Motion Study
A Method for Increasing the Efficiency of the Workman

INTRODUCTION XV the same way, with a marked improvement in each case. By this time the office force had become interested and were studying motions on their own account, and improv- ing methods of doing work without any suggestion from the writer. One of the girls devised a method of stamping envelopes which enabled her to work at a speed of between one hundred and one hundred and twenty envelopes per minute. She piled the letters on edge in a long pile, the addressed side facing her. The stamps were torn in strips, crosswise of the sheet, so that the stamps were side by side instead of one above the other. She fastened to the fore finger of her right hand a, small wet sponge, and taking a, strip of stamps in that hand, fed them across the sponge, using her thumb to move the strip, and to guide the stamp into place on the corner of the envelope. The left hand drew the stamped envelope forward from the pile, the thumb of the left hand giving the necessary pressure to the stamp while it was being drawn forward, to assure its being firmly affixed to the envelope. 3 he motion of draw ing the envelope forward tore the stamp from the strip, and the operation was complete. The work was done with marvelous rapidity, yet the girl hardly seemed to make any motions, except to pull the envelopes forward, and to reach for strips of stamps. We do not know just what processes were followed in developing the method, as the girl studied it out and put it in operation while the writer was taking a vacation. These incidents, and others, convinced us that there was