Motion Study
A Method for Increasing the Efficiency of the Workman

VARIABLES OF THE WORKER 25 The amount of fatigue caused and the percentage of rest required in many different kinds of work have been computed by Frederick W. Taylor with great exactness. He has assigned the various workers to classes and accu- rately computed the “task” from his records. We have no such records as Mr. Taylor has gathered, but we have numerous records of outputs of different men on several kinds of work. We know that the amount of rest actually required by a workman increases with the discomfort of ths position in which he works. We also know that the speed, hence the output of the worker, de- creases rapidly if there is much fatigue to overcome. Example. — A bricklayer can lay brick for a few min- utes quite as quickly when he picks up the brick from the level of the platform on which he stands (see Fig. 9), as he can when he picks up the brick from a, bench twenty- four inches above the level of the platform on which he stands (see Figs. 10, 11, and 12), but he cannot keep that speed up, because he requires more rest to overcome the greater fatigue. It is not simply for the welfare alone, although that reason should be sufficient, but for economic reasons as well, that the men should be so placed and equipped that their work, is done under the most comfortable conditions. Examples. — 1. It is a recognized fact that a clut- tered-up floor under a workman’s feet will tire him quite as much as the productive work that he is doing. A