Lilian and Frank GILBRETH

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, who were immortalized in the book Cheaper by the Dozen, developed laws of human motion from which the principles of motion economy evolved. Their studies of efficiency resulted in a method for analyzing fundamental movements required to perform a job. Once the movements have been examined, the Gilbreths said, you can look for places to improve or lessen repetition.

F. Gilbreth founded his own construction company after working with a constructer as an apprentice. As a result of his analysis, he increased the number of bricks that a worker builds 200 percent from 120 to 350. Also, it does not require an extra attention; in contrast, his analyses increased productivity and decrease requirement of attention.

Their one of the most successful work was about hospitals. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, determined that there must be a standardized way to operate in any given hospital. They found a standardized way in hospital which resulted operating times dropping and survival rates increasing. This way was training doctors, nurses, technicians, and other healthcare professionals. The system that they made provides today’s engineers in lots of different areas.

These early ergonomists defined efficient, functional movements for laborers, which increased productivity and improved the health and safety of workers. Ergonomists still use a table developed by the Gilbreths to identify risk factors in the workplace.

Although the Gilbreths' work is often associated with that of Frederick Winslow Taylor, there was a substantial philosophical difference between the Gilbreths and Taylor. The symbol of Taylorism was the stopwatch, and Taylorism was primarily concerned with reducing the time of processes. The Gilbreths sought to make processes more efficient by reducing the motions involved. They saw their approach as more concerned with workers' welfare than was Taylorism, which workers often perceived as primarily concerned with profit. This led to a personal rift between Taylor and the Gilbreths, which after Taylor's death turned into a feud between the Gilbreths and Taylor's followers. After Frank's death, Lillian Gilbreth took steps to heal the rift, although some friction remains over questions of history and intellectual property.,

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gilbreth

metu library e resources

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=9&sid=b0c36458-d329-43d9-a1e7-1fe5fb1b03ef%40SRCSM1

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=9&sid=b0c36458-d329-43d9-a1e7-1fe5fb1b03ef%40SRCSM1