The Evolution of Mass

Production and Scientific

Management
 1700s
 Industrial revolution began in England and
spread to the rest of Europe and to the
United States during the nineteenth
century.
 Prior to 1700s
 Goods were processed in a small shop by
craftsmen and apprentices, a process
known as “Craft Production”. Under such
system, Every piece was a unique, hand
fitted and made entirely by one person
from start to finish. Production was slow
and labor intensive.
 Industrial inventions that revolutionized
the way work was performed
 1764- James Watt invented the steam engine
that provided a source of power to operate
machines in factories, replacing laborers as the
primary factors of production and brought
workers to central location to perform task under
the direction of an overseer in a place called
factory.
 1770 - James invented Spinning Jenny for
production of cotton thread.
 1785 - Edmund Cartwright introduced power
loom that revolutionized textile industry.
 1776
 Adam Smith introduced the concept of
“division of labor”. In this concept,
production process was broken down into
a series of small tasks, each performed by
a different worker.
 1790s
 Eli Whitney introduced the concept of
“interchangeable parts”. He developed a
system of making muskets on an
assembly line to such tolerances that any
parts could fit the musket. The parts did
not have to be custom made, they were
standardized.
 Early 1900s
 Frederick W. Taylor introduced his
philosophy of scientific management. He
believed in a science of management
based on observation, measurement,
analysis and improvement of work
methods and economic incentives. He
studied work methods in great detail to
identify the best method for doing each
job.
 Pioneers who contributed heavily to the
scientific management movement:
 Frank Gilbreth – an industrial engineer who is referred to as the
father of motion study. He developed principles of motion economy
that could be applied to incredibly small portion of a task.
 Lilian Gilbreth – a psychologist and wife of Frank Gilbreth
emphasized the human factor in work. Many of his studies focused
on worker fatigue.
 Henry Gantt – Recognized the vale of non-monetary rewards to
motivate workers, and developed the widely used system for
scheduling.
 Harrington Emerson – applied Taylor’s ideas to organization
structure an encouraged the use of experts to improve organization
efficiency.
 Henry Ford, a car manufacturer, applied the scientific management
in 1913 to the production of Model T car, reducing the time required
to assemble a car from a high 728 hours to 1 ½ hours. The short
assembly time per car allowed the Model T to be produced in high
volume, yielding the name mass production.