Engineering and Productivity Management."
I developed an online education/training session on "Effective Industrial Engineering and Productivity Management." I can present the session in one hour, one and half hour or two-hour long sessions. The sessions will be valuable when company industrial engineers and other engineers and managers attend as a group. Industrial engineers require active cooperation and participation of other engineers and managers in their studies and projects. Hence a common presentation and discussion on effectiveness will be very useful.
Supporting Information.
Effective Industrial Engineering - Some Thoughts by Narayana Rao K.V.S.S.
Effective industrial engineering has to satisfy management about the contribution it made to the organization year after year.
The prime contribution of IE has to be cost reduction through productivity improvement.
Narayana Rao K.V.S.S. and D.K. Srivastava, International Conference on Management organized by HK Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai, 20-21 March, 2009.
Introduction
A new definition of industrial engineering emerged in the literature. “Industrial Engineering is Human Effort Engineering. It is an engineering discipline that deals with the design of human effort in all occupations: agricultural, manufacturing and service. The objectives of Industrial Engineering are optimization of productivity of work-systems and occupational comfort, health, safety and income of persons involved.” According to this definition the two focus areas of industrial engineering are human effort engineering and systems efficiency/productivity engineering.
The human resources of an organization consist of all people who perform its activities. Human resource management (HRM) is concerned with the personnel policies and managerial practices and systems that influence the workforce. In broader terms, all decisions that affect the workforce of the organization concern the HRM function.
The activities of human resource management can be categorized under the five major domains: Organizational design, Staffing, Performance management and appraisal, Employee and organizational development, and reward systems, benefits, and compliance. Traditionally Industrial engineering and human resource management had interconnected relationships in areas like manpower planning and job evaluation. But the definition of industrial engineering as human effort engineering provides a greater scope for cooperative efforts between the two functions.
In an attempt to explore this area in detail and provide a framework such cooperation, the paper describes development of industrial engineering, present focus of human resource management, special emphasis that is being given to work analysis, and presents the conclusions.
Development of Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering emerged as a discipline of graduate and post graduate education based on the pioneering effort done by F.W. Taylor, Frank Gilbreth and Harrington Emerson in the areas of human productivity improvement and efficiency improvement in methods and systems. American Institute of Industrial Engineering (AIIE) started in January 1948 became a focal point for industrial engineering profession and evolved into an international professional body, Institute of Industrial Engineering. AIIE adopted the following definition for Industrial Engineering in 1955. “Industrial engineering is concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of men, materials, and equipment. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems.”[1]
Robert N. Lehrer, Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Industrial Engineering, had proposed the following definition for industrial engineering in 1954. “Industrial engineering is the design of situations for the useful coordination of men, materials and machines in order to achieve desired results in an optimum manner. The unique characteristics of Industrial Engineering center about the consideration of the human factor as it is related to the technical aspects of a situation, and the integration of all factors that influence the overall situation.”[2]
Lehrer’s definition emphasizes that the unique characteristic of Industrial Engineering is the consideration of the human factor. It is the industrial engineer that brings abilities and disabilities of human beings into the design process of work systems such that work systems are optimized. Lehrer’s emphasis on human factor as the unique characteristic of Industrial Engineering was not explicitly emphasized in the definition evolved by the AIIE and it chose to articulate knowledge and skill in mathematical, physical and social sciences, principles and methods of engineering analysis for design, installation and improvement of integrated systems of men, materials and equipment.
This lack of emphasis on the focus of the discipline is resulting in a situation where even the students of industrial engineering in postgraduate programmes are unable to articulate the uniqueness of industrial engineering in an organization. Narayana Rao discussed the issue in detail and proposed the following definition.
“Industrial Engineering is Human Effort Engineering. It is an engineering discipline that deals with the design of human effort in all occupations: agricultural, manufacturing and service. The objectives of Industrial Engineering are optimization of productivity of work-systems and occupational comfort, health, safety and income of persons involved.” [3]
If one needs to explain the focus of industrial engineering more briefly, two areas can be specified as exclusive focus of industrial engineering: Human Effort Engineering and Systems Efficiency Engineering. As industrial engineers have a role in system design as well as in human effort design they have a role in implementing projects, systems and processes. Thus, they are part of project management teams and can lead such teams also. As, industrial engineering is concerned with individual human effort as well as relations between various employees as a part of system efficiency engineering, it has a significant role to play in the human resource issues of an organization.
