Contribution of F.W. Taylor to Industrial Engineering
In 1893, Taylor presented his first paper on cost analysis and cost reduction based on redesign of engineering elements. It was on redesign of belt system based on collection of data for 10 years on cost of the belting system. Thus Taylor laid the strong foundation for redesign of engineering components and systems based on the accumulated cost data and economic decision making.
Important points in "Notes on Belting" (1893)
In using belting so as to obtain the greatest economy and the most satisfactory results, the following rules should be. observed :
Belts should be made heavier and run more slowly than indicated by present theory and design rules for reducing the belt cost (first cost + maintenance) as well as the cost due to frequent interruptions to manufacture. According to data accumulated, by far the largest item in this account is the time lost on the machines while belts are being replaced and repaired.
As part of the cost study of belts, shifting and cone belts were compared. The important fact noticeable is the superiority of the shifting to the cone belts in every respect except the purchase price. But paying more at the time of purchase is beneficial as the operating and maintenance cost of substantially lower and hence to life time cost of shifting belts is low. The life of the shifting belts is on average three times that of the cone. The total cost of the shifting belts per year of service is less than that of the cone. After 8.8 years of life the total cost of maintenance and repairs of the shifting belts amounts to only 30.4% of the original cost, while with the cone belts the maintenance and repairs through a life of 6.7 years amounts to one and one-half times the first cost.
The other conditions chiefly affecting the durability of belting are :
Subsequent to the presentation of papers on productivity gain sharing by Towne, and Halsey, Taylor presented his full productivity improvement systems that had three ideas in the paper on piece rate system. The precursor of industrial engineering department, elementary rate fixing department was proposed in this paper. This department has the responsibility of improving the machine, machine work and operator work and determine the time that is required to do various work elements. Time study to observe and record time taken to complete an element was proposed in this paper only. The improvement carried out in various engineering elements related to machine and machine work were briefly described in this paper.
Frederick Taylor's Elementary Rate-fixing Department (Industrial Engineering Department).
From the paper, Piece Rate System, 1895
The advantages of this system of management (Taylor's Piece Rate System) are :
The manufactures are produced cheaper under it.
The system is rapid in attaining the maximum productivity of each machine and man
The writer introduced a new system of management in the works of the Midvale Steel Company, of Philadelphia. It was employed in organization for past ten years with the most satisfactory results.
The system consists of a principal element: An elementary rate-fixing department (productivity department).
Elementary rate-fixing differs from other methods of making piece-work prices in that a careful study is made of the time required to do each of the many elementary operations into which the manufacturing of an establishment may be analyzed or divided. The times for elementary operations are recorded under various classified heads to facilitate retrieving them when needed.
The rate-fixing department has equal dignity and commands equal respect with the engineering and managing departments and is organized and conducted in an equally scientific and practical manner. It contributes value to the organization and justifies its existence and the expenses incurred including the salaries paid to the department personnel.
This elementary system of fixing rates has been in successful operation for the past ten years, successfully covering the wide a range of manufacturing activities. This new system came into existence in 1883. While he was the foreman of the machine shop of the Midvale Steel Company of Philadelphia, it occurred to Taylor the writer that a better system of fixing piece rates was possible and it would be beneficial to both firm and the employee. The ideas was that it was simpler to time each of the elements of the various kinds of work done in the place, and then find the quickest time in which each element could be done under proper planning and standardization. The time required for each job having various elements can be determined by summing up the total times of the best or lowest times of its component parts instead of searching through the records of former jobs and guessing or estimating the proper piece rate. Taylor, himself as the foreman practised this method of rate-fixing for about a year as it is the responsibility of the foreman. Then he recommended to his company management to set up the rate-fixing department. From then onwards, the department successfully set the piece-work prices that gave higher productivity.
This department far more than paid for itself from the very start. Over years more benefits were realized as methods of determining the maximum capacity of each of the machines in the place, and of making working-tables of cutting conditions were developed. Also the best methods of making and recording time observations of work done by the men and developing the best way of doing each element was determined. Also time-tables for starting and finishing jobs (schedules) were developed and daily task was given to each workman with the promise of a bonus or additional premium for exceeding the task given to him in a day.
