The roots of industrial engineering – The Gilbreths: Cheaper by the dozen Compiled by Prof Paul Kruger Frank Bunker Gilbreth Frank was the youngest of three children. (1868–1924) and Lillian Evelyn Lillian was the oldest of nine children. He (née Moller) Gilbreth (1878–1972) came from a long line of New Englanders. could perhaps be regarded She came from a family as the mother and father of of German descent. He was born on the LAST WORD modern industrial engineering. USA’s East Coast. She was born on the They were an innovative West Coast. He was the owner of a very husband-and-wife team that successful construction business. She was revolutionised the way we do an educated woman with social standing things today. and grace. He started his adult life as an assistant bricklayer with no formal education beyond high school. She started her Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. adult life as a student of English literature. He was a young man who had to support and engineering in disciplines his mother and aunt financially. such as motion study, scientific She lived a privileged early life as a management, ergonomics, human member of a wealthy family. factors, continuous improvement and psychology. They can claim They met in Boston in 1903, when credit for numerous patents and Lillian was on her way to tour Europe, innovative designs aimed at finding and they were smitten with each and implementing “the one best way” other. They got married in 1904, of doing a job. This includes had a very happy and successful the definition of the so-called marriage, equally sharing their family “18 fundamental motions” or and professional commitments and therbligs, including search, find, responsibilities. Lillian gave birth to select, grasp and position, many of 13 children, 11 of whom survived which are still part of modern-day into adulthood. One child died at computer user interfaces. These birth and the second eldest, Mary motions are used to study motion Elizabeth, suffered from diphtheria economy in the workplace. and died in 1912 at the age of six. The other children were Ernestine, After World War I, Frank and Lillian Frank Jr, Anne, Martha, William, contributed extensively to the Lillian, Frederick, Daniel, John, Robert improvement of surgical and and Jane. rehabilitation procedures for returning soldiers. The Gilbreths perhaps became the best-known and most successful One day, when a mailman observed husband-and-wife team in the world the Gilbreth “brood”, he asked: of engineering of the early 20th “How d’ya ever feed ’em?” Frank century. They made significant and responded: “Oh, they come cheaper innovative contributions to science by the dozen.” LAST WORD 131 INNOVATE 9 2014 Frank B. Gilbreth, his wife and children in their family car, nicknamed "Foolish Carriage", in an undated photograph. And so this phrase became a mantra to support his mother and aunt. In requested. Gilbreth also devised the for 20th-century mass production 1895, he started his own contracting standard techniques used by armies and automation. firm, Frank Gilbreth and Company. around the world to teach recruits The company became famous for to disassemble and reassemble Frank’s story its ability to finish projects early and their weapons quickly, even when under budget. In 1902, Frank’s firm blindfolded or in total darkness. Frank was born on 7 July 1868 to finished building the Augustus Lowell John and Martha (née Bunker) Laboratory for MIT in 11 weeks, a Frank developed many improve- Gilbreth of Fairfield, Maine. After feat unheard of at the time. Frank’s ments in bricklaying. He invented his father’s sudden death from firm became highly successful, a scaffold that permitted the quick pneumonia in 1871 and for financial completing major construction adjustment of the working platform reasons, his mother was forced to projects all over the USA and abroad. so that the worker would be at the move Frank and his sisters, Anne Soon after marrying Lillian, he sold most convenient level at all times. and Mary, to Boston where she the business and started a consulting He equipped the scaffold with a shelf opened a boarding house. After firm, Gilbreth Inc., with Lillian as a full for bricks and mortar, so that the passing the Massachusetts Institute and equal partner. This was possibly builder no longer had to bend down of Technology (MIT) entrance the first industrial engineering and pick up each brick. Frank also examination in the summer of and management consulting firm had other labourers stack the bricks 1885, Frank decided to forgo in history. Frank was the first to with the best side and end of each higher education and entered the propose that a surgical nurse should brick always in the same position, construction trade as a bricklayer’s serve as a “caddy” (Gilbreth’s term) so that the bricklayer no longer had assistant. Frank noted that the to a surgeon by