The Role Human Resource Management
Human resource management (HRM) is concerned with the personnel policies and managerial practices and systems that influence the workforce. In broader terms, all decisions that affect the workforce of the organization concern the HRM function. [4]
The activities involved in HRM function are pervasive throughout the organization. Line managers, typically spend more than 50 percent of their time for human resource activities such hiring, evaluating, disciplining, and scheduling employees. Human resource management specialists in the HRM department help organizations with all activities related to staffing and maintaining an effective workforce. Major HRM responsibilities include work design and job analysis, training and development, recruiting, compensation, team-building, performance management and appraisal, worker health and safety issues, as well as identifying or developing valid methods for selecting staff. HRM department provides the tools, data and processes that are used by line managers in their human resource management component of their job.
The present focus of HRM is being directed towards expanding the customer base while maximizing profit. According to Dr. James Spina, former head of Executive Development at the Tribune Company, HRM has a whole lot to do with this focus regardless of the size of the business, or the products or services that an organization is selling [5]. HRM is involved in managing the human resources with a focus on expanding customer base that gives profit to the company. The bottom line of the company is the focus of the HRM department as well as the function.
The activities performed by HRM professionals fall under five major domains [6]:
(1) Organizational design,
(2) Staffing,
(3) Performance Management and Appraisal,
(4) Employee and Organizational Development, and
(5) Reward Systems, Benefits ad Compliance
Acquiring human resource capability should begin with organizational design and analysis. Organizational design involves the arrangement of work tasks based on the interaction of people, technology and the tasks to be performed in the context of the objectives, goals and the strategic plan of the organization. HRM activities such as human resources planning, job and work analysis, organizational restructuring, job design, team building, computerization, and worker-machine interfaces fall under this domain.
Recruitment, employee orientation, selection, promotion, and termination are among the activities that fit into the staffing domain. The performance management domain includes assessments of individuals and teams to measure, and to improve work performance. Employee training and development programs are concerned with establishing, fostering, and maintaining employee skills base don organizational and employee needs.
Reward systems, benefits and compliance have to do with any type of reward or benefit that may be available to employees. Labour law, health and safety issues and unemployment policy fall under compliance component.
Relationship between Industrial Engineering and HRM Department
Flippo [7] identified that job analysis is often confused with motion study conducted by industrial engineers. These are two different ways of studying the same job, but motion study is a process of analyzing a job to find out the easiest, most effective, and most economical method of doing it or portions thereof. The purpose of job analysis done by HRM persons is descriptive, broad and less detailed. The results of job analysis are used for recruitment, wage determination and training. Motion study is very detailed and it is conducted by industrial engineers for standardization of method and improvement. If a job is subjected to both processes of study, motion study should preferably precede job analysis done by HRM persons. Thus Flippo recognized the role of industrial engineers in companies and their interaction with HRM activity.
Flippo [8] also recognized the role of industrial engineering in safety management. He said sound and forward-looking engineering must certainly be an essential requirement of any safety effort. Workplaces should be clean, well lighted, and properly ventilated. Appropriate mechanical devices for material handling should be provided. All dangerous equipment needs to be safeguarded. Flippo also advocated use of human factors engineering so that machines, equipment, and tools can be used by workmen within their limitations and abilities. He emphasizes that the first objective of human engineering is to improve performance. This aspect is closely associated with motion study and work simplification. The second objective is to protect the individual’s physical and mental condition through making work more comfortable, less fatiguing, and less hazardous. Industrial psychologists and physiologists need to work along with design engineers to have designs that make less demand on the limitations of workers. Once industrial engineers develop new methods, training the employees in those methods becomes a responsibility of industrial engineers. Thus in the area of training production operators, the HRM training specialists create the training environment and schedules and industrial engineers act as trainers. In Job evaluation exercises, industrial engineers are involved actively to arrive at the job analysis. Incentive scheme calculations are undertaken by IE departments in many companies. Industrial engineers operate incentive schemes as they can adjust standard times appropriately from time to time and calculate incentives and explain the rationale to workmen more easily.