The best results were finally attained in the case of work done by metal-cutting tools, such as lathes, planers, boring mills, etc., when a long and expensive series of experiments was made, to determine, formulate, and finally practically apply to each machine the law governing the proper cutting speed of tools, namely, the effect on the cutting speed of altering any one of the following variables : the shape of the tool (i.e., lip angle, clearance angle, and the line of the cutting edge), the duration of the cut, the quality or hardness of the metal being cut, the depth of the cut, and the thickness of the feed or shaving.
Due to the understanding of metal cutting through these experiments, the quality of the work was improved and the output of the machinery and the men was doubled, and in many cases trebled. At the start there was naturally great opposition to the rate-fixing department, particularly to the man who was taking time observations of the various elements of the work. But when the men found that the knowledge of the department was more accurate than their own, and the system provided them higher income permanently, the motive for hanging back or “ soldiering (deliberate slow work)” ceased, and with it the greatest cause for antagonism and war between the men and the management
The accurate knowledge of the quickest time in which work can be done, obtained by the rate-fixing department and accepted by the men as standard, is the greatest and most important step toward obtaining the maximum output of the establishment.
Of the two devices proposed for increasing the output of a shop, the differential rate and the scientific rate-fixing department, the scientific rate-fixing department is by far the more important. The differential rate is invaluable at the start as a means of convincing men that the management is in earnest in its intention of paying a premium for performing properly planned work or engineered work, and it at all times furnishes the best means of maintaining the top notch of production; but when, through its application, the men and the management have come to appreciate the mutual benefit of harmonious cooperation and respect for each other’s rights, it ceases to be an absolute necessity. On the other hand, the rate-fixing department, for an establishment doing a large variety of work, becomes absolutely indispensable. The longer it is in operation the more necessary it becomes.
To apply the knowledge gained through rate fixing deparment's work in various organizations with less cost, what is needed is a hand-book on the speed with which work can be done, similar to the elementary engineering hand-books. And the writer ventures to predict that such a book will, before long, be forthcoming. Such a book should describe the best method of making, recording, tabulating, and indexing time-observations, since much time and effort are wasted by the adoption of inferior methods (Taylor himself created the engineering knowledge to determine cutting speeds, feeds and depth of cut of machine tools).
The benefits of elementary rate-fixing including many indirect results.
The careful study of the capabilities of the machines and the analysis of the speeds at which they must run, before differential rates can be fixed which will insure their maximum output, almost invariably result in first indicating and then correcting the defects in their design and in the method of running and caring for them.
In the case of the Midvale Steel Company the machine shop was equipped with standard tools furnished by the best makers, and the study of these machines, such as lathes, planers, boring mills, etc., which was made in fixing rates, developed the fact that they were none of them designed and speeded so as to cut steel to the best advantage. As a result, this company has demanded alterations from the standard in almost every machine which they have bought during the past eight years. They have themselves been obliged to superintend the design of many special tools which would not have been thought of had it not been for elementary rate-fixing.
But what is perhaps of more importance still, the rate-fixing department has shown the necessity of carefully systematizing all of the small details in the running of each shop, such as the care of belting, the proper shape for cutting tools, and the dressing, grinding, and issuing swarf, oiling machines, issuing orders for work, obtaining accurate labor and material returns, and a host of other minor methods and processes. These details, which are usually regarded as of comparatively small importance, and many of which are left to the individual judgment of the foreman and workmen, are shown by the rate-fixing department to be of paramount importance in obtaining the maximum output, and to require the most careful and systematic study and attention in order to insure uniformity and a fair and equal chance for each workman. Without this preliminary study and systematizing of details it is impossible to apply successfully the differential rate in most establishments.
No system of management, however good, should be applied in a wooden way. The proper personal relations should always be maintained between the employers and men; and even the prejudices of the workmen should be considered in dealing with ]them.
Above all it is desirable that men should be talked to on their own level by those who are over them.
