Continuous Process Improvement: The Lessons of History

BADM 701

Dr. Ron Lembke

Cotton Gin at Work

Eli Whitney Introduced interchangeable

parts in large musket contract for U.S. Army

Interchangeable parts the true secret of Ford’s success

Made possible by advances in measurement and tool steel

Tool Steel Advances

Beginning of Standards

Before standardized parts, need Screws

1860s Machine Tool industry: Silicon Valley of its day

All screws custom made by tool & die shops according to what they thought best

William Sellers: 1864 “On a Uniform System of Screw Threads”

Sellers vs. Whitworth

Sellers objectively better Easier: simple angle vs. difficult; rounded top vs. straight 3 cutters & 2 lathes vs. 1 cutter & 1 lathe

Not Just What you Know

Machine tool makers didn’t want to be commoditized like gun makers

The standard people expect to win usually does.

Navy Board found it superior, asked Singer Sewing Machine, Baldwin Locomotive which would win (already adopted).

Pennsylvania RR adopted (Sellers on the Board)

British tanks & trucks couldn’t be repaired in WWII because Britain adopted Whitworth

Frederick W. Taylor

Scientific Management Searching for the “One Best Way” to

do a process Find ways to improve work

environment and work processes Quantify, measure & track

everything:

Time required to haul wheelbarrow:

B p aL

0 51 0 004827

127. . .distance hauled

Factory Life

Henry Noll“Schmidt”

Taylor’s Factory

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Systematically study a work

environment and find the best way to achieve a particular task

With Taylor, pioneered “industrial engineering” -- time and motion studies

“Cheaper by the Dozen”

Motion Capture Lights illuminate key motion

joints For Computer Generation,

convert to 3D

Barry Zito

Chronocyclegraph light-1914

Bricklayer

Hourly output up from 125 to 350

Typesetter

Drill Press

The Entire Work Environment

Color coded slots Groove for grabbing pencil

ErgonomicsToday

Ergonomics Then

Continuous Process Improvement

Eli Whitney and Interchangeable Parts

William Sellers and the rise of standards

Frederick Winslow Taylor and Scientific Management

Frank & Lillian Gilbreth and time and motion study