Competitive Advantage and HRM
Competitive Advantage refers to the ability of an organization to formulate strategies that place it at favorable position relative to other companies in the industry. Two major principles, namely customer value and uniqueness, are relevant for gaining competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage occurs if customers perceive that they receive more value from their transaction or relationship with an organization than from its competitors. HRM needs to make efforts to ensure that all employees are focused on understanding customer needs and expectations.
The second principle of competitive advantage derives from offering a product or service that your competitor cannot easily imitate or copy.
The status of HRM is improving relative to other potential sources of competitive advantage for an organization. Professor Pfeffer notes that "traditional sources of success (e.g., speed to market, financial, technological) can still provide competitive leverage, but to a lesser degree now than in the past, leaving organizational culture and capabilities, derived from how people are managed, as comparatively more vital."[9]
For success in 21st century, HRM activities must be (1) responsive to a highly competitive marketplace and global business structures, (2) closely linked to business strategic plans, (3) jointly conceived and implemented by line and HR managers, and (4) focused on quality, customer service, productivity, employee involvement, teamwork, and workforce flexibility. [10]
Human resource management is thus responsible for customer service, productivity, and quality that are obtained through the human resources. In this function HRM specialists work in collaboration with line managers and other support managers. Industrial engineering is a support function responsible for the design of human effort and systems efficiency and HRM has to work in close cooperation with the department.
Work Analysis – An Area of Cooperation between Human Resource Managers and Human Effort Engineers
Bernardin says analysis of work is a building block for most HR systems in organizations. Corporate restructuring processes, quality improvement programs, human resource planning, job design, recruitment strategies, training programmes, succession planning, and compensation system are the HR activities that are based on work analysis. Work analysis takes as its input the strategic plan of the company and gives as output the competent workers who are able and willing to implement the strategy by carrying out the tasks assignment to them through job descriptions and day-to-day work assignments and instructions.
Work analysis is a systematic process of gathering information about work, jobs, and the relationships among jobs.
The chronological Steps in Work Analysis (given in the form of questions) [11]
1. What are the required outcomes/measures for assessing strategy execution (e.g., customer requirements for products/services derived from the strategic plan)?
2. What are necessary, critical, essential tasks, activities, behaviors required to meet or exceed the requirements established at step 1? What the relative importance, frequency, and essentiality of these tasks for achieving measures at step 1?
3. What are the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics or competencies required to perform the activities at step 2?
4. How should jobs/work be defined? Where does the work get done to maximize efficiency/effectiveness? Do we use individual jobs, work teams, independent contractors, full-time/part-time? Do we outsource?
As we notice these essential questions in the work analysis sequence, some of the questions are to be answered by functional specialists. Neither industrial engineers nor human resource management specialists can answer these questions. It is only functional specialists who can specify the tasks to be carried out to execute a strategy which involves production of goods and services, selling and distribution of these goods and services and related support activities. Industrial engineers can take these functional designs and do human effort engineering and efficiency engineering of processes and subsystems. Then a team of HRM specialists, industrial engineers and line managers can develop job analysis sheets. These sheets become the basis of manpower planning and recruitment decisions. Thus this process involving functional specialists, industrial engineers and HRM specialists will answer all the four questions of work analysis in a systematic, effective and efficient way. The process also provides for cooperation among industrial engineers and HRM specialists. HRM specialists interact with industrial engineer and develop formats that industrial engineers use to develop information in a format useful to HRM department persons from the standard operations sheets that they prepare for operators and other employees.
MBA Curriculum of HR Specialization and Industrial Engineering
Human resource managers have to understand the techniques used by industrial engineers to make appropriate use of them in making HRM function more effective and efficient. They also have to provide help to industrial engineers in behavioural areas to make IE function effective. Industrial engineers do study behavioral sciences but the depth of human resource specialists is very high compared to industrial engineers in the behavioural science area. Industrial engineers will have more knowledge in the work methods and efficiency tools. They have to take specialist help of behavioral scientists as well as ergonomics specialists where required. As human effort engineering is an important aspect of human resource management function, HRM specialists are to be given at least one course of industrial engineering in which they can be given inputs in basic tools of industrial engineering and also on how to make industrial engineering effective by behavioural management of industrial engineering interventions.