Each man should be encouraged to discuss any trouble which he may have, either in the works or outside, with those over him. Men would far rather even be blamed by their bosses, especially if the “ tearing out ” has a touch of human nature and feeling in it, than to be passed by day after day without a word and with no more notice than if they were part of the machinery.
The opportunity which each man should have of airing his mind freely and having it out with his employers, is a safety-valve ; and if the superintendents are reasonable men, and listen to and treat with respect what their men have to say, there is absolutely no reason for labor unions and strikes.
Source: Frederick Taylor's Piece Rate System
The machine and machine related work improvement was described in very great detail in the paper "The Art of Metal Cutting (1906)" by Taylor.
Taylor is the first person who wrote about a system to improve productivity in machine shop. He contributed to productivity science, productivity engineering and productivity management. It is important to study the productivity science developed by Taylor through his paper "The Art of Metal Cutting." Number of tables were shared with participants along with the paper presented in 1906. The folder containing tables is not yet available in the web space. We only have the paper. So, it may be difficult to follow the content. But we need to make an attempt to understand to the extent possible and develop similar content for other processes.
Taylor did research on productivity improvement of machining in turning process for 26 years and provided number of relations between cutting variables and productivity.
ELEMENTS AFFECTING CUTTING SPEED OF TOOLS IN THE ORDER OF THEIR RELATIVE IMPORTANCE
Proportion is as 1 in the case of semi-hardened steel or chilled iron to 100 in the case of very soft low carbon steel.
Proportion is as 1 in tools made from tempered carbon steel to 7 in the best high speed tools.
Proportion is as 1 with thickness of shaving 3/16 of an inch to 3.5 with thickness of shaving 1/64 of an inch.
Proportion is as 1 in a thread tool to 6 in a broad nosed cutting tool. ,
Proportion is as 1 for tool running dry to 1.41 for tool cooled by a copious stream of water.
Proportion is as 1 with 1/2 inch depth of cut to 1.36 with 1/8 inch depth of cut.
Proportion is as 1 when tool is to be ground every 1.5 hour to 1.207 when tool is to be ground every 20 minutes.
Proportion is as 1 with lip angle of 68 degrees to 1.023 with lip angle of 61 degrees.
Proportion is as 1 with tool chattering to 1.15 with tool running smoothly.
A. QUALITY OF METAL BEING CUT
THE EFFECT OF THE QUALITY OF THE METAL BEING CUT UPON CUTTING SPEED
we made great numbers of experiments upon the effect of the quality of the metal being cut upon the cutting speed.
SYSTEMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF STEEL FORGINGS AND CASTINGS ACCORDING TO THEIR CUTTING SPEEDS
THE EFFECT OF THE QUALITY OR HARDNESS OF STEEL FORGINGS UPON THE CUTTING SPEED
There are three important elements which affect the hardness or the cutting properties of steel forgings:
a Their chemical composition.
b The thoroughness with which the metal is forged, that is, the amount that the cross-section of the ingot has been reduced in making the forging and the forging heat.
c The subsequent heat treatment which the forging receives, that is, whether it has been laid down to cool in the air, annealed, or oil hardened, and the exact temperatures of annealing and the rapidity of cooling.
Shop Management
The art of management has been defined, "as knowing exactly what you want men to do, and then seeing that they do it in the best and cheapest way.'" No concise definition can fully describe an art, but the relations between employers and men form without question the most important part of this art.
The possibility of coupling high wages with a low labor cost rests mainly upon the enormous difference between the amount of work which a first-class man can do under favorable circumstances and the work which is actually done by the average man.
Both installing and maintaining favorable circumstances and identifying and developing first class men are the responsibility of managers only. No doubt each individual employee is an important contributor to the production process and his enthusiasm every day is required and has to be promoted by the society as well as the organization managers, his initial selection and education/training and development for higher responsibilities are all duties of managers.
Industrial Engineering Described in Shop Management by F.W. Taylor
https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2019/06/industrial-engineering-described-in.htmlTaylor developed his shop management and productivity improvement theories initially in machine shops and later extended to other industrial activities. In production systems where machine is the important working component, the large increase in output is due partly to the actual physical changes, either in the machines or small tools and appliances.
