Motion Study
A Method for Increasing the Efficiency of the Workman

xiv INTRODUCTION ing out of perhaps twenty thousand duplicate letters, each with one or more inclosures. Evidently the saving of but one motion on each letter would, in the aggregate, show an immense saving of time. Formerly the girls folding and sealing the letters were permitted to arrange the work to suit themselves. A short observation of their work showed that there was much room for improvement. The writer studied the question for a short time and made several experiments to determine in just what order each movement should be made to fold the letter, pick up its inclosure, pick up the envelope, and insert the letter and inclosure in the envelope. The first attempt was crude, but immediately doubled the output of the girl. Further study resulted in improvements which not only eliminated motions, but shortened the distance which the hands had to move in those that remained. The final result was an arrangement of pieces and a sequence of motions by which each hand, at the completion of one motion, was in position immediately to begin the next. The final motion, that of throwing the filled envelope on the pile, was eliminated entirely by having a large basket on the floor, directly under the point where the letter was inserted in the en- velope. The girl simply let go of the envelope, and it fell into the basket, gravity doing the work formerly done by the girl. The output under the new conditions was about four times that obtained when the girls were allowed to do the work their own way. Several other routine jobs in the office were handled in