References
1. Matheson, M.H., “The Broadening Scope of Industrial Engineering”, Chapter 2 in Maynard, H.B. (Ed.), Industrial Engineering Handbook, Second Edition, McGraw Hill Book Co., New York, 1963, p. I-17. 2. Lehrer, Robert N., “The Nature of Industrial Engineering,” The Journal of Industrial Engineering, vol.5, No.1, January 1954, Page 4. 3. Narayana Rao, K.V.S.S., “Definition of Industrial Engineering: Suggested Modification.” Udyog Pragati, October-December 2006, Pp. 1-4.
4. Bernardin, H. John, Human Resource Management: an Experiential Approach, Fourth Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Pub. Co. Ltd, New Delhi, 2007, p.4.
5. Bernardin, H. John, Op cit.
6. Bernardin, H. John, Op cit.
7. Flippo, Edwin B., Principles of Personnel Management, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill Kogakusha, Ltd., Tokyo, 1976, pp. 110-11.
8. Flippo, Edwin B., Principles of Personnel Management, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill Kogakusha, Ltd., Tokyo, 1976, pp. 531-32.
9. Bernardin, H. John, Op cit. p.3.
10. Bernardin, H. John, Op cit., p.3.
11. Bernardin, H. John, Op cit., p.81.
The paper was presented at the International Conference on Management organized by HK Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai, 20-21 March, 2009.
Dr. D.K. Srivastava, Professor, Human Resource Management, National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai is a coauthor of this paper.
Lesson 25. Gilbreth's Human Effort Industrial Engineering - Productivity Science of Human Motions (Motion Study) - Variables Affecting of Motion Time.
ACCELERATION - AUTOMATICITY - COMBINATION WITH OTHER MOTIONS, AND SEQUENCE - COST - DIRECTION AND USE OF GRAVITY - EFFECTIVENESS - FOOT-POUNDS OF WORK ACCOMPLISHED - INERTIA AND MOMENTUM OVERCOME - LENGTH
Lesson 28. First Evaluation of Scientific Management/Industrial Engineering by a Psychologist. Psychology Evaluation of Scientific Management by Lilian Gilbreth - 1914
IE students organized Safety and Ergonomics day and demonstrated their ergonomic products such as the ergonomic shoes with adjustable and removable heels, the ergonomic bus, the Grade School chair with padded backrest, and a whole lot more.
The exhibit served as the perfect venue for showcasing the creativity of the 4th year Josenian IE students in making things ergonomic.
Bulletin boards are good for writing short paragraphs. Authors can highlight their knols through a post here. They can advocate certain areas of knol writing. Visitors can also advocate some areas for knol writing. They can make comments on the adequacy and quality of knols in the area. They can raise queries. The bulletin board can be used for multiple purposes.
My interest in starting the bulletin board stems from the view of industrial engineering that I advocate. The focus areas of industrial engineering according to me are human effort engineering and systems efficiency engineering. Industrial engineers also aspire for leadership positions in the activities of systems design, systems improvement and systems installation. The pure IE curriculum at post graduate level can have 40%, 40% and 20% of the effort devoted to these three areas. At four year undergraduate programs, there will be many more subjects in the areas of engineering sciences and engineering subjects to be covered. Hence the distribution will be different.
As my first entry I am giving below some knols in the area of anatomy
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING is redesign (engineering) of Products, Facilities and Processes for Productivity increase.
Productivity Management Imperative for USA - McKinsey. Returning US productivity to its long-term trend of 2.2 percent annual growth would add $10 trillion in cumulative GDP over the next ten years (2023 - 2030).
INTRODUCTION TO MODERN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING. E-Book FREE Download.
Human Engineering Guide for Equipment Designers
Wesley E. Woodson, Donald W. Conover
University of California Press, 01-Jan-1964 - Design, Industrial - 474 pages https://books.google.co.in/books?id=rxlk9PgRZj4C
Original knol - http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/ human-effort-engineering-knol-book/ 2utb2lsm2k7a/ 3746
Updated on 9.11.2024, 8 May 2019, 2012, All links working
Scientific Management Treatise of F.W. Taylor is totally focused on human effort engineering only. Taylor developed this treatise to explain how waste of human effort can be minimized. He gave four principles of human effort management to increase productivity and reduce waste. Management involves managing physical and intangible assets or resources and human resources. Scientific management is applicable to all aspects of management. Taylor explained management in another treatise "Shop Management." So total management proposed by Taylor is combination of "Shop Management" and "Scientific Management." Management books are not covering shop management and only mentioning Principles of Scientific Management giving only a partial description.