passing surgical to turn the brick around and over bricklayers with whom he trained instruments to him or her as to look for the best side to face all had different approaches to bricklaying and soon devised a method that eliminated unnecessary motion and greatly increased Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you productivity. wish, but you only spend it once. Frank quickly worked his way up – Lillian Gilbreth in the company and was soon able LAST WORD 132 INNOVATE 9 2014 effective and efficient manager. We should be taught not to wait for inspiration She was a member of the Society of Mechanical Engineers from 1924, to start a thing. Action always generates and in 1944, she and Frank received inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. the Gantt Gold Medal from the Society of Mechanical Engineers and – Frank Gilbreth the American Management Society. The medal was awarded to Frank posthumously. Lillian served as an advisor to former US presidents outward. The bricks and mortar were She may be one of the first female Hoover, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, placed on the scaffold in such a way industrial engineers to hold a Kennedy and Johnson on matters that the bricklayer could pick up a doctoral degree. of civil defence, war production and brick with one hand and mortar with the rehabilitation of the physically the other. As a result of these and In 1900, after graduating with handicapped. other improvements, Frank reduced honours from Berkeley, she was the number of motions made in asked to present the commencement She and Frank have a permanent laying a brick from eighteen to four speech at the graduation ceremony. exhibit in the Smithsonian National and a half. She was the first woman in Berkeley’s Museum of American History, and history to receive that honour. her portrait hangs in the National Frank was a member of the American This was only the first of many Portrait Gallery. She died peacefully Society for Mechanical Engineers, “firsts”. She became the first female at the age of 94. the Taylor Society and a lecturer at member of the Society of Industrial Purdue University. He suffered a Engineers in 1921 and received the A formidable team heart attack and passed away while first Gilbreth Medal for distinguished waiting for a train. He was 56 years contributions to management from Although the Gilbreths’ work is often old. the Society of Industrial Engineers. associated with that of Frederick In 1966, she was the first woman Winslow Taylor, there was a Lillian’s story to receive the Hoover Medal for substantial philosophical difference distinguished public service by an between the Gilbreths and Taylor. Lillian was born on 24 May 1878 to engineer. She also became the first Taylorism was primarily concerned William and Ann Moller of Oakland, female professor at the University with reducing the time it took to California. Her father was a store of Purdue’s Engineering School and perform processes. The Gilbreths owner and the large family enjoyed became a full professor in 1935. She sought to make processes more a privileged lifestyle. Her mother taught at Purdue until her retirement efficient by reducing the motions was often ill and Lillian had to care in 1948 at the age of 70. She also involved. They saw their approach as for her three younger brothers and received 22 honorary degrees from being more concerned with workers’ five younger sisters. She excelled in universities like Princeton, Brown and welfare than Taylorism was. The school and was mainly interested Michigan. typical worker often saw Taylorism as in music and poetry. Despite this, management’s attempt to increase her parents did not expect her to As a consultant to Macy’s, Lillian profit at the worker’s expense. go to college. They thought it was was so successful in improving Their emphasis on the “one best more appropriate for a girl of her productivity that she was asked to way” and the therbligs predates the social standing to marry a rich train the company’s executives in the development of continuous quality man and become a homemaker implementation of her management improvement. like her mother. She enrolled at techniques. While working with the University of California at General Electric, Lillian set out the The Gilbreths’ lifelong quest consists Berkeley against her parents’ wishes principles of good kitchen design, of finding “the one best way” to and majored in English, Foreign including the “best” height for kitchen make the task faster, but also Languages and Philosophy, planning appliances. These principles are still easier. They aimed to achieve higher to become a teacher. She continued adhered to today. She invented the productivity without negatively her graduate studies at Columbia foot-pedal dustbin and the shelves affecting working conditions and University and Berkeley and received inside a refrigerator.