Frank Bunker Gilbreth
Frank Bunker Gilbreth was born on July 7, 1868 in Fairfield, Maine. He was a bricklayer, a building contractor, and a management engineer. He was a member of the ASME, the Taylor Society (precursor to the SAM), and a lecturer at Purdue University. Frank died on June 14, 1924. Frank Gilbreth's well-known work in improving brick-laying in the construction trade is a good example of his approach. From his start in the building industry, he observed that workers developed their own peculiar ways of working and that no two used the same method. In studying bricklayers, he noted that individuals did not always use the same motions in the course of their work. These observations led him to seek one best way to perform tasks. is centennial should mark a milestone in management and work simplification. By 1912, he left the construction business to devote himself entirely to "scientific management"--a term coined, in Gantt's apartment, by a group including Gilbreth. But to him it was more than merely the mouthing of slogans to be foisted on a worker at a job in a plant. It was a philosophy that pervaded home and school, hospital and community, in fact, life itself. It was something that could be achieved only by cooperation--cooperation between engineers, educators, physiologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, economists, sociologists, statisticians, managers. Most important--at the core of it all, there was the individual, his comfort, his happiness, his service, and his dignity. Work simplification is based on respect for the dignity of people and of work. It is defined as "the organized application of common sense" (Graham, 1998). This idea was first pioneered by Frank Gilbreth on July 12, 1885 at the age of seventeen. He began work as a bricklayer but as he continued his work he began to document each workers individual way of bricklaying. Then he chose the "easiest" and less time-consuming way to accomplish the task at hand. These observations led to developing his patented bricklaying scaffold and enabled bricklayers to lay brick faster with less effort and fatigue. His 'new way' drastically reduced time and effort. Where the previous record for a certain job was 120 bricks per hour, his methods allowed 350 bricks per hour to be laid, an increase in productivity by over 190%. This early success launched his lifelong search for the one best way for doing any of the tasks of life; a search he shared with his wife, their twelve children, with employees in his company, and eventually with leaders of industry, academia, professional groups, government and mankind.