Task Management - F.W. Taylor http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2013/08/task-management-fw-taylor.html
Modern engineering can almost be called an exact science; each year removes it further from guess work and from rule-of-thumb methods and establishes it more firmly upon the foundation of fixed principles. Productivity improvement engineering will also become exact science.
In the case of a machine shop doing miscellaneous work, before each casting or forging arrives in the shop the exact route which it is to take from machine to machine should be laid out. An instruction card for each operation must be written out stating in detail just how each operation on every piece of work is to be done and the time required to do it, the drawing number, any special tools, jigs, or appliances required, etc. Before the four principles of productivity improvement through task allotment and management can be successfully applied it is also necessary in most shops to make important physical changes It is the first principle actually. The work of the machine has to be standardized, meaning it has to be planned for maximum productivity. All of the small details in the shop, which are usually regarded as of little importance must be thoroughly and carefully standardized; such. details, for instance, as the care and tightening of the belts; the exact shape and quality of each cutting tool; the establishment of a complete tool room from which properly ground tools, as well as jigs, templates, drawings, etc., are issued under a good check system, etc.; and as a matter of importance (in fact, as the foundation of scientific management) an accurate study of unit times required for each machine tool operation must be made by one or more men connected with the planning department, and each machine tool must be standardized and a table or slide rule constructed for it showing how to run it to the best advantage.
Importance of Task Organization - F.W. Taylor - F.W. Taylor http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2013/08/importance-of-people-organization-fw.html
Modern engineering proceeds with comparative certainty to the design and construction of a machine or structure of the maximum efficiency with the minimum weight and cost of materials, while the old style engineering at best only approximated these results and then only after a series of breakdowns, involving the practical reconstruction of the machine and the lapse of a long period of time. Industrial engineering has to provide completion times for various machine tasks as well as manual tasks like design of machine elements.
Modern Engineering and Modern Shop Management - F.W. Taylor
The conditions standardization principle of task management (standardized conditions of "machine") is a necessary preliminary, since without having first thoroughly standardized all of the conditions surrounding work, for productivity management under task management or differential piece rate systems.
Task Work - Some More Thoughts - F.W. Taylor http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2013/08/task-work-some-more-thoughts-fw-taylor.html
Machine Tool Time Estimation Methods
Methods employed in solving the time problem for machine tools.
As a machine shop has been chosen to illustrate the application of such details of scientific management as time study, the planning department, functional foremanship, instruction cards, etc., the description of the methods employed in solving the time problem for machine tools has to be included at least briefly.
Methods employed in solving the time problem for machine tools
This issue was already explained in art of metal cutting above.
Time Study - 1903 Explanation by F.W. Taylor - Process Time Reduction Study
The time study should be minute and exact. Each job should be carefully subdivided into its elementary operations, and each of these unit times should receive the most thorough time study.
The art of studying unit times is quite as important and as difficult as that of the draftsman. It should be undertaken seriously, and looked upon as a profession. It has its own peculiar implements and methods, without the use and understanding of which progress will necessarily be slow, and in the absence of which there will be more failures than successes scored at first.
To obtain accurate average times, for any item of work under specified conditions, it is necessary to take observations upon a number of men, each of whom is at work under conditions which are comparable. The total number of observations which should be taken of any one elementary unit depends upon its variableness, and also upon its frequency of occurrence in a day's work.
In making time observations, absolutely nothing should be left to the memory of the time study man. Every item, even those which appear self-evident, should be accurately recorded.
It is a good plan to pay a first-class man an extra price while his work is being timed. When work men once understand that the time study is being made to enable them to earn higher wages, the writer has found them quite ready to help instead of hindering him in his work. The division of a given job into its proper elementary units, before beginning the time study, calls for considerable skill and good judgment. If the job to be observed is one which will be repeated over and over again, or if it is one of a series of similar jobs which form an important part of the standard work of an establishment, or of the trade which is being studied, then it is best to divide the job into elements which are rudimentary. In some cases this subdivision should be carried to a point which seems at first glance almost absurd.
http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2013/08/time-study-by-fw-taylor.html
The first move before in any way stimulating them toward a larger output was to insure against a falling off in quality.