It is through processes that goods and services are produced. Processes have machines/equipment and men working in combination to do the required work or put in effort. We covered the machine related industrial engineering in the process industrial engineering module. We will cover the process human industrial engineering in more detail in this module. In the process chart developed for industrial engineering analysis, five operations are recorded. In the operations, material processing, inspection, transport, and storage/warehousing, human effort is involved and it is physical effort predominantly. There is planning also in every process operation and its failures are recorded in the process chart as temporary delays. The main process chart is to be supported by more process charts, operation information sheets and data sheets. Human effort industrial engineering is to be carried out through motion study charts or process charts and associated data. For each operation in the main process chart, motion study charts are to be developed, analyzed and improved.
We already covered some content related to human effort industrial engineering in introduction and productivity science modules. Those lessons are:
Lesson 18 . Human Work Study - Productivity Improvement and Development of Science in Mechanic Arts - F.W. Taylor
Lesson 25. Gilbreth's Human Effort Industrial Engineering - Productivity Science of Human Motions (Motion Study) - Variables Affecting of Motion Time.
ACCELERATION - AUTOMATICITY - COMBINATION WITH OTHER MOTIONS, AND SEQUENCE - COST - DIRECTION AND USE OF GRAVITY - EFFECTIVENESS - FOOT-POUNDS OF WORK ACCOMPLISHED - INERTIA AND MOMENTUM OVERCOME - LENGTH
Lesson 28. First Evaluation of Scientific Management/Industrial Engineering by a Psychologist. Psychology Evaluation of Scientific Management by Lilian Gilbreth - 1914
Industrial engineering identified machine, man, material and method as important components of the engineering systems whose contribution to output can be improved by development of productivity science, productivity engineering and productivity management.
In this module of industrial engineering, the focus is on human effort in engineering processes. It is human effort that produces engineering devices and there is human effort in utilizing these engineering devices in engineering processes. There is human effort in maintenance of machines used in processes. In many situations, the human effort required to operate the machines or instruments created by engineering is decided by the machine considerations. But the interfaces between the machine and man through which man operates machines can be designed by taking into consideration the abilities and constraints of men. The designers of machines and machine interfaces have to train the operators initially so that operation of the machine takes place as expected and specified.
Process Human Effort Industrial Engineering - Design of Human Effort for Increasing Productivity of Man-Machine or Machine-Man Systems (Processes)
Taylor's Contribution in Process Human Effort Industrial Engineering
The following articles discuss some aspects of human effort IE.
Human Effort Industrial Engineering - Methods and Techniques
Principle of Daily Task and Bonus for Completing the Full Daily Task - Taylor
Feedback at smaller element level for time taken versus target time.
Design of tools that provide optimum work each time the tool is used.
In case of new improved high productive methods, objective demonstration of the method, its productivity benefits and no adverse effects on comfort, fatigue, safety and health.
Principles of Motion Economy Work Station Design Interface Device Design: Jigs and Fixtures Motion Design: Motion Study Posture Design Comfort Design: fatigue analysis Safety Design: Safety Aids Occupational Health & Hazard Analysis, Redesign & Certification Ergonomics Work Measurement Operator Training Productivity Communication Job Evaluation Incentive scheme design
Frank Gilbreth explained the focus of industrial engineering and scientific management on human effort along with machines and materials in his book on scientific management (This book is separate from Taylor's book). In the case of machines and materials he indicated that industrial engineering utilizes the methods and techniques developed by all others apart from developing new methods and techniques. In the case of human effort, he argued that only industrial engineering/scientific management has systematically studied and developed science, methods, techniques and tools.
Both Taylor and Gilbreth indicated that focus has to be on both machines and men for productivity improvement, cost reduction and waste elimination in their explanation of scientific management. In their activities, Taylor worked for many, many years in machine shops and hence made many productivity engineering improvements in machine working and then involved operators in learning the new techniques through training by functional foremen who were first trained by Taylor or other persons involved in elementary rate fixing. Gilbreth is more active in building construction, where manual activity is more dominant. Hence, Gilbreth's contribution is predominantly in human effort industrial engineering.
What is the meaning of "industry" relevant for explaining the discipline of industrial engineering?
