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Frederick Winslow Taylor

Industrial Engineering

Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer whose studies of workplace efficiency, published as The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911, are usually credited with founding industrial engineering as a distinct discipline. His time and motion study methods, developed at Midvale Steel and other American factories in the 1880s and 1890s, aimed to find the single most efficient way to perform a given task and remain a foundation of modern industrial and operations engineering, even as his own rigid application of them has been widely criticized.

Facts
Birth Year
1856 1
Death Year
1915 1
Nationality
American 1
Connections

Associated With

Mass Production, Methods

Taylor scientific management principles of standardized, timed tasks directly shaped the division of labor mass production and the assembly line depend on.

Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors

In Field

Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors

Invented

Source Scientific Management (Taylor) Explained (Toolshero)
Source Time and motion study, Wikipedia

Long-Form Articles

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954View the Source
Technology: A World History
Daniel R. Headrick, Oxford University Press, 2009View the Source
Frederick Winslow Taylor (Wikipedia)
Biography, Bethlehem Steel paragraph
Quote, Biography, Bethlehem Steel paragraph
between 1898 and 1900 Taylor and Maunsel White (né Maunsel White III; 1856-1912; grandson of Maunsel White; 1783-1863) conducted comprehensive empirical tests, and concluded that tungsten alloyed steel doubled or quadrupled cutting speeds
View the Source
Scientific Management (Taylor) Explained (Toolshero)
ToolsheroInvented: Scientific ManagementView the Source
Time and motion study, Wikipedia
Invented: Time and Motion Study, Lead section
Quote, Invented: Time and Motion Study, Lead section
A time and motion study (or time-motion study) is a business efficiency technique combining the time study work of Frederick Winslow Taylor with the motion study work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth (the same couple as is best known through the biographical 1950 film and book Cheaper by the Dozen).
View the Source
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