Frank Bunker Gilbreth

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Frank Bunker Gilbreth (b. July 7, 1868, Fairfield, Maine - d.June 14, 1924, Montclair, New Jersey) was a proponent of scientific management and a pioneer of motion study.

With his wife and collaborator, Lillian Moller Gilbreth, he sought to understand the work habits of industrial employees and to find ways to increase their output. He and Lillian were partners in their own management consulting firm, Gilbreth, Inc., which focused on such endeavors.

Writing in The History of Management Thought, Claude George (1968) said that Gilbreth refined the hand motions into 17 basic motions. These included “grasp,” “transport loaded,” and “hold.” Gilbreth named the motions therbligs, which is Gilbreth spelled backwards with the “th” transposed. The emphasis “on the one best way” including the 17 basic motions predated the late 20th century understanding that repeated motions can lead to physical repetitive motion disorders of the worker. He also used a motion picture camera that was calibrated in fractions of minutes to time the smallest of motions in workers.

However, George also observed that the Gilbreths were above all scientists who sought to teach managers that everything should be constantly questioned, and feasibility and applicability should be discarded if an improvement is found. It is a quest for the one best way that predates the development of continuous quality improvement (CQI). (Reference, (George, C. S. Jr. (1968). The History of Management Thought. Engle Wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. P. 98)

Two major contributions to the world made by Frank Gilbreth are: the introduction of the surgical nurse as 'the caddy' (in Gilbreth's words) to the surgeon, who hands the doctor operating surgical instruments as called for; and, the standard techniques used by armies around the world to teach recruits how to rapidly disassemble and reassemble their weapons even blindfolded or in total darkness. The argument can be made that his innovations in these two fields are responsible for the saving of millions of lives.

Gilbreth was a prolific researcher and often used his large family (and himself) as guinea pigs in his experiments. Their exploits are lovingly detailed in the book Cheaper by the Dozen, which was written by his son Frank Jr. and daughter Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and published in 1948. The book has since inspired two movie versions, one in 1950 and the second in 2003.

The first, starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy, is considered by many to be superior to the 2003 version, which stars comedians Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt but bears no resemblance to the original book except that both feature a family with twelve children.

Gilbreth died suddenly of heart failure in Montclair, New Jersey on June 14, 1924, aged 55, leaving behind Lillian and their 11 surviving children. Their subsequent adventures are outlined in a second book by Frank Jr. and Ernestine, Belles on Their Toes (published in 1950).

[edit] Relationship to Taylorism

Although the Gilbreths' work is often associated with that of Frederick Winslow Taylor, there was a substantial philosophical and personal rift between the Gilbreths and Taylor; after Taylor's death, the feud continued between the Gilbreths and Taylor's followers. The symbol of Taylorism was the stopwatch, and Taylorism was primarily concerned with reducing the time of processes.

The Gilbreths' work centered around making processes more efficient by reducing the motions involved; the Gilbreths saw their approach as being more concerned with workers' welfare than was Taylorism, which was frequently perceived by workers as being primarily concerned with profit. After Frank Gilbreth's death, conciliatory motions by Lillian Gilbreth helped heal the rift ([1]), although some friction remains over history and intellectual property ([2]).

See also Therblig