Bicylcle Ball Inspection Case Study - F.W. Taylor - As Described in Shop Management
Time study for all operations done by the various machines.
This information is best obtained from slide rules, one of which is made for each machine tool or class of machine tools throughout the works; one, for instance, for small lathes of the same type, one for planers of same type, etc. These slide rules show the best way to machine each piece and enable detailed directions to be given the workman as to how many cuts to take, where to start each cut, both for roughing out work and finishing it, the depth of the cut, the best feed and speed, and the exact time required to do each operation.
Production Planning and Control - F.W.Taylor - http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2013/08/production-planning-and-control-fwtaylor.html
In the metal working plant which we are using for purposes of illustration a start for productivity improvement can be made at once along all of the following lines:
First. The introduction of standards throughout the works and office.
Second. The scientific study of unit times on several different kinds of work.
Third. A complete analysis of the pulling, feeding power and the proper speeding of the various machine tools throughout the place with a view of making a slide rule for properly running each machine.
Fourth. The work of establishing the system of time cards by means of which ultimately all of the desired information will be conveyed from the men to the planning room.
To illustrate: For nearly two and one-half years in the large shop of the Bethlehem Steel Company, one speed boss after another was instructed in the art of cutting metals fast on a large motor-driven lathe which was especially fitted to run at any desired speed within a very wide range. The work done in this machine was entirely connected, either with the study of cutting tools or the instruction of speed bosses. It was most interesting to see these men, principally either former gang bosses or the best workmen, gradually change from their attitude of determined and positive opposition to that in most cases of enthusiasm for, and earnest support of, the new methods. It was actually running the lathe themselves according to the new method and under the most positive and definite orders that produced the effect. The writer himself ran the lathe and instructed the first few bosses. It required from three weeks to two months for each man.
Train Foremen and Operators in High Productivity - F.W. Taylors
The first of the functional foremen to be brought into actual contact with the men should be the inspector; and the whole system of inspection, with its proper safeguards, should be in smooth and successful operation before any steps are taken toward stimulating the men to a larger output; otherwise an increase in quantity will probably be accompanied by a falling off in quality.
The inspector is responsible for the quality of the work, and both the workmen and speed bosses must see that the work is all finished to suit him. This man can, of course, do his work best if he is a master of the art of finishing work both well and quickly.
Next choose for the application of the two principal functional foremen, viz., the speed boss and the gang boss, that portion of the work in which there is the largest need of, and opportunity for, making a gain.
The gang boss has charge of the preparation of all work up to the time that the piece is set in the machine. It is his duty to see that every man under him has at all times at least one piece of work ahead at his machine, with all the jigs, templates, drawings, driving mechanism, sling chains, etc., ready to go into his machine as soon as the piece he is actually working on is done. The gang boss must show his men how to set their work in their machines in the quickest time, and see that they do it. He is responsible for the work being accurately and quickly set, and should be not only able but willing to pitch in himself and show the men how to set the work in record time.
The speed boss must see that the proper cutting tools are used for each piece of work, that the work is properly driven, that the cuts are started in the right part of the piece, and that the best speeds and feeds and depth of cut are used. His work begins only after the piece is in the lathe or planer, and ends when the actual machining ends. The speed boss must not only advise his men how best to do this work, but he must see that they do it in the quickest time, and that they use the speeds and feeds and depth of cut as directed on the instruction card. In many cases he is called upon to demonstrate that the work can be done in the specified time by doing it himself in the presence of his men.
It is of the utmost importance that the first combined application of time study, slide rules, instruction cards, functional foremanship, and a premium for a large daily task should prove a success both for the workmen and for the company, and for this reason a simple class of work should be chosen for a start. The entire efforts of the new management should be centered on one point, and continue there until unqualified success has been attained.
