Taylor, Frederick Winslow (1856-1915), was an American engineer and efficiency expert. He joined Midvale Steel Works in Philadelphia in 1878 as a laborer, and left the company in 1890 as chief engineer. During this time, he conducted experiments to determine the maximum possible efficiency of people and machines. Taylor later expanded his ideas into a detailed system for organizing and systematizing factory work. The best-known part of his system is the time and motion study. In this study an efficiency expert clocks each step in a job and looks for ways to reduce the time and manpower needed to do the job. Taylor’s system was only one of many proposed in the early 1900’s. However, after the publication of his book The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911, the entire efficiency movement was often called Taylorism. Taylor was born on March 20, 1856, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He died on March 21, 1915.
See also Gilbreth, Frank and Lillian .
