Motion Study
A Method for Increasing the Efficiency of the Workman

7° MOTION STUDY touched here. Its full treatment involves all other vari- ables, and it can never be considered standardized till each separate motion is a standard. Cost The cost of motions, absolute and relative, is a subject too large for any person, firm, or corporation to hope to cover. If complete data are ever to be gathered on it, the cost keeping, recording, and deducing will have to be done by the government. But all work done by the individual investigator will result in real cost reducing, with increase of output, which is the ultimate purpose of all motion study. The relative cost of labor and material must be considered. Examples. — i. A bricklayer should never stop to pick up dropped mortar. The mortar dropped is not so val- uable as the motions necessary to save it. 2. That quality of mortar that is easiest handled by the bricklayer is usually cheapest. The cost of grinding up the lumps in the sand, cement, and lime is less than the cost of the motions necessary to pick the lumps out with a trowel. 3. It is usually cheaper to fill a closer, say less than one- half a brick in size, on the interior tiers, with even the best of cement, than it is to cut a special piece of brick to fit or to walk a few steps to find one the right size. The extra cost of the mortar is negligible compared with the cost of the motions.