Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915).
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915)
Was an American engineer and inventor, considered
the father of scientific management, whose
contributions were fundamental to the development of
industry in the early 20th century.
Working Life.
By 1875 Frederick Taylor had recovered his vision.
At that time he joined an industrial steel company
located in Philadelphia, where he worked as a laborer.
In 1878 he worked at the Midvale Steel Company in
Utah, United States. He quickly rose through the ranks
within the company and served as machinist, gang
foreman, foreman, foreman's foreman and director of
the blueprint office, eventually becoming chief
engineer.
Time Study
In 1881, when Frederick Taylor was 25
years old, he began introducing the
concept of time study at the Midvale
Steel Company.
In addition, it was important to Taylor
that these steps had a specific and
strict execution time, and that the
workers complied with these times.
Frederick was always characterized by
being extremely observant and
meticulous. At the steel company, he
watched very carefully and closely
how the men who cut the metal
materials worked.
In 1883, Taylor obtained a degree in
mechanical engineering from Stevens
Institute of Technology, which he
completed by studying at night, since
at that time he was already working at
the steel company.
He paid close attention to how they
carried out each step of the process.
As a result of this observation, he
conceived the notion of breaking
down the work into simple steps in
order to better analyze it.
It was in that year that he became
chief engineer of the steel company, at
which time he designed and built a
new machine shop to efficiently
increase productivity.
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915).
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915).
Retirement and recognition
At the age of 45, Taylor decided to
retire from the workplace, but
continued to give talks and lectures at
various colleges and universities with
the intention of promoting the
principles of scientific work
management.
in the same year he received an
honorary doctor of science degree
from the University of Pennsylvania.
One of his most emblematic
participations took place in 1912, when
he appeared before a special
committee of the U.S. Congress, with
the intention of explaining the
characteristics of the machinery
management system he had created.
Taylor received many awards
throughout his life. In 1906 the
American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME) named him president;
Frederick Taylor's main contributions
He was the first to propose a scientific
approach to work:
His experience as an operator and
shop foreman allowed him to discover
that workers were not as productive as
they could be and that this was
diminishing the company's
performance.
That is why he proposed a scientific
approach: observe the way they
worked to discover which actions were
slowing down the work and reorganize
the activities in the most productive
way.
For example, if in a garment factory
each operator is responsible for the
manufacture of a garment from start to
finish, a lot of time would be wasted in
changing tasks and tools.
Death
Frederick Taylor died on March 21, 1915, in Philadelphia, at the age of 59. Until the
day of his death, he continued to make known his system of scientific organization of
work in various academic and professional settings.
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915).
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