Motion Study
A Method for Increasing the Efficiency of the Workman

84 MOTION STUDY mortar for the end joint can be done quickest if it is done in the direction of the next motion, such, for example, as the next motion that puts the trowel in the position to cut off the hanging mortar. The sequence of motions in bricklaying, that determines when the particular motion is to be made that puts the mortar in the end joint, depends upon whether the pick- and-dip” or the “stringing-mortar” method is used. When the motions are made in the correct sequence, many of them can be combined so that two, and in some cases three, motions can be made as one motion, in but little more time than is required for one motion. Example. — Cutting off mortar, buttering the end of the laid brick, and reaching for more mortar all as one motion, in the “ pick-and-dip ” method. Speed Usually, the faster the motions, the more output. There are other advantages to speed of motions besides the fact that they require less time. Speed increases momentum, and this momentum may be utilized to do work. Example. — The ir omentum of the brick helps to shove the mortar better into the joint. Again, high outputs are generally the result of the habit of speed in motions. Habits of speed are hard to form, and they are hard to break. Next to fewest motions, speed of motions is the most important factor of high record of outputs.