Introducing Functional Foremanship - F.W. Taylor http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2013/08/introducing-functional-foremanship-fw.html
If, however, the management begins by analyzing in detail just how each section of the work should be done and then writes out complete instructions specifying the tools to be used in succession, the
cone step on which the driving belt is to run, the depth of cut and the feed to be used, the exact manner in which the work is to be set in the machine, etc., and if before starting to make any change they have trained in as functional foremen several men who are particularly expert and well informed in their specialties, as, for instance, a speed boss, gang boss, and inspector; if you then place for example a speed boss alongside of that workman, with an instruction card clearly written out, stating what both the speed boss and the man whom he is instructing are to do, and that card says you are to use such and such a tool, put your driving belt on this cone, and use this feed on your machine, and if you do so you will get out the work in such and such a time, I can hardly conceive of a case in which a union could prevent the boss from ordering the man to put his driving belt just where he said and using just the feed that he said, and in doing that the workman can hardly fail to get the work out on time. No union would dare to say to the management of a works, you shall not run the machine with the belt on this or that cone step. They do not come down specifically in that way; they say, "You shall not work so fast," but they do not say, "You shall not use such and such a tool, or run with such a feed or at such a speed."
Personal Relations Between Employers and Employed - F.W. Taylor
The remarkable system for analyzing all of the work upon new machines as the drawings arrived from the drafting-room and of directing the movement and grouping of the various parts as they progressed through the shop, which was developed and used for several years by Mr. Wm. II. Thorne, of Wm. Sellers & Co., of Philadelphia, while the company was under the general management of Mr. J. Sellers Bancroft. Unfortunately the full benefit of this method was never realized owing to the lack of the other functional elements which should have accompanied it.
Best Practices in Shop Management - 1911 - F.W. Taylor http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2013/08/best-practices-in-shop-management-1911.html
Scientific Management
Taylor authored "Scientific Management" in 1911 and it was focused totally on the study and improvement of human effort as in this paper, Taylor specifically highlighted waste of human effort and ways to prevent it.
Importance of System for Efficiency - F.W. Taylor
The system developed, implemented and advocated by Taylor is based on four principles of scientific management.
The Principles of Scientific Management
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.
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.
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.
________________
________________
More detailed description of Taylor's contribution
Taylor's Industrial Engineering
More Details on Individual Topics
Industrial Engineering Described in Shop Management by F.W. Taylor
Time Study - Explanation by F.W. Taylor
Industrial Engineering and Productivity Improvement Described in Scientific Management by F.W. Taylor
Foundation of Scientific Management
Productivity Improvement in Machine Shops through Scientific Machine Work and Man Work by Taylor
Illustration of Human Effort Productivity Improvement - Pig Iron Handling by Taylor
F.W. Taylor - Shop Management - With Appropriate Sections
F.W. Taylor Scientific Management - With Appropriate Sections
Contribution of F.W. Gilbreth
•Motion and Fatigue Study
•Skill Study
•Plant Layout and Material Handling
•Inventory Control
•Production Control
•Business Procedures
•Safety Methods
•Developing Occupations for the Handicapped
•Athletic Training and Skills
•Military Training
•Surgical Operations
Gilbreth's motion study was described by Taylor in his book "Scientific Management."
An example of benefits from product industrial engineering and process industrial engineering
3 Years - 50% Cost Reduction - Diplexer Line
https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2020/05/ie-continuous-improvement-3-years-50.html
Illustration of Human Effort Productivity Improvement - Bricklaying Improvement by Gilbreth
Contribution of Harrington Emerson
Harrington Emerson contributed to the systems efficiency focus of industrial engineering. His book Twelve Principles of Efficiency was classic.
He discussed efficiency design of organization through 12 principles
1. Clearly defined ideals.
2. Common sense
3. Competent counsel
4. Discipline
5. The fair deal
6. Reliable, immediate and adequate records
7. Despatching
8. Standards and schedules
9. Standardized conditions
10. Standardized operations
11. Written standard-practice instructions
12. Efficiency-reward
Industrial Engineering Knowledge Revision Plan - One Year Plan
January - February - March - April - May - June
Online Handbook of Industrial Engineering