Time and Motion studies are a procedure where analysis of a job or group of jobs is conducted to check the effectiveness of the equipment, work method and the employees. The outcomes of these studies were used to help improve operations.  Time and motion studies were first used in the USA by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the early 20th century.

Throughout the Industrial World time and motion studies are being used more and more. Time and motion studies are a major part of Scientific management.

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth’s work was separate from Taylor’s but the two became interconnected. They were a husband and wife team who wanted to make techniques more proficient by minimizing the number of movements involved. A bricklayer by trade, Frank came up with the idea of motion study whilst watching his colleagues at work. He was amazed to see everyone using a different technique when carrying and laying bricks.

Whilst studying them he reduced their movements to eighteen simple motions. Including hold, grasp and transport load. Gilbreth named these motions threbligs, an anagram of their name. They saw their approach as more concerned with workers’ welfare than Taylorism which workers often saw as primarily concerned with profit.

Gilbreth developed scaffolding which allowed quick adjustments to be made for changing the height at which they were working. This scaffolding had a shelf for the bricks and mortar to sit on so that the bricklayer did not have to bend down to pick them up. This improved efficiency and helped to reduce the previous eighteen motions down to four and a half.The Gilbreths’ work is very relevant to today’s construction industry as companies welcome almost anything that will improve efficiency and increase output.

With all this information available to construction companies it amazes me the Gilbreths’ methods are not used by the majority of companies, take a look at any building site around the world and you will see what i mean. They could and should complete their projects on or even before the deadline that has been set.

You could prove this by getting a modern day bricklayer to work with the four and a half threbligs just as the Gilbreths’ got their bricklayers to do. This would let them try out the theory and see for themselves how quick their job can be done and how much it can be simplified. The same could be done in a drawing office. If one person sat down and found the best way to enter commands into a computer and then showed everyone else the office would be more efficient.




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