In Oxford dictionary also, industry has the meaning diligence. The meaning of diligence is persistent work or effort.
Therefore industrial engineering can be understood as a discipline concerned with effort. It is concerned with both machine effort and human effort. The main objective of industrial engineering is to minimize the machine effort and human effort expended to produce a unit of any product. This is same as increasing the output for unit of machine effort or human effort.
F.W. Taylor is the first engineer, to conceptualize this activity in a formal systematic manner. His first essay, "Piece Rate System" contains the ideas regarding improving machine effort and man effort. His next book size essay, "Shop Management" contains the extended application of the method of reducing machine effort and man effort and increase production in some cases even by four times. Scientific management basically uses the same examples given in "Shop Management" but presents the principles of scientific management and gives the examples as illustrations in support of the principles of scientific management. Narayana Rao developed "Principles of Industrial Engineering" from the "Principles of Scientific management" and presented them in the 2017 Annual Conference of the IISE at Pittsburgh, USA.
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The full paper is in IISE 2017 Conference Proceedings.
Looked from the effort perspective, Industrial engineering has two components: Machine effort reduction and human effort reduction in production processes. We can call them machine effort industrial engineering and human effort industrial engineering. Industrial engineering has many developments during the last 110 years. Japanese scientific management and industrial engineering professional developed many innovations which are world class practices today.
We can list, Taylor's methodology, Gilbreth's motion study and principles of motion economy, Ergonomics or human factors engineering, Job evaluation, Wage incentive plans as important areas of Human Effort Industrial Engineering.
F.W. Taylor on Human Effort Industrial Engineering
The writer has already indicated that he thinks the first object in management is to unite high wages with a low labor cost. He believes that this object can be most easily attained by the application of the following principles:
(a) A LARGE DAILY TASK. --Each man in the establishment, high or low, should daily have a clearly defined task laid out before him. This task should not in the least degree be vague nor indefinite, but should be circumscribed carefully and completely, and should not be easy to
accomplish.
(b) STANDARD CONDITIONS. Each man's task should call for a full day's work, and at the same time the workman should be given such standardized (well planned) conditions and appliances as will enable him to accomplish his task with certainty. (See the Emersons' Efficiency Principle - STANDARDIZED CONDITIONS)
(c) HIGH PAY FOR SUCCESS. --He should be sure of large pay when he accomplishes his task.
(d) LOSS IN CASE OF FAILURE. --When he fails he should be sure that sooner or later he will be the loser by it.
When an establishment has reached an advanced state of organization, in many cases a fifth element should be added, namely: the task should be made so difficult that it can only be accomplished by a first-class man.
The Principles of Scientific Management - F.W. Taylor (in Scientific Management)
Under scientific management the "initiative" of the workmen (that is, their hard work, their good-will, and their ingenuity) is obtained with absolute uniformity and to a greater extent than is possible under the old system; and in addition to this improvement on the part of the men, the managers assume new burdens, new duties, and responsibilities never dreamed of in the past. The managers assume, for instance, the burden of gathering together all of the traditional knowledge which in the past has been possessed by the workmen and then of classifying, tabulating, and reducing this knowledge to rules, laws, and formulae which are immensely helpful to the workmen in doing their daily work. In addition to developing a science in this way, the management take on three other types of duties which involve new and heavy burdens for themselves.
These new duties are grouped under four heads:
First. They develop a science for each element of a man's work, which replaces the old rule-of.-thumb method.
Second. They scientifically select and then train, teach, and develop the workman, whereas in the past he chose his own work and trained himself as best he could.
Third. They heartily cooperate with the men so as to insure all of the work being done in accordance with the principles of the science which has been developed.
Fourth. There is an almost equal division of the work and the responsibility between the management and the workmen. The management take over all work for which they are better fitted than the workmen, while in the past almost all of the work and the greater part of the responsibility were thrown upon the men.
It is this combination of the initiative of the workmen, coupled with the new types of work done by the management, that makes scientific management so much more efficient than the old plan.
Three of these elements exist in many cases, under the management of "initiative and incentive," in a small and rudimentary way, but they are, under this management, of minor importance, whereas under scientific management they form the very essence of the whole system.
The fourth of these elements, "an almost equal division of the responsibility between the management and the workmen," requires further explanation. The philosophy of the management of initiative and incentive makes it necessary for each workman to bear almost the entire responsibility for the general plan as well as for each detail of his work, and in many cases for his implements as well. In addition to this he must do all of the actual physical labor. The development of a science, on the other hand, involves the establishment of many rules, laws, and formulae which replace the judgment of the individual workman and which can be effectively used only after having been systematically recorded, indexed, etc. The practical use of scientific data also calls for a room in which to keep the books, records*, etc., and a desk for the planner to work at.
It is important to read the following statements from the book "Applied Motion Study" by Frank Gilbreth published in 1917.
Scientific management is simply management that is based upon actual measurement. Its skillful application is an art that must be acquired, but its fundamental principles have the exactness of scientific laws which are open to study by every one. we have here a science that is the result of accurately recorded, exact investigation.
The greatest misunderstandings occur as to the aims of scientific management. Its fundamental aim is the elimination of waste, the attainment of worth-while desired results with the least necessary amount of time and effort. Scientific management may, and often does, result in expansion, but its primary aim is conservation and savings, making an adequate use of every ounce of energy of any type that is expended.
Every problem (in scientific management) presents two elements: the human element, and the materials element.
The opinion of many who know conditions in USA and Europe is that America is far behind European countries in conservation of the materials element, both natural and manufactured
resources.
It is equally true that up to recent times European countries have done comparatively little toward
conserving the human element.
The material problem is being attacked along different lines in a more or less systematic manner. We
all appreciate the benefits of scientific or intensive farming. Agricultural experience has taught the valuable lesson that it is possible to get great output, yet, at the same time, leave the producing force unimpaired, by a proper expenditure of money and brains.
It is the work of scientific management to insist on standardization in all fields, and to base such standardization upon accurate measurement (of productivity and work). Scientific management is not remote, or different from other fields of activity. For example, in the handling of the materials element, it does not attempt to discard the methods of attack of intensive agriculture or of the laboratory of the applied scientists; on the contrary, it uses the results of workers in such fields as these to as great an extent as possible.
In handling the materials element, then, scientific management analyses all successful existing practices in every line, and synthesizes such elements as accurate measurement proves to be valuable into standards. These standards are maintained until suggested improvements have passed the same rigid examination, and are in such form that they may be incorporated into new standards.
Turning now to the field of the human element by far the more important field we find that, while there is much talk of work in that field to-day, comparatively little has actually been accomplished.
One great work of scientific management has been to show the world how little actual knowledge it has possessed of the human element as engaged in the work in the industries. Through motion study and fatigue study and the accompanying time study, we have come to know the capabilities of the worker, the demands of the work, the fatigue that the worker suffers at the work, and the amount and nature of the rest required to overcome the fatigue. Scientific provision for such recovery in the industries, before the days of scientific management, was unknown.
It is even more surprising that only the pioneers in the work realize the application of any necessity for the laboratory method in the study of the human element as it appears in the industries. When making accurate measurements, the number of variables involved must be reduced to as great a degree as possible. Only in the laboratory can this be successfully done.
The various measurements taken by scientific management and the guiding laws under which these are grouped determine not only the nature of the human element, but the methods by which it is to be handled. Motion study, fatigue study, the measures supplied by psychology, these result in the working practice that fits the work to the worker, and produces more output with less effort, with its consequent greater pay for every ounce of effort expended.
We see very clearly the stress on development of science that is of use in waste elimination.
In human effort industrial engineering, we need to cover human productivity science, human productivity engineering and human productivity management.
Motion study and applications of ergonomic research and recommendations may become part of human productivity engineering.
Job evaluation and incentive schemes form part of human productivity management. Psychology of Management. published by Lilian Gilbreth can be taken as an earliest book supporting human productivity management.
Gilbreth - Productivity Science of Human Effort - Productivity Engineering of Human Effort - Motion Study
Frank Gilbreth developed the framework for development of productivity science related to human effort. He also developed the motion study procedure and gave principles of motion economy that are to be applied in motion study to reduce motions and time taken to complete a task, operation and process.
In the framework of variables that affect efficiency of motions, Gilbreth included number of psychological, sociological, physiological and anatomical variables. Taylor also indicated the role of motives of men in productivity improvement. Ergonomics developed as a discipline that studies the variable indicated by Gilbreth in Productivity Science of Human Effort. It became an important subject that has application in industrial engineering work.
